Neko

… yep, despite never being absent for more than 7 months.

The last time I remember being absent was December of last year. And oh my how I survived only being late twice and never absent since then. So ok, I finally decided to take a leave last August 7th, claiming I was “not feeling well”. Technically, I didn’t say I was sick did I? But much to my surprise my boss announced on the floor that “(my name inserted and withheld for security purposes) finally got sick!”

This I heard from some of the callers the next day soon as I came in. Now I wonder, how did he say that? Was it like he was praying for me to get sick? Impossible!

Why impossible you say? Actually I have filed a one week leave 5 months ago for a vacation next month and 5 months ago I remember him agreeing to that, or it seemed much like it. hmmm (?) Well he didn’t protest nor said no when the human resources agreed to my scheduled leave. So technically, that’s a yes huh?

Unfortunately, now that the date is nearing, and after a request in writing was sent (for formality’s sake and to remind everyone) he suddenly blurts out that I cannot take my leave! And I have to reschedule everything! WTF!

Brrr, just give me the space to rant here.. I can’t believe he is saying this! Everybody knows at work (well ok those who actually know me) - where I am going and who I am visiting, and that includes him! So why now? When everything’s in place, where every plan is ironed. And everything has been paid for and no reschedule is possible. Then I get a message that says “frankly, I don’t care really if it is paid or not.” Was he thinking? Doesn’t he know how difficult and time-consuming it is to secure all the papers that were prepared for this? It took months and favors from 3rd parties just to get a hold of all the documents.

Have I not served them well enough to get their money’s worth off me? Doesn’t the drowning schedule of staying up hours after shift and coming way too early before shift just to meet their deadlines and expectations (take note, that these extra hours are without pay) not justify my right to take my leave? This leave that was scheduled and approved 5 months ago!?

People at home are pushing me to resign. There are other companies out there who treat their people with respect and would even pay more. It’s a malicious way of keeping their employees and I am not morally obliged to them or him (my boss) in any way whatsoever! They are actually the ones bound to a signed document of that approval for absence.

But noooooo.. I still had the heart to not leave my projects hanging and just run off and think of myself. I still had the heart to think of training some agents to do my tasks when I am away. I still had the heart to think of the agents who get an almost equally and closer amount of salary to mine than mine compared to other supervisors who tend to not do anything and leave the office on the dot. And yet they get 30% higher salary than me with less than half the work I’m doing. And yet, we are tagged with the same title. And yet, another “and yet” they have used up more than half their leave credits already! And I… yes I (!) never was absent for almost 8 months!

It’s time for me to take a stand. I am not anyone’s rag doll. I used to but I had the energy once before to break off from that. And now I even have a greater strength than ever before! I shall take my leave. Whether they like it or not. It’s my right and it’s their obligation to give an equal treatment to all their employees. This is a well-deserved vacation and I’m too stressed out that I don’t have time for myself anymore. And that this opportunity may not come again – if yes, it will take some time or years even! I don’t wanna let this pass and think of this in the future for another lost “what if”.

If they let me chose, then I will chose my heart. Coz you will never know unless you take that leap!

—–
photo note: “Some days are better than others” by Revisions

…for Love?

Hmm… let me just itemize the things I do in an 8 hour shift, now that there are no more team leaders to assist me:

1. first, decide and print on the seat plan for the day.

2. gather up the agents for some reminders and updates before the start of the shift (sometimes I skip this, thinking the agents are old enough to recall doing the same thing everyday – although some still act childish)

3. check the attendance and send this as an email.

4. email the seat plan to the concerned department.

5. make an average of at least 15 emails in a day – sent to clients, managers and other department heads, of course taking note of the minutes spent in editing and pondering of thoughts.

6. photocopy the forms needed by the agents (if the building administrator is not around – which happens more often than not… zzzz)

7. staple these 40 sets of 15-paged forms plus plus (often tho, I make more than 40 so as not to repeat the same procedure twice in a day)

8. input the details of each complete call as they come – we are averaging 25 to even 40 in a day.

9. collect, sort and organize the appointments set by the few agents assigned to make appointments that will be called by the main outbound agents.

10. if the production for appointments is slow, assist by calling too.

