the one with the service award and a power ranger

in a few days, i will be "celebrating" my five years of stay in accenture and because of this, whether by choice or by default, my manager decided to award me with a service award. here's what he wrote:

"You are now entitled to partake of our SPF, not that we'd want you to retire at such a young age. To the contrary, I expect you to continue honing your tech'l, mgmt, and leadership skills with the same exemplary performance that you have shown during the 2 project engagements that I have had you as my project Team Lead. May you sustain your positive momentum, overcome your weaknesses, and strive harder to attain the goals that you have set for yourself (work/life balance included)."

the SPF stands for "Staff Provident Fund", sort of like a retirement fund that the company "saves" for its employees each month and can only be "withdrawn" from after 5 years of service. but not all. for 5 years, all you get is 30% of your SPF, i think, should you resign from the company.

so... this is the first time i received an award from this manager since he became my manger last 2006. naturally, i was surprised and a little skeptical.... im actually wondering whether i was given this award simply by default or whether i truly deserved it. i guess it's a little bit of both.

in accenture, these kinds of awards have equivalent points and these points can be converted to certain items like jewelries, appliances, GCs. here are a few things i can redeem with my current balance:

• Mattel 5-inch Triple Shot Batman Figure
• Imarflex Electric Kettle
• Imarflex Hair Dryer
• Ban Dai Red Mystic Light Power Ranger (wow....)
• Ein-O Science COG Smart Boxes - Volcano Science (er...)
• ...and last but not the least, another Bizu Pattisserie GC!

wow. after five years of working from accenture, i can take home a Ban Dai Red Mystic Light Power Ranger! :) no seriously, im happy for the award. i did not expect that in the first place. but the reward catalogue, they should really rethink that. seriously! it's awful! someone please, can anybody do that? why not put a starbucks GC in there. everyone likes coffee these days :)

PS: so now you know where my Bizu GC came from? :) im selling the one i got last year, hehe. see previous post for more details. thanks!