Under Pressure *Ice Ice Baby melody*
1944hrs: Yes, like the old Queen song of the same namesake states, I'm Under Pressure. I've just finished forecasting my unit's leave for the rest of the year and I was supposed to have gone home at 5 PM. But then again, I'm on duty.
Yes! As absurd as it sounds, my ever brilliant OC (Let's call him "Capt Arse") wants me to compile all 30+ personnel's leave for the rest of the year and he wants it all done YESTERDAY! Which is IMPOSSIBLE. I find it redundant cause most of the men won't keep to it anyway. But I've been doing this damned thing since yesterday morning on top of all the couple million other stuff I do. Here's a list of things I do on a typical day.
1. Parade State(the accounting of personnel, where & what everyone is doing) - This has to be submitted by 0900hrs but I can only start once the orderly has taken all attendance. This task should be a smooth process if only the orderly does his part of the job properly.
2. Clear all faxes in the fax machine, record all received faxes, distribute to the receipients.
3. Do the photocopying whenever someone needs stuff photocopied.
4. Do area cleaning, sweep floor, wipe down all cupboards, tables, chairs, etc.
5. Collect all Time Sheets/MCs from the previous day's Medical Appointments which basically means me chasing people for proof that they were on Medical Leave or attended their Medical Appointments.
6. Sign the key register book, make sure all keys are in order and keep track of where all keys are at any time.
7. Check that all documents are up to date and update if there's been any promotion or change of personal particulars.
8. Prepare the Notice to Personnel and make sure all announcements typed and ready by 5pm.
Doing all these things is pretty alright but throw in all the 'extra' stuff my immediate superior wants me to do and things start to get interesting. Whenever she has one of her brilliant ideas, it just adds to my workload. About 2 weeks ago she asked my upperstudy (Let's call him 'Pianoman') and I to print out and file up ALL available courses for NSFs from the Mindef Intranet. It wouldn't be so tough if they didn't have more than a thousand courses and if she didn't make us process it with Microsoft Word instead of printing directly from the webpage. It's the REDUNDANCY of it all that pisses me off.
All the guys here have accesss to the Mindef Intranet and they can view and select their courses off the net. And now she makes Pianoman and I do this weekly forecast which is basically a Parade State projection for the following week. It's maddeningly redundant because how will the guys know where they'll be next week? Doesn't the daily Parade State already account for everyone's physical presence? I personally don't have a problem being under a female boss if she knows what she's doing. In fact I was indirectly under a female Lieutenant in my previous camp and I respected her a lot because of the way she takes care of her men and how she shows genuine concern over her people. In fact, we even called her 'Mother Hen' for the way she protects her people. But to be fair, my boss can be nice at times. I just wish I could give her my feedback about the stuff she makes me do.
Pianoman once told me that Clerks are the least appreciated people in this place. And it's true! From 0800hrs till 1715hrs, I'm working round the clock all the way till fall out time. My only break is during lunch. Wanna know what the rest of the guys are doing? Well if there are no officers around, you can see the guys sleeping, chatting, watching tv, playing computer games, surfing the net, playing soccer or out running. And if there're officers around, they'll all pretend to do their work. Sometimes I really wonder why I'm working so hard when I'm getting paid the same amount as the rest of the NSFs here.
Today was just one of those days. I started work almost as soon as I arrived. I did the Parade State and reported strength to Capt Arsehole. And I got one of his unappreciated remarks cause there was a mistake in the Parade State. But you know what? The orderlies who mark the Parade State are supposed to make sure all data are correct before they pass it to me to enter into the system and report to OC. But nobody cares to make sure what they give me is correct and I have to do their work for them on top of my own work and still get the damned Parade State submitted to HQ on time. And when there's a mistake, I get blamed and scolded for it because I'm the one who has to face Capt Arse every morning. Pianoman and I always bear the brunt of all the insulting remarks. I don't like to get the other guys into trouble but I have to learn not to take the blame all the time when the others don't do their job.
I'm just so stressed and tired right now. I don't mean to sound so depressed but I'm just tired. I don't look forward to August when Pianoman finally ORDs and I'm left alone to face the same amount of work because right now I'm only doing 70% of the workload.
I'll need God plus my own strength and determination to pull through the last 385 days to ORD. I'm just worried that I'll be too exhausted at the end of each day to do the things I need to do eg. study for exams.
Note: Perhaps most of you will not understand this but I'm sure fellow conscripts of the Singapore Armed Forces will. The clerks would probably share my pain. My brethren! Don't lose hope! At least we all have a date to look forward to! And mine's 23rd June 2006! Even if I were to suffer amnesia, I'll still remember that date!
