I arrived at the plant around 7.40pm. Parked my car and proceed to the security command centre. Handed over my car driving license in exchange of temporary badge.
As I was not sure where the HR dept was, I asked the security guard for the direction. She pointed to the staircase for the 2nd floor. After thanked her, I proceed to walk up to find the HR guy. Not far from the staircase, I saw him. Spoke to him and soon, I was directed to the another room. The name of the room is very familiar to the old one.
It was very cold inside the room. After about 10mins, a friendly lady greeted us -a group of 9. She welcomed us and gave a bit of introduction on the company. Then another lady came in. She said hi and introduced herself as the HR Manager. On first glanced, I knew she is a friendly woman. And yes, she is. The ice breaker came when we need to introduce ourselves. I had a good time introducing myself to the rest. hahaha… That was because the HR Manager is a die hard fan of MU. Same goes to me. We shared our passion together and she revealed that she first fall in love with MU way back in the 70s.. OMG, I was not born yet.
As she continued to share her passion and lifestyles, I found out she is a very adventurous person. She is even a hockey coach. My first impression on the company is the people are friendly. I immediately felt at ease. Chit chat with the rest in the room and found out that they are as excited as I am. Then, I was ushered to the IT guy to get my laptop. They are very efficient as I have my laptop on the first day. Fully setup within 30 mins with all those accessories and wireless connection. Really fast!
Lunch came and I went down to the cafetaria. Just 1 counter and the place is not big. Small compared to the former one. In fact, very small and very simple. Half way having my lunch, I thought of my old buddies. Usually, at this time, I will have lunch with them. Gossips, laugh and sometimes yell too.. You know, those sweet moments. I really miss that. I miss every single moment I have with them. Sitting in the new cafetaria really made me recalled those sweet moments.
There is no break area over here. Limited water dispenser. The toilets are way way below the standard of the former one. Maybe I should say the former is a 5 star standard. The production floor is huge with all the electrical posts. The cubicle for production people are very small. Just a small one not even the L shape type. No privacy too as the place is designed as a workcell where the manager, supervisor, engineers sit together in the production floor. Really not used to it. Oh yeah…we have to scan the card twice. One to enter the plant and another for timecard purposes. I bet they do track the late comers or those goes off early. There are a lot of new terms and abbreviations that I need to learn too. And based on what I see, things are more systematic with all those policy, procedures, documentations in placed.
After the lunch, I sat in the room felt bored listening to the talks. The talks finished at 4.30pm and we were allowed to go to cafetaria for coffee. I tour around the place. It’s not that big but the land opposite it is very big- where the future expansion is.
I know things are not as good as the former one (for now) but at least, I know that people over here are friendly. I hope the future will be the same. One thing good is that working behaviour is highly evaluated by everyone when it comes to performance evaluation. To me, this is good and I really looking forward for it. At least, it will push everyone to be curteous and helpful. And I saw one today – a handsome guy. Ladies, he is a real lady killer. Wanna bet with me?
Anyway, I’m still feeling a bit uncomfortable as things changed a bit fast lately. I tried to ask myself to be more steady and face it. If I’m not going to manage the change, sooner or later things will change me. Hence, it is best that I learn to cope on how to manage change now rather than later. Else, I will be in the comfort zone for far too long.
It’s the price that I need to pay to achieve my dreams.
Glads to know that it is not too hard for the new environment.