Lunch with Ex-Bosses... ...Time Seemed to Have Stood Still

A long time 师姐 of mine extended an invitation to a well-wishing lunch for a retiring ex-boss and boy, am I glad I took up the offer. It was a good catch-up with 2 ex-bosses and 2 ex-colleagues. Icing on the cake was that the other ex-boss (my encounters with her would warrant more than a blog post) bought us lunch instead!

BG T will be retiring at the end of this month. It came as a surprise when I read about his retirement in the papers for he's still young with many more good years to serve. He shared about his post retirement plans which included devoting some of his time to the needy students in a primary school. That really took me by surprise for there's indeed a compassionate side to a tough man. Still it was hard for me to visualise how lower primary school kids will take to his no-nonsense style. Unforgettable was the potential post retirement spousal conflicts that my ex-bosses shared. From infringing of mopping rights to spaces in the fridge, isn't it supposed to be back to lovey dovey twosome days now that livelihood and kids are out of the way?

Regardless, BG T was the boss who taught me to write what I mean and to mean what I write when I was a young officer in MOF. I recall the many versions of my policy papers and meeting minutes he would painstakingly amend, once even in his office when he went through line by line verbally before amending on paper (those days we didn't work on laptops). He was the boss who taught me the key role of a secretariat when taking minutes, i.e. to make the boss look good whichever way I chose to write. 

Thinking back, BG T gave me many opportunities as a young officer. As a fresh graduate then, I was tasked to evaluate recommendations from the accounting fraternity on revisions to the Accountants' Act. Recalled that gave me sleepless nights having to liaise and sit in meetings with the fraternity leaders. Of course, I would never forget the boo-boos I made during the thank-you lunch organised for the leaders which was hosted by the Minister. Soft-spoken but tough boss to serve, BG T took a walk to my cubicle which was so far away from his office to thank me for the job done and gently debriefed me on the points that I should take note henceforth. That personal touch still resonate in me till today.

BG T was also the boss who offered me an opportunity to join the Administrative Service. He would proudly harp on the fact that yours truly graduated with a first class honours during meetings back in those days. I was really stressed to the point of embarrassment for I knew I am one who studies better than work and one who writes better than speak. I also knew very early on that policy making wasn't in my blood (too much of an idealist with overpowering emotions) though I hung on for a year just to satisfy myself that I had done my best. Still, BG T would always reply to my well-wishing emails thereafter and yes he attended my wedding even after I had left his office.

As I sat through lunch, time seemed to have stood still at the late 90s, that my ex-bosses and ex-colleagues still look very much the way they did and I was hoping against all hopes that I still looked like the young officer I did. So it was a drive home filled with reflection and reminiscing. Of course there is always a part of me who wonders how life would have been if I had taken up BG T's offer back then, though I am certain that my troop of five would be a distant possibility if that had been so.