If there is a certified bombshell in my shift, definitely she must be it.
Standing at around 5'6, she is one of the shortest among the ladies in the floor. She sports a long, soft black hair, chinky cat-like eyes and a very slim figure which every girl in the room has to die for. She is like a dew-drenched Sunflower facing the rising sun. There were many times her freshly appearance simply lifts up my sleep-deprived soul in the morning.
She is the pioneer among the pioneers of my batch. Being in the company longer than most of us have ever been, our team leader is a stark reminder of where we came from and how far we have gone. The last time I remember, she was this chubby princess, which one of our transvestite colleague fondly calls "Dabyana." She was this yahoo chat addict, which the boss once commented as "the culprit for her low output during the shift."
When the company was reorganized a year ago, she was immediately promoted as the assistant team leader of my shift. For a time, She and Deracinee (Mami) protected me from the wrath of Rica Paralejo, the closet fatso/former team leader who tormented me with his bullying and power-tripping everyday. She took great pains (and risks) to time-in my bundy card even if I wasn't at the office yet. Same thing is true with her, I timed-in her card at the bundy clock just to return the favor for watching over my back.
In time, the wretched Rica Paralejo had made too many enemies, his leadership was compromised until he was booted out in the end. Since then, the assistant leader was promoted to become the team leader, her assistant was another pioneer who we fondly called "Telang Bayawak" and Deracinee became the QA Manager - the babaylan who ensures the quality of the messages, we operators reply back to the service users.
After the grand scheme of things has been completed (being all of my friends promoted to key positions.) I stopped looking for careers elsewhere. Since then, my feet had become well-rooted on the ground where the company stands today.
---
My relationship with the team leader wasn't as smooth as I have initially projected. We used to be uwian buddies since her place used to be several blocks away from my house. We shared a lot of stories during those rookie years and I have to admit, her assurances was a key factor for my integration to the company. When nobody's bringing her home after a heavy inuman session, I always volunteer to become her companion. Even if she's not our Dabyana princess anymore, I still feel responsible for her - securing the person, which I sometimes think of as our floor queen.
But like what I've said, ours was not as harmonious unlike with the other operators, which doesn't give her a headache at all. During her first few months as the new team leader, there were many times she got reprimanded by the boss for her failure to check if the ACs (aircon) in the other room were turned off. I could not help it. Being used to directly reporting to the boss before the hierarchy was established, I kept on bypassing her, which, in turn leads her to trouble.
I did apologize to her for my blunder after I realized my mistake. Eventually this lead to the normalcy of our TL - operator relationship two weeks later. For a time, things became quiet especially after she endured the adjustments of being a single lady once again.
---
Lately, trouble brewed again between me and the team leader.
For some reasons, my tardiness became habitual once again. I've been warned so many times, but I kept on committing the same tardiness over and over again. Two weeks ago, she sternly warned me that another recurrence of late and I would receive a memo. A day later, I was late again which made her extremely furious with me.
I received a memo from the HR Department a day later. They said that I could not incur any tardiness anymore for at least three months lest they will impose stricter sanctions against me. The feat, which they demand me to achieve is quite impossible to do. A month will pass and I'd be late for at least four times. How can I avoid it for at least three months?
In fairness to my shortcomings, I never used any scapegoat for my tardiness. I told the team leader a hundred times that whatever my verdict is, I am responsible for it. I may have been a delinquent pioneer, but at least, I am honestly true about my mistakes. Besides, despite my tardiness, I still deliver the results the company is expecting from me. That at least could be my saving grace when the time finally comes.
But a habit is a habit... and a habit, which a person has been used to already, hardly dies.
Two days ago, I woke up at 6 am - the exact time we should be at our workstation doing our job. I could have used the emergency-absent card to save my ass from further humiliation. But I realized that I've been too delinquent and irresponsible enough to commit any more blunders. So despite the uncertainty, I still reported for work
Thirty minutes late.
Walking along the corridor towards the HR Room where the bundy clock is located, I was desperately seeking an excuse for my tardiness. This time, I have already run out of reasons and to hide from the team-leader while proceeding to my work station would be utterly impermissible. It would only show how pasaway I am in the company.
So I gathered all my guts and proceeded to the work station where she was seated. In all my humility, I told her that I am late and I am aware of the consequences of my tardiness.
Such act of honesty, did bear fruits that morning. I don't know if she was in a good mood that day, but instead of getting mad at me, I felt a slight tinge of sympathy from her. When I logged on to my computer, I immediately sent her an IM message to further apologize for my late. The apology lead to a heart to heart talk between us, which somehow enlightened me as to the situation she is facing while we, the operators commit the tardiness and the absences and the no-call-no-show violation all the time.
She gets into trouble with the boss every time such things happen.
As an act of benevolence, she did not mark me late that morning. The team leader told me that she would let me get away this time but the moment I incur another tardiness again, my head is off to the HR Department.
I would be on my own by then.
It's been another working day since she last gave me that heartwarming reprieve. Still, the old habits remain - such as sleeping late at night (which further aggravated by my fears of committing another tardiness the next day) and getting up slowly in the morning, blaming the chilly weather for the temptation to go back to bed.
But you know what, her forgiving words and my promises of not incurring any tardiness again somehow strikes me whenever I am in a state of lucidity. It reminds me of my extended life, now that my fate in the office somehow hangs on a balance.
Perhaps, when she gave me another chance, she was thinking of our pleasant past as equal colleagues who shared some great memories together. Maybe for this reasons, she treated my case very differently from others.
And it is this for same reasons why I am trying my best to uphold my promise and spare her of troubles, in which I am one of the great contributors.
We might not be as close as we were two years ago. Nevertheless, I think, the ties that hold us together remains in place, even if we're on the opposite side of the fence.
