When Dignity gallops in like a black horse

With relation to human resources, today I experienced my first weird day at work..

Our company's customer service department has about 4 people that handle and manage calls from customers when they have problems, concerns or feedback. One of our colleagues has been working at our company for the last 4 years, until today. He had a tiff with a customer wherein the customer insulted his natonality and asked him to speak to a superior. Being a man of pride , and Ive known this person for about a year now, he went into the boss' office demanding that the boss either call the customer back and demand an apology for being utterly unproffesional, or he walked away from the company. To make a long story short, he is no longer with the company as of today.

Money, lifestyle, popularity and stability are all nice to have, but after this incident today, it got me asking: at what cost? Personal Dignity and Pride, in my humble opinion, are one of our greatest assets. When I say pride, I do not refer to nationalistic or egotistical pride, but pride in doing what you like to do.

Have any of you been in situations such as the one above where you just want to say: You know what? F++k this shit, Im out.
wHERE do we draw the line between patience and understanding, and plain outright, raping of our dignity? Its just got my brain avalanching on a ball of questions.

The Bourne Ultimatum

A good movie with plenty of no-frills action (Die Hard 4 fans, please take note). Matt Damon lays the smack down with some awesome close-fisted brawls that keep the viewer engaged and intrigued. The revelation at the end, when Jason Bourne finds out who he really is, is even more of a teaser and I cannot wait for a 3rd sequel to come out.

IMVU?

Found a great site for networking in 3d. You can register and start communicating with member in simulated 3d environments :) Go to parties, hang out at cafes and just have a plain ol chat at a buddies crib.. 3d networking at its best .

www.imvu.com Thoughts?

Stay or Leave? That is the question.

For many of us single, free-thinking individuals out there, living "independently" generally incorporates having your own apartment, car, job .. yada yada yada. I lived in the Us of A for about 8.5 years and as whole, Americans seem to believe that the biggest part of being independent means you are not living with your parents, or gaurdians.



Lets analyze this for a bit, shall we? When I lived and worked in the States I had my own apartment, car, job,- heck, I even had the coolest coffee maker around. I partied on the weekends, worked like a dog during the week and took the occassional vacation here or there. The lifestyle was awesome, especially considering I was accountable to nobody but my boss.



I returned to Kuwait on a business venture around 2.5 years ago and am now living with my folks. Ive ample opportunity and capacity to move out into my own apartment and live "independently" as many would like to call it, and I have, quite a few times, contemplated it very seriously. But then again, I thought to myself: I have what I need, my folks never bother me or meddle in my affairs, I have well paid job, my privacy is available whenever I need it, a car and good friends. Now why was I looking for a new apartment? Oh wait, maybe my naive little brain percieved the western philosphy of being independent means you needed to detach from your parents (Completely).

I think it eventually all boils down to cultural values. In some cultures and social settings, being attached to your family, and not neccessarily financially, is a sign of wanting to be in relative proximity but still having your independence- In others, it means you are a loser and need to get off your ass and move out.

What do I think? I think I used to be caught between 2 cultures. But now Im sure. Independence has absolutely nothing to do with where you live and who you live with.

Spotted

Yes, I know kuwait does not have much of a social life, but after widespread investigation of new and rather low profile gold mines , Ive decided to share locations of some rather cool places in Kuwait (at least I think so).
Note: These are not ranked by value

