nicer when pregnant

Had one of most interesting days at work yesterday.



My colleague asked me to attend this meeting with one of the managers, to obtain his approval for our new project. The project itself has been endorsed by management committee and everything; now it's just a formality for approval on paper.


Usually I wouldn't mind to attend these meetings regardless how insignificant they are - sometimes it's not about the content, but rather, it's about networking. My boss always emphasizes on "showing your face" to these type of one-to-one sessions just so the upper management would recognize your face and name; hence making your networking level higher than your other peers.

The perks of corporate world -___-

But this time, it was different because we all know the manager and his personality - he's the tough guy in the business, coming from a rather strictly-technical background. Obtaining his signature is like going to put yourself in an open cage in the water with sharks!

(One of my colleagues was actually called "kau ni bodoh ke apa" by the manager once, in front of the other managers.)

So I had to ask,

"Why do you need me in the room?"

He said,

"Because at least with you there, he'd be nicer - people knows big bosses are nicer to pregnant staff"

WTF hahahaha!

So we decided to put the theory to test.

True enough, only 15 minutes were needed for us to be in the meeting with him and obtained his approval. The other 15 minutes were spent chatting about kids and pregnancy!

As soon as he saw my pregnant belly, he started talking about his own kids, life etc. What supposed to be a serious meeting, adjourned to a chat about life instead. And it's not that easy to talk to the big bosses about matters such as parenting -____-

But we can happily rest knowing the theory is right, though.

"Now, senanglah lepas ni, we can just bring Zatil whenever we need approval from boss!"

-_____-"

Then it got me thinking, it'd be nice if people are nice to each other. If the top guys in the one of the best industries can behave and make nice like this, then fellow netizens should be too - like, say, offering seats to pregnant women in the train.

Twice riding the train to and from KLCC while 7 months pregnant (with protruding belly) and no one offered me seats, except a Chinese lady. I purposely stood in front of some guys and was practically shoving their faces with my belly, still they didn't move!

Let's put it this way - it's not about asking for entitlement, it's called being nice. Next time, if you see a pregnant woman on the train (except if you're too ignorant to notice), just try to be nice and offer her the seat - it makes a huge difference, because she's carrying 2 kilos heavier in her belly and she just threw up her breakfast due to morning sickness, while having to deal with nausea the whole day long.

Try it! Your kindness will make a difference. Because one day when you're in her shoes and pregnant, you'd know how it feels.