Year-end Bonus (2)

(The title of this entry should really be "Do You Lend Money to Friends?", an entry I thought to write a few days ago. You will understand the "year-end bonus" part when I finish the story.)

A few days ago a very good friend - a sister - called me for an urgent request. She needed X amount of RMB to increase her chances to buy a house. I agreed that I could help. Later that night she called again; this time she needed more, 3X amount of RMB. I told her that I had to think about it.

Do you lend money to friends? (By "friends" I mean people that you can trust.) I guess in most cases the answer is "of course." But over time I have formed a rule not to lend money to friends. If a friend really needs help, I would give him or her an amount based on my capability and the prompting from within.

There are of course exceptions. 1) If it's a small amount, and a friend happens to forget his or her wallet, for instance, then it wouldn't be a big deal. 2) If he or she insists to return the amount one day, it would be a lent amount - but, I would still be lending an amount as if I was giving him or her that much.

Thus, I replied the sister the next day, telling her that I had wired X amount of RMB to her bank account as a donation. I also explained that while I probably could lend her 3X amount of RMB, I could not afford to give her that much, thus I would only donate X amount this time.

This rule has worked well for me. It frees me from getting into lender/debtor relationships, and it keeps my money management simple. I am also sending signals to my friends not to get into debt easily. And if some of them are believers of a Creator, I encourage them to have faith that He will provide in due time, and they shouldn't rush into borrowing money.

Of course, I wouldn't be too rigid when dealing with friends. They think that they borrowed money from me, while I treat it as if I gave it to them. In almost all the cases they eventually returned the money; to me, those were bonuses. I manage my finance without thinking at all the amount that might be owed to me - and of course I make sure that I don't owe others.

So, today, I went to a couple's place to have lunch. They told me that they just wired an amount to my bank account and thanked me for helping them out a few months ago. Did I remember that they borrowed money from me before? Yes and no. I knew, but I seriously didn't think about it afterwards. So this returned money was my year-end bonus. :-)

It happened to be X amount of RMB, exactly the same amount I donated to that sister friend a few days ago.

Year-end Bonus (1)

With today's economic situation, people probably should be content with having a job. Still, naturally, people want more than what they have or given. The Chinese New Year is right around the corner, and it's time for year-end bonus...or do we have one at all this year?

Yesterday was the last day at work. A coworker began to chat with me through IM. She was not from the same department, but we had served the company together for a number of years now. She complained about her year-end bonus being too low (a certain percentage of her salary). I said, well, maybe everyone gets the same amount (percentage) this year. She said, no! The management is fooling themselves - of course we know (that it's different for everyone). Uh oh, I thought, this is dangerous territory. You are not supposed to discuss salaries and bonuses privately, but this is China.

I tried my best to comfort and encourage her, but she still couldn't calm down. She was supposed to reply an email to her management, and she was worried that she would sound too angry. :-) So she asked me to draft a few sentences. I complied and said that I would like to buy her a meal. She said, no, she should treat me; she had asked me a favor many times.

Then, as I was wondering how come I hadn't received an email from the upper management, one of the top engineers on the team came to my seat and asked about the year-end bonus. The money was already put in our bank accounts (I didn't know that), and he felt that his was unexpectedly low. I said that I had no idea and that I didn't control these things.

After he walked away, I checked online my bank account. Indeed an amount was put in a day earlier, and it was not big. In fact, it was a lower percentage than the girl's, who complained to me just half an hour ago.

Now this is a real test, isn't it? It is one thing to hear from others and even show sympathy; it is another when you feel that you've been treated unfairly. Suddenly I realized that I had work to do. Most of the team members probably didn't get a big bonus this year. Although they could feel lucky for still having a job, but they deserved better. I would make a few phone calls to wish them a happy New Year. And I need to put aside my petty feelings. :-)

Actually here is a funny thing. I had thought about "giving away" my bonus. I felt that whatever bonus I would get, the team should have it since they did the real work. Especially during the second half of the year, with all my traveling and other matters, I didn't put my whole mind and heart to managing the team. Now with the "unexpectedly low" bonus, perhaps it's easier for me to give it away? Haha.

I Won! ... Not Really

Monday night was our company's annual Chinese New Year banquet. Good food, good performances (by different departments). The biggest draw, of course, was the prize drawing. Each person submitted his or her shuffle drawing ticket, and one of the executives or managers would do the drawing.

