Charsiew's Words on 13 July 2011

I turned 37 exactly a month ago.

Those few days, we went to KL for 3 days. Not the best trip of all, but it was the first time kids travelled out of the country with mother.

We decided to bring helper along since it's her birthday too and that should be the last time because we found it easier to handle the kids on our own than bringing her. We tried to tell her we can carry our own stuff and she insisted despite of wearing HIGH HEELS, yes, HIGH HEELS..Made us looked like some idiot employers who leave everything to a maid... sigh, difficult to describe. Am I lucky or no?

Went back to the office after a short 3-day break and unexpectedly, that was the last time I saw my boss of 15 years.

Asked to go, obvious. It was too sudden.

Since then, we kept in contact through simple smses.

New boss out of respect moved into ex-boss room 2 weeks after. Slowly, he removed the awards which were on display. Put it in a plastic bag and it's still lying on the floor.

Other people are still congratulating him... I cannot find a reason to be happy for him. Afterall, he is sitting in the room where my ex-boss sat. I can no longer find the familiar face, the casual hello, the casual talk and gossip we often shared in our comfortable Mandarin.

Throughout the last 15 years, I cursed him behind his back and talked bad about him because of his behavior. I sighed every time he asked me to do nonsensical task, asked me in to his room multiple times a day just for some simple things, but ironically, I am beginning to miss all these.

Few days after he left the company, he finally sms-ed all concerned that he is no longer with the company. I replied to him, perhaps my best sms for the year, that a simple sms cannot summarized the guidance he gave to me for the past 15 years. He replied me and thanked me for working for him, etc.

I have people who think otherwise about him. Not many people can understand why I feel this way. Beginning of the year when he tendered and wanted to leave, I was sad but now the reality is he is CONFIRMED not there anymore, it's different.