10 posts tagged “drama”
our semi-permanent move cebu to has been moved to july 09. this is officially the week wherein my countdown begins. and cheesy as it may seems, this is the most appropriate song that has been on my mind as begin packing my things.
this one goes to charlie, reijiro and the rest of the manila team. we will be back.
my work entails a lot of courage, frustration, stamina and drama. it's a job not suited for the weak-hearted or bottom feeders. i've lasted for more than 3 years not only because i developed multiple personalities but mostly because of the people i worked with. people i consider not only the best co-workers i could ever ask for. people named win, reijiro and charlie. i consider them the highlights of my career. we've shared a number of hundreds of moments worth blogging and remembering. i want to write down as many as i could remember so i can always look back at some of best time of our lives. cheesy....
as far as i know it all started with the theme days. it's when everyone at work comes it dressed on whatever the theme for that day was. then we instantly hit it off and found out that we had a lot of things in common. we are by far sandy's most favorite angels. his show-stopper and over the top supervisors. he counts on us for hyper energy like we four parts of gigantic electric ion. we are all loud and we all looove karaoke nights. charlie's the balladeer. he likes hog the mic and belt out love songs. reijiro's the crooner as he prefers old school and little bit of rock 'n roll. win is the total diva. as in regine, mariah and whitney. i like anything that's loud and that involves challenging my vocal chords to it's human limits.
at work, everyone seems to fear and love us at the same time. not a day or a person passes by that escapes our criticism. it is inate all four of us. kung nakakamatay lang ang panlalait, most of the people at work could have dropped dead or have been paralyzed. and yet, they all love us. well most if not all. we always make it fun and we always make it a happy working place. charlie's resonating laugh and frequent use of bullfrog and miss gay taglines. win's charisma with hetero-male population and her smooth transition to sweet damsel to evil step sister. reijiro's perpetual naive side and hyper personality. all these and more makes the long and hard working hours worth it.
not to mention the back to back meet and greet presentations. i will always remember reijiro's "success rate", charlie's record as the fastest agent promoted, and my take on shift bid as a very important factor to motivate agents to get excellent attendance record. win's toss the hair dance. and speaking about dance, the bananarama number we did is one for the history. classic and will never be matched. the hours spent inside pier one's comfort room that we turned into a private make-up and dressing room was unforgettable. too bad we don't have it on tape.
it's the jutotsra and jutotsra01 password. it's the galera and enchanted kingdom madness. it's conquering the sportsfest. it's the constant indecisiveness on whether to have breakfast in tropical hut, shelby's or jollibee. it's the raid of the ukays. the group yosi breaks and endless posing after one snapshot to the other. it's whether we tell everyone to wear black or corporate the next day. it's feasting at kkk or noontime beer at carafe. it's the skinny jeans convention. the night outs in malate. it's the hush hush secrets about our favorite managers. it's the kyeeeebs attitude and prettytop account in guys4men. it's rocking the graveyard shift. and getting our hairs colored in piandre. it's the love for madonna's confession tour and the badettes version of dreamgirls. the constant clamor about lazy straight male supervisors. and the transparent hot and glow in dark pink clipboards. it all these and a whole lot more that i could not remember as i write this. and oh yeah, the back and forth trips to dampa.
in the next 2 weeks, win and i will be heading for cebu. charlie has again retracted his resignation for the nth time. reijiro has not confirmed his plans of leaving. one of the main reasons why i chose to take the cebu assignment is because i suck with goodbyes. i know for a fact that over the year that we are required to stay in cebu, both charlie and reijiro may have left work for good. and honestly, i don't want to be there when it happens. it's sad but i learned that nothing is constant in life and that friends come and go, but with a certain few we must hold on to. i know that i may not be able to convince charlie and reijiro from staying. and i also know that someday, we will see each other and that we will just dance the bananarama song all over again.
sometimes, we put too much passion on the biggest dreams and priorities in life that we fail to love the smallest pleasures from simple things. we search constantly for the right choices, for the right person, for the right path to walk through, for the right time and for the right reasons. but life is not about making it right or searching for the things that can be found. it is about letting the unexpected happen and finding things you never searched for.
this is for my recently discovered fanbase composed of roan, cathy (read: katie), pearl and jeff, and to the others reading this who are about to make life changing decisions. i've always believed that the choices we make should not be what should be right or what should be better. our choices are always half chance, so is everybody else's. life is a long race: sometimes we're ahead and sometimes we're behind. at the end, the race is only within ourselves.