This was my fourth year in a row to attend the event, and once again, I came away with winning none of the top prizes; I would again get the "consolation prize" like most others. Of course, I never really cared for it. In fact, last year when I was busy doing the MC, I even forgot to submit my shuffle drawing ticket.

Nonetheless, I got pretty nervous when the #1 prize was announced. It was a Fujitsu laptop computer. I almost forgot my pre-event promise to myself that if I won the top prize, I would in some way donate it to the cause of the NW. I have always used a Fujitsu laptop, and it's almost time to get a new one. Could this be the one? My project team had "performed" pretty well this night, with about 1/3 of them winning a prize. Could it be that their manager would claim the crown prize?

But, of course, it didn't happen. :-) In case you are curious, here is my shuffle drawing ticket:

I had hoped to win a prize with it, but it wasn't meant to be. I should be content with the consolation prize. I should even be glad. :-)

New Habit

(I am still in office at this minute, just past midnight. Our software has a release tonight, and we are doing a final round of testing before the official release. Meanwhile, I make a visit to this space...)

Some say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. For the past 21 days (started just before the New Year), I have been reading 2 chapters from the Old Testament, 1 chapter from the New Testament, and 1 Psalm every day. There has been no lagging or jumping ahead. Every day the same amount. By this rate, I should go through the whole Book in a year.

I figure that I have perhaps read every book in the Book, but I cannot be sure since I have never successfully read from cover to cover in a year (or any period of time). But this year, 2009, so far it has been quite good. I am not pushing it, and I find it enjoyable, even memorizing quite a few verses (e.g. the entire Psalm 13). Perhaps this is the year that I will finally do it!

(Now back to work...)

Little Children

I attended a closing ceremony of a private "school" run by a good friend this morning. It's not an official school since my friend runs it quite differently from the public schools. It was a very special event, with the children singing praise songs and reciting Psalms (in both Chinese and English) as a way of showing what they've learned during this past semester.

The headmaster - my friend - did a PowerPoint presentation on school's teaching and children's growth. The teaching is centered on one verse, Luke 2:52, thus the education focuses on 4 areas:

• ...grew in wisdom... (learning various subjects)
  
• ...and stature... (physical education, including healthy habits)
  
• ...in favor with G... (spiritual growth)
  
• ...and men. (social skills and team work)
  

Among these, the 3rd area is the most emphasized. The grading was also unique. Instead of giving just a score (like based on a test), the students' attitudes were figured in. Thus, if the attitude had a grade of A, B, or C, and the score was 1, 2, or 3, then the final grade would be A1, B1, C2, etc., with more emphasis on the attitude.

I was invited to give a brief talk to the children as an encouragement. I quoted Matthew 19:14, where JC said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." I often wondered what kind of little children JC was pointing at when He spoke so, and now, this morning, I had a better idea.

Evaluation and Reflection

Although it's not time yet for performance review for the engineers,  but since it's almost at the end of a software release, I decided to do an evaluation for the team members. There have been good things and bad things for this release, and the biggest complaints are 1) the whole team feels tired; 2) some members are not exactly team players, causing others to put in more effort.

Based on team leaders' comments and my own observations, I began to grade each and every engineer. (This will not go into their performance review, which will happen in a few months, but this will help them and myself to focus on areas to improve.) The more I graded them - some didn't receive high marks - the more I realized one thing: Some of the weaknesses the team members displayed were results of weaknesses coming from the top. I, as the project manager, was in fact partially responsible for some of the bad performances.

I don't mean to be hard on myself (I gave myself a  B minus :-), but that realization was very humbling. I thought that I had become a fairly decent project manager, but now I saw that I still had much to learn.

Actually I will not continue to be the PM when the new release starts. I couldn't be happier about the next PM though, who happens to be a very good friend of mine in the company. I will miss the team. When I took over a year ago, the team had about 15 people; now it's about 35. I care for their personal growth more than the "success" of the project; that sometimes caused conflicts with the upper management. Over time, however, my approach became more and more appreciated.

But I have my limits. Perhaps this indeed is a good time to move on - and let those who can do a better job to take over.

