Sore Loser

Something tells me Chinese people are not very good at accepting
competition, or at least a friendly rivalry.

Over a month after I left, my ex-colleagues are finding out where I've
gone (to the competition) and while most of my friends there are
supportive, one associate made it clear she wasn't very happy.

I didn't work with her closely, but helped her out a few times. The
daughter of a diplomat, it was clear she didn't get a job from her own
merit, but naively thinks she did.

And because I didn't talk to her daily I was surprised to get an MSN
message from her this morning.

"Why are you working there... are you happy there?" Why are you
helping the competition, she asked.

"Why are you so concerned about where i am?" I retorted.

"Because I thought you are a good teacher," she wrote.

"I am a good teacher," I replied to which she could not rebut.

Then she tried to put down my company, saying how bad it was without
any relevant justification except for her biased opinion, and then
tried to shame me into being associated with such an organization.

I tried to explain that after two years of working at the same place
it was time for a change and I'm the type of person who likes to have
a change and do something new.

"Try to think of it as the Olympics and having a friendly
competition," I reasoned with her.

It wasn't quite the answer she was looking for but we seemed to have
settled on that.

State-owned enterprises are not used to competing amongst themselves
-- they were mainly created to be monopolies. And when they became
really big, they went into the big leagues -- in the international
market, where sovereignty is at stake, so everyone's on the same side.

But competing amongst themselves is a new concept for them. They don't
realize that despite working for different companies, in the end we
are still colleagues working in the same industry.

However, their bosses don't see it that way and are exposing their
greatest weakness -- insecurity.

Instead of wasting time trying to degrade the company I work for and
shame me for working there, why not try focus on improving your own
product and then we'll see who's better.