11. answer queries of agents

12. for the past few weeks, one supervisor uses his leaves regularly because of some sickness, so when he calls to ask a favor or errand, I cannot refuse – but I do it with an open mind. (hope he gets well tho – and soon, please!)

13. reply to IM’s online – msn, aol, gmail talk, (some come personal, but much to my regret and most of the time, I tend to ignore them just to cater to the business-related ones) sorry I disabled my yahoo or else I might end up sitting on my cube all day - lol

14. at least double check the consistency of answers on each complete call written on paper, which is 15 pages long. (this one I am guilty of not doing all the time – hey what does T-I-M-E mean again?)

15. make a print out for the collection department, and walk through 2 departments just to go to the printing room on the far corner of the floor. (I find this a waste of time and how I wish the printer is only beside me…or at least have one) And yes, I do this 3-4 times a day.. sometimes even more if I need to print other documents

16. make sure that the cut-off set for collecting these completes for encoding are met twice or even 3 times a day (depending on the amount of completes per hour).

17. lunch break for 30 minutes (pfew! finally!)

18. meet up the agents for 5-10 minutes after the break, for reminders, updates and instructions (this is not mandatory everyday, but with the project we have, it is deemed necessary)

19. go to the other floor, leaving the agents on their own, just to listen to a minimum of 2 sets of 30-minute calls from the recordings which are bound for memos.

20. go back to the floor and call upon the agent doomed for memo or grading and accompany them to be witness on how the agent was graded.

21. go back to the floor again, feeling guilty at times for not having seen the mistakes on the forms and debating to oneself, coz the agents should have checked and/or known that what they wrote was inconsistent and/or wrong.

22. answer more queries of agents

23. update the board on the number of completes, per hour, per agent – so that everybody can see.

24. check the updates online and reply to clients’ emails if necessary

25. monitor the agents on random to check if they are dialing out, or to assist in some calls.

26. 10 minute-break (coffee, tea, or just water[!] and an occasional lucky strike lights [sorry- but I confess..] and toilet time- now don’t forget that) but most of the time I just let this privilege pass coz I have to do more important stuff. – yeah what’s more important than a puff of cigarette that will eventually destroy my lungs huh? What? What? Lol…

27. making sure that no agent goes over-break, sometimes to the point of looking for missing agents only to find some in the break room or under the cubes, sleeping, and yes the building admin is sometimes their sleeping-buddy… zzzz… so there you are!

28. answer the call or IM of a client or a manager.

29. ignore the gossips from behind just because somebody passed by my cube and said hi or chat a little, or even just to bug or punch my chair. (yes, this happens every forking day! Geesh! Haha- fork) – I think I’m hungry… Did I take my lunch? Or did I forget again?

30. be like a watchdog! make my presence felt on the floor by randomly manning the floor, coaching and checking on the agents, sometimes joke with them or catch people not speaking in English or sneaking food – without giving! lol

31. pressure the agents who still have no production for the day by announcing their names one by one – haha! I love this! (I think I’m getting my voice exercised enough – thinking how timid and aloof I used to be back in school)

32. remind the callers that we still have 30 minutes to dial before the end of the shift and they haven’t got enough completes yet. So, no peticks allowed!

33. at the end of the shift, make an announcement for the next scheduled appointments and organize the agents who I will assign for these.

34. collect the tallys and counts per agent

35. update the online count per project, per detail.

36. send out reports to the clients and managers

37. double check the data files, print if needed, and settle things to be done for the following shift.

…. All these are not scheduled yet, if I would write them as how I really do all these, and some repeatedly, you might build a monument for me! Well, they won’t call me Super-Jack Of All Trade-sor for nothing..

Ok, now that I am home, and all that was out (pfew!) time to update the agents schedule to be sent by email now – for payroll. And later, clean the list of 15,000 phone numbers to call for tonight.

Yes, when I have to do something, I tend to distract myself by doing another – at least I know I am still me. lol

—–
photo credits:
“My Desk” by tmertz
“Meltdown” by klycollins
“Dancing on the keyboard” by cypearl
“Work till you drop” by cypearl
“Looking at me” by marlysmand
“A workaholic’s breakfast” by Alex Jacek
“Rawwwwrrrrr!” by massdistraction

This was an overdue post for Last week. The days prior to that has indeed brought a terrifying series of sleeplessness. It might be medical in nature - caused by the unhealthy sleeping habits of night-shift CC employees, or a side-effect of insomnia or could be messages from my sub-conscious.

