Okay, so I’m going to tell you my story about a time when I disobeyed a group at work. In case I’ve always believed that a company cannot demand total loyalty if they don’t respect its employees’ boundaries. and five years ago when I was a team leader at a blockchain company, the management team tried to cancel my marketing team holiday because there was a huge product launch. And at that time there was a verbal rule in the company that we must always prioritize work over personal life. And we always have to work over times for many weeks if there were any significant milestone. And if anyone refused to cooperate with them, they could be laid off, or they could get bad results and personal results. So that time it was the last straw for me, because I felt it was so unfair. And instead of staying quiet, I booked a meeting with my life manager. I told her in advance that I’m gonna write a letter to higher level to state clearly that I had no intention to sacrifice my life or my team’s well-being for that. And now thinking back, I still think that it was a very brief and incredible decision that I had made. And we got a good happy ending, I think, because at that time we still had our holiday. and we still get good results and perform appraisals.
Band 7+: Describe a rule at your school or work that you disagree with. You should say: - What the rule is - Why it was created - How it affects you or others And explain why you think the rule should be changed.
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Okay, so I'm going to tell you my story about a time when I disobeyed a rule at work. I've always believed that a company cannot demand total loyalty if they don't respect its employees' boundaries. Five years ago, when I was a team leader at a blockchain company, the management team tried to cancel my marketing team's holiday because there was a huge product launch. At that time, there was a verbal rule in the company that we must always prioritize work over personal life. We always had to work overtime for many weeks if there were any significant milestones. If anyone refused to cooperate, they could be laid off or receive poor performance reviews. That time, it was the last straw for me because I felt it was so unfair. Instead of staying quiet, I booked a meeting with my line manager. I told her in advance that I was going to write a letter to a higher level to state clearly that I had no intention of sacrificing my life or my team's well-being for that. Now, thinking back, I still believe it was a very brave and incredible decision that I made. We had a happy ending because we still had our holiday, and we received good results and performance appraisals.
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Speaking Time: 86 seconds