Standing at around 5'6, she is one of the shortest among the ladies in the floor. She sports a long, soft black hair, chinky cat-like eyes and a very slim figure which every girl in the room has to die for. She is like a dew-drenched Sunflower facing the rising sun. There were many times her freshly appearance simply lifts up my sleep-deprived soul in the morning.
She is the pioneer among the pioneers of my batch. Being in the company longer than most of us have ever been, our team leader is a stark reminder of where we came from and how far we have gone. The last time I remember, she was this chubby princess, which one of our transvestite colleague fondly calls "Dabyana." She was this yahoo chat addict, which the boss once commented as "the culprit for her low output during the shift."
When the company was reorganized a year ago, she was immediately promoted as the assistant team leader of my shift. For a time, She and Deracinee (Mami) protected me from the wrath of Rica Paralejo, the closet fatso/former team leader who tormented me with his bullying and power-tripping everyday. She took great pains (and risks) to time-in my bundy card even if I wasn't at the office yet. Same thing is true with her, I timed-in her card at the bundy clock just to return the favor for watching over my back.
In time, the wretched Rica Paralejo had made too many enemies, his leadership was compromised until he was booted out in the end. Since then, the assistant leader was promoted to become the team leader, her assistant was another pioneer who we fondly called "Telang Bayawak" and Deracinee became the QA Manager - the babaylan who ensures the quality of the messages, we operators reply back to the service users.
After the grand scheme of things has been completed (being all of my friends promoted to key positions.) I stopped looking for careers elsewhere. Since then, my feet had become well-rooted on the ground where the company stands today.
---
My relationship with the team leader wasn't as smooth as I have initially projected. We used to be uwian buddies since her place used to be several blocks away from my house. We shared a lot of stories during those rookie years and I have to admit, her assurances was a key factor for my integration to the company. When nobody's bringing her home after a heavy inuman session, I always volunteer to become her companion. Even if she's not our Dabyana princess anymore, I still feel responsible for her - securing the person, which I sometimes think of as our floor queen.
But like what I've said, ours was not as harmonious unlike with the other operators, which doesn't give her a headache at all. During her first few months as the new team leader, there were many times she got reprimanded by the boss for her failure to check if the ACs (aircon) in the other room were turned off. I could not help it. Being used to directly reporting to the boss before the hierarchy was established, I kept on bypassing her, which, in turn leads her to trouble.
I did apologize to her for my blunder after I realized my mistake. Eventually this lead to the normalcy of our TL - operator relationship two weeks later. For a time, things became quiet especially after she endured the adjustments of being a single lady once again.
---
Lately, trouble brewed again between me and the team leader.
For some reasons, my tardiness became habitual once again. I've been warned so many times, but I kept on committing the same tardiness over and over again. Two weeks ago, she sternly warned me that another recurrence of late and I would receive a memo. A day later, I was late again which made her extremely furious with me.
I received a memo from the HR Department a day later. They said that I could not incur any tardiness anymore for at least three months lest they will impose stricter sanctions against me. The feat, which they demand me to achieve is quite impossible to do. A month will pass and I'd be late for at least four times. How can I avoid it for at least three months?
In fairness to my shortcomings, I never used any scapegoat for my tardiness. I told the team leader a hundred times that whatever my verdict is, I am responsible for it. I may have been a delinquent pioneer, but at least, I am honestly true about my mistakes. Besides, despite my tardiness, I still deliver the results the company is expecting from me. That at least could be my saving grace when the time finally comes.
But a habit is a habit... and a habit, which a person has been used to already, hardly dies.
Two days ago, I woke up at 6 am - the exact time we should be at our workstation doing our job. I could have used the emergency-absent card to save my ass from further humiliation. But I realized that I've been too delinquent and irresponsible enough to commit any more blunders. So despite the uncertainty, I still reported for work
Thirty minutes late.
Walking along the corridor towards the HR Room where the bundy clock is located, I was desperately seeking an excuse for my tardiness. This time, I have already run out of reasons and to hide from the team-leader while proceeding to my work station would be utterly impermissible. It would only show how pasaway I am in the company.
So I gathered all my guts and proceeded to the work station where she was seated. In all my humility, I told her that I am late and I am aware of the consequences of my tardiness.
Such act of honesty, did bear fruits that morning. I don't know if she was in a good mood that day, but instead of getting mad at me, I felt a slight tinge of sympathy from her. When I logged on to my computer, I immediately sent her an IM message to further apologize for my late. The apology lead to a heart to heart talk between us, which somehow enlightened me as to the situation she is facing while we, the operators commit the tardiness and the absences and the no-call-no-show violation all the time.
She gets into trouble with the boss every time such things happen.
As an act of benevolence, she did not mark me late that morning. The team leader told me that she would let me get away this time but the moment I incur another tardiness again, my head is off to the HR Department.
I would be on my own by then.
It's been another working day since she last gave me that heartwarming reprieve. Still, the old habits remain - such as sleeping late at night (which further aggravated by my fears of committing another tardiness the next day) and getting up slowly in the morning, blaming the chilly weather for the temptation to go back to bed.
But you know what, her forgiving words and my promises of not incurring any tardiness again somehow strikes me whenever I am in a state of lucidity. It reminds me of my extended life, now that my fate in the office somehow hangs on a balance.
Perhaps, when she gave me another chance, she was thinking of our pleasant past as equal colleagues who shared some great memories together. Maybe for this reasons, she treated my case very differently from others.
And it is this for same reasons why I am trying my best to uphold my promise and spare her of troubles, in which I am one of the great contributors.
We might not be as close as we were two years ago. Nevertheless, I think, the ties that hold us together remains in place, even if we're on the opposite side of the fence.
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