Punishment for not reciting "apothegm"

[Jamie J]

The following letter was sent yesterday to all Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express staff (this is no joke):

Dear All Colleagues,
Re : Corporate Culture
As the members of Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express, all staff should familiar with the CORPORATE CULTURE. Staff members are requested to study the following apothegm thoroughly and apply it in daily life.

Harmony is the basis for collective prosperity;
Perseverance is the rule to sturdy progress;
Careful recipe is the best medicine to health;
Forgiveness is most needed in dispute;
Kindliness to youth endows the superior with virtue;
Diligence leads research to accession of knowledge;
Sincerity is the fundamental in daily life;
Modesty is the best policy in human relationship;
Preparation avoids needles drudgery;
Prudence remains essential in conducting business.

According to the company policy, all staff should keep firmly in mind the apothegm. Human Resources Department will follow up with the colleagues regarding on the practice of apothegm after 2-3 weeks and Management will conduct the random spot check after a month. Please be reminded that Department Head should have the responsibility to ensure his/her subordinates to understand the CORPORATE CULTURE. Please note that punishment will be given to those who could not recite the apothegm.

I always wondered what an "apothegm" was!

Any suggestions as to what the punishment might be?

[Frogman1484]

That's funny:ok::}

[Freehills]

Preparation avoids needles drudgery

They've got you darning your own uniforms now?

[greenslopes]

Gee I didn't know colleagues was discriminatory ...just as well the memo was opened with "Dear All Colleagues" !

Has a real Feng Shui feel to it.
Must be great to work in HK where memo's like this originate.

Reminds me of those directions with Christmas presents of the 70's where the instructions were translated from Chinese and something seemed to be lost in translation.

[hongkongfooey]

I notice half way down the apothegm, the letters are F K D, which aptly describes both the people that run the ( I use the term loosely ) airline and the airline itself.

Punishment, mmmmm, lets see, maybe random UPL, or being the lowest paid 737 drivers in the world, Oh, thats right, they are already doing that :ugh:
Maybe then, no chance to move onto the 330s, yes, thats it :}

[moonbug]

Decoding the HKA/HKE apothegm

1. Harmony is the basis for collective prosperity;
- Dont cause trouble during cutbacks, management bonuses may be affected.
2. Perseverance is the rule to sturdy progress;
- Continuosly kiss the correct butt and a promotion will happen.
3.Careful recipe is the best medicine to health;
- Avoid **** food, it prevents the runs.
4.Forgiveness is most needed in dispute;
- Forgiveness is cheaper than a court case. Do remember HKA/HKE is broke.
5.Kindliness to youth endows the superior with virtue;
- Harassement of youthful FAs by superiors is a demonstration of kindness.
6.Diligence leads research to accession of knowledge;
- Learn this apothegm to attain the great wisdom possessed by management.
7.Sincerity is the fundamental in daily life;
- When you are daily shafted in a sincere way, its ok. Its fundamental.
8.Modesty is the best policy in human relationship;
- Know your place in the pecking order.
9.Preparation avoids needles drudgery;
- Procastinating helps you avoid work.
10.Prudence remains essential in conducting business.
- Er... yes, but there is an exemption to this rule – and it is proven daily.

:}

[bobrun]

And it's written in "Hongkongenglish". Where do, in that regard to the statement of management, are those who write those memos for those colleagues have learned english?;)

[gengis]

Hey, i suppose failure to recite "Apothegms" in totality before each Base Check & Line Check will result in immediate failure n suspension from flying & 1-week ground school in Company "Corporate" culture education then?

:*:eek:

[yokebearer]

Then there 's EVA airlines where these gems originated :

http://nankantraz.org/images/emerghb.jpg
"Those pilots who own the B2 or B3 parking lots of Pilot Quarter
Bld. are always encouraged to button the vacancy down after
completing parking your car."
During the date above, some parking lots such as visitor’s, two sides of
slope and out of shipment elevator are not available for parking. If any
car is still located there, it will be moved away by the fork lift, and any
damage of car is happened, no any authority will take responsibility for it.