Monday morning - I dreamt I was alone in the elevator heading for the Penthouse, the top floor of our building. When the doors opened, there was total darkness, except for the faint light coming from the emergency stairs on the far left side of the floor. It silhouetted a big box full of junk things that I couldn’t really distinguish. Then I whispered without moving from my place, “are you there?” But not really pertaining to anyone. Then when there was no answer, I pressed the close button then tried to press the 16th floor.

But to my fright, the panel where all the buttons are placed kept on moving up and down so fast that I was unable to press any button. I was jumping, then bending, just to catch its movement and press the 16th floor! Or any floor for that matter!

History: Rumor has it that in our building, since only a few floors are being used at night, disturbed spirits are roaming the vacant floors. And sometimes these entities even manage to go to our busy floors. But the most terrifiying floor was the 12th floor, which is used as a foreign-language school during the day. They say the heat coming from that floor is caused by a number of entities that stay within.

I normally ignore these rumors but on that day, as scared as hell, the door of the elevator opened at the 12th floor! It was all dark, not even a light from the emergency stairs were on! And when it finally opened wide, I felt a big bump of heavy air crash to me! I screamed and screamed moving my hands and arms in a way as like preventing someone or something invisible from attacking me! Wake.

Writing this now even gives me the goosebumps! Coz after I composed myself when I woke up, I took a shower and saw on my arm a wound slashed to my skin and a black spot like that of a heavy object had hit me.

Tuesday morning (after the Monday night shift) - I dreamt I was piercing my own ear. I was facing a mirror but didn’t looked at my face, only at my ear. I was holding a shiny needle metal then as I closed my eyes, I penetrated the metal through my skin. I didn’t felt any pain. But strangely, I felt my cheek was compelled to move whenever I move the needle. When I opened my eyes I saw on the mirror that it has gone under my skin. It is indside my right cheek! calmly, I pulled the niddle slowly but it took some seconds for me to find out how long the niddle was. It was about 7 inches! But soon as I removed it from my skin, blood squirted out fast uncontrollably! Wake. I was aWaken by my own scream.

Wednesday - I intentionally came home late to prevent from falling asleep. Then I had a light sleep that lasted only less than 4 hours. So either I didn’t dream of anything or didn’t remember my dream when I woke up. Then went to work.

Thursday - I found myself in a yellowish house. Everything I see are in shades of yellow gold and brown. Then I realized I was holding a bottle of holy water. In front of me was a girl hanging from the ceiling. Half her body was stuck to the wall, half was on the ceiling. She was inverted in a way that her tangled long hair drifts almost over me. Her skin was pale, rotten and grotesque. Her white clothes soiled by mud, dirt and dried blood. She had an angry stare beaming to me, saliva dripping from her wide evil grin.

I then dashed her with the holy water, dashing non-stop while I was murmuring chants I am not familiar of. She screams and laughs like metal screeching by every drop of water to her skin, burning her and I smell rotten flesh oozing by the smoke. Suddenly she jumped to me! I felt her weight, felt her wet skin. She was so heavy, it was choking me. Wake.

I woke up sweating. The sun lighting my whole room. It was 4:00 in the afternoon. I never slept after that and waited for the time until I need to go to work.

Friday - I went to my colleague’s house after work. We talked about my strange dreams and let the time pass. I arrived home at around 2:00 thinking I won’t have to suffer those nightmares if I sleep short again.

I fell asleep thinking of not dreaming. Then I saw myself in my room with a bigger bed. Beside me was a male friend younger than me. He was asleep. By the floor I saw 2 other guys sleeping. Then one stood up, it was Mr. Bad News! He was calling me whispering that we should transfer to another room. I refused because I don’t want to wake up the others. And I saw that the other one sleeping beside him was My Moogie! Then he woke up and called to me. I followed him then we went to the other room while my arms wrapped around his right arm. Mr. Bad News got frustrated!

