Me, myself and my computer

I have been thinking about a solution for the past few weeks regarding my job. I don’t think I regret leaving my former company but I do wish things in my present one are better, give that the name is considered prestigious. Gosh. It has international operations yet my main grouse is the lack of human touch and interaction.

40 hours a week. That’s roughly the amount of time we spend at work. If we don’t make full use of it, isn’t it such a waste of time? Granted, the pay’s good but money cant buy you happiness. The general benefits are all right, no corporate benefits such as discounted gym membership, etc but I don’t mind! BUT no one talks to anyone. HARDLY. It’s just me, myself and my computer.

Me, myself and my computer. That’s how it is. I think I have forgotten how to use my mouth except to answer my boss, if she ever talks to me, that is.

Actually I am not trying to compare, I know I should not. I am trying not to but I have quite a tough time adapting from a noisy, fun-loving environment to one that’s like super quiet and the phone hardly rings. When the phone rings, I finally know there is life to it. I left my previous company because I was bored in my job which was routine and I was getting a lot of nonsense from those customers, especially “cheena” ones. There’s none of those now, no need to get angry at stupid people who think they are king.

Yet I have become a tiny miniscule part of this corporate world. A human machine sending out emails each day. A mute one at that. A non-interactive stone. Sigh. Everyday, I am just waiting for something to happen. Anything interesting or exciting. Standard routine for people here would be come to work, work, work, oh lunchtime, then back from lunch, face computer again, work, work, work, oh time to go home. No need to talk to anyone. No wonder people here don’t like to lunch together. There is no commonality and after a while, being with yourself is so much easier as you have already been “interacting’ with your computer for the past 4 hours.

Stone. Stoned. Stoned.

I guess it doesn’t help that HR doesn’t have any induction for new people to interact with the heads of each department. There isn’t even any organizational chart so I know who’s the big head in each department at least. To be fair, I was introduced to them but I don’t think a 5-sec meeting suffices. In addition, HR doesn’t bother to organize any annual event (like D&D or Family Day) or try to get the people to get to know each other and truly form a culture. I don't go for every such events but it's nice to have such interaction activities ongoing. Yes, it is a diverse culture here but it is also dispersed. I guess other than the ang mohs, the rest of the Asians probably doesn’t feel a sense of belonging. Perhaps I have been too used to my previous company so much so I have been spoilt. Hehe.

Right. How about job scope? Well, I am learning new stuff BUT there’s hardly anyone I can look to for guidance or training. And mind you, it’s not those normal Excel or Pagemaker stuff which you can learn by trial and error. We are talking about some in-house systems and technical stuff like print production. You know those printing technicians? If part of my job is to learn their knowledge (which they got through certified courses), how am I expected to know everything by learning myself online without adequate, proper resources?! Gosh. Not everything is learnable on the Internet. Where’s the standard? Where’s the interest in employee development?

I don’t know if I should leave. Is it too premature? Is it the same in other places??