[Basil]

Picture size must not exceed 800x600 pixels MAXIMUM, to avoid the PPRuNe thread viewing window becoming too large. (http://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/203481-image-posting-pprune-guide.html) :ok:

[Apple Tree Yard]

WHO in their right mind would work for a bizzare company like this. get a life.

[Guava Tree]

Apple Tree is the northern equivalent of Guava Tree.
We each exist in our own habitats.
Transplantation could be painful.

apothegm
One entry found.
Main Entry:ap·o·thegm
Pronunciation:a-pə-ˌthem\
Function:noun
Etymology:Greek apophthegmat-, apophthegma, from apophthengesthai to speak out, from apo- + phthengesthai to utter
Date:circa 1587
: a short, pithy, and instructive saying or formulation.

Last line is what we all need . I hope you will see it.

[Guava Tree]

But I read it again and I see it is all good:

Harmony is the basis for collective prosperity;
Perseverance is the rule to sturdy progress;
Careful recipe is the best medicine to health;
Forgiveness is most needed in dispute;
Kindliness to youth endows the superior with virtue;
Diligence leads research to accession of knowledge;
Sincerity is the fundamental in daily life;
Modesty is the best policy in human relationship;
Preparation avoids needles drudgery;
Prudence remains essential in conducting business.

How can anyone dispute this?
I am not joking.
GT

[Sue Ridgepipe]

Guava Tree, you are correct. I don't think you can dispute any of those parts that you mentioned.
I find this bit rather amusing though:
Please note that punishment will be given to those who could not recite the apothegm

[Guava Tree]

Yes Sue,
As schoolchildren we all had to learn quite long passages from Shakespeare , American Constitution, etcetera. We can do it.
Perhaps we should all be given an allocated day free of duty, not a "Day Off" to learn this one.That should be enough.

[jetjockey696]

On your days off.. or a day free from duty... you should be looking for a new company...instead of reciting.

I get a feeling of maoist era... red book (good read..32 chapters) etc.. with a morning chants of the apothegm, once finished placed in your breast pocket.. all we need is the famous long march... this time to a better paying company.

[FOCX]

GT & SR, you surely jest. When you were in school you were "LEARNING." GETTING AN EDUCATION! Since when did an employer fall into the educational realm?

This is nothing but an attempt to intimidate and control its employees and I wouldn't be surprised if it's directed towards its western pilots, who are more likely to ignore such a bull**** demand. Or maybe to divert attention away from its pathetic attempt at management. I think the two of you have spent too much time in Asia!

Anywhere else a company that published such a demand with threats of retribution would be laughed at.

Or maybe we are having our leg pulled, in which case I'm blushing for falling for it!:=

[Coastrider26]

Come on these guys are very clever! Surely some junior flight attendants might need some "punishing" or even worse some remedial teaching

[828a]

FOCX,

I would like to remind you that Chairman Mao Tze Tung in his wisdom once said at a gathering of his senior executives, Quote " if you dont understand then you are not permitted to speak " Unquote. Perhaps if you try a little harder to think about what has been said here it may just elevate your mind sufficiently to put you in a position to request permission to say something sensible.

828a.

[Five Green]

828D:

Perhaps if you try a little harder to think about what has been said here it may just elevate your mind sufficiency to put you in a position to request permission to say something sensible.

Sufficiency...? Something sensible ?

[Basil]

:}:}:} It's a load of bollocks! :):}:ok:

[FOCX]

Master 828a, please give me the benefit of your wisdom.

By the way, since you're retired why not get a life. Do you still miss being called Captain? So sad, so sad!:}

[gengis]

Now now, how can you all be bickering like this? Remember :

"Harmony is the basis for collective prosperity;"

- the Apothegm

:E

[828a]

Five Green;

You were right to pick me up on that grammatical typing error which I have now corrected. It didn't seem to mean anying to CXFO as it appears he got the message OK.

828a.

[intelligentpilot]

Dear HKA management.

Just try it. Just try to punish me for not knowing the apothegm, and watch me ground the aircraft full of passengers on my next Phuket flight.