Beggars

The other night I was on my way home from a friend's place. Two people approached me as I was walking. A middle-aged woman and a young fellow, appearing to be mother and son. They looked quite decent with clean clothes. They didn't ask for money but asked if I could just buy them some food. I complied and bought them each a bowl of rice noodles (RMB 5 per). I even sat down and chatted with them a little bit.

They told me that they were from Nanjing, which surprised me. "You don't sound like from Nanjing at all - I am from Nanjing," I said to them. They insisted that they were from Nanjing, while I was sure that they were not based on their accent. (BTW, many beggars came from Anhui province, which was not far from Nanjing.) I didn't push further, and left them the remaining changes in my pocket - and walked away.

A minute later, the boy caught up with me, asking me to help them more. He said that they would catch a train back to Nanjing the next day, but if I would be so kind, could I pay for a room for them near the train station for the night. The train station was very far from where I lived, so this was as good as asking for money. I didn't have more changes (although I did have a few hundred-yuan bills with me, but I wouldn't go that far), and I told him that I couldn't help any further. He followed me and was very persistent. I stopped and looked right into his eyes, "I cannot help you," I said very coldly. He didn't follow me again.

A few minutes later, as I was very close to my place, two young women approached me and right away they said, "We are not asking you for money, but could you just buy us some food?" I almost laughed and explained to them that I had just helped someone like them and I ran out of changes. They asked me to describe whom I just helped. I thought, why would you want to know that? Competitors? People in the same "network"? I was very firm that I couldn't help them. One of the girls finally pointed at a book that I was carrying, "Could you give us a book to read?" "I bought the book because I liked it! I am not going to give you that!" I walked away rather mad.

The night was cold, and that did make me feel for them. But then, they dressed warmer than I did that evening.

Singapore

So I am back from Singapore - my first trip this year through air. It was very good. (Well, even making the trip was to be thankful for.) Weather was "perfect." Yes, a little bit on the warm side, but much easier to go through than the uneven temperatures in the southern China these days. In fact, while I had no problem with the cold weather in Beijing a week ago, I promptly caught a cold in Guangzhou, where it was supposed to be warmer.

I accomplished everything that I wanted to accomplish in Singapore - and more. Here is my "secret" for enjoying short trips like this: "Everything that I wanted to accomplish" was in fact a very short list, namely a gathering with a group of volunteers to discuss this year's summer program in the NW. Everything else would be a bonus!

I ended up meeting a few other very good friends, including a soon-to-be-married couple. The Sunday morning service that I attended just before my return flight was superb. Every meal was delicious. I also got to spend time with a pastor from South Africa, staying at his place both nights since he had an extra room. (I asked friends to book a room at Raffles. They thought that I was joking and didn't do it.)

The pastor shared with me this funny story: Cape Town, where he used to live, was very windy at times. One time he was walking in a particular area famous for wind, and a lady suddenly grabbed him for support. Before he could react, another lady grabbed him from the other side, also in fear of being blown away. The three of them were captured by a reporter's camera, and they were on the local newspaper the next day!

Going to a place far away to hear a story from even farther way. That's traveling.

How to Travel Overseas In Less Than 2 Weeks After Losing Passport

Here is an update on my passport: The old was never found, and the new is already at hand. In summary, I am making all the trips that I planned to make this month.

