Not money.

Apparently a study by some clever bloke revealed that when we do our chosen job, money is not a major consideration. Other things rank above the cash when it comes to a job. Bluntly putting it, his study concluded that love of the job comes above the money you earn from it. This is not the 1st time I was told it. 1st time was told to me my engineering manger from my previous work place. He said you turn up here (work) every morning because you love your job. Not because the pay is excellent. Understandably, people in the room scoffed at his comment. But agin he reiterated his point. And I got thinking about what he said and to me at least, his point was firmly sold.

At the time I had just moved there after working at another place. And remember mornings where I just didn't get out of bed. Because I really disliked the place. Whilst at my previous place I would get in around 10 mins or so just to have a cuppa, or watch the tv with some of the guys. Even found myself staying at times up to 5hours after knock off time to help out when needed. It was a great place. Company was pretty poor (financially) but it was truly working as a real team, a family almost. Everyone, looked out for each other, covered up our short comings, it was just such a good atmosphere to work in. And when our company folded. We all moved out here to the land of sand together. Where again we were blessed with great workmates. Work itself was shitty but the comradeship was beyond measure. So many brilliant memories and times we shared.

Looking back now. With everyone gone and the current people in charge. I am willing to even take a pay cut if I could leave and have what I had before. Work to me is becoming a means to an end. Once that end is achieved, any reason for staying will be gone. And so I shall intend. Any time something frustrating, annoying, pointless, concerning, etc happens. I remind myself why I'm here. Doesn't matter that it is in reality an exercise in futility and a test of patience. In the bank, its hard cash and on paper its certifying experienced logged.

Alot of people I know disagree with the above statement. But think about it. If you worked with a totally useless company populated by evil/incompetent arseholes. And the pay was great. Yeah you would take the job, but for how long. It will get to the point when you realise. The cash may be great but a job is so much more than cash alone. You spend 2/3 of your lifetime working. A job with a great enviroment, sense of satisfaction and a sufficient rate of pay will be the 1 to get you to stay. Astronomical pay scales and shit company will keep you there a few months or a year or so. Never long term.

You DO a job for love. Not for money. My life has shown me this little realised fact. And I'm sure if you look closely enough you will find this in your life too.

Help... Please?

Was called out to do a few repairs in the rear cargo bay of a A340 last night. Was a simple but long winded job. I had to replace some rollers. Some, being 34 of them... took about 2hours or so. Job finally complete, I shuffled to the cargo bay door, tool box in hand. Only to discover some bugger had stolen the steps I had used to get up here. So now I'm stuck. And as you can see from the picture its not really a height from which you could safely jump down. And being at the terminal building it's quite a trek from the hanger I work at so no point phoning for help. Consigned to my fate, as well as happy to waste time, I sat there. Legs dangling out the cargo bay doors. Wondering how long it would take to chance upon some help. Sure enough time passed and help arrived in the form of the catering truck and their occupants. The driver parked up his vehicle and started to raise the catering platform up to the level of the aircraft's rear passenger door. The driver then walked to below where I was. Me smiling back at him, finally a way off this plane.

He too, smiling, shouted up at me, " The passenger door is closed can you open it for me?"
A lil suprised that he seriously expects me to open the door for him while obviously being stranded in the cargo bay. But put it down to the local sarcasm/ sense of humour.
So I yelled back, "I can, if you can get me a set of steps?"
The guy gave me a silly, sheepish grin before moving off.

So I sat. Happily awaiting rescue. Yup, waiting, waiting, still waiting. But he never came back. He had taken my request as an amusing joke white men like to crack. And had moved off and gotten someone else to open the passenger door. As I could see guys moving from the catering truck into the aircraft. Great, back to waiting for who knows how long. After another long wait. I spot a load of the airline's engineering vehicles pulling up around 30m away from me. Engineers getting out, chatting to each other. So I start to wave to get their attention, no good, so I start to yell.