the subway ride
i haven't blogged anything personal lately and a lot has happened. i've always pondered on how personal my blog should get. these past few weeks, i've had a series of events flash before my eyes. i've been both confused and amused at the same time. the feeling was also strange yet familiar. yep, just like riding a speeding subway -- with me constantly looking at the images through the windows of the train. here we go.
alfred's return
i've met alfred last year through the wonders the of technology (read: blah), the internet. we've dated a couple of times and had some cheesy chemistry. then, one day, we stopped seeing each other. gay thing. too much work, other personal matters, new interests, in short we've moved on. come march of this year, i received a sms from him out of nowhere. the kind of message that comes out of nowhere but sparks your interest. after a few hesitations, hundreds of sms, and a couple of calls, we arranged for a little reunion. and then we started going out again. movies, text messages, dinners, text messages, and more text messages. by this time, you may have sensed something serious is going on. that love may work the second time around. i also had the same thought. wow. giddy me. i am in love again. however, i noticed that i wasn't as excited as i was the first time we were going out. isn't it that love's supposed to make your heartbeat race and your palms sweaty? daniel meade in ugly betty said so. now to make things a bit complicated, alfred is hinting on having sex. asap. now why, you ask, is this complicated for me? first, i am rusty. i have not been in bed or in a car or on a couch for that matter with another guy for like in the last....century. no, i have not entered the convent or taken a sacred vow. i've been very busy with work for the last century. second complication is my previous episode with another guy i've dated before alfred. he was boyishly cute, smart, passed the bar exams, and extremely horny. he asked me to sleep with him during our first date. i declined the offer and said we may need to wait. i was playing hard to get. on our third date, i gave in and he was so excited. the next day, he didn't return my messages. i'd see him with his friends at clubs and he'd just smile at me; like nothing happened. oh, i forgot. there is such thing as a semi-casual sex. horray. i am now a official slut. so i fear that something good going on with alfred may end up with me being upgraded to a junior slut. should i wait some more? should we get it on? is it paranoia? should we ask joe the mango? i hate ending this with a question, don't you? hahahahaha...
the lost boy in me
there's really lots of things you can discover through the internet. ahhh, the power of technology. just recently, i've rediscovered my alpha male side. no, not the extreme macho alpha male side. just the boy that has always been in me. i met elmo through ym. he's 19, carefree and not gay. he also thinks that i am not gay. and he thinks that i'm not gay as well. yes, not a lot of people know this, but i happen to know how to play a straight guy. it's really simple as saying dude, tol, pare, and astig every once in a while. hilarious but easy. we've had fun conversations over a couple of beers, share thoughts about my work and his studies. we even like the same bands. i know i'm gay and that i extremely like house music but i also happen to extremely like linkin park, the killers, greenday, my chemical romance and red hot chilli peppers. it's fun letting out the boy in me once in awhile. i've confirmed that straight guys just don't talk about women and basketball, but they do talk about sex a lot. now, don't get me wrong. we have not had sex or plan to. and don't get the wrong idea -- money is not an issue here. the kid lives on his own allowance and has always volunteered to pay for our damages. it's purely platonic and casual. it's always nice to hangout wearing regulars clothes (read: no skinny pants) and talking with someone who has a different view in life. maybe it's because i never had a brother. or maybe because being gay nowadays is just too bland that you'd have to do something different every now and then. or is it just a phase? i'm definitely not thinking of switching teams. but how to i break up to this kid that i'm gay? he looks up to me like a big brother who's cool and can teach him the facts of being a man. what if i eventually convert him? dude, this is tough.
