What Is My Work All About?

What is my work all about? 'Apa sebenarnya kerja si Herleena nie?', 'Apa kau buat kat office, asyik busy jer?'. That's the comments that I always receive from my surrounding people. Tak dinafikan, bila orang tanya, "Kau kerja kat mana?" and my answer will be, "INTI College," (now known as INTI International University College). And people will ask again, "Mengajar?" and my answer is, "Tak la. Admin."

What people have in mind? Admin? La, KERANI jer ke? Kesiannya semua orang yang kerja kat education institution nie kalau all the ADMIN means KERANI.

I believe that most of the people known the staff / worker of educational institutions as LECTURER. Kalau tak lecture, that's means they are doing all the rubbish work. Its not fair, right? So, I would like to take this oppurtunity to clear up the BAD images that we got for so long!!!

In educational institution (private sector), the ADMIN staff is a person who work starting from Tea Lady, Driver, Office Boy, Admin Assistant (normally with 2-3 grade), Officer (3-4 grade), Sr. Officer (3-4 grade), Executive (3-4 grade), Sr. Executive (3-4 grade), Manager (3-4 grade), Sr. Manager (3-4 grade), Director (3-4 grade), Sr. Director (3-4 grade), Associate Vice President, Vice President, President, Group President, Board Director, CEO, COO. Please slot the Managing Director & General Manager somewhere on the list...

And my position is one in the list. Which one, tekalah sendiri... The same goes to lecturer. the grade for lecturer pun normally ada 3-4 grade, sr. lecturer pun sama. associate professor to professor pun.

Lagi satu, gaji ADMIN staff nie tak la cikai sangat oii... and most of the times lagi banyak dari lecturer. so, be carefull when you try to look down at the ADMIN staff. When we mentioned 'taklah, bukan lecturer, I admin staff', it might be the director / head / etc.

May be orang ramai dah make use dengan local university punya structure. The same goes to Azimin when he joined UKM. So tension. Asal cakap pasal staff sokongan (they call it staff sokongan instead of admin staff), in their mind will be:

1. belajar setakat SPM jer
2. gaji tak sampai ribu
3. kerja lebih kurang macam kerani, data-entry, etc...

One of the incident happened somewhere during raya time. One of my relatives all this while rupanya under estimated me!!! Can you imagine that? Sampai hati dia. May be since Azimin is a lecturer, dia ingat all lecturer is so high position & got high pay.

I was in a long leave for raya (in 2005 if i'm not mistaken)and received a call from my staff. She was asking about the interview for 1 position in my department. And, my relatives (my husband relatives actually) heard my conversation and they straight away asked me after I finished my conversation on the phone.

"besar sangat ke kerja kau (they might mean 'position') sampai orang office kau asyik call aje? Takkan INTI tak boleh kerja sebab seorg pekerja dia tak de?"

I was very shocked but tried to be polite la kan... "tak de la besar sangat, tapi biasalah kan, kalau boss tak de. semua decision pending." sengaja jer I stressed the word BOSS tu but then, they didn't got it la...

May be it was my fault too. I never told people what is my position, how does my work look like? And until now, I still not yet apply the business card from INTI. Of course for my own business, I have it. And every time people do ask me kerja kat mana, my answer is INTI. "Teaching?" My answer is "No. Admin.". A friend of mine do tell me this, "sometimes, we need to show-off." Nampaknya, kalau tak show-off, macam nie la jadinya...

It was happened in some other function as well. And of course, in any kenduri, orang kawin, birthday celebration, Azimin will be the focus. They will ask this & that to him and I will only stand / sit next to him sambil senyum jer. And this is what happned:

"Wife you kerja mana?"
"INTI"
"Oh... sama-sama lecturer la nie."
"Bukanlah, dia admin staff."
"Oh! Kerani ke?"

