Delayed?!

This is my most upsetting Saturday ever. I just got an SMS from our HR telling me and the rest of the peeps at the office that our boss was still unable to deposit the money on our accounts and that we have to wait until Monday. I was so damn pissed. I mean, who wouldn’t be? I’ve been making plans for this weekend days before. I’ve been wanting to treat my folks and have a Post V-day celebration at a fancy restaurant. Now, I have to reschedule it again and live on my credit card (AGAIN) for, I hope, just a few days. That was really terrible!

Backpay, Last Pay

It was pretty annoying and disgusting to have endured the heavy traffic for more than an hour only to pick up a cheque that amount to less than a thousand pesos, required a piece of paper to claim and cannot be encashed. I didn't had the time to argue with the HR because I had to rush to work - meaning I had to walk, run and brave the morning traffic for at least 40 minutes. I just grinned and thanked her while the phrase "What goes around, comes around" runs in my head.

Out at Last!

After days of agonizing of how to go about my resignation, i.e., how tell my parents and how to give that letter to my boss, I finally said goodbye to my now ex- officemates and former company. I was all smiles when I waved goodbye to the peeps at the office.

It was 2:30PM when I walked out of the building and roam the streets of Makati to get a few things done. Seeing the afternoon crowd and how the sidewalks look like a couple of hours after lunch time seemed surreal to me especially since my "last day" took place on a Monday.

Did I mention that I'm happy that the dreaded resignation process was a breeze? I was so ecstatic that I just went through all it in just a week when I thought that I had to endure 20 agonizing days before the higher ups could release me. HR even threatened me that I'm going to get an ungraceful exit if I didn't stay at the company for 30 days, blah, blah, blah.

THANKS GOODNESS IT'S OVER!

I Love Fridays

It's F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!! The week is almost over and most of the people at work are already looking forward to the weekend ahead. Some even declare Fridays as their "Non-Working Day."

Fridays provide relaxation and relief for me because it signifies the end of a stressful week. I can sleep late the following day and eat whenever I want to. Plus, I can read non-work related stuff and visit non-work related sites.

Aren't you glad it's finally Friday? :)

Dinner for Three

Last Friday, our team which includes me, my groupmate and our boss had dinner at Thousand Cranes, Greenbelt. It was a treat from our manager for a job well done. It was also because he wants us to bond and get to know each other well to enhance our relationship at work.

I can say that it was a success. We felt at ease with one another and we have learned how to reach out to each other. It was a very relaxing evening. We were able to unwind after weeks of dealing with heavy work and pressure.

Team dinners or any other bonding-sessions are really a must!

My Refuge

I consider myself as one of the lucky few who can forget about home-related problems the moment I step in the office. I'm not the type who stare in space and work absent-mindedly and let the problems overwhelm me. During those times, the workplace serve as my refuge.

Whenever things are not doing well at home, the thought of going to work relieves me because doing so will provide a change of environment. At least, I'll have something to do to take my mind off from whatever is bothering me at home. In the office, I have my own work load to take care of, a different set of people to deal with and music to calm my soul.

Have Your Own!

If you're thinking of putting up a business, try having your own, i.e., sole proprietorship, if you can. If this isn't possible, make sure that your business partners reside in the same area as yours. Later on, you would find out that it is the best decision that you ever made.

Why am I saying this? I've had an experience establishing a small business with former officemates (who are also my friends). The biz was formed when we all moved to different companies. All was going well in the first few months. We'd have regular meetings to discuss about our products, marketing strategies and finances. We'd give each other updates on sales and inventories through emails and SMS. Several months passed and we all got busy with work and our own concerns. We exchanged SMS rarely until we lost touch.

Despite the lack of communication with my partners, I was not worrying about the money that we've earned from our little project. I was very confident that since my partners are my friends and I still have a small amount which was derived from the sale of our goods in my possesion, given the right time, we could all get our fair share.

The reason why I teamed up with them was because I wanted to augment my income and have something aside from my full-time job to spend time on. I was relying on our little biz for unexpected family expenses. Now, I need that money badly because I have to pay an upcoming financial obligation. I beginning to feel upset because one of my partners whom another partner entrusted my share with, was not responding to my messages. In short, I can't get my part of the money that we've earned. Not now.

I have realized that my purpose of having that business was defeated. It's getting kind of annoying because I cna't get ahold of the money just when I needed it. I promise that my next venture would only have me as the owner so that I would have full control of everything.

Why Freelancing is So Appealing to Me

I have been contemplating on doing freelance work and having my own business on my 30th birthday. I intend to go solo and leave the rat race. The blogs that I’ve been reading lately are encouraging me all the more. Listed below are my top 10 reasons why I want to be on my own.