• Day -13, Sunday, 12/14/08. Returned to Shenzhen on a flight, meaning I still had the (old) passport then.
• Day Y, the day that the passport was lost. I don't know exactly when and where. I chose letter Y because that's the question one would ask, "Why, why, why?"
• Day 0, Saturday, 12/27/08. Discovered that my passport had been lost.
• Day 1, Sunday, 12/28/08. Shared the news with local friends and started searching. Asked everyone to pray.
• Day 2, Monday, 12/29/08. Reported to local police (paichusuo, 派出所) about the loss. Local police issued a notice, which was needed for the next step.
• Day 3, Tuesday, 12/30/08. Submitted local police's notice to city PSB (市公安局). A Statement of Loss of Passport would be issued the next day. Took passport photo in a local shop.
• Day 4, Wednesday, 12/31/08. Returned to city PSB and obtained the Statement of Loss of Passport, which would be needed for applying for a new passport. Picked up passport photo just before the shop closed.
• Day 5, Thursday, 1/1/09. New Year's Day. On a train to Beijing. Strictly speaking, a soft sleeper seat, which I had, would also require a passport, but the checking was lax.
• Day 8, Sunday, 1/4/09. On a train back from Beijing to Guangzhou. Stayed in relative's place overnight.
• Day 9, Monday, 1/5/09. 9:00 AM, entered the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou with the necessary documents, including the Statement of Loss of Passport. 11:15 AM, obtained an emergency passport (good for 1 year). The full-validity passport (good for 10 years) would be ready in 2 weeks at no extra cost. 12:00 noon, on a train back to Shenzhen. 2:00 PM, entered the city PSB with the necessary documents to re-apply for my work visa. 3:00 PM, all documents were reviewed, but the officer could only approve to issue the visa a week later on 1/12. But I planned to travel on 1/9, so I talked to a supervisor at the PSB. 3:30 PM, went into an Internet cafe to gather data. 4:00 PM, went back to the PSB and convinced the supervisor to expedite the process. I could pick up the visa on 1/8 instead!
• Day 12, Thursday, 1/8/09. Picked up the replacement work visa at the city PSB. I now could travel overseas!
• Day 13, Friday, 1/9/09 (that will be tomorrow). Fly to Singapore.

Of course, I still don't have a full-validity passport yet, but for all practical purposes, I am set. The whole process went pretty smoothly, and it took less than two weeks. Excluding the weekends and holiday (New Year's Day), it took 8 working days, while in reality it took 4 working days to get it settled (when the PSB supervisor agreed to expedite the visa process). It helped when my residence (Shenzhen) was close to the U.S. Consulate location (Guangzhou).

Now I want to share one more detail: Perhaps you are curious how I convinced the PSB supervisor to expedite the visa process. In normal circumstances, such request would not be granted unless it was an emergency situation, such as medical conditions or relatives passing away. (And, of course, don't ever imagine that you could talk a Chinese officer into changing his mind.) There was another situation where it could be considered - if you had purchased airplane tickets that did not allow change of date.

Honestly I don't think this rule makes sense. I went on a trip because of an event, not because I just wanted to get on an airplane. Say, in this case, the event was to be held on 1/10, and I bought airplane tickets accordingly. Even if I could change flights, the event would not change, right?

But anyway, I couldn't argue with the officer, and as it so happened, the airplane tickets that I purchased (before I lost or realized that I lost my passport) indeed prohibited date change, since it was a "super deal" promoted by Singapore Airlines. I went to an Internet cafe near the PSB and pulled up SA's website, printed out the price rules, and went back to the PSB to show the officer my "proof."

A couple of tips on talking to a Chinese officer (or government staff) in such a situation. 1) Show that you really want it. Be firm. 2) On the other hand, don't press them. Almost *nothing* in China is absolutely inflexible, but you need to be patient. If he asks you to produce something, try your best to do it - and show your effort. No matter how tedious it is, don't get mad or complain. I mentioned that you couldn't talk them into changing their mind, but your cooperative attitude could influence them to act in your favor, while they didn't appear to have changed their mind at all. :-)

Passengers on the Train

My first trip in 2009 was by train - after 26 trips through the air in 2008. It happened because the loss of my passport. As it turned out, traveling by train opened my eyes in an unexpected way. I would like to travel this way more often in the future.

I took soft sleeper seats for both trips (from Shenzhen to Beijing, 23 hours, then back from Beijing to Guangzhou, 21 hours). It was definitely more comfortable than the hard sleeper seat I once took (1.5 years ago), although the bed wasn't much softer. I didn't sleep too well on both trains, but other than that, it was an enjoyable trip. In particular, I remember the passengers who shared the same cell (4 sleeper seats) with me.

Not all of them shared the entire ride; some took off at the middle, then some got on at the same stop. There was a retired man with his pregnant daughter going back home for the Chinese New Year. There was a young man about my age who went on his one-year job assignment to build a high-speed train rail between Wuhan and Guangzhou (when in operation, the top speed could reach 350 km/hr!). I had some casual chats with them.

