An economics lesson

Last Saturday (11/22), I had to sit for a capital market examination … and it sucked! Suddenly I realize how little I have understood economics, the very subject which I should have handled quite well at least, considering I graduated from namely “Faculty of Economics” of a prestigious one (in Indonesia, at least). Moreover, with economic crisis going on and off for the last ten years (if you think about it, there IS always an economic crisis all time around), I should have put extra effort to re-learn various economics concepts which had been taught back in my university years.

Still, a wish remains a wish if I don’t actually do something about it. But after a painful experience with the exam, probably I will be more serious with my plan. And today’s global economic panorama has given me an extra incentive to start re-opening my economics books. Watching the turn of laissez faire economics in the superpower country – USA – to one which is more “socialist” is not something you get to experience every year. It is now suddenly easier for me to understand what Keynes, Hayek, and Friedman talked about, after real life illustration is being displayed right in front of me.

Actually there is one more thing which has helped improve my understanding of economics. This has got to do with a weekly event in my office, which is video showing on Monday noon. For the last three weeks, the video being shown is titled “Commanding Heights” and wow, how that video has significantly improved my understanding of economics and its history over the years since the beginning of the 20th century! I wish I had seen that video when I was in my undergraduate study!

But then, maybe I was not as enthusiastic as today when watching the video. I mean, back when I was a university student, I didn’t feel the urge to understand economics as high and imperative as today, and maybe I would have slept throughout the movie (*grin). Nevertheless, if I were an economics lecturer today, I would definitely make a special session for my students so that they could see this movie.

Welcome back to hell

After a week of smooth sailing through the main roads of Jakarta, today everyone joins the 'devil' traffic once again. What took me 45 minutes to go from my home in Pejaten to my office in Thamrin, turned into a one-hour-fifteen minute journey, this morning. Darn. Why don’t those school kids take public transportation instead of private cars? That made my supposed-to-be first day in the new division ruined by showing up late to work.

I guess tomorrow I should come much earlier (I hope I will make it, considering my bad reputation of arriving late almost every time *big sigh).

Good Representative

Ooh, sometimes I hate having this oily face of mine! I know, I know. People say it’s great for me to have this kind of face because I will look old less fast than those who have normal, or worst, dry face. But it’s constant agony to have to wipe the thickening oil off my face once every half an hour and practically remove my "work of art" a.k.a. my makeup which has taken me about 15 minutes to put on before going to work. More than that, people think I don’t put on any face powder or even accuse me of not having a shower (darn!) while as a matter of fact I do.

Well, what can I say? I’m not a pretty face, I know that. I have done something to fix it but the oil keeps on coming so what else can I say? So rather than worrying about my physical appearance, why not focusing on doing my works better? After all, I have seen examples of women with modest appearance yet they manage to come out as leaders.

In my line of business, there’s Lily Widjaja, the previous commissioner of Jakarta Stock Exchange. I really admire her for achieving her success by relying on her brain and personality, not her look. Her achievement is really something, considering that in the capitalist world of business, a lot of times your appearance matters. Whereas from what I see and read on magazines, Ms. Widjaja is someone who perhaps only puts on face powder and lipstick as her makeup, and nothing else.

Plus, I grow up with this mindset that what matters most is our head and soul in living our everyday life, including at work. There’s a dress code for working which a professional has to obey, I’m aware of that too. You can’t possibly wear a sarong to the office, right? Yet I like to keep my attire simple. By saying 'simple', I mean I’m not the type of woman who wears her jilbab in a stylish way. I’m really the old fashioned type when it comes to clothing, although not that old fashioned because I wear trousers at times.

It was not until recently that my belief was challenged. You see, after my rotation period was over, I was assigned to the Investment Management division for my on-the-job training session. The division was suitable with my choice, BUT the subdivision where I was actually assigned to was way, way beyond my expectation. You see, I had educational background in accounting and finance/investment. I spent my six years of career in investment, finance, and management consulting/training. I landed my choice on the Investment Management division with the hope that I would be able to join the asset management or the products team so that I can make good use of my knowledge and little experience in finance/investment.

Yet, what was I assigned to when I joined the division? M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G. Yup. I spell it right. Marketing. Well, I was not assigned to make a sales pitch. Since my background was quite heavy on research, I was expected to make a marketing research for the division.

I thought, 'Okay, although I was never involved in making any marketing research – not one tiniest bit of experience – maybe I could learn to do it.' Still, because I’m new to this, it took me quite some time to fall in love with my new works.

