My boss saying he goes to JB KTV lounges to “talk business” is exactly like me saying I download Tinder just to find teammates for Mobile Legends.
I need to share the absolute gold medal level of corporate gaslighting that happened in my office this afternoon.
We were having a mid-year project review meeting, and our big boss was casually complaining about how exhausted he was over the weekend. Why? Because he had to drive across the causeway to Johor Bahru on Friday night for what he called a “critical, high-stakes business networking session” at a KTV lounge until 4 a.m.
He was sitting there in his tailored shirt, sipping his Starbucks, deadpan telling the entire team that singing mandopop, drinking towers of Heineken, and paying for premium lounge services is an essential part of “client relationship management” and “driving strategic synergy.”
I literally had to bite the inside of my cheek so hard to stop myself from laughing out loud. The sheer, unadulterated delusion is peak comedy.
Bro, who are you trying to convince? Saying you go all the way to a JB KTV to close corporate deals is exactly like me telling my parents or a partner that I download Tinder strictly because I need to find a solid tank user to help me push rank in Mobile Legends. Sure, technically, there is a microscopic, 0.0001% chance you might talk about a workflow or a contract duration between song sets or swiping profiles, but let’s not play visual games here. Everyone knows exactly what the primary objective of the platform is.
What makes it even funnier is how these corporate types try to wrap everything in corporate buzzwords to make it sound legitimate. It’s never “I wanted to go for a cheap drinking session and enjoy the nightlife across the border.” No, it has to be framed as “sacrificing my personal weekend hours to unlock regional market capabilities and manage stakeholder expectations.”
If you want to go across the causeway to let off steam, just own it. Don’t come back to the office on Monday acting like you just fought a major corporate warfare battle on behalf of the company’s revenue goals.
The corporate world in Singapore is honestly wild. The mental gymnastics people will perform to justify their entertainment expenses and lifestyle choices under the guise of “building client rapport” is truly an art form.
Just wanted to post this here because I’m still tracking the irony. Anyone else’s boss absolute world-class at re-branding their weekend party habits into official company business?