resignations and moving on
first there was charlie and marky. both extended a few more weeks. then jeff out of nowhere decided to leave as well. next will be ann and god knows who else. our team is slowly falling apart. and no matter how try to keep things to together and move on, it just falls apart. most of my co-workers said they've had it. that it's time for them to move on to something better. i agree, but i just don't agree with the timing. lately, i'm feeling that i'm being sloppy at work. aside from regaining my personal life as mentioned above, it's really hard not be affected with the people's current outlook at work. we may disagree with a how a couple of things should be handled, but we still manage to get our work done somehow. i'm a very dynamic and moderately workaholic person. i easily get bored with days that we don't have much to do; although this rarely happens. what distracts me lately is the feeling of separation. when you work with people who has the same passion and dedication that you have multiplied by the number of hours you spend day in and day out, you can't help but get attached to them. i've admired these people and i've always believed in them. these are the best set of supervisors that our team ever had, whether our managers admit it or not. and to deprave me further, my managers have transfered me to the 4 am shift. i've always worked in graveyard and i've always been proud how our shift leads the pack of the entire team. my boss sandy said i needed to move since the morning team have been sloppy lately. it was short of saying they needed a hero to save the world. maybe an exaggeration but our team means the world to us. at least before. point is, i'm feeling a little sloppy myself lately. and there's no such thing as a sloppy hero. i understand that they chose to move me because i haven't given any clear intentions of leaving work anytime soon. maybe i should. then they would not put as much pressure on me as they do now. the atmosphere at work right now is very confusing yet very certain. confusing because as much as i love what i do, it's hard to work without that people that you've shared the passions and believed in the same goals. certain because i know for a fact that sooner than later, these people are slowly leaving. and it has already started. i've always wondered how all these will end. i've learned that we should never attach ourselves too much with other people. reijiro was right in quoting that we do not let go of someone whenever we separate from them. their memories stay within us and we stay connected this way. it is not the person but the experiences, good and bad, that you have to hold on to. and it is a fact of life -- people come and go. at the end of the day, we always have ourselves to get by and move on. or maybe i just need break from work. even heroes need a little time away from saving the world.
we're currently on the 'hot seat' at work and 60days is all we have to pull things together. 60 days. whoopee. just when you thought that things couldn't get worse. we were formally informed of the deadline earlier this week. and prior to this, there were a series of ,oh god, unfortunate events at work. and as if a premonition, i sent this letter to the other supervisors as something to think about:
AN OPEN LETTER TO MY FELLOW SUPERVISORS
To all, we will still see each other no matter what time or space may come between us. Let me take this opportunity to say that it has been a great pleasure and an overwhelming life experience to work with such great people like you.
born and raised to misbehave…
*more on the 60 days in the coming weeks. We may need to call the spartans for backup.
we all come to a point in life where we have to make choices. we reach that point wherein we question ourselves if we are still happy with what we do or should we move on to better grounds. i've never in my life imagined that i would be where i am right now. i remembered that i left my previous job because i was no longer happy. i sent out resumes and finally got a call from my current company. i started at the bottom and worked my way to becoming a supervisor. in the process, it never crossed my mind that i should aspire for higher positions. eventually, with the encouragement of some mentors, i got promoted. i fell in love with what i do. everyday may be a rat race of beating deadlines and doing the impossible but this is where i get to test myself. i literally run at work and learned to get by with things even if there aren't enough resources. i was so proud of what i did and decided that this is where i want to be. but things change and the longer you work for bosses, the greater the chances your eyes are opened wider. to the truth, to the run-the-mill system, to all the sugar coated bullshits. excuse me. because it doen't matter how many "that's a good idea" or "let me bring that up" you get, at the end of the day it would be still be all about the money.
sad thing is that all this time that you showed passion, that you did your job because you wanted to and not because you wanted something in return or because you wanted a gold star in your forehead. we do a lot of things because we know it's right and we believe in it. i remember the devil wears prada where nigel told andy that doing a good job means you'd have to compensate your personal life. which means that if your personal life is not doing good, then you must be doing well at work. and that if your personal life is all aready up in smokes or non-existent, then its time for a promotion. now, it is so clear to me that dedication to work may come with a pricey tag. something as valuable as time for your friends and family or time to work on a relationship. i decided that my career should be top priority and that personal life could still wait. i'm already 26, and yes, my personal life is still waiting on line 3.
recently, came a another chance for me to move my career up further, which could mean a longer wait time for my personal life. half hearted, yes. i was already happy with what i was doing, but then again, i also don't want to disappoint the people encouraging me to go the next level. the results came and they hired someone else for the manager position. it was weird because i didn't feel like a failure and yet i was sad. maybe it's the feeling of losing. just like a game, we never like to lose no matter how petty or immaterial it was to us. fastforward to miranda priestly inside the limosuine telling andy that life is all about the choices we make and that everyone wants to be like us. and that's where the forkroad lies. do i really want to move up. do i really want to be like them? do i really want to serve sugar coated bullshits on a silver platter? excuse me again. i go to work everyday trying to fight for my beliefs and going the extra mile because i love what i do. and me not getting promoted is somewhat a sigh of relief. i'd still like to wake up everyday as myself and not someone else who has been consumed by the corporate world. i know how important revenues and investments are to run a company. but there are some things that are more important: the choices we make. i didn't chose not to be promoted or have someone else take position. it was their choice and i am not bitter or upset about it. i still have my choice and i will keep fighting for what i believe in every single day. i just hope that it's all worthwhile and that i'd be able to answer my personal life soon. i miss time.
