The First 2 Weeks in the New Office

March 2nd, 2009 was my first day in the new office. By the way, in case I forgot (in which I'm quite certain of it) to tell you all, I have decided to join with PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk (BLT) instead of PT Samudera Indonesia Tbk. Both are fine shipping companies but somehow I was just following my guts that said I would enrich myself better in BLT. The position is in the Investor Relations dept and the job description is, well, I prefer to define it as a combination/mixture of finance, PR, Corporate Secretary, and event organizer. Interesting? Hell yes for me... Although it means that I have to open and read a significant pile of regulations from IDX, SGX, Bapepam, KSEI, and others alike.

But my posting today will not talk about my job. Not that it isn't interesting, but this blog is designed to publish my 2 cents of thoughts about what happened in my life, not my daily activities. Well, let's get it started then...

The first week was filled with uncertainty. What I meant here is uncertainty regarding who I'm going to have lunch with, who I should liase regarding my job, and of course, the status of the fine looking cute girls in the 10th and 11th floor. The office atmosphere is so different with TAFS. By 8:30 everybody starts to shackle their hands to the keyboard any start typing... well, just about everything from job related tasks to Yahoo Messenger. It was quiet (accept for every 3 PM where our lovely neighbour, Paspampres, starts to play the kind of songs you normally hear once a year on Independence Day, daily) for no one even play their MP3 files to raise the beat a knot or two. No one goes wondering around chatting or even looking for snacks from other departments (very much the contrary of my routine activities in TAFS, which is looking for snacks from other departments). And of course, no one is singing "dangdut" like my previous particular comrade from TAFS marketing division. By lunch time everybody goes out and on 17:30, around 80% of them leave their desks accordingly and head to the exit door. Suddenly I was in the middle of cultural shock. It took a few days for me to sink it in, but then I realized that I'm no longer a TAFS employee. The way I act, the way I work, and the way I respon to this new community have to change completely. These are not the same people, and I'm also expected to be someone different than I was in TAFS. I have my responsibilities and I really shouldn't spend majority of my time trying to find out the similarity between this office and TAFS. It's a different office, the people are not the same, and most important of all, this is a new page in my life and I'm the one who pulled the card. I have to admit, there were days where I felt that I have made the wrong decision, that TAFS and my previous dept was where I belong, and I just can't get the feel of this new environment. But I prayed to the Lord and wished that He would always walk along side, and I said to myself "You have made the decision and you believed that this is the path for your future wannabe, live with it!". Now, 2 weeks have passed and I'm glad to say that I have nothing to regret. The people here are fine people, friendly, and helpful. And the girls, well... still don't know how to approach them anyway, so might as well put that thought aside for now.