1. I want to be my own boss. I long for the day when I would never have to work for moody, greedy and vile superiors.

2. I want to have full control of how much I earn. As long as I’m employed, my income would depend on how much my employers would want to give me and it’s rarely what I deserve. Most of the time, the increments on my salary is based on how they feel about me – not on how good I am at what I’m doing and how much I have accomplished.

3. I want to have full control of my time. I want to have a two-hour lunch break without feeling guilty and work till the wee hours in the morning without worrying about my safety.

4. I’m sick and tired of dealing with office politics. I have worked for many companies already and each one is similar to the next. It seems that the corporate world can’t do away with it.

5. I want to be at home when my parents need me.

6. I’d like to minimize riding the public transport. It’s not because I’m used to riding cars – I don’t have one to begin with. What I don’t like about it is that I have little control of who I’m going to sit with or who’s going to sit next to me, the behaviour (and smell) of my seatmate and the temperature inside the PUB and PUJ.

7. I don’t want to see the most annoying people at work. It takes a lot of effort on my part to deal with people like them. People who think that they’re too perfect and always see something wrong about everybody.

8. I want to take a day off whenever I want to. On days when I have allergy attacks, I just want to stay in bed and take a rest. I want to quit dragging myself to the nearest hospital or clinic just so I could show a piece of paper at work the following day certifying that I was truly ill.

9. I want to take naps whenever I need to.

10. I want to visit the bookstores anytime I want to.

I still have four years to save up on money, experiences and contacts just so I could truly make it on my own without starving myself and my family. I am staying positive because I really want to make it. I’m also praying for it, which is a big factor by the way, so God would guide me and motivate and inspire me to persevere. I am filling my head with a lot of “Go, go, go!” because I believe that one’s biggest supporter and staunch ally is thyself.

How Inconsiderate!

Due to supertyphoon Egay (international name: Sepat), classes in all levels were suspended today. Unfortunately, the workforce has to brave the strong wind and the heavy downpour. Being part of the labor force, I dragged myself to work not minding that a repeat of the Wednesday disaster would eventually occur.

Armed with my folding umbrella, sweater and rubber shoes, I thought that I'm well equipped for the day. I was wrong! The moment I get off from the bus and walk on the sidewalks of EDSA-Ayala, rainwater started get into the soles of my shoes. Not only that, the lower part of my pants got wet too. To avoid being drenched (again), I decided to do what my officemate advised me to do last Wednesday: pass through PB Com's parking lot.

Our building is right behind PB Com, so if one wants to take a shortcut, the parking lot is the most convenient route to take. And so I did thinking that the guards wouldn't mind since the rain was pouring heavily and the wind was already gushing. I turned to pass only to be stopped by the guard. "Ma'am, saan po kayo?" the guard said. I replied, "Manong, dadaan lang po." "Ay, Ma'am bawal po, he said." "Okay. Fine," I calmly replied and turned to leave. I was fixing my upturned umbrella while walking and cursing the guard in my mind.

When I finally reached our building and get on in one of the elevators, I overheard a woman who was recounting a similar experience to her officemate. Incidentally, my officemates experience the same thing, too. The guards stationed at the parking lot of PB Com were really inconsiderate. They lack the ability to exercise good judgement. The passersby were all getting wet no matter how we cover ourselves and yet these guards didn't have the heart to let us pass through their building's parking lot.

Hope that they would get a dose of their own medicine so they would know how it feels to be turned away when they badly need to.

Work Tunes

Work has been crazy these past three weeks. We had a deadine to beat and a boss to please. To cope with the pressure and reduce stress, my teammate and I resorted to playing what we have in our respective iTunes. In fact, we have a theme for every phase of our first major project.

We played Britney Spears' Toxic when we were having a hard time with the procedures that we had to document.

When it seemed like we couldn't make it, we played Gary V's Lead Me Lord to inspire and motivate us to continue and finish the task at hand.

We were only a few days away from accomplishing the project when I decided to click on Sheena Easton's Almost Over You. Relief gradually filled me having the thought that we were about to finish an enormous task and hand over our project to the big boss.

Happy of I-don't-know-the-artist's-name became our victory theme. After working until 8PM on a stormy night, my teammate and I were finally able to turn over the said project to our supervisor. We were both tired but ecstatic because we are finally moving on to another assignment.

My teammate and I were so glad of what we have accomplished considering the intense pressure from the big boss and the bad weather that we had to face on our way home. We were so happy that we told our friends in the office the following day that we're not that busy anymore and that we could join them for our daily afternoon merienda.

Music does spice up my worklife!