While Moogie and I were cuddling in a couch, Mr. Bad News suddenly burst out of my room! And tried to stab me! I saw his unspeakable empty stare that was all too familiar. His eyes darted to mine sending me chills to my spine! I felt my whole body numb and stiff. He tried to attack, but there were alot of people around. They all yelled and prevented him to move close to us. The mob blocked him and I was screaming with fright! Crying while my hands covered my face both from shame and sadness. Wake.

I woke up with tears in my eyes. I hugged my pillow so tight. Then I opened my radio and listened to the first CD I could get my hands on. I opened it real loud but I couldn’t hear the tune and the song. I just know that something was playing but I don’t understand. I was listening to emptiness while I stare to my blue ceiling until the sun has set.

Then I heard a knock to my door. It was time for me to get ready to go to work.

Weekend now just passed, and no nightmares yet. So far…

—–
photo credits: (in order of appearance)
+ “falling elevator” by Tsunami Notes
+ untitled by p.h.y
+ “crucified” by Confusedvision
+ untitled by Sasha Prince

[Please refer to Part 1] WARNING: This post is full of rant, rant, RANT, bad karma, bad rep and bullocks! Ops, my bad..

Just when I thought it wasn’t a big deal, a rumor aflamed without my knowledge. (I recommend you to read Part 1 first before proceeding)

Rumor has it, that the Department Head I was to email and I had an argument. And this involved the head of still, another Department. (So let’s name them Dept. X and Dept Y) Dept. X is the one I was to email.

The Director of Dept. Y approached one of its Managers and asked if it was true. That I had an argument, a heated debate that is, with Dept. X Head and Dept. Y Head.

The Dept. Y Head was surprised to hear that, because no argument ever spurred among the three of us. Not even from between any of us. As a matter of fact, for the past 3 years, never was a project hit weeks or days before the deadline until now. The last 4 projects were a success that not even the data had that much discrepancies nor problems. Dept. X and Dept. Y consulted with me smoothly and things were in harmony until that senseless and baseless rumor started.

Basically, I really don’t care much about gossips. I find it a waste of time. I don’t get it how some people find pleasure in this petty minuscule act, as if they can’t live a day without starting a rumor or hearing one. But the problem here now is, the Directors have heard of it. And since Dept. X Head and I are new in our positions, we can’t afford any bad rep.

Is this a destabilization plot?

Dept. X Head and I talked about this. Strangely, on the same day, Supervisor Two, not Supervisor so and so, (Yes, another Sup!) sent an email thru our server. She has full knowledge that it is possible for a third-party or the Portal’s Admin to have access to this. But despite that, still emailed questions about some guy from our company who was courting me.

She claimed if somebody tries to get into my mail I can easily file a complaint. But, logically, that “somebody” have already read it before discovering “someone” had opened my mail. StupiOd! yep, s-t-u-p-O-i-d!

The thing that bothers me, is Supervisor Two is accusing that there is already a relationship between me and this certain unkown guy, although still asking who he is. The letter was basically guessing names, mentioning personalities and trying to puzzle out who the exact guy was. It ended with wishing me luck and happiness and asking for a reply, stressing if I’d like to.

Emotional Blackmail is what I call it. Geesh! A personal email at work!? If she liked to ask me something, she should have just approach me directly, IM’ed me or even emailed me thru my Personal Email Addy! But even thru mails, how would I know if she BCC’ed anyone?

But as I said, it IS a waste of time and energy for me to even listen to such things, so I ignored. Didn’t reply and just laughed AT her face, yes making her fully aware that I am laughing AT her! Though I didn’t know if she got what I really laughed about. I doubt it. HA!

The next day tho, Supervisor so and so resurrected from the grave, which is his obfuscating chair. Now, he IM’d.. as if can’t talk to me directly (and i was just two seats away), that the Director of our Department was meaning to ask me since last week, if.. (hold on to your horses ~) I was the alleged serial supplier of cookies and DVD’s to a certain Director. WTF!

And where in their pathetically pitiful minute world did they get such Bullocks!?!?

But what did I do? Let a stampede of horses run after him? nhe.. I just laughed and ignored the IM coz I have better things to do. I only replied after almost an hour when I was finished with my reports and emails for the client. That I haven’t had the slightest clue of what he was saying. He had to spell it out for me, because I am dumb. HA! yeah. yeah.

