New Office, New Spirit... or not

There’s something about new office that could almost always draw a smile on one’s lips. The vibes, the ambience, the spotless desks, ala Ikea-styled (but rather stiff) chairs, pristine closets, stainless carpet – all contributed to the novelty of ‘rasmikan’ something sparkling new.

The office is more comfortable – larger room for most support staff, more spacious office for officers, and we could always rest our eyes on lots of greens in and around the building, as well as looking at the nice cute pond with sprinklers and a waterwall in the atrium. It’ll be extra cool to have a few Japanese carps in the pond. Really soothing.

And at last - we get a proper surau. Spacious, wall-to-wall dual-blended blue carpet, full length mirror, proper cabinet for the telekung, surah yaasin booklets, quran of various sizes, the works. Some guys have been taking the initiative to take turn becoming imam for Zohor and Asar prayers daily. I believe that the existence of this surau could invite more religious activities in the future, especially upon the arrival of this coming Ramadhan, insya Allah.

The building we are occupying is named LEO - not only in honour of our previous minister, but more because the building itself is equipped with energy efficiency features, hence Low Energy Office. The only of its kind in Putrajaya, a few officers had actually been trained to talk about the energy efficiency features for guided tour in and around the building.

I am a trained ‘tourist guide’ myself – and was asked to act as one of the three guides on duty when our first official visitors visited last Friday, a busload of Kedahan from Baling/Kuala Ketil. They let us know about their intention to visit us on a last minute notice – merely 4 hours before they arrived. Our KSU asked for three guides to be on stand by, and he specifically asked for Zaimy, Mohana and me. Instead of a lengthy explanation on materials used and all technical details about energy efficiency standard, thermal transfer, heat island effect, shading, thermal flue and stuff, we all cut the briefing short so as to ensure that the Muslim gents could be in time to pray Jumaat at Masjid Putra. Still, I was touched when the leader of the group proposed for an Ustaz who was among them to lead a doa selamat recital, upon learning that they were our first official visitors since our move to Putrajaya – may Allah bless them all.

They said that working in new office means that one should work with renewed spirit. Err, unfortunately, after almost three years of doing the same thing, I must admit that I don’t exactly feel that way about my job though. But at least, while all the PSMs and PPSMs are busy running here and there, ensuring that the Internet connection is working properly on every level, my colleagues and I could use Yahoo Messenger after a long absence. For now at least before they re-close some port or something…