A Long Overdue Address

Dear All,

First of all, Happy Christmas and New Year.

You've probably been wondering why you've not heard from me at all about the recent issues that have arisen, mainly over Olivia's employment with VTC and her membership to the YAs.

I'm not sure why I've been keeping behind the scenes as well, though I assure you that I am well aware and have had a hand to play in the whole affair all along.

Anyhow, it's about time I think for me to address the various issue(s) as I can see an unneccessary schism (which is not neccessarily an unhealthy one) coming out of all this.

No doubt, it came as a rude shock for most of you that Olivia was no longer my Junior Producer and by default, no longer in charge of YAs. However, I think it would be fair to say that it was not a spur of the moment decision, and I might add that not only did myself and Sums dialogued with her about the various issues that culminated in her finally being discharged from the company, but it would further be unfair to say that we, or at the very least, that I did not try very hard to keep her discharge as a last resort. Olivia, I'm sure you have no objections to what I've just said.

I will agree that her discharge was not done in a subtle fashion, but I believe that as Resident Producer, it is very much my discretion to have taken a hard line on the situation, if anything, to send a clear and unequivocal message to Olivia as well as to all of you who are with VTC. What you make of that message, I wish to have no say in it, except that it was strictly professional and executed without any taint of malice whatsoever, on mine nor Sums' part. Olivia, that much I can assure you is true.

On the 15th of December, Sums', upon my instruction, posted a notice of Olivia's discharge from the company titled Termination of Services, which received two comments, in particular, Paik Yin's posting asking why Olivia can not remain in YAs.

To that, Sums replied with a Clarification which stated that:

"She (Olivia) was let go of her position as Junior Producer but she chose to leave the YA, as is her right to do."

to which Paik Yin once more responded asking why her name was taken off the YAs blog rota so quickly.

To that I can only answer that (i) her discharge was on serious grounds; and (ii) that she had already intimated quite clearly that she wanted no part with VTC nor YAs anymore. Therefore, we naturally did what was natural and neccessary - to remove her from the YAs register, as per her intimations. This was her stand the day and several days after the incident happened, which remained till she turned up for the following YA session, more on it will follow.

For all you conspiracy theorist, if there are any at all in YAs, no, we did not plan nor execute a graceful coup d'etat. It is not the most pleasant of business, but I wish you to understand that I made the executive decision with VTC's and YA's best interest in mind.

Moving along, I am aware that Olivia has been a major contributing part managerially speaking to the YAs. However, I had no choice other than to come to my decision for, inter alia, the following reasons:
i) Lack of professionalism; (and)
ii) Inability to separate personal crises from her work with us;
iii) (Resulting in) Unsatisfactory work performance.

Let me elaborate.

Firstly, I would like now to state for the record that I am assuming a large portion of responsibility for the Olivia conundrum. As her mentor, I feel that I have failed to mentor her as well as I could have, should I was still in KL in person. But that is a difficulty that I cannot overcome, having an LLB to complete in the U.K. I have spoken to Olivia in length and made my sentiments clear to her as well as personally apologised to her over this.

Secondly, I believe that my criticisms above are not unfounded, I would divulge my substantiations for the points above, but out of respect for Olivia, I prefer not to. Enough to say that I believe that Olivia largely agrees with me on the above points. This is an industry that is still fledging and in a country where the work culture and attitude is, as I gather, rather foreign to Olivia. Once more, inexperienced as she was when she first join VTC, I must admit responsibility here, for not being able to more systematically guide her through the processes and hardships involved. However, there is a strict line that I draw between work and personal matters, and I do not take kindly on the latter infringing and derogating the former, which is, to me, the deciding factor for Olivia's termination.

I understand that she has been going through a lot, but my only consolatory word is that as a friend, I do care about it, but as an employer, I have other responsibilities that must precede my friendship. Olivia, I believe you understand what I mean now, after our last conversation.

Moving on again, Sums' then posted another blog which contained the following:

...with regards the situation with Olivia. Lets cut to the chase, her services were terminated with regards her position as Junior Producer but she choose to leave the YA (emphasis added). However, she did show up for the session on Sat (which did surprise me n a few other's who had more intimate knowledge of the factors involve) but nevertheless, I didn't turn her away.

This is entirely true, as Olivia did not give me nor Sums any inkling that she actually wished to stay on with the YAs and turning up unannounced was the last thing we were prepared for.

Sums then goes on to say:

I however took exception to her attitude whiles Victor was instructing n her inappropriate attire (which all of u were aware of), so I pulled her aside and asked her about it. I was in turn rudely replied to but I nevertheless let it slide n let her rejoin the group and by then I had to leave so I left Victor in charge.

