midlifetreasures

I’ve been in the workforce for over 30 years, and have encountered the good sorts, and those types of colleague you wouldn’t wish for. They may be the all-knowing intellectual, the radical sceptic, the loud fashionista, the constant whiner … the list goes on. Keeping your sanity around them in this crazy working world can be a mission.

And so I thought I’ve seen them all, but recently I encountered a new ‘species’ that made it to my negative list: the tech-savvy young professional with a hint smell of arrogance. He was an attendee to the exit meeting of my recent audit work. As customary in my team, we give out hand-written notes which summarises our audit results. We prefer it this way, as opposed to reading it from a laptop, to make the discussion more engaging, more personal, more authentic.

After my presentation, I asked this young lad, “would you like to keep a copy”? And he said, “I’m fine, I couldn’t read a thing in your notes anyway … this is so old school”. There was a moment of silence in the room. I was quick to think of a positive reply saying “I’d been mostly complimented for my good penmanship, but I guess it isn’t my lucky day”. I kept my composure, but I felt embarrassed. In my book, that was rudeness at its finest.

I gave that colleague the benefit of the doubt, that he didn’t mean to insult, but acted just on pure ignorance. Besides, the issue isn’t about the substance of my report, but rather behavioural. But during the long drive back to Wellington, it kept me thinking, is there something wrong with being tagged as ‘old school’? It made me reminisce our days back then.

Our days, when Mr. Google wasn’t around, and we spent long hours in the library researching on things unknown;

Our days, when conferences and meetings meant we need to physically meet and greet people;

Our days, when calculators were not allowed in Math classes, and fountain pens were mandatory for board exams;

Our days when corporate greeting cards were not mass printed, and contained personal and hand-written messages;

Our days when emailing and texting weren’t in the horizon, and we find time to have genuine conversations with colleagues and friends.

I consider myself lucky to have seen in my lifetime the paradigm shift from the Baby Boomers to the Millennial generation, we now call Gen-Y.  I understand the impact of this change in our society, much so in our families, as my two adult children belong there. The innovative mindset of the new generation has brought about positive, and at times, drastic changes to the way we do things, especially on how technology has influenced the way we communicate today. However, there are certain traditional ways that are worth keeping around, and learning from. That includes respect for more seasoned co-workers before one speaks his mind. It shouldn’t be taken for granted, no matter which generation you belong.

Sure, we need young professionals with bright new ideas, who may be champions in the use of modern technology which helps increase work efficiency. But I wonder, can they survive a day without opening their emails, or working on their laptops, or being engrossed with social media during downtime at work?

So yes, please call me ‘old school’, I really don’t mind. I am proud to belong to the generation that has survived the challenges of its time, which laid the very foundation of this technology-dependent era we now live in.

Has the art of writing become extinct? Will modern technology ever replace written word? Will I get to see the ‘computer world’ crash because man has become overly dependent on technology? I don’t know, but one thing I’m quite sure of – my life will go on ‘coz I know how to write … literally.

By the way, my penmanship isn’t really good, it’s actually very good!

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