The flu brought me down and it pinned me to the ground real good.
As the story goes, I have a colleague who was about to throw his lungs because of his intense coughing last week. He was definitely ill and contagious yet he still chose to go to work instead of taking a long break at home.
The result; he spread his virus. The following week, half of the operators were coughing at the floor.
---
Last wednesday, I attended a colleague's swimming party while the storm Reming was about to hammer the Bicol Region. It was terribly cold that evening and despite having a stressful day at school, I borrowed someone else's beach shorts and decided to take a dip at the pool as well. I went home at around midnight since I had work the following morning.
During the eve of the superstorm, I went to the gym to work out. For some reasons, I felt that I'd be absent for a long time because of the storm. When I got home, I brought a kitten I found in the street. Two days later, I named the kitten Pistulio.
Friday came and the storm changed its course. By this time, I was already nursing a cough and a runny nose. However, the promise of a double-double pay was too much temptation. When I got home, my exhaustion led me immediately to bed. I woke up hours later in the middle of a tense moment with someone in the family. A family feud ensued and this issue prevented me from attending a Grand Eyeball organized by my friends in Pinoyexchange.
However, I found that my official declaration of joining the Eyeball encouraged a close friend to join the meet up as well. He texted me that evening informing me that he's already with the guys at Crocodile Grill. Nahiya naman ako, so I had to make an alibi to my mom just to let me out of the house at 9 pm. Fortunately, she bought my "Emergency Transpacific Video Consultation" with our American clients at work. She eventually let me out and there I was, riding in a speedy taxi going to Greenbelt.
---
By Saturday, I was officially sick. I left Starbucks at 1:30 am the night before and barely slept when I arrived home. However, because I am always the lone "shrink" operator during Saturdays, I have to report for work no matter what happens.
What made things extremely challenging was the unusual surge of messages during that Saturday. Imagine, I had to interpret different actions of people I barely know so that the texters may see a different perspective of things. Then on the sidelines, I have to perform psychic predictions that I don't even have the slightest idea of ever happening. But doing readings is what I do for a living lately and what's important is that even though I don't really believe in the idea of interpreting the movement of the stars, I still give comfort and assurance to strangers that are confused with the events happening in their life.
During the entire shift, I turned out an output six times our normal productivity. The boss couldn't even believe that such a lone operator, who was ill and contagious could make such numbers. Before I left, he personally thanked me for doing a great job.
---
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday passed as if nothing happened to my life. After all, I was bedridden and unable to move during most of the day. I developed a trangkaso after I exhausted my last remaining energy when I went shopping last Saturday evening. The HR and my team leaders understood my illness so they allowed me to file for a sick leave without too many hassles.
Yesterday, despite the persistent coughs, I attended my graduate school class.
---
The entire 5-day flu/cough/colds cost me more than I could ever imagine. My prediction last thursday came true. I had to stop my gym sessions for a week, which is terrible for my weight loss campaign. It was further aggravated by my rice binge the whole time I stayed home. I spent a huge sum of my idle money for cab rides going to and from work. I had no choice - the afternoon sun was so terrible, such exposure to it would tip my erratic body temperature.
Lastly, being absent for two days lost me some great deal of income that I would need for my holiday expenses this year. In the two days I was absent, such income generated from those days could finance my contributions to the class reunion that I have organized. Since it would fall close to my birthday, I am expected to give out a bigger amount of money for the cause. Next week would be the Outsider's Christmas Party. It is the traditional celebration of my barkada and though some of my more opulent friends would shed more money for the event, I still have to spend around P600 for the food and venue rental.
As the story goes, I have a colleague who was about to throw his lungs because of his intense coughing last week. He was definitely ill and contagious yet he still chose to go to work instead of taking a long break at home.
The result; he spread his virus. The following week, half of the operators were coughing at the floor.
---
Last wednesday, I attended a colleague's swimming party while the storm Reming was about to hammer the Bicol Region. It was terribly cold that evening and despite having a stressful day at school, I borrowed someone else's beach shorts and decided to take a dip at the pool as well. I went home at around midnight since I had work the following morning.
During the eve of the superstorm, I went to the gym to work out. For some reasons, I felt that I'd be absent for a long time because of the storm. When I got home, I brought a kitten I found in the street. Two days later, I named the kitten Pistulio.
Friday came and the storm changed its course. By this time, I was already nursing a cough and a runny nose. However, the promise of a double-double pay was too much temptation. When I got home, my exhaustion led me immediately to bed. I woke up hours later in the middle of a tense moment with someone in the family. A family feud ensued and this issue prevented me from attending a Grand Eyeball organized by my friends in Pinoyexchange.
However, I found that my official declaration of joining the Eyeball encouraged a close friend to join the meet up as well. He texted me that evening informing me that he's already with the guys at Crocodile Grill. Nahiya naman ako, so I had to make an alibi to my mom just to let me out of the house at 9 pm. Fortunately, she bought my "Emergency Transpacific Video Consultation" with our American clients at work. She eventually let me out and there I was, riding in a speedy taxi going to Greenbelt.
---
By Saturday, I was officially sick. I left Starbucks at 1:30 am the night before and barely slept when I arrived home. However, because I am always the lone "shrink" operator during Saturdays, I have to report for work no matter what happens.
What made things extremely challenging was the unusual surge of messages during that Saturday. Imagine, I had to interpret different actions of people I barely know so that the texters may see a different perspective of things. Then on the sidelines, I have to perform psychic predictions that I don't even have the slightest idea of ever happening. But doing readings is what I do for a living lately and what's important is that even though I don't really believe in the idea of interpreting the movement of the stars, I still give comfort and assurance to strangers that are confused with the events happening in their life.
During the entire shift, I turned out an output six times our normal productivity. The boss couldn't even believe that such a lone operator, who was ill and contagious could make such numbers. Before I left, he personally thanked me for doing a great job.
---
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday passed as if nothing happened to my life. After all, I was bedridden and unable to move during most of the day. I developed a trangkaso after I exhausted my last remaining energy when I went shopping last Saturday evening. The HR and my team leaders understood my illness so they allowed me to file for a sick leave without too many hassles.
Yesterday, despite the persistent coughs, I attended my graduate school class.
---
The entire 5-day flu/cough/colds cost me more than I could ever imagine. My prediction last thursday came true. I had to stop my gym sessions for a week, which is terrible for my weight loss campaign. It was further aggravated by my rice binge the whole time I stayed home. I spent a huge sum of my idle money for cab rides going to and from work. I had no choice - the afternoon sun was so terrible, such exposure to it would tip my erratic body temperature.
Lastly, being absent for two days lost me some great deal of income that I would need for my holiday expenses this year. In the two days I was absent, such income generated from those days could finance my contributions to the class reunion that I have organized. Since it would fall close to my birthday, I am expected to give out a bigger amount of money for the cause. Next week would be the Outsider's Christmas Party. It is the traditional celebration of my barkada and though some of my more opulent friends would shed more money for the event, I still have to spend around P600 for the food and venue rental.
Ang hirap talaga ng ganitong mga panahon.
But what's really difficult in these kind of interruptions are the resumption of routine. Yeah, it's good that I had to take a force break from my very hectic schedule. But such brief break would leave me lazy afterwards. Still, my colleague continues to spread his "gift" at the work place that even the team leaders have already started coughing. Perhaps I have gained another several pounds after my notorious rice binge at home and the money I lost from absences can never be recovered again. I'm not really aware of my allowable leaves at work. When I think about the efforts I have to make just to get back on track, I imagine myself standing some place where a storm just passed. Picking up everything that its wind had blown away and scattered, it's like, almost, starting all over again.
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