If i get personally threatened again my next move is to inflict maximum financial damage to this pathetic airline. I will have no hesitation. Suddenly fall ill. Try and sack me for not commanding an aircraft when I am ill and expect a huge lawsuit with the CAD giving me full support. Now that was worth the threats wasnt it assholes.
:ok:

[hkadaily]

"...with the CAD giving me full support."

dude...dont count on that too much.CAD has approved an idiot like Lai as an instructor.Eric the bedwetter sleeps with the enemy!

[intelligentpilot]

I expect the Media saturation that would happen (I guarantee it) :E if the CAD let something like that happen, would open up a can of worms for them. It would be too embarrassing for the CAD if they just let something like that happen.

It is a bit like if a person got fired for refusing to fly an aircraft with a defect that grounds it. :ugh: Surely the CAD would not allow such a thing to happen without a full investigation and HUGE penalty to the company....... would it?:rolleyes: If they did nothing it sends the wrong message. When safety is involved the CAD MUST NEVER let the company dictate like that.

[Bob Hawke]

I can not believe what I a reading here. Is this for real? People, how can anyone run a company like this, how can any sane person work under these circumstances - surely you all jest?

Does George Orwell write Policy and Manuals for you guys by any chance?

BTW I could hardly understand the c rap that was written and what bearing does it have on an airline company? Who would entertain taking this seriously?

Scary stuff!

ON ON. You poor b astards

[FOCX]

Bob, you're in trouble. 828a isn't going to be happy with your ignorance!

Read his response to my first post.:{

Also, pass on my love to Blanche.

[hkadaily]

Bob Hawke

"..how can any sane person work under these circumstances.."


unfortunately not many carriers are hiring at the moment.even though they are the lowest paid 737 drivers in the world they dont really have much of a choice.

there is only a handful of people who remain there on their own accord...and out of these people only one kiwi (the dutch maiden) who has her head so far up the rear end of the singas.she is known for causing a stir in the nz aviation scene a few years back.

[Tiddly Eater]

Drivel like this issued by management is just tripe and nothing more than a sticky plaster approach towards a much greater internal problem.

I think it would be great fun to get management to stand up and explain what each of the silly clauses mean. But it won't happen, because management don't really know what it means and will certainly not risk FACE but attempting to bumble through incoherent explanations.

Another example of Hong Kong managemnt imposing a Do as I say, not as I do dictat.

[hongkongfooey]

Hey Corkhead ( Bob ) :} TIA baby, TIA ( This Is Asia ) :ugh:

[Phlaps 40]

The original...

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8333/apothegm.jpg

The suggested response...

(for those that can't read Chinese, tilt your head 90 degrees)

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1228/response.jpg

[Lowkoon]

Intelligentpilot, with all due respect, if the CAD takes punitive action over someone trying to take off on the taxiway, dont expect too support much over you being sacked for going sick. I sympathise, but dont expect them to "pull out all stops."

[Doodles]

Prudence remains essential in conducting business

Now I know why they don't pay their suppliers!!

[Guava Tree]

Quote:

"intelligentpilot

Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Jakarta
Posts: 13 Dear HKA management.

Just try it. Just try to punish me for not knowing the apothegm, and watch me ground the aircraft full of passengers on my next Phuket flight.

If i get personally threatened again my next move is to inflict maximum financial damage to this pathetic airline. I will have no hesitation. Suddenly fall ill. Try and sack me for not commanding an aircraft when I am ill and expect a huge lawsuit with the CAD giving me full support. Now that was worth the threats wasnt it assholes.""

!!!!!!!!!