When the man and his pregnant daughter got off at Liaocheng, Shandong, two ladies got on board. They were sisters-in-law, and immediately they got into lively chats between them. I was compelled to have a conversation with them, but I could hardly cut in. So I continued to read my book, with a copy of the Good Book lying right next to me. In fact, I deliberately nudged it to make it more visible. I went for a bathroom break, giving them a chance to talk about me - and perhaps the Good Book. (Seriously, that was my thinking! :-)

Upon my return, I soon was able to start a conversation with them. They made a positive comment on my attitude toward matters, and one of them pointed at the Good Book, "I see you have this book. I know you (plural) are good people." I asked if she had a copy herself. Indeed someone gave her a copy before, but she hardly read it. From then on our conversation got deeper and deeper, and they became quite excited. I literally shared with them the Good News, something they heard before but didn't quite understand. They particularly enjoyed listening to how I apply my faith in different areas of my life. I encouraged them to go to their local church and they agreed. We exchanged contact info, and they invited me to visit them in Liaocheng. "How I wish that you could talk to my husband," one of them said, "He is very stubborn, and he needs to hear what you shared today."

On my return trips from Beijing to Guangzhou, an elderly couple also went the distance. I found them not sociable, almost rude when talking to others. Not until we were close to Guangzhou that I finally struck up a conversation with them. It turned out they had lived and worked in Qinghai (Northwest!) for over 20 years, now retired. The wife's health was not good, and they decided to spend the winter in the south. They had quite a bit of luggage since they were going to stay in Guangzhou for a few months. I helped them with their luggage when the train arrived at Guangzhou. We said good-bye. With only a backpack, I walked a lot faster. But at a set of stairs before the exit (no escalator), I waited for them to catch on so that I could help them with their luggage again.

New Year's Day Cards

Our project team had a choice. Either working on Friday, 1/2 or Sunday, 1/4. But I didn't give them that choice. I told everyone rather sternly that since we needed to fix the bugs in a hurry, everyone in principle should come to office on Friday - then enjoy the weekend. They would get the New Year's Day off. So it would be like 1 day off-1 day working-2 days off, instead of 3 days off -1 day working. Some preferred the latter, but, again, I didn't give them that choice.

Then I admitted sheepishly that *I* would take Friday, 1/2, *and* Sunday, 1/4, off because I would be going to Beijing by train. What a manager, huh? :-) (I wouldn't be able to fix any bugs for the team, anyway.)

But I had an idea to appreciate each one of them. On New Year's Eve I went to a bookstore and bought a whole bunch of New Year's Day cards. They were pretty decent, very well designed, but not overly expensive (about RMB 5~6 per). Thinking that the team had about 30 people, I bought 32 cards.

Then on New Year's Day, I sneaked in the office right after lunch. Nobody else was around, of course, and I began to sign the cards. Initially I wanted to keep it simple, with the same sentence for everyone. But as I started writing, the engineers' faces began to show up in front of me, so I ended up writing personalized messages. A couple of examples, "Thanks for being such a gentleman!" "You are a wonderful tester. Thanks for all the bugs - or should we thank the developers?" "You have been an incredible addition to the team. Thanks for everything!"

I had a great time doing it. But soon I found two problems: 1) This was taking longer than I expected, and I had a train to catch in the afternoon. 2) Toward the end, I realized that I bought one card short! How embarrassing! Whom do you want to leave out? Nobody!

Finally I decided to "sacrifice" the girl, a tester, sitting right next to me. (Our office space became so insufficient that the extra space for managers were being utilized.) I wrote her a note to apologize for the mistake, and I promised to make it up. I was sweating. (Update: Upon my return to the office, I gave her a Chinese book as the new year's gift. She was a bit overwhelmed, so I explained that it wasn't even a brand new book. It was a book that had brought me encouragement and comfort in the past, entitled "Stories for the Heart.")

But the drama didn't end yet for the New Year's Day. When I was done with the cards, it was close to 2 o'clock and the train's departure time was 2:40. I rushed downstairs and began to look for a taxi, but there wasn't any. I called a friend who lived nearby but he was out of town. Uh oh. Finally, at about 2:05 a taxi showed up.

It turned out to be my lucky day, as the driver was very experienced, knowing how to get to the train station through short-cuts. In particular, when it got close to the train station, he knew not to follow the taxi line as it would take at least another 10-15 minutes to drop the pessengers off. He pulled his car next to a hotel, and I walked to the station from there - with 5 minutes to spare. Plenty of time! :-)

(So how was the train ride? Stay tuned for the next entry. :-)