♡　yuka　♡

1. Mark 2.1.09 / 7pm

   Konbanwa Yuka-san!

   I sympathize with you, indeed. If I were in your shoes, I’d feel pretty taken aback myself! Here I am, barely one week into my new job, doing my work conscientiously while taking care not to tread on anyone’s toes… and this happens.

   Your antagonizer doesn’t even know you personally. Plus, the precious little that he knows about you is merely through his observations of you and your colleagues during lunch break. I really don’t see any rationale behind his… irrational comments. Honestly, they’re completely uncalled for.

   As Mr. Bradstone said, assumptions can be pretty dangerous and lead to nasty misunderstandings. I think this was what happened here. His fellow engineers and himself were probably making a wild conjecture just because your dad’s a senior figure in the company?

   I think you should pretend that nothing had happened. If the problem persists, however, you could consider seeking your dad’s advice. Since he’s been around the company long enough, he might be able to identify those groups of rumour-mongers whom no one really pays attention to. That young engineer could very well belong to this particular category.

   Mark

   Reply
2. Mark 2.1.09 / 7pm

   Oops, my bad! I mean, Mr. Blackstone, not Bradstone! Mea culpa.

   Reply
3. duanelim 2.3.09 / 7pm

   Hi Yuka

   I would say that the engineers may be slightly jealous. People always think that their lifes are the most miserable and that others are having a much better life than them. A life of self-inflicted misery where they are pretty much the centre of their perceived world.

   You should probably just take their opinions with a pinch of salt. In fact, I think this should make you work even harder and show them that you are good at your job. Be optimistic and maybe after they have seen your hard work, they would change their opinion of you?

   Reply
4. Peet 2.6.09 / 8am

   Dear Yuka,

   I can also sympathize with you in this situation. It’s unfortunate that you were viewed not for your own characteristics and on your own merits, but as an appendage of your father.

   You describe the context of this “conflict” well, and you certainly pose a relevant question. I wonder though just how “interpersonal” this is, because when it comes to stereotyping –as the guy was doing to you — it’s nearly out of the personal and into the realm of the social. That is, this guy was not seeing you as a person but as a symbol. (Could it also have reflected some animosity toward Japanese?)

   I will leave further analysis to your group partners, simply saying that i appreciate your willingness to share this with us. Thank you!

   Reply
5. AYU 2.7.09 / 11am

   Hello Yuka,

   I think you should just ignore those comments as they were in no position to judge or evaluate you. Furthermore, that was not your permanent job. I assumed that by now you would have forgotten how those engineers looked like.

   Reply
6. Daniel 2.11.09 / 1pm

   Dear Yuka,

   I have been in situations similar to your experience. Well, when you are new in any organization, people will form a quick opinion of you based on the little that they know about you. This often is a negative opinion, unless you have exceptional beauty, cuteness or unnatural talent to make people around you gravitate towards you. It doesn’t help that you are the daughter of one of the senior managers.

   I have been in circumstances where I was subject to cynicism and skepticism of my colleagues who are much older than me. This is as they see me as a young and inexperienced student, but yet I am allowed discuss company issues with them on the same playing field. They probably considered my comments ridiculous even before they even heard my point of view.

   I decided to change their perspective of me so I listened to them and let them feel that I was eager to learn from them. I showed them that I was not a threat, or posing as their superior, but I was someone that they could befriend and talk to. I tried to make them understand that I was not more privileged than them, but was privileged to learn from them and share what I had with them. In time to come, I had been accepted into their midst, or was able to communicate with them amicably, at the very least.

   However, there will still be certain malicious people who are just out to get your throat. I would just ignore these people, for they, in the same way, have ignored my positive attitude towards them.

   I have learnt from you that you befriended one of the engineers who had bad-mouthed you, and I think that is a great way to open the communication channel these colleagues.

   The narrative was easy to comprehend and I would say that it is a pleasant blog post to read.

   See you in class!
   -Daniel-

   Reply
7. Daniel 2.11.09 / 2pm

   Hi Yuka,

   I have found myself in situations similar to your experience. Well, I would say that when you are new in any organization, people are bound to form their opinions with the little that they know about you. This opinion will negative most of the time, unless you are exceptionally beautiful, cute, or have have a natural knack of causing people to gravitate towards you. Hence, I believe that further interaction with your colleagues could clear up the negative opinions.

   I have been in circumstances where I was seen by my colleagues as young and inexperienced the moment they saw me. They were cynical and skeptical towards me and my abilities. They thought that I was in my position only because I was directly related to the shareholders of the company, and it would be ridiculous to discuss issues with me on a level field. However, I showed that I was genuinely eager to learn from them, and was often receptive to their criticisms and complaints. Over time, most of these colleagues had either become my friends, or communicated amicably with me, at the very least.

   Saying that, there were still some malicious people who held on to their unfounded biasness against me. I decided to ignore them, since they have ignored my positive attitudes towards them.

   Your narrative post was easy to comprehend, and a pleasant read!

   See you in class!

   -Daniel-

   Reply
8. snowbiscuits 2.28.09 / 6pm

   First of all, thank you for all the encouraging comments and helpful suggestions:)

   Actually I did a little research on this guy after the incident. Apparently, he was a fresh graduate which meant that he was a new addition the company at that time.

   Like what Mark and Duane said, he was probably jealous that I got into the company so easily because of my relationship with my father. I guess that he might feel in that way since he probably had to go through many interviews before clinching this job.

   Brad, I agree with the point on him seeing me as a symbol, rather than a person. But I doubt it reflected an animosity towards Japanese. I feel that it was more of an animosity towards my way of life. I might have come across as someone who never suffered hardships and had my parents to give me everything. He probably resented that image he had formed of me.

   Ayu, I still vaguely remember how they looked like. Yes, they had no right to judge me in any way because we were in completely different departments. Some guys can be worse gossipers than women eh?

   Daniel, I guess both of us have been in a similar situation before. And I’m glad that you managed to turn that negative image your colleagues initially had of you to something very positive:)

   Reply

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