As I have already said on post number 12 of this thread, I believe this apothegm is good.
What airline needs disloyal and treacherous pilots such as the above quoted “intelligentpilot” appears to be.
Management are on the right track on this one and I hope they “stick to their guns”

GT

[TheHKAOA]

Learn company creed or else, airlines warn staff
Simon Parry
Jun 02, 2009

Pilots and flight attendants with Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express have been ordered to memorise a lengthy creed about company values and threatened with punishment if they are unable to recite it in full.
The 10-line creed - described in a memo to staff as an "apophthegm", meaning a short, pithy and instructive saying - was circulated in English and Chinese a fortnight ago with a warning that random spot checks would be conducted by managers this month to make sure everyone had learned it.
Although apophthegms are by definition brief, the 68-word one circulated to all staff at the sister airlines is three words longer than the Christian Church's Lord's Prayer, and contains some even denser and more archaic phraseology.
Among its tougher-to-memorise lines are "Perseverance is the rule to sturdy progress", "Diligence leads research to accession of knowledge", "Careful recipe is the best medicine to health" and "Kindliness to youth endows the superior with virtue".
In an accompanying memo sent to all staff, employees were told to "study the following apophthegm thoroughly and apply it in daily life".
"All staff should keep firmly in mind the apophthegm," it says.
"Human resources department will follow up with the colleagues regarding on the practice of apophthegm after two to three weeks and management will conduct the random spot check after a month ... please note that punishment will be given to those who could not recite the apophthegm."
The apophthegm is understood to have been borrowed from one used at Hainan Airlines, the mainland airline whose parent company is a majority shareholder in Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express.
A pilot with one of the two airlines, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Everyone is astounded by this instruction. It isn't as if we haven't got more important things to worry about.
"Flight attendants have been going around with the apophthegm written out on cards since the memo went out, trying their best to learn it whenever they get a free minute. I've seen them studying it on the buses on their way to work.
"They are very worried because no one has said what the punishment will be for not memorising it. Cabin crew are worried that it might be used as a way to get rid of staff [who] management don't want to keep on."
A flight attendant, who also asked not to be named, said: "It is very insulting. It's like being back in primary school. Do they think that threatening us with punishment is really the way to get the best out of employees?"
Asked about the apophthegm, Shirley Kwok, product manager for Hong Kong Express, declined to say who wrote it or what the intention was behind ordering staff to memorise it. "We are not able to comment on internal company policy," she said. She declined to say what punishment would be given to employees who failed to memorise the apophthegm, saying the memo was intended only for "internal colleagues".
John Findlay, general secretary of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, said: "When I first heard about this I thought it was a joke. When I discovered it was true I was incredulous. I have never heard of any reputable airline ordering staff to recite corporate culture words at the risk of being punished if not able to do so."

[Guava Tree]

Simon Parry is a journo who appears to believe that airline crews are too stupid to be able to memorise something like this.

[Blown Seal]

Guava Tree,

can you please go and reread the article and quote where the journalist even insinuates let alone directly states that crews are too stupid to memorise the crap mentioned?

[hongkongfooey]

John Findlay, general secretary of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, said: "When I first heard about this I thought it was a joke.

That's right John, HKA is a joke, a very bad and not very funny one :rolleyes:

[onetrack]

Is there a company song to go with the apothegm? If so, are all employees dutifully required to sing it, when instructed? .. and does it have the word "glorious", repeated on a regular basis within the quatrains? .. :confused:
If not, we may be obliged to conduct a competition amongst ppruner's, to produce one? .. :p :D

[Guava Tree]

Blown Seal,
This, what you call “stuff”, is good. It is not an anagram of “carp”.
We all need to think outside the box.

[Blown Seal]

Guava Tree,

You still didn't answer my question. However on another note, seeing as you appear to be from CX, why don't you email Tony Tyler and suggest a version of the apothegm to him. I would be very interested to see what sort of response you would get.

[intelligentpilot]

Guava Tree (http://www.pprune.org/members/83848-guava-tree) . I know my posts are a bit extreme, and I probably would never do as I said but the fact is even this thread on pprune can not express how bad these Singaporeans guys were (are)and my reaction is just the result of being FU%ked over once to often. The opportunists have used the financial doom and gloom as an excuse to totally shaft us because they know there just is not that much on offer out there at the moment, and for whatever reason think pilots are enemy #1. But lets face it, with out us THEY DO NOT HAVE AN AIRLINE.