"Hello, yo! Help, excuse me!" All totally useless with the noise of jets landing and taking of, catering truck engines running, ground power units blaring away etc. Plus think my voice was too soft. Have you realised that yelling at people while trying polite is never as loud as when you are swearing and cursing some one? So changed my tactics.

"OI! Arsewipe, fucker! Shit bag, cunt! Fucking cunt! yeah you Arsehole!

And it worked! One of them looked round and started coming over. Of cause my 1st thought was, shit, he heard what I was yelling. But then I reassured myself all he would have heard under all the noise is just someone yelling, no distinct words picked out. Luckily this was the case as he smiled and asked how I managed to get in there without any steps. Before long steps were moved into place and i was finally out of the cargo bay.

Not a bad waste of around 2hours. 60bucks in the bank :) Tis the way I view work here now. Tis never time wasted, its just money in the bank.

There are some!

Would you believe it, I've found the guy who scrapped my car!!! Wifey spotted a car whose colour matched the suspects paint as we pulled in from coffee last night. And true enough after a quick examination, the car had damaged which matched mine exactly. Same 2 parallel scrapes on his as were on mine. His car had my cars colour paint, just as I had his colour. As well as the damage on his car was at the sorta place you would expect for it to have been to cause the scrape on my car.

But then I did think, this guy ain't gonna admit to anything. After all it was almost a week ago. But then again if ya don't try then ya never know. So by chance as I was preparing lunch this afternoon, I spotted his car coming back home. Quickly I rushed downstairs to apprehend the guy. Got down just in time. As the lift door opened he walked in. Half a dozen grocery bags in his hands. Strangely he looked like a slimmer version of Clare Bennett's dad off Heroes. Same face thou. Without trying to sound too accusational I presented him my charges, followed by the evidence for my case. Once everything was presented I waited to the inevitable denial. But he actually agreed with me!!! Saying how everything certainly pointed to him. Especially as on the night in question he drove home drunk!!! After a good few minutes of apologising, he said we should sort out the insurance claim and repairs ASAP. On his tab naturally.

So this Thursday were are heading to the police traffic dept to get the paperwork done for the insurance companies. YAY, no penalties on my insurance. Just goes to show there are still some honest people in this world. Was gonna say responsible but, in light of his drink driving issue, I will probably leave that word out.

Walkers

Seems like this company I work for might have finally gotten their comeuppance. Just yesterday all the Asian mechanic's, around 100 of them, headed into the work head office. And demanded a meeting with all the head guys. Head of the regional operation, head of finance, HR, recruiting, etc. And basically told them,

"We have all been on at you regarding our pay increase that was due to happen last June. The one we never got. Well, several other companies in the region are offering jobs to all of us, with a monthly pay which is US$400 more than you currently pay us. So either you increase our money to around what those companies are offering us, or we all walk"

Brilliantly timed. As work has just laid off all their contract certifying engineers. Those guys are massively experienced and trained personnel. The core staff here have not got enough people of their level to fill the voids. So having cut out their certifying engineers, they now face losing ALL of their mechanics. And if they don't sort out my colleague's & my, soon to be 8mth outstanding pay. We will walk too. Leaving them with an empty hanger filled with broken aeroplanes & evil managers.

Thou if history is anything to go by they will probably not have learnt anything for this.

Feckers

Was supposed to blog this days ago. On my 2nd day off. The time of the incident but well wanted to get pics to go along with the post and with a sand storm blowing outside pics had to wait.

Basically some FECKER scraped his car down the side of mine. Must have occurred on my 1st day off. While I was tucked up in bed, recovering from my night shift. Some Arsehole drove his car down the side of mine. A parked up car. A parked up car, parked in what is essentially a desert. No road, no pavement, no nothing. You could park anywhere. There is a shed load of space for you to choose from. WHY park alongside my car. And why park THAT close that you hit it. IDIOTS. This is what I meant bout drivers here in one of my previous posts.

