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讲讲我的工作经历吧 - the meaning of being nice.

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛I was hired as a junior consultant in my current company almost 10 years ago. I was not so successful in my first year. My first project was to lead 10 contractors to perform a Token ring to Ethernet migration for major bank's 10-floor building of around 2000 people - pretty much to perform the changes in the wiring closet and swapping NIC cards for customer PC and laptops. All work had to be done during the day, except I could stay late. Sounds easy enough? It was actually the most challenging job in my career.

My performance was measured on the profit of this migration - meaning the more the contractors can do in a day, the less time they can charge my company, the better off I would be. Among the 10 contractors, 5 were Chinese, 5 were Indian. I was told to use my creativity and authority (I can asked for a replacement from the agent) to get most of it. Some contractors were sluggish and did not perform well - being late, slow, and trying to charge more hours and doing less work. Sadly, the worst one was a Chinese guy. He was new to this country and used to be in a more senior role. I was debating what to do with him – I did not want to complain as I knew his family depending on this income. But by doing nothing it would hurt my own performance – it was my first job, my first project in Canada. I just had my baby girl, my wife in school. At the end, I did not complain, but compensating by working over time myself (not telling anyone and not charging my over-time). I was so worn out after two months. And one day, I missed one evening checkpoint meeting as I was busy doing my job at the client site, the PM complaint to my manager and I got call back to office the next day. That PM was famous – by being mean and profitable.

I was furious. I knew what I did was totally wrong. I should have escalated to the agent and told my PM right at the beginning and got all those under performers replaced – this was what other teams did at other locations. By being nice, I was perceived as weak and not suitable for the job.

My manager was nice, after all. She pulled me out from that project and sent me to the career center to see what kind of job fits me better and what kind of job I liked it better. I knew, that was the last chance. The lady at the career centre was nice too. I still remember what she said to me at the end : “You like living in your little world where everyone is nice to each other, right?” I said: “Shouldn’t it be like that?”. She just smiled and said "good luck".

Did I change much after that experience? Not really. Instead, it helped me understand the meaning of being nice. Today, for whatever projects I am in charge, for whatever team I am leading, for whatever people I am working with, I am still the nicest guy in the world – preparing to offer my helping hand any time. And being nice, it is not being fake. I understand how much it means to me, and how much it can hurt others by being mean. The corporate world is cold, it is up to all of us to make it warm.更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
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  • 工作学习 / 事业与工作 / 讲讲我的工作经历吧 - the meaning of being nice.
    • 没人跟贴就精华了,not fair
      • 呵呵,这不就有人了。
        • 老猫出品,必属精品。这是品牌效应。:)
    • do not understand why that "Worst" Chinese guy not doing his job fast, while he used to be a senior role? just because he wants extend his contract?
      • I guess he was looking for a permanent job, so often coming late, disappearing during the day etc. without informing me or reporting his actual hours on the time sheet.
        • communication is the most important thing! We Chinese people do not like speak out what happened and what situation is. The "worst" Chinese guy did wrong, neither did you.
          • Absolutely. well, I did not say I did it right, right?
            • no, you did not. I mean, you did not communicate with him while tried to cover him. I am not saying you should have not offer the favor to him
    • admire you if youare really so nice
      • 呵呵,我是不惮于自夸的。"nicest guy in the world" 是有点过了。but I can assure you, I am a very nice and quiet man.
        • It is for sure that your English is quite good.
          I know a nicest guy. He taught .net free for people who had donated SiChang last year.
          • can I join?
            • Please check your message!
              From Frank.
    • being nice with good luck doesn't mean that you will be nice for good. Still long way to go. Never try to be nice to everyone, it is because it isn't worth.
      • I am not naive. Maybe with good luck or being worthless, I have not met any real "bad" guy yet.
        • I agree, you are not naive. Do you want to prompt yourself to next level? if yes, being aggressive is the direction you may want to pursue.
          • I don't know, really. I declined an opportunity about 2 years ago when things were going well. I always wanted a simple life - but I can lose much of my influence during organizational change.
    • No offense. Being nice=sucker. I once took on not only a peer's work when he's not delivering what I needed, but also my boss' when she's pre-occupied. Results-my boss was let go; so were the rest of her team.
      In the future I will only take care of myself and won't take responsibility for the rest of the world.
      • Yep, I am quite familiar with the term - I am one myself in its true form. Thanks for the reminder. My workload has been >50 hours per week for the past 3 years. I am in a conference call now. What a sucker and slacker. LOL.
    • Being nice doesn't mean tolerance of those hurting the business, that is NOT fair to others making contribution.
      • i know. My character is flawed.
      • 没什么 fair 不 fair 的,偷懒的人到处都有,能做就做,不能做就不做,老猫不聪明的地方就是 没有cover 好,要不就是不 cover , 要不就是 cover 全,否则自己就被blamed.
    • good! good to be nice. my former supervisor was so nice, i worked hard for her.
    • 最重要的是be professional,be nice也要有理有节,否则成了老好人,一旦当了领导,要么把自己累的贼死,要么不敢大胆管理使得手下一盘散沙。。。
      • true
        • hmm, really nice guy...
    • very very nice....actually ,,, I think post this here and share the story with us ,,,that's really nice
    • You have my respect for what you said in your post.
    • 旧贴重贴,无聊否?
      • 这不是今天有空嘛。再说这是我第一次说这个经历,怎么就成旧贴了?
    • 10年前, 我好像也做过那个项目。
    • 果然好人!!!很符合加拿大的价值观.
    • being nice is good
      本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Being nice is very good to you and others.
      But,

      First, be professional, and being nice to the right person, I think you should talk with that worst guy first, tell him what he should do, what should not, if he listened to you and worked hard to fulfill his responsibility, be nice to him. Otherwise, maybe teaching him a lesson may be nicer than what you had done to him.

      Second, you were nicer to that guy, but not fair to your company and your team, in other word, you are not nice to most of people around you in your case

      Third, do not let some people take advantage of your nice

      Fifth, nice is always good and welcome, a lot of people were nice to me, I even do not know their name, but i feel warm and, they have encourage me to do a lot of good things to others. Such as 5 years back in downtown, December, when I was selling some goods at the Conner of dundas, 3 Chinese girls came to me, and bought some goods from me, and said "new comer, not easy, we should help each other"

      But anyway, you are very nice enough, and everybody should feel warm from your heart and should say “thank you” to you.更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
      • THANK YOU. I rejected an offering in the management team was exactly because what you just pointed it out.
      • I agree. but what is the fourth point in your numbered point? maybe the last point is the fourth?
      • agree
    • totally agree. You handle things with grace, you will be treated gracefully. well, at least most of time.
    • You have a very warm heart
      Most importantly, (though you kept the secrete to yourself, hoho, kidding...) You must also know what is the right thing to do and able to get results, so you got advancement in career, applaud for you...
    • 才看见,不顶不行
    • Hi, please PM me anytime if you need a hand on anything, esp. when you become a boss...
    • 你的确是个nice的人。不过我也同意前面有人的说法,这样子对认真工作的人不 fair 。leader有责任是让每个人有效的工作。如果我遇上这样的情况,我会跟他开诚布公的谈,他有事情可以请假离开,事后把该做的工作补上,我会尽力帮他,而不是我替他担了所有的责任。
    • wow ... if you are described as nice here, it certainly is not a good thing though ... but it's our nature, I guess
    • In one word, be tough on the problem, be easy with people.