Monday, June 27, 2005

The Story of the One-Eyed Mother

My mom only had one eye.
I hated her... she was such an embarrassment..
My mom ran a small shop at a flea market.
She collected little weeds and such to sell...
Anything for the money we needed
She was such an embarrassment.
There was this one day during elementary school..
It was field day, and my mom came.
I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me?
I threw her a hateful look and ran out.

The next day at school...
"Your mom only has one eye?!?!" ..and they taunted me.
I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world
So I said to my mom, "Mom.. Why don't you have the other eye?!
If you're only gonna make me a laughingstock, why don't you just die?!!!"
My mom did not respond..
I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think
that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this time..
Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me,
but I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.

That night...
I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might
wake me.
I took a look at her, then turned away.
Because of the thing I had said to her earlier,
there was something pinching at me in the corner of my heart.
Even so, I hated my mother who was crying out of her one eye.
So I told myself that I would grow up and become successful.
Cause I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty..

Then I studied real hard.
I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied,
and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had.

Then, I got married.
I bought a house of my own.
Then I had kids, too..
Now I'm living happily as a successful man.
I like it here because it's a place that doesn't remind me of my mom.

This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when..

What?!
Who's this?!
...It was my mother...
..Still with her one eye.
It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me.
My little girl ran away, scared of my mom's eye.
And I asked her, "Who are you?!"
"I don't know you!!!" as if trying to make that real.
I screamed at her, "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter!"

"GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!"

And to this, my mother quietly answered,
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,"
and she disappeared out of sight.


Thank good ness... She doesn't recognize me..
I was quite relieved.

I told myself that I wasn't going to care,
or think about this for the rest of my life.
Then a wave of relief came upon me...

One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house.
So, lying to my wife that I was going on a business trip, I went.
After the reunion, I went down to the old shack,
that I used to call a house... Just out of curiosity

There, I found my mother fallen on the cold ground.
But I did not shed a single tear.
She had a piece of paper in her hand....
It was a letter to me.
"My son...
I think my life has been long enough now..

And... I wont visit Seoul anymore...
But would it be too much to ask if I wanted you
to come visit me once in a while?
I miss you so much.. And I was so glad when I
heard you were coming for the reunion.
But I decided not to go to the school.
....
For you...
And I'm sorry that I only have one eye,
and I was an embarrassment for you.

You see, when you were very little,
you got into an accident, and lost your eye.
As a mom, I couldn't stand watching you
having to grow up with only one eye...
So I gave you mine...
I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole
new world for me, in my place, with that eye.
I was never upset at you for anything you did..
The couple times that you were angry with me..
I thought to myself, 'It's because he loves me..'

My son... Oh, my son... "

Monday, June 20, 2005

Why Do Talented Employees Leave Companies

Early this year, Arun, an old friend who is a senior software designer, got
an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India
operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.
He
had heard a lot about the CEO of this
company, charismatic man often quoted in the business press for his
visionary attitude. The salary was great. The company had all the right
systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a
spanking
new office, the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb
food. Twice Arun was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the
sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined. "It's a real high
working with such cutting edge technology."

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Arun walked out of the
job. He has no other offer in hand but he said he couldn't take it anymore.
Nor, apparently, could several other people in his department who have also
quit recently.

The CEO is distressed about the high employee turnover. He's distressed
about the money he's spent in training them. He's
distressed because he can't figure out what happened. Why did this talented
employee leave despite a top salary? Arun quit for
the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup
Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000
managers and was published in a book called First Break All The Rules. It
came up with this surprising finding: If you're losing good people, look to
their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the
reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why
they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them.
Often,
straight to the competition.

"Many times people leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus
Buckingham and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the
challenge
of keeping good people - in the form of better pay, better perks and better
training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly manager issue." If you have
a turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving people
away? Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money,
and more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this
depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to
happen to good people everywhere.

A Fortune magazine survey some years ago found that nearly 75 per cent of
employees have suffered at the hands of difficult superiors. You can leave
one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-stripe suit in the
next one. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst,
directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees.

Here are some all-too common tales from the battlefield: Dev, an engineer,
still shudders as he recalls the almost daily firings his
boss subjected him to, usually in front of his subordinates. His boss
emasculated him with personal, insulting remarks. In the face of such rage,
Dev completely lost the courage to speak up. But when he reached home
depressed, he poured himself a few drinks, and magically, became as abusive
as the boss himself. Only, it would come out on his wife and children. Not
only was his work life in the doldrums, his marriage began cracking up too.

Another employee Rajat recalls the Chinese torture his boss put him through
after a minor disagreement. He cut him off completely. He bypassed him in
any decision that needed to be taken. "He stopped sending me any papers or
files," says Rajat. "It was humiliating sitting at an empty table. I knew
nothing and no one told me anything." Unable to bear this corporate
Siberia, he finally quit.

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find public humiliation
the
most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought
has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The
third
time, he starts looking for another job. When people cannot retort openly
in
anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and
slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By
omitting to give the boss crucial information.

Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into
trouble. You don't have your heart and soul in the job."
Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being
too
controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, too nit-picky. But
they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When
this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over seemingly trivial
issue.

It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that went
before. And while it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons
- for better opportunities or for circumstantial reasons, many who leave
would have stayed - had it not been for one man constantly telling them, as
Arun's boss did: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens like you." While
it
seems like there are plenty of other fish especially in today's waters,
consider for moment the cost of losing a talented employee. There's the
cost
of finding a replacement. The cost of training the replacement. The cost of
not having someone to do the job in the meantime. The loss of clients and
contacts the person had with the industry. The loss of morale in co-
workers.
The loss of trade secrets this person may now share with others.