Yeah! like DUH… *poink* may a big bulldozer run upon their feet while standing on the pavement waiting for a ride… (see, I think I really should be scolded for being too nice)

Moral of the story:
(from a friend’s sms)
In dis lyf, u cnt
avoid gossip &
unkind words
frm oders.
Watevr u do,u
wil nvr please
every1..
Remmbr: if u
weren’t worth
anythin,dey
wouldn’t bother..
Smile =)

—–
photo credit: “Rumors chapter II - Exhauted after time” by josephine_again

I just saw a movie last Saturday night, about a revolutionist from Ireland, Michael Collins. Sadly, I wasn’t able to finish the film on HBO because of my remote control that suddenly controlled me!

Anyway, a quote from that film still moves me, “the best way to beat England is to ignore their power” (ok, not so sure about the exact words, maybe something like that). But the point in this line is “resistance”

I still can’t get over the fact that the Director (at my work) scolded me about being too nice. Yes, that is a big disadvantage when working in the corporate world I guess. Being too nice will lead to abuse. Abuse of others who power-trip.

And so, my case was, last week a Supervisor told me to email the head of one department to clarify something about one of the projects I am handling at the moment. It seems that he was not satisfied with my answer that he needs to hear it himself from somebody from that department. First, he disregarded my authority, but I didn’t feel that way then.

Before I was to do this, I insisted that I need not email that Department Head because I already talked to him. Still, he insisted that it should be documented. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Director, passed by. And so I informed him that Supervisor so and so told me to send this certain email.

To maybe avoid my embarrassment, the Director talked to me when he was back in his office. He told me that I should know and be firm with my position… That I am not under any supervisor; that I don’t and should not take orders from them; that I go straight to him and should consult things with him first before making any steps. I should know when to decide and the decision should not come from any supervisor.

Maybe I am too nice indeed. But I was only avoiding being labeled as “bossy” again. Because I know I am not. The people under me by all means can call me bossy IF I feel I am one.

And now that Supervisor so and so is handling the same department I am in, he turned out to be 10X more bossy than I am. So I left those who previously labeled me under him. Now they suffer more.. they have seen what “Bossy” really meant.

The problem now is I am hearing complaints even down from the agents. And my heart goes to them because it was not that long ago since I used to be an agent too. So I know how they feel, more than those Sups and Leaders who’s been in their position for years.

Resistance. Ignore the power-tripper. This is where I stand. And I would only do things for the interest of the project and the agents.

I just hope the Director would clear out to the Supervisors as well, that I am not under them. That all concerns I would only address to the Director. And that’s that.

And to sum it up, the only thing that can control me is my TV remote control. Hehe.. CLICK! [x]

Have you ever wondered where one’s soul goes after death? Let’s say there is an afterlife but not your own. Some religions have their own versions of reincarnation, But some condemn such a belief. Catholicism do not have this in their doctrine. And there is only one human (half-human half-god that is) who defiled the law of death by resurrection.

Ironically in the Philippines, a great deal of catholics believ in a “past life”. And yet we are the only Catholic/Christian nation in Asia.

Anyway, I don’t wanna write about its history and all. I will leave that to Google who has all the answers. Haha! On second thought, is God disguising as Google? hmm.. that’ll be another topic.

Lol! Last night when I was dazzling up with my normal workload, half browsing, half working…ok, chatting too… a colleague from the IT Dept. mentioned he believes in a past life. And asked my position on this. I first said, I don’t believe. But I’m avoiding being too sensitive with this topic, I reserve that with my moogie discussions with somebody else *.*

So, I playfully said that on second thought maybe God recycle souls.. I got a LOL for a reply. Then he said God can just permanently delete the bad souls from the recycle bin. Then I rebutted that there is a Recovery Program who can bring back a deleted soul. ANd contradicting myself, that by right-clicking, an Eraser Program can delete absolutely.

Then he said how God out-does their OT (overtime) at work, for he is “On Monitor” 24/7. And that he is so mighty that he gets tons of emails per second, and still manages to reply to all.

I then saw some recycled thoughts from the film Bruce Almighty, a sarcastic approach to life with religious undertones. Silly film, but worth the watch.