Whole thing was made even more sore as I pride myself at being an aware and careful driver. And to date it shows. Not gonna curse myself by saying it but comparing my motoring history out here with everyone I know, it is the only unmarked driving history. But not any more. And not through any fault of my own. Now I gotta search for a garage to do a good (i stress this word) repair job. And for under the rental car's excess fee of US$350. More hassle, more time wasted on my days off.

You may have noticed the green paint scrape lines down the side of my car. Now any green car pulling up downstairs is subject to a very through body work inspection. Thing is thou, if I do find this arsehole, I'm not really too sure what I'll do. Probably swear alot, but other than that I dunno really...

P.S. you can see the sheet of sand on my tyre from the sand storm. It's very similar to a snow storm really. As it it sticks to stuff just like snow does, but it's not as fun as snow... so basically sand storms suck. I HATE sand.

Impressions

All countries I visit leave me with an impression. Something that instantly flickers into my mind when I think of that place. For example the UK, I think of rolling hills, winding narrow roads, stupid laws, grey skies & rain. For Switzerland I think, towering mountains, clean and pristine spaces, beautiful (physically) people. Singapore, gadgets, gleaming hi-tech looking buildings, superb food. Australia, chilled out attitude, WIDE open space, sports crazy people. You get what I mean. Well it struck me that this place has an impression all of its own on me. I shall go thru it, point by point, with explanation.

1st point is, Shitty quality. You know how you go to some cheap place like the "dollar store" by some cheap arsed product. You buy it and it is plasticy/ tinny, etc.. but it works. Not terribly well but it does. Infact all my purchases from "dollar stores" exist to this very day. All in working order. Granted I don't use em but they work none-the-less. For here I have bought things at a few tiers above the lowest as I wanted them to last a reasonable time but they have still busted at a fraction of the life of any of my other seriously abused purchases. Examples like the fried extension plugs, the melted wall socket, the bent mop handle, the mouse that worked for a day, my friends boxster whose transmission shaft fell out after a week, the other friend's cadallac which died after driving 200m from the dealership after purchase, my car with its mystery ailments after just 1 week, my all metal bbq set which melted(!), the trainers of which the sole detached after 2hrs of wearing them, the mop bucket which handle broke after 2 uses, the just built apartment we moved into only to have ceiling to floor cracks appear and sewage back up filling the whole 1st floor with raw sewage for a week, my neighbourhood which after 2 years living there still has no road or phone line or sewer pipeline. The plastic garden chairs that all (12) broke when people (regardless of weight) sat on them. I think you get the picture.

2nd point. Rude, incompetent drivers. I've seen more serious car crashes here than in my whole life combined. Heh, I should post all my crash pics I took out here. Several invoke the feeling of "how DID you manage it?" Also drivers here that have no clue what parking bay lines are for. Or those that don't know the purpose of a slip road. Or why breast feeding, using a phone and driving all at the same time is dangerous. Also the number of times people zoom up my butt flash and horn me out the way only to get ahead of me just so they can cruse at my exact speed. And the way they slam on the horn at you the moment the light goes green. Really the instant it turns green, your brain instructions to your foot haven't arrived yet and they are already on the horn at you. Also the same idiots that creep slowly forwards at the red light, only to actually stop(!!!) when it turns green, what's up with that?

3rd point. Loud and gaudy. Things in almost every shop has the most in your face colour scheme and/or design. The more visually offensive the more shops love to stock em. Clothes for example are hideous. Think of the era that style forgot, now add lots of gold, reds and greens. Even furniture is equally tasteless. Hideous and soulless designs. I can't explain it that well, but its just... when you go to shops here, baring electronics, there is nothing here that makes you think "Hey! This looks good, wonder how much it is" Everything just strikes you with "OMG who buys this shit?" And sadly when you look at the people around you the answer is in your face. In your face regardless if you want to see it or not.

