I'm at the last leg of my attachment to various departments as part of my training. It has indeed been an eye-opener, allowing me to gain some knowledge (or at least what they want to present) of the works of other departments and the culture within.
Of course, knowing about their operational difficulties is not going to get me sympathetic to their causes. Every department has their own durian to sit on and yet cannot make more than a squeak lest the 'God Meier' hears and send more durians raining. Mine department is no exception.
The fun in this attachment is not about learning new stuff. Who cares about that anyway. Not as if I will get a pay rise just by having some pitiful knowledge of other departments. The fun is in hearing the misconceptions people in other departments have of me.
The top three things commonly misconceived about me is my education, nationality and singlehood.
As most departments only get attachments from Shatec or Polytechnics as part of the course requirements, some people assume that I am from either one of these institutions. Imagine the number of question marks popping out from their heads when I told them I hold a degree.
'Oh, you study tourism is it? Here for your course attachment ah?' is the common follow up question.
'No la. I don't know if a tourism degree course includes industrial attachment or not, but I already graduated and this is my job. I majored in Geography.'
When I threw out that last sentence, more often than not I will see a storm of question marks covering their faces. Usually I will add on that Geography do includes tourism (not that most of what I had studied is relevant) and the attachments are part of my training to observe how other department works. Sometimes, when I feel particularly sadistic, I will not offer these information and watch their heads explodes from trying to draw the dotted line between my job and geography.
The next popular misconception is my nationality. This is nothing new, as referred back to my previous posting. I had been said to be a Malaysian, Indonesian and PRC and I thought I will hear nothing fresh. However, people never fail to amaze me with their thoughts. One doorman thought I am from the Philippines. Another guy actually said I looked a bit Caucasian!
My, my! How do these people gain these thoughts? A Caucasian? I would think that is kind of extreme isn't it? It's not as if I'm glaringly white like Snow White and I even got a slight tan from cycling at that time. Now, I'm just waiting to hear someone says I'm a Martian.
The last misconception regards my singlehood. Most will raise an eyebrow when they hear I'm still unattached. They are probably thinking, 26 and still unattached? Must be something wrong.
Only Auntie B is the clever one. At a rollcall, a Team Leader asked the staff to guess if I have any girlfriends, Auntie B shot out, 'One look at Cy can know he's definitely single.'
You should hear the conviction in her speech. Definitely single.
'Why? I have such a suay look meh? So hopeless until so obvious?' I jokingly replied.
'No la. You just look too innocent to have a girlfriend.' Auntie B volleyed back calmly like a Zen master.
Ahh....no wonder there is a saying that an old ginger is hotter. Auntie B is so perceptive, can see that I am an innocent one. Yes, I'm not going to argue with that. Coupled with what YH always says that I'm not as desperate enough as him (which is like comparing size of Europe to Sentosa), the mystery surrounding my singlehood is finally solved.