the last few weeks have been totally chaotic and eye-opening for most of us at work. there's a lot of drama and people are reaching their breaking points. thank god again i have people at work that keeps me sane and keeps it together.
win and charlie keep me cracking like we don't have deadlines. reijiro supplies me with endless theories and ideas. monet provides the un-motherly advices. sheena yells at us. and well all make fun of nina's bee-hind.
we all make it worthwhile.
i don't have a lovelife. i don't have time to wait. i don't have to go out and meet other people as we'll. most of my time is spent at work. hence, my subsitute for love is work. i love my work. i love the people i work with. well, yeah, most of the time these are true. my boss asked me during an interview on how or when do i get frustrated. i said "everyday". i get frustrated everyday because i keep on fighting for the same reasons and going home restless. because i keep on believing even if times are just so desperate for hope. because i keep on running even when i know that 100 miles is still a long long long way to go. yet, i learned to love my work. and it keeps me busy. it keeps me fighting. and believing. and running. love's out there. we all know it. for now, i have my job and the people i work with as my subsitute(s) for love.
yes, i've always talked mostly about work. i can't help it. work, as reijiro would put it, is full of drama and twists. much like a reality show. and yes, the reality show that we have conceived is starting to become a reality. we've been thrown with a lot of challenges. we almost got knocked down a couple of times but we managed to take it all in - until last week. two of our co-supervisors have quit work. as project runway's uber model heidi klum would say, " one day your in, the next day your out". their reasons were kinda vague, though i don't really care what they were and where they are right now. i just hope that they're happy and realize that it was all worth it; especially when they look back at the people who they worked hard with, fought the same battles day after day, and thinking that it would be no less easier since they left a whole lot of workload with the remaining survivors. people just don't have proper respect and decency nowadays. is it really that hard to leave a 30-day notice? aaarrggghhh...
back to the reality show. the remaining survivors are currently trying to get a grasp of what just happened. some in awe. some in shock... the drama. some knew that it was coming. as we were thinking of how we can survive the next challenges and how many of us remaining will ultimately survive, news of 2 supervisors from a neighboring account surfaced. enter the wildcards. we're kinda hesistant on what their strategy would be and how they can overcome such hurdles that made one particularly strong contender to drop out of the game. but then again, we're mere players and in this reality show, we can't choose who we play with. i believe the producers always need to add new faces in order to sustain their viewers. who knows what will happen next week. stay tuned. as we dream. believe. and hopefully survive.
i've been with current job for nearly 3 years and yet i've already lost 5 company IDs with access cards. i've owned 7 mobile phones in my entire lifetime and i've lost 6 of them - the 7th one being latest victim last week. i somehow (call me stupid) left it in the cab win and i took to our way home. i was too tired then to go look for it or even bother calling the cab's service number or their headquarters. instead, i went straight to my room and slept. i woke up to get ready for my work and that was the time i realized that i no longer had a phone. and somehow, it kinda felt good. like being free. i also lost a lot of other small things but lately i'm bothered that i maybe losing track of time as well. too much time spent at work -- system errors, trainings, winter storms, evaluations.... i could go on and on. it got me to thinking how much i'm missing and, if all the hardwork and time i pour into my career is worth it. is it? i dunno. at this point, i really want to believe and fight for the same reasons i go to work everyday -- that i love my work, my team and the people i work with. i know that life at work can be boring as hell if we don't have challenges to deal with. and not just challenges; i'm talking about challenges that could equate to theorems in geometry or creating a blueprint to the problems of modern society. consider me a masochist for challenges. i hate the idea of being idle and lounging around with nothing to do. of course when i'm at work, i want to work. i just thank god that i work with people like charlie, rej and win. it helps to have people who share the same ideas and views. i find it amazing that we got along so well and that always come up with plans that compliments and supports each other. i always had this mental picture of how co-workers would treat each other: backstabbing, stealing of ideas, pulling each other down -- the drama. yet, here were are, working and running like vikings would row their ships, but still holding on to our belief that we can bring our team higher that where it is right now and no amount of hailstorms or system crashdown could ruin our parade. not just yet.