Plus, of course, the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who
leaves a corporation then becomes its ambassador, for better or for worse.
We all know of large IT companies that people would love to join and large
television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees
have left to tell their tales.

"Any company trying to compete must figure out a way to engage the mind of
every employee," Jack Welch of GE once said. Much of a company's value lies
"between the ears of its employees". If it's bleeding talent, it's bleeding
value. Unfortunately, many senior executives busy travelling the world,
signing new deals and developing a vision for the company, have little idea
of what may be going on at home.

That deep within an organization that otherwise does all the right things,
one man could be driving its best people away.

Meaning of your name

Instructions: What you do is find out what each letter of your name means.

Then connect all the meanings and it describes YOU. (It's TRUE!!) (Isn't it
GREAT!!)

PS: If you have double or triple letters, just count the meaning once.

For Example: D A V E

D You have trouble trusting people.
A You can be very quiet when you have something on your mind.
V You have a very good physique and looks.
E You are a very exciting person.



A You can be very quiet when you have something on your mind.
B You are always cautious when it comes to meeting new people.
C You definitely have a partier side in you; don't be shy to show it.
D You have trouble trusting people.
E You are a very exciting person.
F Everyone loves you.
G You have excellent ways of viewing people.
H You are not judgmental.
I You are always smiling and making others smile.
J Jealously
K You like to try new things.
L Love is something you deeply believe in.
M Success comes easily to you.
N You like to work, but you always want a break.
O You are very open-minded.
P You are very friendly and understanding.
Q You are a hypocrite.
R You are a social butterfly.
S You are very broad-minded.
T You have an attitude, a big one.
U You feel like you have to equal up to people's standards.
V You have a very good physique and looks.
W You like your privacy.
X You never let people tell you what to do.
Y You cause a lot of trouble.
Z You're always fighting with someone

Accurate Quiz

AMAZINGLY ACCURATE
Whatever you do, don't cheat!


CHINESE HOROSCOPE :
THE YEAR OF THE IRON DRAGON,
WISHING YOU PROSPERITY AND GOOD FORTUNE IN THE
CHINESE NEW YEAR

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS -
DO NOT CHEAT
OR IT WON'T WORK AND
YOU WILL WISH YOU HADN`T.

TAKE 3 MINUTES
TRY THIS - IT WILL FREAK YOU OUT.






THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO ME SAID
HER WISH CAME TRUE 10 MINUTES AFTER SHE FORWARDED THE EMAIL

NO CHEATING !!!!











THIS GAME HAS A FUNNY / CREEPY OUTCOME.






DO NOT READ AHEAD, JUST DO IT.


IT TAKES ABOUT 3 MINUTES - WORTH A TRY

1st. Get PEN and PAPER

2nd. WHEN CHOOSING NAMES, MAKE SURE THEY ARE REAL PEOPLE THAT YOU ACTUALLY KNOW

3rd. GO WITH YOUR FIRST INSTINCTS !!!!! Very important for good results.

4th. SCROLL DOWN

ONE LINE AT THE TIME
DON`T READ AHEAD
otherwise
YOU WILL RUIN THE FUN.









1. On a blank sheet of paper, WRITE NUMBERS
1 through 11 in a COLUMN on the LEFT.












2. BESIDE the NUMBERS
1 & 2,

WRITE DOWN ANY
2 NUMBERS YOU WANT.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE NUMBER?














3. BESIDE the NUMBERS
3 & 7,

WRITE DOWN THE NAMES OF TWO MEMBERS
OF THE OPPOSITE SEX.











CAUTION: DO NOT LOOK AHEAD or IT WILL NOT TURN OUT RIGHT














4. WRITE ANYONES NAME

(like FRIENDS or FAMILY...)
next to
4, 5, & 6.













DON`T CHEAT OR YOU`LL BE UPSET THAT YOU DID













5. WRITE down FOUR SONG TITLES in
8, 9, 10, & 11
















6. Finally,

MAKE A WISH

















ARE YOU READY?
HERE IS THE

KEY TO THE GAME











1. THE NUMBER of PEOPLE YOU MUST TELL ABOUT THIS GAME is found in

SPACE 2





2. THE PERSON IN SPACE

3 IS THE ONE YOU LOVE






3. THE PERSON YOU LIKE but your relationship CANNOT WORK is in

SPACE 7






4. YOU CARE MOST about the PERSON you put in

SPACE 4







5. THE PERSON YOU NAME IN NUMBER
5 IS THE ONE WHO

KNOWS YOU VERY WELL.







6. THE PERSON YOU NAMED IN
6 IS THE YOUR

LUCKY STAR







7. THE SONG IN
8 IS THE SONG THAT MATCHES WITH THE

PERSON IN NUMBER 3






8. THE TITLE IN
9 IS THE SONG FOR THE

PERSON IN 7







9. THE
10TH SPACE IS THE SONG THAT TELLS YOU MOST ABOUT

YOUR MIND






10. AND
11 IS THE SONG TELLING HOW YOU

FEEL ABOUT LIFE






11. NUMBER
1 IS YOUR

LUCKY NUMBER




SEND THIS TO A MINIMUM OF
10 PEOPLE
WITHIN AN HOUR OF READING THIS.



IF YOU DO, YOUR WISH WILL COME TRUE.

IF YOU FAIL TO, IT WILL BECOME THE OPPOSITE


STRANGE HOW IT SEEMS TO WORK.