A Short Story That Happened in My Company

A Short Story That Happened in My Company

Written by Wenjing

I work as a technician in charge of productivity in a small company. In order to squeeze out more time, I increased my efficiency and tried to finish my work while still guaranteeing quality, so that I could spend all my remaining time on truth clarifying activities. In the recent years, there have been many activities promoting Falun Gong, and there are often urgent happenings that require me to take temporary leave from work. The whole year has been like this without any problem until recently: It was Orientation Day in which different community societies promote their own culture. Of course, Dafa practitioners also wanted to participate in the event. Unfortunately, there was nobody at work who could replace me. On the other hand there were sufficient practitioners to attend the event. Therefore, I made a consideration for the company and decided not to attend this activity. Yet there was very little work to do at work that day, and I finished before half the day was over. During lunch hour, I sat at my desk and a thought came into my mind: why not leave now? I then emailed my deputy manager to request half a day of leave, and hastily left before she could return to work from lunch.

When I returned to work the following day, my deputy manager said to me, "according to your contract, you should stay in the office for 8 hours a day. According to company rules, you need to give two weeks notice before taking leave. Your behaviour has violated your contract and the company is very unhappy about it! The company has no interest in keeping such an employee." Our deputy manager is a strong woman at work. A few months after she joined our company, our department manager resigned due to conflicts with her; she complained that the department manager was low in productivity. Thereafter, I became the only worker in the department.

Prior to my cultivation I was a hot-headed person. Unfortunately I did not change much after my cultivation. I had always thought that the company should reward me for doing the work of two people on my own. I already considered in favour of the company and decided not to take leave for the whole day. Furthermore, I had already finished my duty for the day. Why wasn't I allowed to take half a day off? Therefore, I told the deputy manager, "you should look back at the company records, I have finished in one day what other employees can finish in two days. My efficiency should win me some flexibility in work hours. What happened yesterday was only an exceptional case, so why should you take it so seriously?" She said, "after you finish your own work, you could help others with their work. While you are at work, all your time must be devoted to work-related duties; otherwise you have breached your contract." Since she put such strong emphasis on the matter of working hours while I was talking about efficiency, it was impossible for us to come to an agreement. Because of this, I suggested consulting the manger.

I could not help but associate the ferocious attitude of my deputy manager with the situation of other practitioners who have looked for a different job due to work pressure. I believe that this is a form of hidden persecution. Dafa practitioners doing Dafa work is the most righteous thing to do and we should not give way.

The next morning, the manager said to me openly, that as a rapid growing company, it was necessary for us to have strict requirements for management purposes. Every employee needs to adopt certain rules. Of course, on the other hand, the company is very respectful to employees' interests and habits. Take Falun Gong for example: we are very supportive of it. Yet it is not right for you to violate the company rules so often. I asked uprightly, if the company could list out my so-called 'often' violations in punctuality? "You couldn't. I have been in the company for over a year now, and all you could remember was just three or four exceptional cases. Why do other people have flexible work hours, whereas even when I have finished my duties, I am still not allowed to enjoy time flexibility?"
Therefore, both of us were stuck in the conversation and I could feel a strong substance field between us that disabled us from coming together. I thought this was probably what is called a "negative predestined relationship".
I calmed myself down and took a few deep breaths, which allowed my conscious to become more aware. I told myself, I am a practitioner, and Teacher Li has taught us to be good employees at work. What is wrong with me today? Even if other people are trying to find fault in me, there must be something I have missed as a practitioner. We should look inside under all circumstances, and this is the fundamental difference between a practitioner and a non-practitioner. Especially when all employees in our company are actually supportive of Dafa, I would stop work for 15 minutes twice daily to send forth righteous thoughts. I would also browse the Clearwisdom website every day, and our deputy manager had never accused me. What was the reason today?

Teacher Li's words suddenly came into my mind. We should consider others more under all circumstances. As overseas Chinese, we should respect the habits of westerners and the way they like to deal with things. For example, the Chinese would think it is not a big deal whether or not we hold the door for others; everyone should open their own door when they need to. Yet westerners take this as a sign of good manners and respect for others. I suddenly understood where the problem was: the deputy manager was angry because I did not inform her early enough before I left work. I did not respect her in this sense; I acted first and reported afterwards, which hurt her pride.

I immediately apologised to her sincerely, and explained the different connotations and habits between the east and west. I also promised to ask for her permission before doing something in the future, at the same time sending forth righteous thoughts directed at the substance that was between us. I also explained to her the purposes of our activities and explained that time is the most urgent thing we need at this point. I stressed again that I had increased my efficiency but I did not expect any monetary returns; all I would like is to win some spare time to do Dafa work. Soon, I could feel an obvious change in the atmosphere; the deputy manager's attitude had softened a lot. At last the manager said to me smilingly, "you won the battle this time. Go and have your contract reworded, to allow you time flexibility. I believe you will do your work well."

Not only did I not expect the conflict to be resolved so quickly, but I had also won the special right to do Dafa work openly. Thinking back on this little story, I came to a clearer understanding of why it is important for us to act according to the cultivator's standard.

On the other hand, it is certainly necessary for those practitioners who do not have a flexible work schedule to treat their work correctly and spend their work hours on their work. We should be considerate of others and be respected by others anywhere we go. We should verify the Fa [principles of Falun Dafa – namely, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance] during our work, study and in our daily lives.