Anyway, I then remembered the recent implementation of MS Outlook at work. Getting an average of 10 emails a day plus replies in the sent messages, slows up my 40-Gb pc. (reason for me not to use outlook)

So, I continued saying to him that what if God has only less than 1Gb free space left? With decreasing bandwidth due to multi-multi tasking, crashes the system all at the same time? Up to no challenge, he replied “that will never happen. coz his bandwidth is limitless and so is his storage”

Ok, I have rebuttals for that up my sleeve, but to stop this nonsense, I just agreed and said it’s my coffee break and BRB later.

So I went to make me some coffee, added up a dash of Swiss Miss Caramel then went back to my seat. And then, instead of clicking the same window, I went to talking about Stereolab and Yo La Tengo and our CD collection with my moogie. I sent an email to a client, printed some research work, encoded some paper work, answered queries from a couple of agents, replied to an IM from the QA, called the attention of an agent on call having a dead air and replied to the Hellcats at Twisted.

Pfew! Multi-tasking and yet concentrating on more important issues. One more long sip from my creamy coffee and a deep sigh of relief.

That is just me having been right-clicked and refreshed.

—–
photo credit: Four recycle bins by soylentgreen23

  

NO, this is not my “peticks” time. And yes, peticks is a call center term. It means killing time by not doing calls or pretending to do something to let time pass. So when somebody declares he is in a “peticks mode” then his mind shuts down or hybernates and his hands automatically moves ala-Edward Scissorhands while his voicebox mechanically produces scripted lines as if programed on auto-pilot.

And yep, ok I am guilty of being on peticks mode when I was a caller. But technically, I am in a different level of peticks this very minute. Mainly, because I am thinking of what to write in my report while my fingers tickers with keyboards in another browser. My Blogsome browser. hehe..

Ok, so I am like that. I tend to temporarily escape the pressure by doing something else, but still capable of meeting the deadline. Ok, a moment please, while I TAB to my other excell file. lol

See, done. geesh. And oh my its time.. end of shift now. woeha! We will have breakfast with my colleagues at a nearby Eat-All-You-Can resto. hello carbs and insomnia..

And since I havent posted anything in this blog for some time, I guess old habbits are hard to quit huh..

—–
photo credit: “Buhay Call Center” (Call Center Life) by BlueRiff

She shoots him down

she wakes up with the sun beaming to her eye
a heat cluttered stuck to her brain
spinning her head to unmemory
brink of blindness unsustained

digging back from her yesterday
forcing to remember what words were said
still nothing - as far as she can see
from the ten thousand scenes that twisted

a sudden spring of image clicked to her
from going back and forth and rewind
a shadow that made her laugh but not smile
is this the one?

she didn’t care where he’s been
and don’t care what he plans to do
a fool’s numbness sprouted and lingered
as they both let the day pass too

she waited for that moment that never came
and all her patience came burning
so time has sent the signal to halt
and she knows he always had it coming..

—–
note: Oh, was i listening too much to Stone Roses or not? lol..

a poem to pay tribute to Feb 2nd.. and the camera painting entry for illo friday.. so for those who regularly see my posts at another blog, my apologies.. i just can’t log in there.. silly they require me to have a Gmail account! pff..

Now playing: The High Dials - The Lost Explorer

Last Thursday, I saw a former colleague visiting our office. Actually, I saw him in the cafeteria smoking with 2 other guys presently employed in our company. I remember he quit his job because he was so pissed and irritated with “the system” of the company.

He used to tell me about his greavances and even encouraged me to join their mass resignation. I understood his concerns, but for myself, I wouldn’t go to the point of resignation. It would be too idealistic for me to do so. Let’s just say my idealism died a long time ago. And because, face the facts, wherever you go, whatever your job may be, there will always be people or bosses who will piss off an employee or two (or even a group).

But I listened to him then, and even advised him to accept the fact that nobody pleases everyone.

Yes, I enjoyed the companionship of my colleagues, and even some of my bosses. And I confess that I love my job. And I know that not all employees are as “open-minded” as some are.

