Labour Day 2009

I don’t know why we need one big-ass day for workers to celebrate a day off---don’t we have weekends? And that’s a two-day off, even better and we have it at every week. I guess it is an old custom from the industrial era that workers were first to be recognized as the driving force for the country’s well-being.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

I supposed it is not a bad idea after all; as working is part of our life and working together (in peace and harmony) is the hardest thing to endure. You hate your boss, office mate or colleague just for the stupid face that you have to see every single day, isn’t that hard enough for average working person like you and me. And then there is office politic that keep your morning coffee at the mamak restaurant hot and tasty. I happened to come across the following saying at my mate’s office.

Coming together is a start, planning together is a beginning, working together is a progress.

Why can’t we work together? ( if you say that you CAN work with your colleague then you better look again…..aren’t you pretending?) Let me tell you why I can’t work together with my colleague ( or seems to always have difficulties in keeping the relationship professionally positive)

1. I am a slow mover, not that I’m a lembab-ass but I work at my own pace. And it seems to lag behind ever ytime. Although I can catch up eventually, I just don’t give a damn who has gone before me or behind me and that attitude has always left me on my own.

2. I have my own ideas that I want to work on. Usually people would see them so far off or “superficial”. For me most ideas that I put forward are “workable” but they need to be worked a bit harder than other simple ideas. So people will have to give up a lot of time, or endless effort or even some amount of money to see the success; no matter what I want to see the success but people would kill them off because they afraid of the commitment. I would end up in a conflict; and as I am not good in handling conflicts , I would leave them altogether.

3. I am a peace-loving person that will make everything to stay away from confrontations. I would rather be alone, if you know what I mean.

4. I hate strategic planning; a must if you work with people.


…..but one way or another you can’t escape from working with people. That’s why my Labor Day is the day for me to celebrate how I have survived the daunting task of working with people.

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