THE SHIP FINALLY SANK

Have you ever had the feeling that everything is falling apart? Exactly. That is how I felt during my recent stay in the office. It started okay. I mean, there were still ten of us, nobody had still given up and I was being called Mr. Perky. Then we were sent in one room for the examination. But first Erik (trainer) asked about our supposedly holiday break which was more like a sugar-coated pre-termination procedure for me. It seems like a big plan of cutting off the number of employees and unfortunately, we were the first class to undergo it. The pioneer, in other words. I’d stick with the latter. Sounds better, right? So most of us were somehow appreciative of the break because they got to spend Christmas with their loved ones. Two of us, however, had to contend with instant foods from 7-11, me and Lali (Ela on the floor) coz we were both alone in our houses. All in the spirit of Christmas, right? Lame I know, but hey, at least we tried.

Then came the long discussion about the tsunami that hit South Asia. Actually I wasn’t aware about the news until I went to the office two days later. And everybody was talking about it I was like, hey, what movie is that? Is that the new thing from Spielberg?

We were told to get ready and Erik had a set of papers on his hands. Then he asked me if somebody already discussed to me the things I missed during the first training. I said no, which is the truth by the way and he refused to let me take the exam. Then what am I suppose to do then? Buddy-up with a tenured agent for the whole shift, a total of 8 hours. BORING…

The first few hours were fine. I had “buddied-up” with Hyge, this girl who I think has a crush on Rome. She was fun and so my stay with her was fine. I would always sneak out of the office to go down and smoke and it would be okay with her. There’s nothing she could do really, I guess. Then I saw Jack who was on the verge of crying. Apparently, she just read my goodbye email. So after my, I think fourth yosi break, I looked for her and “buddied-up” with her.

The nine people left in the training room also had their certification (actual calls) that shift. After they were done, they were told to call the office for their next schedule but definitely, they won’t be going to office in New Year and the rest of the holiday.

I felt so left out. That time I really felt so alone. I was with nobody and my co-trainees were already ahead of me. so I asked Erik if I could have my first-day training today since it is my day-off. He said NO. I have to wait for the next batch which was gonna be trained on the second week of January. Hear that? Second week of January!!! What the hell am I suppose to do? he told me I would be probably doing some admin stuff like cutting some papers for notes, and all those boring stuff. I held my tears hard that time. I didn’t wanna cry. So I just said, OK and I was back to being perky. But this time it was so difficult. It finally sank in to me the gravity of the situation. I almost wanted to resign right there and then. But then there’s the bond. I don’t wanna pay the company 45,000 Php, do I?

So it’s my day-off from work today. Called the office for my next schedule and I am to come back on Sunday 8pm. Maybe I’ll just sleep another year away.