“Have
you seen the remote-control to the fan?”
It
was almost 5 p.m., Wednesday, when Matthew threw this question to Yvonne.
Yvonne:
No. I couldn’t find it last Friday as well.
Matthew:
Strange… Where could it be.
The
I.T. manager, Matthew was setting his eyes scanning through the items on colleagues’
work station that were placed nearest to the portable fan, just to see if he
could spot the sign of that tiny palm-sized remote-control in white colour.
Among
so many colleagues, why would Matthew have asked Yvonne? Well, that’s probably
due to the colleagues that often stay back to work after office hour have been
the I.T. team and Yvonne who was from the Finance Department. In the building
where their office has leased from, its centralized air-conditional only operates
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on week days; and only cover for morning half for
Saturday. Therefore, whoever stays back in the office after 6 p.m. will have to
work in a rather stuffy environment.
Matthew,
who also helped a lot on the office layout organization work during office move,
recalled that they have brought over two units of portable fans from the previous
end-of-leased office, three months ago. The 1-feet height standing fans were
still in good condition. Matthew has dragged and placed one of the fan units in
between two work stations that were leaning towards the wall.
Whenever the clock reaches
6 p.m., the sounds of the centralized-air conditional would stop its ‘whoo-ing’
sound from the ceiling; and one of our helpful colleagues will then offer to help
turning on the portable fan just so it could generate some comfortable air
circulation in the office. A little issue we have was that the said portable
fan can only be turned on using the remote-control that came with the fan unit.
The ON/OFF button on the fan unit was out of order. No matter how many times
one pressed on it, it didn’t give any reaction at all.
Yvonne: Last Friday, I couldn’t find it, so, I worked in stuffy office. Really stuffy.
Matthew: Oh, you still working late last Friday?
Matthew shook his head while replying to Yvonne. His whole I.T. team members has left the office before 5:45 p.m. for it was Friday, yet Yvonne still continued working and being the last one in the office who would have to switch off all lights and electrical equipment.
The rest of our colleagues continued on their work while Matthew and Yvonne were searching for that tiny remote-control.
Yvonne: Do we have any other remote-control unit? Aren’t we still have another fan in the storeroom?
Matthew looked at Yvonne and walked closer to whisper to her ear.
Matthew: The other unit in the storeroom was gone.
Yvonne’s eyes opened widely to his words.
Yvonne: Huh? It was still there last week when I went in to get some stationery.
Both of them started to communicate in softer tone that only two of them can hear.
Matthew: I just realized about it, these two days.
Yvonne: Could it be in the boss’ office? Such a bulky unit, who would have taken it? I remember seeing it when the drinking water delivery guy placed those water bottles in the storeroom.
Matthew: I don’t see it from boss’ office door. I don’t know where it gone. Could it be those drinking water delivery guy…?
Yvonne gave him a side-eye and continued with her photocopying work at the printer machine.
Yvonne: Come on. We watched their delivery work before signing off on their delivery note. How could they steal the fan just like that? Using their trolley?
Matthew: Then, might it be someone took it, along with the remote-control?
‘Who would want (or steal) such a bulky fan?’ Yvonne commented behind her monkey mind. During that 1-minute photocopying work, Yvonne took a step back and digested the piece and puzzle of the information.
‘The remote-control could not be found anywhere… and the fan unit can only be functioning with the remote-control. Could it really be someone among the colleagues took it without informing (in another word – stole it)?’
While heading back to her work station at the center of the office, Yvonne spoke to Matthew, who workstation was located at the turning walkway.
Yvonne spoke in a soft tone: You mean someone might have taken it without informing, after office hour or over the weekend?
Matthew: I can’t tell. But now, I’m worry about the laptop units that most of our colleagues would leave behind on their work station, after work.
‘Yeah, that’s more valuable than a portable fan.’ Yvonne couldn’t agree more.
Yvonne: Yeah, even I won’t bring the laptop home after working late in the office. We’re operating in an open-space office that has no CCTV installed besides that small camera on the door bell system; furthermore, our laptop wasn’t locked to the work station like some other MNCs; anyone that has the door access could just walk in and do whatever they want.
Matthew frown a little: Yeah, I need to think of something about this.
Yvonne: Install CCTV cameras in the office area?
Matthew: No.
Yvonne: Should we ask the colleague in the general chatgroup or get HR to ask around if anyone seen the fan unit?
Matthew shook his head: No. That (the fan) wasn’t within my control list. I don’t want to get involve into that.
‘Fine then… You are in-charge of laptops and telephone stuff; as for those general electrical items, they fall under Finance’s control.’ Yvonne gave him another side eyes before she headed back to her work station.
Behind Yvonne’s mind, it still continued analyzing on this matter while she was typing and replying to work emails.
‘Who would want that fan…?’
‘Our colleagues could be able to afford such an economic fan unit. Is there a need to steal one from the office?’
‘Who would take such a high risk on their career?’
‘Steal a portable fan? A laptop is better still…’
The cost-benefit analysis in any accounting-background person has just done a great job for Yvonne.
That evening, together with I.T. team colleagues, Yvonne worked extra hours in the stuffy environment. She gave up. She then wrapped up her work and left the office around 7 p.m., a little earlier than usual.
