Money Talks, Happiness Walks

Today was one of those days—no inspiration, just vibes (and not the good kind). My supervisor was on leave, which meant it was all on me. And guess what? Issues always pop up when they’re not around. Always. It’s like the universe knows when I’m unsupervised and goes, “Let’s have some fun.” But hey, I managed to fix it within the day, so… yay, I guess?

After almost two years of working (two years feels like 20, by the way), I’ve realized something very important: I’m a born follower. Leadership? Nope. Not for me. Leaders make decisions, and when those decisions go south, they’re the ones who take the heat. Except… apparently, that’s not how it works these days. These days, leaders have a special skill: dodging responsibility faster than a squirrel on caffeine.

Case in point: Issue A. It showed up back in September, messed up Product A, made it defective, and, of course, no one wants a defective product. So, bye-bye Product A—it had to be thrown away. But throwing stuff away costs money. A lot of money. The deadline to deal with this disaster? December 19.

We, the loyal peasants—I mean, followers—tried our best to find the root cause. We really did. But when we hit a wall, the bosses were supposed to step in and figure it out. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. Instead of having a simple conversation about who should bear the cost, they pretended to be busy and played a game of “Let’s Blame Another Department.”

I was just sitting there like, “Um, guys? If it’s our fault, shouldn’t we just own up to it, fix it, and make sure it doesn’t happen again?” But nope, that would make too much sense. Fast-forward a few months, and guess what? The problem is still here. Now the boss is angry, asking, “Why isn’t this solved yet?” And I’m like, “Uh… because you spent all your energy running away from it instead of solving it. Bruh.”

Here’s the kicker: they’re so scared of their boss (a.k.a. the director) that they’d rather shove the problem under the rug than take responsibility. Why? Because if the cost appears in the system, the director will ask questions. And God forbid anyone explains anything to the director.

Here’s my take: nothing in life is 100% perfect. Mistakes happen—it’s normal. But as an engineer (or, you know, a decent human), your job is to fix problems and prevent them from happening again. It’s like raising a kid. You don’t hide their mistakes; you teach them to learn from them. But apparently, these bosses skipped Parenting 101.

Anyway, fast-forward to today. The deadline is here. They finally gave up and said, “Fine, let’s just admit it and take the cost.” But here’s the plot twist: back in September, the cost was 5K SGD. Now? It’s 14K SGD. Yeah, that’s right—our indecision got a glow-up. Instead of saving money, we basically set 9K SGD on fire. So, congrats to my bosses for this expensive lesson in procrastination. Truly inspiring leadership.

bye bye

Sometimes, the way they throw away money makes me wonder if it’s just a number to them. Like, “Oh, it’s only 14K SGD.” But hold up—14,000 SGD is 46,092.20 MYR in Malaysia. BRUH. How many lifetimes am I going to need to earn that back? Do they think we’re all casually walking around with that kind of cash in our back pockets? Because, spoiler alert, we’re not.

And then there’s that saying: “Money can’t buy happiness.” Honestly, I think it depends on who you ask. Personally, I think money can’t make you sad, though—because everything in life revolves around it. Need to eat? Money. Want to travel? Money. Thinking of chilling at home, bingeing Netflix? Guess what? Money again.

Money might not directly buy happiness, but it sure as heck makes life easier. You know what would make me happy? That 46K in my bank account, solving all my problems while I sip teh c peng in peace.

bruh...