My First Day

Thursday, January 12, 2006

I'm sure many of you are thinking (or not!)... how was my first day? I must say that basically it's rather boring... the whole day was spent on HR orientation only. So, I had to sit down and was briefed about their salary scheme, benefits, annual leaves, security, safety, etc. Those basic things that you should know when starting work at a new company lah.

I also had the chance to go have lunch at their cafeteria. And it was quite like a dining hall in boarding schools. At lunch, every employee will go to the dining hall and eat there, as we're not allowed to leave the company premises during lunch "hour" (it's actually 40 minutes only), except on Fridays to perform the Friday prayers. The meal also isn't free like I expected; we're supposed to pay a small amount of money to buy the food. It's not that expensive... only RM2.80 for a tray of nasi ayam. Ok what...

Also had the misfortune of having to go to the toilet during a briefing session. Hahah! But at least I got to see how their toilets are, and basically, they're OK. Not spectacular, but just OK. Clean enough to be used daily. ;P

Met the Managing Director of Panasonic Compressor, a very nice Japanese guy. Of course, it's kind of like a rite of passage for any new staff joining the company to meet the MD first before starting work. He gave me advice about working life as an engineer, career development, etc. His English, of course, wasn't that good, but he is by far one of the best English-speaking Japanese I have ever talked to.

Got my uniform, too. Yeah. UNIFORM. Hahaha... those who are working in offices might be laughing their asses off knowing the fact that I have to wear uniform to work. But I look at it another way: consider the fact that I don't have to buy office attire (which I won't be wearing after all when not at work) and that everybody else within the factory premises are wearing the same uniform (thus disallowing people to show off their neat shirts or dresses). This will add up to saved costs due to not having to buy office attire. Positive thinking!

And finally, was introduced to my section team leader, who's a very polite and talkative guy. He'll be the person in charge over me, and all my work will be reported directly to him. He gave me a slight briefing on the job they do there at Panasonic Compressor R&D, and truth be told, I am quite interested to know more. The job basically is similar to the job of a Design Engineer at Technip, with slight differences.

I really am quite amped up to know more.

Oh yeah, every Panasonic staff has to attend a daily morning assembly, where we're supposed to sing the company song, recite the company principles, and accordingly give public speeches to our section. I'm supposed to introduce myself to my section tomorrow during morning assembly. Hehe. Wish me luck! ;)

Posted by Nikman Shah at 11:35 pm
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