‘Stuffy environment is so uncomfortable.’ This thought of Yvonne was solved the moment she stepped out from the lift of the building. She felt the evening breeze giving her a 360-degree hug, as if all the pores on her skin and body were able to breathe normally.
‘Now, that’s way better.’ Yvonne took a deep breath and began her 10-minute walk toward the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station.
During her commute journey home, Yvonne was listening to songs played through her mobile app. but her analytical mind was somewhat ignited on the missing fan unit, again.
‘Who in the office would likely be the one to steal it…? Roman?’
‘Why Roman of all colleagues? Well… he doesn’t look wealthy in the way of his wearing to work… He often takes medical leaves and no-show at work. He is in-charge of service repairing work that often has to work outside of the office and would come back to office to get spare parts for those repairing work at customer’s venue…’ All those points came one after another.
The next day, just like Matthew, Yvonne didn’t take any action on that high-likely already gone missing fan unit. She didn’t say a word about it with other colleagues as well.
‘Let us bring it up when it was the time where finance team conducts the annual physical sighting of fixed asset items then.’ She thought to herself.
A week later, Matthew came to Yvonne, wearing a smile on his face.
Matthew: I found the fan!
Yvonne was delighted by this good news: Where is it?
Matthew: It’s in boss’ office.
Yvonne: You said you didn’t see it the other day.
Matthew: Haha…well, his office was locked. And I took a peek into his office from the outside, through that blurry-sticker and tinted glass-door. It was actually placed at the other corner of his office.
Yvonne: See? He probably is the one who would often drop-by the office over the weekend. Might it had been too stuffy to work and he grabbed the fan unit from store room and took the one-and-only remote control from the office area.
Matthew: I found some extra units of the remote controls too.
Yvonne: The same model for the fans? Where’d we keep them?
Matthew: Two more units. They were in my drawer.
Matthew laughed when Yvonne rolled her eyes.
Matthew: Haha… It doesn’t come across my mind at all. I have put the batteries and tested each of them. They work.
Yvonne: Then, we can put one remote-control at the office area. No need to bother boss on the one he has.
Matthew: Sure.
Happy ending. All good then.
But to Yvonne, this topic wasn’t just stop there…
Over the weekend, Yvonne was having her afternoon coffee at home, alone. She sat back and thought through that whole conversations she had with Matthew regarding the missing fan and those analytical points her mind had.
‘My first instinct was somewhat right… The missing remote-control was in boss’ office. He took it while operating the other fan unit, over the weekend.’
‘My analytical flow that slowly changed from the point A – it was in the boss’s office – to point B – someone has stolen it… That was too dramatic, I guess.’
‘My assumption in pointing out the suspect as Roman… Oh, gosh… that’s terrible! Why would I think it that way? How could I be so bias in my analytical thoughts?’
‘Aren’t I practice and encourage fairness when working with or treating others, irrespectively of the subject a man or woman, local or foreign, old or young, rich or poor? Why on earth my rational mind turns south when it comes to analyzing the incident? How could I judge Roman as poor just by his wearing? I don’t even really have a proper conversation with Roman thus far, since they day I joined the company for nearly three months. Did I jump into that quick conclusion by his race? No way, deep down inside, I know that that’s not right to judge a person by those factors on-the-surface. One’s attire or the branded item he or she has could neither determine their wealthy status nor how good or bad a person be.’
Yvonne frown her eye brows and tapped her finger to the coffee table.
‘I, too, prefer wearing no-brand’s t-shirt and jeans to work rather than formal office attire. Furthermore, poor doesn’t lead one to be greedy or being a thief!’
Yvonne covered her face with both her palms.
‘Oh my gosh… My sickening judgement… I am sorry, Roman. I am really sorry.’
‘So, ugly! I need to re-look into my thinking route, and reflect on myself. Thank goodness that I didn’t take any action based on those bias assumptions I have.’
Yvonne let out a heavy sight. She took another sip of her coffee.
Yvonne let her mind not to think of anything for a moment but stared at a little ant that has just appeared from the corner of the coffee table. It was walking to the left and right, but somewhat to the direction of her coffee cup.
‘Ah-ah, that’s my cup of coffee. Go find your food elsewhere.’ Yvonne blew a mouthful of air towards the ant. It made a turn toward the other corner of the coffee table. It then gone out of sight.
‘Guess the meditation work has somewhat helped me learning to slow down my thinking-to-action process. It taught me to take a step back to think things through without letting my quick analytical mindset and those past experiences that I had encountered in the past, to deter or overtake the real thought I hold for myself and take action rashly and/or blurted out hurtful words in one go that I would surely regret afterwards.’
‘But this is not enough… my bias analytically mind’s work needs more disciplines and be cleansed, from time to time.’
‘Discernment is what I need to learn next. The ability to think from my real self rather than just being led by the quick and possibly-irrational judgement that pop-up behind my mind, i.e. a conclusion thought that processed by my AI-brain instantly, based on the past data I had stored in my brain.’
‘I want to be a better me, each day.’
This incident has taught Yvonne a lesson, a tough one.
This time, her inspector’s mind has gone… terribly wrong.