I had only been gone for three days to the highlands of Antique and when I came back to the office, I was jolted by the news that one of our officemate was leaving for the US tomorrow, 30 November!. As in, hwat? how did that happen? When did things happen? Earlier last week she was still busy talking about the industry study, how frustrated she was with top management for not giving all out support to the project. Now she is packing her bags, making last minute phone calls before catching the 5pm trip to Manila to make it to her trip to the US the following day. Everybody's feeling everything - excitement, happiness, nostalgia, fear, crippled, sad.
We're all excited and happy for her. I've known her to apply to embassies and firms through the internet and I know this is something that she's been waiting to happen. She's talked about her husband's relatives in Canada, her sister in the UAE and she would joke around saying "Hoy, pahulma niyo ko bala kwarta kay ipang-show money ko lang!" to which we will all respond with our ridiculous offers. She has applied for jobs online, relentlessly, sometimes just for the fun of it. But this one, the trip to Tampa, Florida to work for Hyatt, we all never saw it coming. At least not until now.
We feel nostalgia for everything that she is leaving behind. I personally feel it. She was the first friend I ever had in our division. I assumed her position when she got promoted. She is just this sweet, kalog cowgirl who was so much a kenkoy yet she could get serious when duty calls. She helped me understand the mundane details of my job through her personal experiences with the same division. We grew apart though when I was transferred to the other side of the room when they rearranged the computers. Just the same, I enjoyed the radiance in her personality even from afar.
We are also afraid for her. Because of the nature of her trip, the suddenness of everything, she really didn't have the luxury of time to prepare everyone around her, especially the office. I think she just handed in her resignation this week. And she still has unliquidated cash advances for her unfinished travel plus the data gathering for the industry study which is now seeing the doom of incompletion with the year close to an end. No proper turn-over of responsibilities was ever done being pressed for time. Add to that the fact that no courtesy was done informing the boss of her leaving! It's like "let my resignation letter speak for itself!" We're all sensing the wrath of the boss!
Our supervisor called in sick due to LBM, probably because of the stress. She's just as afraid as we are, even more, I guess, of finally facing the boss and answering questions like "why is this happening? why do you allow this to happen under you nose? and you didn't even do anything about it? what will happen now? do you even know the implication of this to the organization?" As if any of her answers would ever suffice. But she has to try and she has to do it on top of all the hustle bustle of the year-end activities.
What will happen now to all the benefits due her? her last salary? what about her accounts? wait a minute, I think she still owes me... What will HR do about her documents? Will she ever obtain a clearance from the office? ... and so the list goes on...
As for the office, it will definitely feel her loss. Having her around seems easy, given her easy personality. She's handling one of the big accounts loaded with so many lined up activities for next year. She's worked so hard gearing the sector towards compliances, certifications and accreditations, fought for the staff to obtain relevant training to be capable of handling consultancies, worked with the key players in the sector to get them organized and assisted in the formulation of road maps for the improvement of the products of the region. What happens to all that now?
So many concerns and mixed emotions were felt as her leaving was taking it's last steps to finality. When the clock struck three, she finally announced it and waved goodbye. There was just no time to cry, just the heavy feeling of seeing her go under the circumstances. Hay..... kasubo.
We're all excited and happy for her. I've known her to apply to embassies and firms through the internet and I know this is something that she's been waiting to happen. She's talked about her husband's relatives in Canada, her sister in the UAE and she would joke around saying "Hoy, pahulma niyo ko bala kwarta kay ipang-show money ko lang!" to which we will all respond with our ridiculous offers. She has applied for jobs online, relentlessly, sometimes just for the fun of it. But this one, the trip to Tampa, Florida to work for Hyatt, we all never saw it coming. At least not until now.
We feel nostalgia for everything that she is leaving behind. I personally feel it. She was the first friend I ever had in our division. I assumed her position when she got promoted. She is just this sweet, kalog cowgirl who was so much a kenkoy yet she could get serious when duty calls. She helped me understand the mundane details of my job through her personal experiences with the same division. We grew apart though when I was transferred to the other side of the room when they rearranged the computers. Just the same, I enjoyed the radiance in her personality even from afar.
We are also afraid for her. Because of the nature of her trip, the suddenness of everything, she really didn't have the luxury of time to prepare everyone around her, especially the office. I think she just handed in her resignation this week. And she still has unliquidated cash advances for her unfinished travel plus the data gathering for the industry study which is now seeing the doom of incompletion with the year close to an end. No proper turn-over of responsibilities was ever done being pressed for time. Add to that the fact that no courtesy was done informing the boss of her leaving! It's like "let my resignation letter speak for itself!" We're all sensing the wrath of the boss!
Our supervisor called in sick due to LBM, probably because of the stress. She's just as afraid as we are, even more, I guess, of finally facing the boss and answering questions like "why is this happening? why do you allow this to happen under you nose? and you didn't even do anything about it? what will happen now? do you even know the implication of this to the organization?" As if any of her answers would ever suffice. But she has to try and she has to do it on top of all the hustle bustle of the year-end activities.
What will happen now to all the benefits due her? her last salary? what about her accounts? wait a minute, I think she still owes me... What will HR do about her documents? Will she ever obtain a clearance from the office? ... and so the list goes on...
As for the office, it will definitely feel her loss. Having her around seems easy, given her easy personality. She's handling one of the big accounts loaded with so many lined up activities for next year. She's worked so hard gearing the sector towards compliances, certifications and accreditations, fought for the staff to obtain relevant training to be capable of handling consultancies, worked with the key players in the sector to get them organized and assisted in the formulation of road maps for the improvement of the products of the region. What happens to all that now?
So many concerns and mixed emotions were felt as her leaving was taking it's last steps to finality. When the clock struck three, she finally announced it and waved goodbye. There was just no time to cry, just the heavy feeling of seeing her go under the circumstances. Hay..... kasubo.
