The guardian angels in one’s life: 08 (The future boss)

I was to be the Personal Secretary of the President of Conoco Taiwan, being the most qualified of all the non-executive staff: best of the lot in English, knew shorthand, etc.  He was the President of Conoco Singapore (Conoco Western Pacific) playing a double role.  I knew him already, but only remotely, from my short stint as the telex operator there.

    Received a call one day from Dr. Page, who was to be the Chief Geologist at Conoco Taiwan, asking to meet up for a coffee.  Most odd, as I didn’t really know him.

    Over the coffee, it became clear that he was there as my guardian angel.

    His first question was, “Do you have to be Mr. Ward’s secretary?”  No, I was just happy to have a job out there.

    Next question: “Would you like to be my secretary instead?”

    It turned out that his originally intended secretary had been the target of snide remarks, he said, with people saying things like, “Don’t sit in that chair.  She’s just sat on it,” reducing the poor woman to tears.  (She left because of this.  No, the culture of the complaints procedure was not strong at all then, plus this was the East, where people are less assertive of one’s rights when it comes to such things.)

    Dr. Page said that with the President straddling the Singapore and Taipei offices (therefore not full time presence), I wouldn’t have him around to protect me from the bullying (since I’m an outsider, being from Singapore), so he’d like me to “demote” myself and be HIS secretary instead, so that he could keep an eye on me.

    Thank you, Dr. Page.  I’m eternally grateful to you for thinking ahead, being concerned about my welfare as a foreigner in Taiwan with no family or friends there.

(Taiwan, 1974)

Double standards 02 (Taiwan)

My secretarial training had taught me to pick up the telephone within a couple of rings, and to screen calls.

One day, a woman rang up for my boss.  I went through the usual routine:

Me:  (In English)  Hello, Dr Page’s office, can I help you?

Woman:  (In a haughty voice, in English) Is he there?

Me:  (In English)  May I know who’s calling, please?

Woman:  (In English) Rose Chang.

I’d never heard of a Rose Chang among my boss’s professional or personal contacts.  And it was my duty as a Personal Secretary to manage all my boss’s business.

Me:  (In English) May I know from which company, please?

Woman:  (A slight pause — she seemed taken aback that she had to provide all these details.)  (In English) XYZ Company.

I’d never heard of an XYZ Company either among my boss’s professional or personal contacts.  It was a Chinese name.

Me:  (In English) Sorry, can you repeat that, please?

Woman:  (In English)  XYZ Company.

Me:  (In English)  Sorry, how do you spell that, please?

Woman:  (Brusquely, in Mandarin) 把我接过去，好不好！(Put me through, will you!)

I was only 21 and had never been trained to be assertive, so I just put her through, then sat there at my desk, shaking with indignation at her atrocious treatment of me.  

After the call, my boss came round and said, “Do you know who that was?  The president’s daughter-in-law!”  

I said, “I don’t care if she’s the president herself.  She shouldn’t have been so rude.”  

My boss said, “Yes, she did wonder about you and asked me where you’re from.  When I told her you’re from Singapore, she said, ‘Oh, I see.  No wonder her English is so good.’”  

I said, “Is she saying she would’ve been more polite to me if she’d known I am not from Taiwan?  That’s an equally appalling attitude!”

(Taiwan, 1976)