得理且饶人

前言：
Remove plastic tube? Wait for photographer
IT was to have been a happy homecoming for 91-year-old Madam Chan Peck Eng after she was discharged from hospital.
But her granddaughter noticed that there was still something stuck into the elderly woman's right arm.
Madam Chan's daughter, Madam Theresa Poh Nya Lian, 56, called the hospital immediately.
Then Madam Poh did something odd: When a hospital nurse went to her Ang Mo Kio flat to tend to Madam Chan, she kept the nurse waiting for half an hour.
The reason: She wanted to wait for a newspaper photographer to arrive to take pictures of the object sticking into her mother's arm.
It started when Madam Poh took her mother to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for a check-up after she fell and hit her head on 20 Dec.
Said the housewife: 'The doctors did a check of her head and it was clear. There were no blood clots. But the chest x-ray found that her chest was 'cloudy'. So they admitted her for a few days.'
After treatment, Madam Chan was discharged on Christmas eve.
When they got home around 1pm, Madam Poh's daughter, who is in her 20s, saw the tube that was still stuck into her grandma.
'She realised that there was something still in my mother's right arm. It was a plug of some sort,' said Madam Poh. 'We were shocked. Why was there still something in my mother's body after she was discharged?'
She called the hospital and was told that a nurse would go to their flat to remove it 'sometime after lunch'.
'I was not happy. My mother is already so fragile. She's just skin and bones. I didn't know if it was a needle in her or what.'
So she called Lianhe Wanbao and waited.
When the nurse arrived at her three-room flat soon afterwards, Madam Poh would not allow her to enter until the newspaper's reporter and photographer showed up.
'I wanted the photographs of my mother's arm with the plug as evidence,' she said.
The nurse stood outside the flat for half an hour, said Madam Poh.

读了上述新闻之后，个人也发表了一点看法，刊登在20090107新加坡联合早报

　　近日在报上读到一则新闻：一位老妪出院回家，右手上臂竟然还插着塑料管子，老妪的女儿对此事非常不满，除了拨电到医院投诉，还邀约中英文报馆派记者上门采访、拍照。
　　医院在接到投诉后，马上派了一名护士立即赶到老妪的家，然而老妪的女儿却把女护士挡在门外约半小时，说必须等记者上门拍完照之后，才准她入屋为老妪拆除管子。
　　老妪的女儿说她之所以这么做完全是为了取得“真凭实据”。
　　我认为，此事医院方面固然有失责、疏忽之处，但他们已及时弥补错误，派遣一名护士登门为老妪拆除管子；然而却吃了闭门羹。老妪的女儿虽然得理，但也不必得理不饶人。俗话不是说：得饶人处且饶人！留一点余地给别人，自己不但不会吃亏，说不定日后还会有意想不到的惊喜！
　　这件事一经报章报道、放大，医院、单位的医护人员肯定受到一定程度的打击，也影响了大家的工作士气。原本这事是可以大事化小、小事化了，可如今小苍蝇却变成大象了。

金手握别

　　（发表于20090104新加坡联合早报）

　　去年底，单位主管突然临时召开紧急会议，说公司管理层发布了重要信息要披露。大家听了心里既紧张又担忧；最近四处刮起裁员风，准不是公司也想来另一轮裁员风波，像2003年一样，一口气裁了近千名员工。
　　会议上，单位主管向大家反映了当前公司的营业状况：最近几个月公司业绩表现欠佳、每况逾下，展望未来，形势不容乐观，前景更是一片黯淡；大家别企盼今年会有奖励花红、加薪等等；如果不减薪，已属万幸。
　　有同事追问高层是否有裁员意图；单位主管回答说，迄今为止，公司只表示会冻结招聘新人，不会采取任何裁员行动；大家听了总算松了一口气，纷纷击掌以示高兴。这交代也可说给大家打了一针“镇定剂”！
　　可才几天光景，单位主管的话犹在耳，公司管理层却在暗地里悄悄地进行裁员行动。这次遭殃的是我们隔邻的另一部门，几位曾动过大手术，病假超过规定的同事；手术过后，他们又拿了好长好长的病假，而后又干了好几个月的“轻活儿”（light　duty)。
　　公司这次以“金手握别”（golden handshake）把他们裁退。然而“金手握别”有异于一般的裁员配套；若把一年一个月的裁员赔偿比喻成24K含金量，这“金手”的含金量却只有区区18K，赔偿额明显偏低。公司在年关之际对他们采取裁员行动，真的是很残酷，也非常不近人情！
　　这几位走人的同事都刚年过半百，出去要重新受聘用，相信有一定程度的困难，加上他们身子条件也不强；当前失业浪潮又波涛汹涌，真的是屋漏偏逢连夜雨！看来他们得在失业浪潮中挣扎、翻滚、历经一番折腾。。。
　　有句俗话说：“小病是福”，个人並不以为然；其实若改云：“无病才是福，大病却是祸！”就更为贴切！
　　尤其是在大机构服务，一切既定的条例，白纸黑字，明文规定，一点也不含糊，“适者生存” 这条放诸四海而皆准的金科玉律，就是硬道理，看来唯有强身健体才能保住饭碗！