4th point. Desolation. Space devoid of anything. Its an idea hard to convey but a very strong impression all those who have been here never fail to notice or forget. In most places on this planet. Leave a patch of dirt alone and few days later weeds or moss or something will pop up. Here, nothing. Just nothing. Even attempts at making this place green by the government is all for naught. Well partly cos not enough watering is carried out. But the desolation goes beyond the lack of greenery. It spreads to places to go or things to do. Unless you want to screw hookers or get drunk there is just 2 of what i would consider malls, all filled with stuff outlined in the 3rd point. And 2 cinemas... filled with loud inconsiderate people & screaming babies. And a handful of coffee shops. And the beaches you would assume would be nice given the blue seas, is infact murky with pollution from land reclamation and beaches are infact not composed of sand, but quicksand, a result as well of land reclamation. But that's if you can even see the beach under the mass that is the 5th point...

5th point. Rubbish. Literally. Refuse, trash, crap, etc. Nobody here has a concept of a bin. There are bins dotted about the place but no one knows how they work. Cos rubbish always ends up on the floor. Early in my stay here, I sat in traffic watching a guy sweeping the pavement. To my amazement a kid in the car infront wound down the window and heaped a load of crisp packets, apple cores and drinks cartons out. Right infront of the poor road sweeper. Almost to say, here ya go, just to make sure you don't run out of work. Even when I've driven miles out of the city and towns into the desert. Rubbish is everywhere! It is the middle of fricking nowhere. Literally miles from the nearest habitation but still its everywhere. And it comes in every form. Car batteries, cupboards, drinks bottles, sofas, propane tanks, tyres. Its just a mess.

With those impressions in mind. For those who know where I am talking of. If you want to visit, sure for a week or so, just for the experience. But in all honesty, save your money. There are plenty of much more enriching places this planet has to offer.

Take it away

Few days ago as you might recall I went to speak to HR about our outstanding money.During that conversation at "B"s request I asked that we would be moved onto the same pay package that "A" was offered, once we get a years experience, just like "A" has. HR totally disagreed that "A" had the offer I mentioned about. And was quoted by HR that his "real" package offer was no where near that much money. A blatant lie in the face to myself as "A" had shown me the signed offer he was given from HR.

Anyway while handing over shift this morning to "A" he quizzed me if i had spoken to HR about his package etc. I said that I did. He looked somewhat cheezed off. And quickly explained to me that I shouldn't have. As HR called him yesterday afternoon. Saying that they are tearing up his offer and are gonna give him a much lower deal. WTF!!! Now is that a way of forcing people in line or what!?!?! All they are short of now is a few thugs to beat us into submission.

Small world

Quiet night tonight. Just one aircraft at the terminal with my name on it. Did a simple repair job on the ailerons and then proceeded to kill time by hanging out in the cabin with everyone else. Picked up a magazine from one of the racks, just to browse thru. And as I flicked thru the pages a picture of a purple R33 caught my eye. I backed up thru the pages and looked again. True enough it was the same R33 owned by the guy who sold me my S13. By the looks of it, a load of work had been done on it as well as a load of money spent. Reading the article. The creditability of journalism was called into question as they quoted it as producing 900hp. Sure that is not an unheard of figure but in this place with the resources here I do rather doubt it. Even back in the UK 500hp skylines are few and far between. Also the fact this whole country has just 1 dyno tester. And I have my suspicions that the only dyno that car saw was the butt dyno.

For those not in the know a butt dyno works this way. you sit ya arse in the drivers seat. Plant your foot on the go faster pedal and then you say, "ohhhh, that feels like 5000 horse power!!!!" or whatever figure you feel is appropriate.

Now done with the mag. I got talking to the ground engineer. And of cause topic was on cars. He asked what I had I said RX8. He seemed to acknowledge it. Like he knew what it was. A bit strange to me as most people don't know a great deal of anything about rotary. He then said he had a RX7!!! A local with a RX7! I was sure "O" was the only 7 owner here. He then revealed that sadly his convertible 7 is no more. He then added it was red. Now it hit me it was the same car I viewed a year ago! I asked him if it was now sitting abandoned with some piston powered lump in it. He confirmed it! As we talked on about rotarys, he mentioned, while he was looking to get his 7 back on the road he talked to a young chap, who knew about rotarys, who lived at X in this country. And that guy claimed to have a few 7s as well. It dawned to me he was talking about "O" Told the engineer that he should have gone with "O" to get it fixed up, as "O" knows his stuff. Sadly thou this is all in the past and the guys he went with conned him outta aload of cash then admitted they had no clue how to fix a rotary, hence the piston lump in it. And even after the piston transplant they fudged the power steering or something cos he said it would only turn left!! So in the end those guys knew jack about cars anyway...