Serving duty in camp at 2132hrs
Yes! As absurd as it sounds, my ever brilliant OC (Let's call him "Capt Arse") wants me to compile all 30+ personnel's leave for the rest of the year and he wants it all done YESTERDAY! Which is IMPOSSIBLE. I find it redundant cause most of the men won't keep to it anyway. But I've been doing this damned thing since yesterday morning on top of all the couple million other stuff I do. Here's a list of things I do on a typical day.
1. Parade State(the accounting of personnel, where & what everyone is doing) - This has to be submitted by 0900hrs but I can only start once the orderly has taken all attendance. This task should be a smooth process if only the orderly does his part of the job properly.
2. Clear all faxes in the fax machine, record all received faxes, distribute to the receipients.
3. Do the photocopying whenever someone needs stuff photocopied.
4. Do area cleaning, sweep floor, wipe down all cupboards, tables, chairs, etc.
5. Collect all Time Sheets/MCs from the previous day's Medical Appointments which basically means me chasing people for proof that they were on Medical Leave or attended their Medical Appointments.
6. Sign the key register book, make sure all keys are in order and keep track of where all keys are at any time.
7. Check that all documents are up to date and update if there's been any promotion or change of personal particulars.
8. Prepare the Notice to Personnel and make sure all announcements typed and ready by 5pm.
Doing all these things is pretty alright but throw in all the 'extra' stuff my immediate superior wants me to do and things start to get interesting. Whenever she has one of her brilliant ideas, it just adds to my workload. About 2 weeks ago she asked my upperstudy (Let's call him 'Pianoman') and I to print out and file up ALL available courses for NSFs from the Mindef Intranet. It wouldn't be so tough if they didn't have more than a thousand courses and if she didn't make us process it with Microsoft Word instead of printing directly from the webpage. It's the REDUNDANCY of it all that pisses me off.
All the guys here have accesss to the Mindef Intranet and they can view and select their courses off the net. And now she makes Pianoman and I do this weekly forecast which is basically a Parade State projection for the following week. It's maddeningly redundant because how will the guys know where they'll be next week? Doesn't the daily Parade State already account for everyone's physical presence? I personally don't have a problem being under a female boss if she knows what she's doing. In fact I was indirectly under a female Lieutenant in my previous camp and I respected her a lot because of the way she takes care of her men and how she shows genuine concern over her people. In fact, we even called her 'Mother Hen' for the way she protects her people. But to be fair, my boss can be nice at times. I just wish I could give her my feedback about the stuff she makes me do.
Pianoman once told me that Clerks are the least appreciated people in this place. And it's true! From 0800hrs till 1715hrs, I'm working round the clock all the way till fall out time. My only break is during lunch. Wanna know what the rest of the guys are doing? Well if there are no officers around, you can see the guys sleeping, chatting, watching tv, playing computer games, surfing the net, playing soccer or out running. And if there're officers around, they'll all pretend to do their work. Sometimes I really wonder why I'm working so hard when I'm getting paid the same amount as the rest of the NSFs here.
Today was just one of those days. I started work almost as soon as I arrived. I did the Parade State and reported strength to Capt Arsehole. And I got one of his unappreciated remarks cause there was a mistake in the Parade State. But you know what? The orderlies who mark the Parade State are supposed to make sure all data are correct before they pass it to me to enter into the system and report to OC. But nobody cares to make sure what they give me is correct and I have to do their work for them on top of my own work and still get the damned Parade State submitted to HQ on time. And when there's a mistake, I get blamed and scolded for it because I'm the one who has to face Capt Arse every morning. Pianoman and I always bear the brunt of all the insulting remarks. I don't like to get the other guys into trouble but I have to learn not to take the blame all the time when the others don't do their job.
I'm just so stressed and tired right now. I don't mean to sound so depressed but I'm just tired. I don't look forward to August when Pianoman finally ORDs and I'm left alone to face the same amount of work because right now I'm only doing 70% of the workload.
I'll need God plus my own strength and determination to pull through the last 385 days to ORD. I'm just worried that I'll be too exhausted at the end of each day to do the things I need to do eg. study for exams.
Note: Perhaps most of you will not understand this but I'm sure fellow conscripts of the Singapore Armed Forces will. The clerks would probably share my pain. My brethren! Don't lose hope! At least we all have a date to look forward to! And mine's 23rd June 2006! Even if I were to suffer amnesia, I'll still remember that date!
Serving duty in camp at 2132hrs
posted by Ben at 9:32 PM
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