From bad to worse

I had made a bad decision and jumped from the frying pan into the fire!

Comments about this point on ABC Open 500 words – On the job.

I could have been jailed if I didn’t do my work right! The thought of going to jail swung me into action to seek another job, but I’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire!

My old workplace introduced an imported ‘Let-jail-us’ procedure to help maintaining and upgrading the computer systems we had built over the years. With the ‘technique’, computer programmers were paired up to check on the quality of each other’s work, transfer knowledge and make plan together for the next round of maintenance. The pairings were supposed to change frequently to avoid expertise lying stagnant in particular areas. The approach was what developers deemed ideal even if the work would take longer. In reality, developers hardly had time to transfer knowledge or plan their work with others. One horrified setback of the ‘modus operandi’ was that any problem we caused the company due to our faulty work could potentially result in the prosecution and jailing of the pair!

From bad to worse poem

(Conceit-style poem)

<<Story related to the poem>>

My old workplace is a frying pan,
By introducing a new work plan,
I am so scared of being deep-fried,
If my work was found as misapplied.

My new workplace is a real hot fire,
Rises from hell and emits strong ire,
Bullying and stress burn staff outright,
The firm’s success is built on staff’s plight.

Image credit
by Elizabeth Haslam.

Duty, honour, country

I have a duty to honourably commit myself to serve this country just like my father.

Comments about this post on ABC Open 500 words – Family trait.

Ten people were in the meeting room, plus seven others in offices around Australia hooked up to the room’s conference phone. It was a big meeting, with the attendance of section colleagues and business stakeholders, to review Monsieur Yuppie’s system specification document.

Duty, honour, country poem

(Sonnet-Petrarchan-style poem)

<<Story related to the poem>>

When power frowns at the tight deadline claim,
And staff resource for demand is so low,
Yet future staff retrenchment is to grow,
The workplace chaos then becomes aflame!

The sadistic Secret Santa poem

(Cinquain-style poem)

<<Story related to the poem>>

Santa,
The vile use him
To send snide messages
To their disliked, chosen victim.
Damages.

Ordered to make a fraud claim!

She enticed me to commit a corporate crime.

Comments about this post on ABC Open 500 words – Bully.

I thought that I would see justice served and be commended for my honest, righteous conduct. However I was the one who was punished for my action!

The best male bum Christmas award

Too bad, I’d sullied the team’s reputation.

Comments about this post on ABC Open 500 words – I broke it.

Soon after I started as a new comer in the team, I received an email invitation for an SWB lunch. I didn’t know what SWB meant and was told it stood for “Secret Women’s Business”.

The best male bum Christmas award poem

(Lai-style poem)

<<Story related to the poem>>

Male pec and male bum,
Kill off the boredom,
Eye-sex.

Buddha, fear is in the air!

These days, I feel like an alien in my workplace.

Comments about this post on ABC Open 500 words – Odd one out.

Fear was etched on their faces and showed in their voices! Shame kept them in isolation until I connected them with others in the same boat, including myself! They’d been identified as

A tale of the chosen poem

(Vietnamese-luc-bat-style poem)

<<Story related to the poem>>

Comments about this post on ABC Open 500 words – U-turn.

Why had I been chosen?
Why had heartbreak fallen on me?