And so the mass-resignation did not push through. Nobody followed him, but he still continued. A few months later, one after another, veteran callers were disappearing. Some got laid off because of their absences, some because of calling issues, and some simply wasn’t able to stand the pressure of work.

Being in a call center, with its fast-paced, pressured life, is not as easy and glamorous as others may think. It is draining, in all sense of the word. But, it’s just up to the person if he can take up this challenge or not.

So, going back… Ironically, the person my x-colleague hated most was with me that thursday morning. We were just on our way out of the building. I saw his surprise especially when she told him that I was promoted.

Yes, I know that of all the people, I am and could be, the most unlikely to be in this position. Knowing that I heard too much from the agents, and I have only been in the company less than a year.

So, seeing each other that day, we weren’t as enthusiastic as before. For one, I was feeling guilty of something that I did not do. The first thing that came to my mind was he must have thought that I told his worst-hated person what he told me long time ago. I can almost see it in his eyes. And I so much wanted to tell him that whatever we talked about will never be spoken by these lips; will never be written by these hands; and will never be known by anyone. That’s who I am. I keep the secrets of both sides to myself.

I have fallen in a place where I know the comments of the agents and I know the plans of the leaders and bosses. But I stay quiet, and just observe. I have never betrayed anyone’s trust. And I remain as a true co-employee as being true to a real friend. Because I hold on to the beliefs that..

“Your job is not everything” and
“There is Life outside the office”

—–
The song above is not in the samples in the High Dials’ myspace. I actually heard them first over my fave online Indie Radio ~ Monday playlist.

photo credit: “Lunch time at work” by Sloworking2

current music: Slowdive - Shine [splendiferous mix] 4.02 MB
                    

A few weeks ago, because of the stress and pressure we all have on a deadline of a project, my colleagues suddenly felt the urge to go to Tagaytay. That was on the day I wasn’t required to show up on Saturday night overtime, because I was pulled out to ‘test’ a more difficult project.

I woke up from an sms of a colleague saying “wake up and get up! We are going to Tagaytay. NOW As in after shift. Get here ASAP.”

Is this some kind of a joke, at 3:00 am? I don’t think so. Then I rushed to open my pc. First, I was almost irritated that I wasted 3 hours sleeping instead of going online to speak with My Moogie *.* But then again, he knows (and always remind me, thanks!) to have my well deserved rest.

But as soon as I got online PING! PING! PRIINGG! Messages from work popped. And also from My Moogie. Ok, one at a time! So I said Hi to him first…

I had second thoughts on going to Tagaytay. But they rely on me since it seemed I am the only one who has been there recently, and knows what to ride and where to go. And Moogie is about to sleep too (check time zones, hehe..) So I promised to take pictures for him and he let me go with them.

I am anticipating the feeling of being in Tagaytay too. I’ve been there many times with my family, but the last time I was there was so meaningful that I know Tagaytay will never be the same for me. There will always be that feeling of being with him. And seeing the sights makes me miss him more at the same time, no, because I felt he was just there.

And so I went.

Funny tho, that when I arrived at work, it was only 5 of us who will go. Fine with me, but I learned that a few more backed-out the last minute. Those who do not want to risk going on a rainy Manila Sunday morning, not knowing exactly where to go and what to ride.

When we got there, all the risk was worth it. The two hour bus trip lead us up the mountains with no rain. And the cloudy atmosphere made it perfect for a long walk looking over the lake and volcano. The temp was colder than the usual, and our jackets (that we usually only wear at work) were well suited.

And yes, I was right. It was an amazing sight and feeling. I was so proud of bringing Him *.* there with me last July. I showed my friends where we took pictures and ate at the same restaurant.

I highly recommend Leslie’s in Tagaytay. It’s just beside Starbucks. It’s a landmark so it wont be missed.

After brunch (breakfast + lunch) at Leslie’s, we went to Dencio’s for a few drinks. We stayed at the upper floor that has an equally amazing view. Overlooking the lake and Taal volcano, we even saw a mysterious rain that circled the lake. It was divided in two, then after a few hours, passed over our location and stayed only for a few minutes and went back to shower the lake.

Weekend in Tagaytay. Pfew! What a way to unwind.

Tho next time, I wanna have that coffee at Starbucks too. lol

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notes:
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have a nice week everyone..