A well deserved break 

Ooo... can't wait for my break in August. I need the time off! I need to rest!

I've been working on some pretty fairly large deals at work, and I was pretty surprised when one of my colleagues passed the comment that "I deserved it" should those deals be closed. Maybe it's part of my Chinese upbringing where praises aren't lavishly offered as it might cause too much pride, which makes me feel hard work is a necessity, not a choice. And having the perception that whatever results come from hard work is the result of a necessity and not a harvest that when reaped is to be enjoyed.

Uh... don't know if that makes much sense. But "I deserve it"? It is such a bizarre phrase in my life that I am still struck by the oddness of it.

When my ex-manager in my first company was promoted to Senior Manager shortly after I left, she messaged me to tell me the good news. So many things passed my mind in response to it, and I finally replied to her to simply say, "Congratulations. You deserved it."

After that she told me that she was so incredibly touched by my words, because everyone she shared the news with either replied "Wow, you're so lucky", "You owe me dinner", "We'll have to celebrate, drinks on you". And not one of them gave acknowledgement of the sh*t she had to go through to be where she was. I was the only one who didn't expect anything from her, or did not give her any less of the credit that was due to her.

I wonder if it's an Asian thing, where we tend to minimize ourselves and downplay our achievements simply because we don't want to come across as proud. Heh... I learnt a phrase from Fast and Furious 3 that I watched last night, which I thought was quite true - the nail that sticks out will be hammered (or something like that anyway).

Hmm... something to think about. But I do think we Asians don't give ourselves enough credit. Nevertheless, I will say this, I duly and undoubtedly deserve my break in August. God spare the man (particularly my boss) if he dares to cancel my leave and disallow me from going! My temper and moodiness won't be worth cancelling it to make me stay behind and work, trust me.

so writes ee @ 3:01 PM

That's food for thought. Nice words of encouragement to others, if you really mean it though.

They can be meaningless, if spoken one too many times, like my gwai lou boss that goes "Great! Fantastic! Cool! Great Job" in full enthusiasm every single day.

Posted by Blogger Lim Tik Loon | 11:11 AM  

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