1) Souk Mubarakiya’s 100 fils store (in the heart of Mirqab’s ghetto, you’ll find anything from sunglasses, pots and pans, toys and garments for 100 fils!)
2) Baba’s perfumes (close to the Jovial electronics center in Kuwait city). It’s a small store owned by a gentle bori man. He’s got ORIGINAL branded colognes and perfumes from 3-6 KD ). Great stuff!
3) Second hand electronics store on Bin Khaldoun street, Hawally- Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the store but it is right in front of Othman complex. Operated by an Egyptian guy and his friends, you can find everything there from used DVD players, TV’s, PC’s laptops, etc for blowout prices.
4) The Jahra scrap yard – For all you automotive freaks.. This is a haven to find used rims, engines, Car CD players, Woofers, spare parts, etc at very inexpensive rates.
5) Sheisha Café, behind Marina Mall – Awesome fruit sheisha where the smoking pipe is stuck into actual fruit and flavoured Naturally (I think).
6) Star Books, Al Rai (Next to Lulu Center)- Kuwait’s version of Barnes and Noble. It may not be up to standard, but at least they are trying.
7) The Engineers Club, Bnied al gar – Just recently implemented a policy where you don’t need to sign in with an engineer. - 4 KD for the entire day with tennis, squash, swimming, gym, sauna, steam room, aerobics. AWESOME DEAL.

I’m sure there are many more attractions out there that you can probably add to this list. Id like to see em J

Party over?

I decided to come in to the office a little earlier than usual today, and was surprisingly welcomed with an unusual phone call. It was an agreeable young woman calling me from Naukri.com, Mumbai, one of India’s biggest E-recruitment companies.

“Dear Mr. (My name goes here), I would like to know if your company is hiring senior executives for this fiscal year, as our 2007 database has just been updated with highly qualified graduates and industry pioneers”. .. or something to that affect anyway.
I engaged in petit business talk with her for a while and eventually told her that we are not in need of anyone at the moment.

This is only one of several calls I have been receiving from major Indian companies in the last 2 months, which clearly indicates that the Indian market is trying to look for back office/IT/recruitment related business from other countries other than the States, Singapore and Russia. Is the party over? Is the Indian outsourcing boom slowly reaching a saturation point? Or has it only begun?

Currently, it looks like the roses are still smelling fresh, especially considering companies like Tata Consultancy services, Wipro and Satyam, have all posted profits in the billions. But there is also a confluence of uncertainties at play. International competitors such as Accenture and IBM are posting huge profits back at home to ride on the back of a huge corporate spending boom, an appreciating rupee that is cutting into earnings, a severe shortage of qualified talent at home, and a cap on H-1B worker visas to the U.S., along with pre-2008 election protectionism threats. All these factors are not exactly supporting the Indian outsourcing cause. This only means one thing. The Americans are beginning to look for Indian alternatives. And Indian companies are looking for American alternatives.

Who will eventually drive bigger profits? As a realistically inclined, business oriented person, I have to say that our economy will have to start investing a lot more in other areas, and do it FAST. Whats your take?

The blind horse

A random walk down toward Marina Crescent in Salmiya will place you amidst an array of different types of women, be it asian, american, european, arab or even russian.

As a single male, born and raised in Kuwait, and having lived in several parts of the world, the pyche and mental makeup of a hijabi(veiled) woman really does intrigue me. I mean, here you have women who are by Islamic principle, not allowed to overly bear skin, and are restricted from several other priveleges such as voting and infidelity, among many other things... but yet are expected to carry the burden of emotional trial from family, work and abusive husbands/boyfriends.


To site an example; last week I was out to lunch with a colleague of mine(who embraces her role as a hijabi woman), and was very surprised to find out that she is just like my sisters, female friends, and cousins in her passions, goals, feelings and expectations. The sad bit is that, she like all other hijabi women, find it extremely hard to express these emotions through a channel outside of Islamic boundaries. They will burst out into infectious laughter but then hold it back, look at you but try their level best to make sure it does not come off as flirtatious, and even take deep breaths sometimes cos they dont know how to accept a compliment.

I hope I am not misunderstood as having a special attraction for hijabi women, but I am just very touched by the fact that they all have so many aspirations to write, sing, dance, cry, laugh (most normal things that women do and we accept them for ;)... and cant to jack wad about it.

I am aware that its not only Islamic principle that holds them back, but a range of other reasons.. Anyone wish to shed light?

Mistakes?

What runs through your mind, day in and day out knowing you made a HUGE mistake or the worst possible decision, and you can do absolutely nothing about it?
How do you deal with it? How do you come out of it? How do you deal with the pain?