Once more, I believe what Sums' claims is true - that she was indeed rudely replied to and that Olivia was not in appropriate attire. However, I would like to offer Olivia's explanation to me over the phone during our last conversation - my pardons, Olivia - that the rude reply was due to an inability to resolve or discuss issues with Sums which had built up over the recent weeks, resulting in Olivia being frustrated and inadvertantly snappish in reply to Sums' advances. Further, Olivia felt very ill at ease, her status within the YAs rocky at best, and not knowing what exactly to expect nor do, in light of the recent developments. To that, I think Olivia's explanation provides a reason but not an excuse for her behaviour, which I have already told her in person.

Sums' then follows with:

The culmination of which leads to this. I have no personal problem with Olivia and I think her departure is a big loss to the YA but before inviting her to rejoining the team again, 2 terms must be 1st fulfilled:
1 That every single YA member wants her to remain (come back) n
2 That it can be guaranteed that she will not pull something like this come production time.

Olivia, this is not Sums' being patronising, but rather being a responsible General Manager. Whatever connections you may make to this being a reality show I shall discount in totality, as I maintain that she made a correct decision on the matter. She is taking the best interest of YAs in consideration and unfortunately, there seems to me no other alternative solution.

Sums' closes her blog with:

Now to address the other issue. It’s come to my attention that some of you think these actions are harsh and insensitive. Let me reiterate that her service termination was based on management reasons. Whiles I’ll cut u slack most of the time, I take exception to irresponsible behaviour. This is a small company n I need ppl I can rely on.

Please do not take this unkindly, all of you, as she is doing the uneviable job of maintaining what cohesiveness you all have developed in the past three months. She is simply doing her job, expounded from my instructions.

Next, Alia's posting. Controversial, yes. Direct, yes. Wrong? No comment.

vote: NOT WANTING olivia back into the YA
reason/rationale:
i might end up spanking her right in front of every crew actor due 2 her behaviour/attitude. all of u may see me as jolly,calm etc kind of person but i can MAY TURN nasty during productions on the day(s) of the show. it's for the production's sake, nothing more.

Semantics is the key here. I do not think Alia meant this with any malice, but as professionalism goes, I would be the first to say that unfortunately, Alia's stance is what would be the best in any given situation of this kind. She is not wrong to worry about further problems with regards Olivia. Nonetheless, I will stress that the above posting could have been more tactful, without obscuring the message.

Paik Yin's last post with her take on Olivia is next. I agree and can confirm that Olivia has no ulterior intention to 'spite' you all, as may have been perceived, and perhaps rightfully so, circumstantial interference being the root cause. I also know that Olivia had a genuine intention to resume her YA membership, though as I have mentioned above, she should have notified me or Sums in advance, which would have prevented a lot of the misunderstandings at the recent session. Paik Yin's observation of Olivia at the session is highly accurate, and is the case. However, Paik Yin, Olivia was removed from the blog with such immediacy because she intimated that she wished no longer to be a part of YA. What followed was merely procedural. So your objections is (no pun intended) objected to. Further, I wish to state for the record that we did offer her a chance to explain herself personally - this was before she was discharged, but we had already decided, in consultation with her, that her contract with us would not be renewed. Her temper and attitude was the main catalyst for her sudden dismissal, and following that, her removal from the YA blog and YA membership.

I have said a lot herein, which I hope is enough to pacify and clarify this messy affair. This is a regrettable affair, but will be no more regrettable than having a schism amongst the YA arising out of this, which may or may lead to the YA program's failure. Sums, Victor, Ghafir and I, as well as you all, have put in a lot into the program, and while my involvement may not be so visible, you are assured that I am heavily involved with all of you - if anything, financially.

As for Olivia, my requests to all of you is as follows:
(i) To understand that it was her decision in the first to resign from the YAs;
(ii) To understand that whatever reason Olivia may have for her part in this affair, it is not an excuse for the resulting behaviour and actions that culminated in her dismissal;
(iii) To understand that the same applies to all of you as well - we at VTC do not favour favourtism;
(iv) To understand that I have extended my invitations to Olivia to rejoin the YAs as a performer during our last tele-conversation, to which, in light of the recent postings, she has responded to me by an email which closes as follows:

...this whole thing has become extremely unprofessional and immature.
if they think i am such a bad/horrible/nasty person, then they havnt
experienced anything, and they will be in for a shock when they do go out in
the real world and meet some real nasty jackasses.

i have come to the conclusion that i am probably not on the same wavelength
as everyone else in the group, and that perhaps it was doomed from the
start.

That, I think examplifies why I do not appreciate Olivia's stance towards her work with us. She may have written it in anger, as she has done many times during the past three months, but I remain that that is not what I look upon as professional work attitude.

Therefore, please understand me when I take the hard line and report that I will no longer consider having Olivia back into the YA, not until she can work out her own problems and come to full appreciation why things have happened as it has. Nonetheless, I wish to extend my friendship (which was never retracted in the first place) and apologies to Olivia once more with a note that the fault is not solely hers - its as much mine as hers.

Should any of you have any objections to this, please contact me personally by phone or email.

I bid you all a good holiday. It will no doubt not be the happiest, but I hope things will improve henceforth.