Final Post

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Yes, I have finally stopped work on India Channel. So this will be my final post. This is a little cliche but I hope you enjoyed reading my blog.

If anyone is interested in reading my other blog, click here.

Happy New Year!!!

A Letter to the Consultant

Friday, December 01, 2006

Hi,

There is an issue we would need you to address.

We noticed that after commercials are transferred, the schedulers in India will take about 3 to 4 hours to complete and send the log over.

Commercials are transferred at about 5pm (Singapore Time) everyday. As a result, I have to stay till 9.30pm (Singapore Time) everyday. On Wednesday, I stayed till 11.30pm just because MCO needs the log and the sales team is taking so long to send their commercials over.

Normally, Singapore schedulers take only about 45mins to 1 hour to complete the log after commercials are transferred. We do not understand why they would need such a long time to complete a log which should have already been 95% completed.

It is very frustrating and demoralising for us to see the commercials come in at 5pm and yet we still have to wait beyond 9pm each day before we can bring the log to MCO. Working extended hours for prolonged period, especially for no apparent reasons have an adverse effect on both morale and our concentration next day.

These people have been trained since May. In addition, Singapore sent 2 staff to India to provide intensive coaching for them from June to September this year. During that period of time, we need to juggle the coaching duties as well as our own logs. Despite the heavy workload, the two of us managed to finish our logs on time. While you may argue that we are both more experienced than the two of them, we were initially given only 1 month of training before we are expected to go at full speed and full load. Hence, I do not see why the full localization cannot take place yet.

You yourself said before that localization that takes more than 3 months is too long. It has been half a year already and India has still not localized yet.

In our view, this is a waste of resource as huge amount of resources are devoted to perform inefficient and unproductive tasks.

We will appreciate if you can share your expert opinions on our observations and advise on the appropriate follow-up action.

Thank you.

Wasting My Life Away

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The time now is 7.30pm and I am still in the office. I am praying that I can go home at 8.00pm. I have not left the office before 9.00pm since last week and I predict this situation will go on for the next 2 months.

I don't mind if it's because I have work to do.

The thing is, I don't have any work at all! My job right for the next two months is to print out logs that my India counterparts complete and bring them to MCO. (MCO stands for Master Control. Their duty is to make sure the logs go on air correctly.) In other words, I am the fedex for India and MCO. That's all.

Let me show you a typical day at work for me:

10.30am:
Reach office. Even though my official working hour is from 9.00am to 6.00pm.

10.30am-12.00pm:
Talk to colleagues, play computer games, read, watch TV. Yes, I have a TV at my desk.

12.00pm-1.00pm:
Lunch.

1.00pm-6.00pm:
Talk to colleagues, play computer games, read, watch TV.

6.00pm-indefinite:
Play computer games, read, watch TV. When my Indian colleagues finally decide to complete their logs, I print it out and bring it to MCO then I go home.

I wonder why such a big company as the one I am working in is willing to spend money on me so that I can be a deliveryman. Surely there is a more efficient way of doing things.

More Senseless Emails

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

5.58 pm Today (From my Indian colleague)

Hi all
I will download the DC LOG 04.11 By 1830(IST)
Regards.

6.02 pm Today (From Singapore MCO)

This is a gentle reminder.
Finalized, Transmission-ready Log of Nov 3rd & 4th of both DC-India & Toon India should be downloaded & delivered to MCR today.
We have not received the Log yet.
Please advise the concerned parties for the expected downloading time today, if you have not done so.
Thanks a lot & have a nice week.
Best Regards.

6.03 pm Today (From my Indian colleague)

HI,
I just send mail for DC LOg 04.11 to all.
Regards.

6.04 pm Today (From Singapore MCO)

Yes, that’s why I wrote “if you have not done so”

Disclaimer:
All emails are direct copies from the original.
All names have been removed to protect their identity.

BO/BI - Mortified- Urgent

3.11 pm Today (From my Indian colleague)

Dear Ivy,
We have not yet filled BO/BI of Mortified, working on 04/11 Log-need the same.
Pl. give me feedback for the same & in future for same situation to whome I should contact.
Waiting for reply.
Regards.

3.28 pm Today (From my Indian colleague)

Ivy/Ivan
Waiting for your reply
Regards.

3.43 pm Today (From me)

Amit will deliver the BO/BI tonight. You can create the house numbers first.
In future you can contact the producer working on the work order.

3.45 pm Today (From my Indian colleague)

THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will mail you House # for the same.
Regards.

One really wonders if she has a timer in front of the computer and if I don't reply, she will send an email every 15 to 20 minutes. Can't she just skip that step or do something else first?

I wonder what time she will give me the house numbers. Not that I'm going to email her every 20 minutes to ask her for it. By the way, I'm not kidding about the exclamation marks in the email.

A Word of Caution

Friday, October 27, 2006

Not making specific references to anyone...

This article reminds me of the time when Eileen spent 5 days on a log and someone unapologetically deleted more then half of it.

I Sold Myself

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

I sold myself to the company for another 3 months.

I sold myself for more money.

I sold myself to vomit more blood.

I sold myself to train more new staff.

I sold myself hoping that these 3 new staff would be much better than the first 2.

I sold myself for more long nights in the office.

I sold myself to witness the failure of the decentralization project.

I hope I did the right thing.

Chewing Gum Advertisments

These are the ads I mentioned some time back about shiny teeth.

The Current Situation in Our Office

Friday, October 06, 2006

I Am Back!

Yes, I am back.

This is not about a girl in Mumbai anymore. But about a girl working with people in Mumbai.

Working with them has given me too much pent up frustrations that I can't let this blog rest in peace.

Just yesterday, we had a conference call with the Director of the Mumbai office. He asked us to give him a timeline and workflow for the thousandth and one time.

Then later, as the call progressed, he said that the India market is very chaotic and that Indians never follow timelines.

So why the hell (pardon the language) did he want us to come up with a timeline in the first place? Furthermore, we have already gone through the timeline with our understudies so many times when we were in India. Others who went over to India also went through the timelines with everyone concerned. IS even did process flow in soft copy for all of them.

I really see no point in the phone conference except that either the Director was too free and wanted to fill his time in the office (Which is highly probable since during the time there, I always see him walking around the office talking to his staff. He is hardly ever in his office.) or that he is getting too many emails from us and thinks that we are too free so he wanted us to do some things to fill up our time instead of writing emails.