Just goes to show how much our lives can overlap with each other. whether we know it or not.

Good man gone

Just found out today while working with "JM" that it is his last day with us. I was somewhat shocked as, even thou I knew all contractors had been served notice he was 1 of the few that it had not been served too yet. When I questioned him further. He told me that HR had sent out a sms to all the contractors with details for a meeting with regard to serving notice. But HR forgot to add his name in the sms list. So when he was not present at the meeting. HR felt he really didn't care so they would axe him 1st!!!! Hence why all the other contractors would go at the need of the month, but "JM" would go today! And even after he confronted HR about it, their attitude was one of, Oh? Sorry... well its a lil late now... oh well...

Arseholes. "JM" is one of the few guys I'm proud to have worked with out here. Learnt alot from him. Really sad to see him go. Especially at such sudden notice. Just so sad all the incompetent fools are held onto like gold dust but real gems like him are dumped at the 1st chance. All because they have a sense of pride in the work they do and the quality of their jobs is something the quality dept here (with their dodgy standards) can only dream of.

Well as with my blog, no names mentioned. So all I can say is "JM", you will be sorely missed. I can only hope I get the honour of working with you again in the future.

Anti-trust

Went ot speak with HR today about our outstanding money. 7 mths in all. Talking around US$4000++. Every month they fob us off with some pointless excuse. The last excuse they used was that they did not know how much leave we had taken off in 2007. And asked us to fill in the days we were on course/ sick/ on leave/ overseas placement. They also showed us a sheet of paper with the days they believe we were off. Quickly it was pointed out that paper had to be wrong as how could all of us have different days on course when we all attended the same course.

So we filled in the forms with the dates we believe to be correct. Bear in mind the whole of 2007 is a long time to stretch your memory and pinpoint precise days. We had told HR that but they said they understand and to do the best we could. Anyway we handed those forms in about a week ago. And today at "B"s request I went in to speak to HR about how it was going. would we finally get our money or would it roll over to 8 mths...

And HR's answer was they are in the midst of going thru our sign in sheets for 2007. See what days we were at work. WHAT THE HELL! They have the time sheets, so they know exactly what days we were at work. So why waste all of our time by making us do a pointless form filling exercise? And now I bet they have found a bunch of days that don't tally with our sign in records. And then they are gonna accuse us of being untrustworthy. That we made up for days we were at work when we weren't. I can see it all coming.

I'm an addict

Last Day off. 3 days whizzed by. What did I do? Played Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion on all 3 days... Think this qualifies as addiction. And yes I admit, I have a problem when it comes to RPG's, well good ones anyway. Ones with great stories. Xeno Gears is still the benchmark in my books. Its was not so much of playing a game, more of being in a well told anime story. Oblivion is a lil different as its more D&D, but story is pretty good too. More addiction right there. Been told Mass Effect is great on the story too. Urrrgh can see yet another addiction problem occurring once I O.D. and give up on oblivion.

So anyway trying to make the most of my last day by being away from the Xbox. For the most part anyway. Still my to do list remains.

Unpack luggage
Organize photos from last trip
Reinstall XP on failed laptop
Enter in outstanding work experience entries
Update CV
Install the recharge station in the hallway.
Fill out my Overtime slip.
Get the printer working again
Install and play with Mandriva, Ubuntu and SuSe linux versions (getting THAT pissed off with Microsoft)
Put up pictures in the house
Repair damaged camera bag

But as always in the back of my mind is the thought, if I do it all then I'll have nothing to do! Sadly it is a valid point in this activity drained part of the world. A point my laziness uses to full effect.