Now, as I was trying to 'force' myself to fall in love with the works, one day a senior came to me and asked me to meet him in the meeting room. Can you guess what he said in that room? He said, "Metty, the director as well as your seniors want you to change your look and how you dress." Well, it was not exactly what he said, but that was what he was trying to convey to me. He – as well as the big boss and other fellow seniors – think my appearance 'did not provide good representation of the company.'

During my years of working, never had I been reminded to mind how I look and appear. To tell you the truth, the words came to me like a thunder during the day. I was shocked and frankly, stressed out. I took a day off the next day for sick reason. Yeah, I was sick indeed. Sick and surprised because my working there was not judged by the quality of my work (i.e. research), but by my exterior standing. If that’s the measure this division took, then I was a loser from the very beginning because I knew then and I know now that to give those people what they want, I would have to make quite some changes. I could maintain my jilbab wearing, but if I want to make them happy, I would have to start wearing it like most of the big artists do, while I know that’s not me and I don’t want to be like them.

The good thing was that the person who supervised me directly was not same type of person as those 'look matters' gang. She was fair, seeing me from what I produced and how good it was. She was one of the few reasons why I still wanted to work for the Investment Management division.

Yet, fate says different. Last month, an opportunity knocked at my door. A vacancy in the Equity Research division was available and I thought for myself, 'Hey, why don’t I try to apply for the position?' It was merely an effort for fun. If I was accepted, that would be great. If I wasn’t, that’d be fine too because it wasn’t at all that bad working in the Investment Management division if I counted off the "physical performance" factor.

What do you know, I was in at the new division (at least that’s what I think. The head of the Equity Research division hasn’t said a word, but my supervisor said it was okay if I wanted to join another division). What do you know, I already miss the people in the Investment Management division although I haven’t moved to the Equity Research division. I guess with all the ups and downs I’ve been going through in the past three months, I begin to form quite an attachment to the division.

But then again, thinking how I have been a lousy representative of the division and will always be, I’d better say "Sayonara, Investment Management," and "Konichiwa, Equity Research! Here I come!"

Double dipping

I was browsing to get some ideas on dual employment when I "bumped" into this article about double dipping. Double dipping is the act of dipping your food into the sauce pot, taking a bite, and returning to the sauce pot for another dip with that same chunk of food you've been holding. My mom used to yell at me and my sister when she caught us doing it. "It's gross," my mom said. "What if you get to be the next person eating? Will you still want to eat with the sauce?"

She got her point and since then I would spoon some sauce onto my plate and dip into it instead into the sauce pot. Or, I would break this food I have into two pieces and so that way I would not have to make a double dip.

What sucks is that while you try your best to make sure you don't do gross thing such as double dipping, your friends absolutely dishonor your effort. Maybe their parents didn't teach them. Or maybe they know what's to do but they play ignorant. Whichever it is, it's no better-off situation.

Anyway, there is another interesting part I found in the bottom of the same article. It tells about this list of "ten worst chips ever" and guess what chips sit at number one? The chips' brand is "Sepasang Naga Squid Cracker." Mm, sounds familiar to me, I said to myself.

I followed the link and ta-da! The reviewer said this:

"The initial odor is that of a 3-day-old fish market in a third world, or at least the section of the fish docks where the chum isn't even processed. ... The actual taste is that of dead fish, not really squid as the bag promises. It's also not the taste of say, dead grilled salmon, more like the dead fish that didn't make it into shore via net, but rather was carried in by the tide. That's about it. It tastes like dead fishy styrofoam. ..."

And, as if to confirm my suspiciousness, the reviewer said that the package bore these words: "Dibuat dari cumi asli gurih lezat & renyah".

Ah, another "lovely" piece of work from my fellow Indonesians...

Whom are you kidding???

Today I read this job vacancy ad posted in a mailing list:

BAYER INDUSTRY ( DIBUTUHKAN SEGERA )

Bayer Industry, adalah pemimpin pasar di bidang industri perlindungan tanaman (pestisida). Saat ini perusahaan membutuhkan segera tenaga profesional muda yang mempunyai motivasi tinggi untuk menduduki posisi sebagai berikut:

*PRODUCTION OPERATOR
*LOGISTIC ADMINISTRATION
*QUALITY CONTROL
*MAINTENANCE STAFF

Kualifikasi:
* Pria / wanita min 21 tahun
* Pend. min Diploma
* Fresh graduate dipersilahkan melamar
* Basic komputer
* Disiplin kerja, teliti dan dapat bekerja dibawah tekanan
* Basic salary Rp. 2.500.000 ke atas

Kirim lamaran lengkap, CV dan pasphoto ke alamat:
email: bayerindustry@yahoo.com

What? A supposed-to-be "leading company" requests eager job seekers to send their application to a Yahoo e-mail address?

Whom are you kidding, people???