Sure the Apothegm's content is ok, in a free loving, tree hugging, feng shui, good karma kind of way. Not doubting it. But come on.... using it as a tool to "discipline" and sack people who can not recite it verbatim on demand, is way to Hitler for me.

Just for info these Singaporeans and upper management gave themselves a pay cut. Wow!!
Management - 20% pay cut for the most incompetent team ever!
Flight attendants - 0% pay cut (fair they get next to nothing anyway)(but they get leave without pay)
Pilots - up to 50- 60% pay cut.

Go figure.

[FOCX]

IntellPilot, Please ignore Guava Tree as someone has obviously spiked his juice, it's the only plausible excuse for his finding the apocrap BS believable.:rolleyes: Even the company media rep was too embarrassed to want to talk about it. However, since it seems to have originated on the mainland it's not surprising:ugh:

[wonganopolous]

The BORGS (the human robots in Star Trek) have a saying before they assimilate their captives:

"We are BORGS. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

[Guava Tree]

If FOCX has got a problem with the mainland he should consider moving out of this country.

[FOCX]

Sorry GeeTee, I quite like this autonomous little island with its rule of law and decent government. Once its morphed into anything remotely like the mainland I assure you I will most certainly leave as it will result in the demise of this unique place.
It's a shame it didn't become an independent country as Taiwan has:ok:

[Guava Tree]

Intelligent pilot,

I appreciate the style, content and apparent honesty of your post, #44 of this thread.

My Dad always told me not to make threats that I would not follow through on, though with no internet and poor communication in those days I was not able to establish his reasoning. Now that we all have google as our friend I can provide links these two sources of more understanding. I am sure that there are many more available.

Empty Threats and Fake Promises: Big Mistakes:

Empty Threats and Fake Promises: Big Mistakes - HealthyPlace (http://www.healthyplace.com/parenting/challenge-of-difficult-children/empty-threats-and-fake-promises-big-mistakes/menu-id-1437/)

For ”your children” substitute “your employer”.

Same for: Beware of Empty Threats | Baby Sitting World (http://babysittingworld.com/bswblog/beware-of-empty-threats.htm)

[8888]

tsimbeit are you going to contribute anything slightly more thought provoking than that or just keep repeating it on every thread you venture near?

Positions can nearly always be filled, even at shock bottom wage levels. One Two Go and its MD at Phuket is one result of such tactics. A 737 trying to take off on a taxi way in Hong Kong is another...

Ever heard the term 'you get what you paid for'?

[FOCX]

Has anyone been punished for not reciting "apothegm" ?

Has anyone been punished for not reciting "apothegm" ?

This is a recording!!:ugh:

I'm sure if they do punish (note children, punish not discipline) it will be subtle, not in your face... "this is for not being able to recite company Apocrap BS." No, you'll just find yourself surplus to requirements sometime down the track or really good rosters or maybe not up to scratch on your next sim.

[great southern land]

Wonder what the CX apothegm would be like...??

[Sleeve_of_Wizard]

Did the same Author write the absolutely Kindergarten quality Song being played on the Airport Express TV's this month? YOU ARE THE LEGEND OF YOUR LIFE..............

[Cypher]

I hear they're moving HK Airlines off to North Korea...

So.. anyone want to take bets as to how long till you have orders to call the CEO "Dear Leader".....

Heres a apothegm for you to recite if you get asked... "Man who walk through airport door sideways going to Bangkok!"

Good Luck with the "paid" job search... no one should have to work under those conditions...

[rick.shaw]

I see the SCMP this morning reports an apparent backtrack on the punishment threats. A company spokeswoman refused to comment on an 'internal' matter. Unfortunately, this internal matter has become very external and the management are the laughing stock. It's a pity they wield so much power over the employees.

I really feel for those FA's as they make their way to work already stressed from trying memorise the company prayer at the cost of refreshing important safety related information/procedures. Good to see the companies concerned have their priorities sorted out.

I would love to see a court outcome if any punishments are metted out. Of course, with the wet as piss labour laws here, anything could happen.