How to behave in a committee

For those of us who work in big organisations, it is quite inevitable that we find ourselves to be a member of a committee. Committees are meant as a way for people from different sections to meet and work towards a common interest. It helps to bring out different ideas and opinions to be heard and shared. Committees also serve as an avenue to distribute workload.

The flip side to this is when the committee is made up of hard-headed individuals, decisions don't get made and work gets bogged down. It is even worse if the committee is led by an ineffective chairman. But the ineffective chairman is not as bad as the irresponsible one... the one that takes the credit when the committee does something good. When there's a cock-up, the members of the committee share the blame.

I've had my share of sitting in committees and sub-committees during the early years of my career. Nowadays I prefer to work as a lone ranger. Tough sometimes... but quick and efficient.

Here's a light-hearted look on this subject that I came across from one of my old files:

How to behave in a committee

Having served on various committees, I have drawn up a list of rules :-

1. Never arrive on time; this stamps you as a beginner.
2. Don’t say anything until the meeting is half over; this stamps you as wise.
3. Be as vague as possible; this avoids irritating the others.
4. When in doubt, suggest a sub-committee be appointed.
5. Be the first to move for adjournment; this will make you popular. It’s what everyone is waiting for.

Work hard and stay cool. Have a good week guys.

Hoax emails that continue to live on

If you are a citizen of cyberspace, you would surely have an email address. And when you have one, there is no escaping the situation of receiving chain and hoax emails that are forwarded from your friends or acquaintances.

Forwarded emails are not spam; they are messages from well-meaning friends who feel that the item being forwarded would be of use to you. These messages can be humourous, inspirational or informative in nature. They arrive at the sender's inbox as a forwarded message from somewhere else. Most of these types of messages have been forwarded so many times that their origin is no longer known. Among such messages are hoax emails that have been propagated for such a long time as to reach urban legend status.

I have touched on this subject of forwarded emails before in an earlier post -> here. I do not mind receiving forwarded emails from friends because they generally contain jokes, motivational articles and other informative stuff. In fact, I continue to forward some of the good ones too. But I am quite dismayed when friends forward me hoax emails (especially relating to get-rich-quick schemes) without thinking twice about the content they are passing on.

Today I received an email that falls into the hoax category. It is the one that claims that Ericsson would give free laptops to anyone who would forward the promotional email to 8 other persons that they know. This hoax has been circulating for about two years now. While the original email was text-based, this latest one is a jpeg graphic that includes a picture of a sleek laptop.

Click on it to read the full text. Just make sure you are not one who continue the forwarding, okay?

It is easy to see that the mail is not genuine. Firstly, Ericsson does not make laptops. Secondly, the T18 model mentioned is actually a mobile phone. An obsolete model at that. Furthermore, Ericsson no longer manufactures phones on their own; they do it together with Sony. Hence we have Sony-Ericsson. A simple google check reveals a number of websites that confirm the hoax.

I've sent a message back to my friend saying that he's been duped. I included a link to a website -> urbanlegends.about.com., just in case he needs further convincing. I also suggested he send a similar response to the guy who forwarded the mail to him in the first place (as it happens, another mutual friend).

These friends are educated and professional people. And yet, they can be influenced into doing something so absurd because of the temptation of easy money, or in this case, a free laptop. No wonder hoax emails will continue to circulate cyberspace...

Barat is not East, my friend

The photograph shown on the left is a floor directory signage at the new government office block located within the Johor State New Administrative Centre (JSNAC) in Nusajaya. The signmaker obviously has got his compass directions confused, or at least, doesn't know that Barat means West.

While we are at it, the second photograph is a signage at the lift lobby. The jawi spelling has a missing dot on the last letter. They also have not yet pasted the relevant numerals.

JSNAC maintenance crew should make a thorough inspection of all the signages before the general public spot more bloopers.

All the pics shown here were taken earlier today at my first visit to the new government offices. The whole JSNAC complex is basically still a work in progress although I can see that 4 main buildings have been completed. This include the State Assembly and the Menteri Besar's office.

One wing of the Government office building as viewed from the central courtyard. The other wing is a mirror-image

East wing viewed from the side

West wing viewed from the side

Unfortunate but lucky

The title of this post sounds a bit like a paradox but I’m the sort of guy who will always try to look for a positive thread when unfortunate things happen unexpectedly. An example of such a situation is when my car broke down while I was on my way to Kuantan last year (click here for the story). Yesterday, an incident happened that illustrates a similar situation.

Last night I took an express bus from Kuala Lumpur back to Johor Bahru. The bus left Puduraya Terminal promptly at 9.00 pm. Traffic was not heavy and we got out of the city and entered the highway smoothly.

We were about half an hour into the journey, just before Sg. Besi toll, when we heard a loud exploding sound. The bus began to shudder but the driver managed to control the situation and slowly brought the bus to a stop on the road shoulder.
He got off and investigated. The front left tyre had exploded.

I went down to have a look. Brand new tyre, the driver says. Just replaced three days ago. He wasn’t sure what caused the burst. Good thing he was driving around 70 km/h at the time.

And so we had to wait by the roadside, opposite Technology Park Malaysia, for the replacement bus (the 10.00pm from Puduraya) to come.

This mishap caused me to reach home much later than expected but at least I reached home. If the burst had occurred while the bus was traveling at high speed at a later stretch of the highway, things may have turned out even worse. This is what I mean about being unfortunate but lucky at the same time.

For the 4-D punters among you, the license plate of the bus is JJG 9507. But you buy it at your own risk, okay :-)

Local Indian curry beats American hamburger

The Star Online yesterday published a report about a legal battle between US fast food giant McDonald's and local restaurant McCurry. The Court of Appeal has ruled that McDonald's does not have exclusive rights to the `Mc' prefix and that no reasonable person would confuse the McCurry outlet with one run by the hamburger franchise.

Apparently in 2001, Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd, the local McD franchise holder, had sued McCurry Restaurant for trademark infringement. In 2006, the High Court ruled in favour of McDonald's and instructed McCurry to dropped the prefix. P. Suppiah, the owner of the Indian restaurant, duly complied by removing the `c' . But he did not give up and filed an appeal. This latest ruling means that Suppiah has won Round 2 and can reinsert the `c' on his restaurant signboard. Photo and full report from The Star Online -> here.

I am quite surprised that McDonald's went ahead with the suit in the first place. For a huge corporation that runs 185 restaurants in Malaysia, they feel threatened by a single shop that serves Indian cuisine. I am even more perplexed that the first round of judgement came out in McDonald's favour. The High Court judge is reported to have ruled that the `McCurry' name and the similar colours of the signboard would cause the general public to confuse the Indian restaurant with the fast-food joint. Wow... amazing.

McCurry Restaurant has its own website -> here. A background story of this legal battle and news of this latest win can be found there. Understandably, no such story is included in McDonald's Malaysia website.

I am happy for Mr. Suppiah for his win and applaud him for his fighting spirit. But this may not be the end of the story yet. The newspaper report closes with a line saying that McDonald's still have the right to appeal to the Federal Court.

I do hope that McDonald's decide to call it a day. If they still want to continue the fight, then I'll probably create online support for Mr. Suppiah. Not that I have any vested interest in McCurry Restaurant. I've never eaten there... heck, I've never even heard of the place before yesterday. But whenever I see an unfair fight, I'll always pitch in for the underdog.