And you guys know what happened after that? Dengan muka yang 3/4 inci, i just answered them, "tak semestinya admin staff tu kerani jer abang oii... director pun kira admin staff jugak." and that 'abang' sengih2 jer sebab suara aku satu hall boleh dengar... sorry la bang, salah orang kau nak kutuk...

Every year, Anggun punya birthday celebration memang we all buat kat luar. So far, belum pernah lagi buat kat rumah. selalunya, kalau tak A&W, Mc D lah... Ada sekali nie, bila we all buat b'day Anggun kat A&W Seremban, one my Azimin's uncle tanya:

"Banyak duit korang buat b'day anak kat sini? Siapa sponsor?"

Actually, I still didnt get it (until now) why do I need people to sponsor my kids b'day. The kids deserve to be happy! Azimin dah start bengang and jawab, "takkan nak kena tunggu orang sponsor jer baru nak buat b'day."

And his uncle still macam muka tak puas hati, "yelah, kan mahal. korang ada duit ker buat b'day macam nie?"

Azimin dengan muka toya, malas dah nak layan cakap, "Tanya Eleen. Dia yang bayar?"

"Banyak duit kau Leen?"
"Kenapa, abang _ _ _ _ _ ingat kitaorang nie tak mampu ker?"
"Berapa gaji kau sebenarnya?"
And my answer very simple, "Tak la sampai 7 ribu." (guys, dont ask me the actual figure. Even Azimin dont know the exact amount!)

I still remember when I was assigned to London for the UH Collaborative Partner Conference. My boss asked me to get approval from Azimin first before he sending my name to the top management. and Azimin was so shocked when I told him about it. His first impression was..

"Ha, why they sent you? You're not a teaching staff what?"

"Hey, you ingat I nie low-class sangat ke?" But then, dia kata ok...

Yelah, all this while, Azimin yang selalu out-station. And I will go with him if the date is fine with my schedule. And bila I asked my sister-in-law's husband (my biras) about some imigration matters, diaorang semua macam sibuk guessing why and what...

Bila sampai rumah (their house is just next door with mine), terus depa tanya aku,

"Azimin nak pergi out-station mana? Eleen ikut sekali ker?"

Oh my God! nobody pernah terfikir yang ELEEN pun ada potential to go far in her career. I have a good job (even sometimes I feel like I want to quit), I'm running my own small companies, and people are not event notice it.

After the London trip, I can see the changes. Most of the people around me started to respect me. Some of my neighbours start knowing that I'm not just a clerk. Masing-masing barulah.. "Ohhh, besar jugak pangkat dia yer. Kalau tak takkan sampai kena pergi London." All this while, they always commented on me sebab Azimin & me and also my sister-in-law & her husband bukan jenis yang nak lepak2 kat luar rumah sampai maghrib, yang malam2 duduk cerita2 pasal orang tu beli perabot baru, orang nie renovate rumah habis berapa ribu... We have our own commitment... kalau weekend, azimin & me will spent time with the kids if we have no function to attend, if azimin have no training, if I have no appointment & if I have no extra duty @ INTI. Some more with ALAM, we have no time for that lepak-lepak things. Azimin is busy with his research project @ Geopark Langkawi, MEST Toilet & also PhD paper. So, better for us to sort the things carefully.

Back to my job. I'm reporting to the Dean of Faculty Of Business & Accountancy and also Sr. Director of Institutional Development,handling around 10 staff under me + 45 lecturers (teaching my programmes) + more than 500 students for 2 programmes (Accounting & Finance).

Only 500 students? If local university lagi banyak... But please remember, students in local university just following the rules that set by the university, most of the fees is paid by goverment bodies, corporate companies & also with scholarship. In private institution, our salary is from the students fees. so, we take care of the students extra carefull but not over feeding. students has the right to suggest and even to complaint. when you tell them to do this, most of the times they will come to do other things... but, they are very independent...

Enough for now. Seems like I'm giving a lecture on my job... So my advice, be proud of yourself and sometimes please SHOW-OFF.