living life with a soundtrack
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Saying goodbye
during farewell party for d'boss (L-R: Arlene, me, Sir Benj, Rhea)
during farewell party for d'boss (L-R: Arlene, me, Sir Benj, Rhea)There's always an emotional shock when someone says goodbye (permanently). Much more if the life and the routine you shared with that person is ended abruptly, like you never saw it coming. You have gotten accustomed to that person's presence in your everyday life (drama no?....Hey, before you think of something else, serious to ha.... but the person I'm referring to is my BOSS (here at work) who resigned from the company just recently.
(Where on earth can you find someone paying homage to a boss? he he. But seriously, I was stirred to write this sort of thing because we worked with him for almost ten years, and in that span he became more of a "kuya" to most of us -that includes me, huh!-
We all feel that it's inevitable that a person's work tenure would end at a considerate pace. So I'm wrong to say that I never saw it coming (actually I did!). But since we are all busy laying out plans & project for the team, and we're all interdependent most of the time... and ten years is NOT JUST ten years....we never toyed with the thoughts of "endings" , "career prospects", or writing a farewell letter. (fyi, This has become a tradition in our company, probably in yours too...that is, writing the unimaginable, creative, clumsy, radical, friendly "farewell letter" emailed to ALL at the last minute, just so people would be notified, exalted, surprised & entertained about his decision to leave the company. With our big population here, some even send his/her farewell letter with picture of him/herself. Cguro, for instant fame? he he, or at least people would stop for a while and think, "ay oo nga no, sya nga yon, resign na pala sya, kya pala di ko na sya napagkikita sa canteen", or "ay sa Seagate lilipat yan")
With d' boss leaving, somehow there is an initial feeling of lost identity, and the question we ask ourselves, "pano kaya tayo pag wala na mngr natin?' But these are of course only initial feelings that come after an ending. Afterwards, we pick ourselves up, and function just like in a normal working day, with more possibilities open up to us.
So much for the "serious" side of it (oh so that's what I think, huh?), actually malungkot din especially since kumbaga sa pamilya, we're a bit clannish eh. Corny as it seems, but our team has kept the real friendship inside & outside of the workplace, kaya marami din ang nagtagal bago nag resign (and "heavy heart" pag nag resign, only because nkakamiss daw yong samahan).
Yong boss namin, kwela...extremes...he's serious and funny at the same time..Actually, nauna ako sa kanya dito sa company. he was hired to replace the boss who left so suddenly (but that's another story). Having him as my immediate superior was quite a breeze (well most of the time)...but of course sometimes we also had our disagreements and different views on things. Pero ang ending pa rin is to compromise and do the best deal.
He's also a friend...several times, I had the chance to confide and talk to him about my personal problems. He gives practical, sometimes funny advices, which are acceptable na rin since it's a different perspective coming from an "experienced" person (read: old)......("old' , well Sir Benj, you can't deny the fact that you're way, way older than all of us he he. But mind you, ang favorite nyang music artist recently is Bamboo (tama ba sir?), sbagay matanda na din si Bamboo he he.
One time I got surprised when he went to our house in Rizal (together with our Japanese manager at that time). Early on, I thought he was just joking me, when he looked at my ID as if memorizing my address printed on it, then he said "cge, abangan mo na lang ako sa bahay nyo ah". Holy week was approaching at that time and we'll have a rather long weekend, so it's time for me to come home and enjoy the long & winding road of Antiplo (fyi, work is in Laguna) and to do just like what everybody wanted to do on that season..that is, to rest. And besides, it's not so ordinary that one of my officemates would come to visit, unless there would be an important occassion at our house (e.g bday, fiesta). Laguna & our place is too far away from each other (mag eeffort ka talaga to visit me). And so, yon nga, they showed up at our doorstep (tinotoo nga!), silently coercing me to be their "instant tour guide" (kasi ipinapasyal nya yong Japs manager namin kasi bagong dating pa lang sa Phils). At ako ang napili nilang istorbohin he he. It was fun, we went to this uninteresting place in Rizal na pwede na ring pasyalan. Afterwards, they left, but he still managed to come back at our house alone (gutom yata kaya bumalik he he.....'kala tuloy ng tatay ko manliligaw ko! what!?)....wala lang, those were the days.
And he gave us codenames: ako (Jinggay Katuray); Si Arlene (Arlenis or Bunsotil); si Eds (Kuritas); si Lawrence (Outlaw); si Monette (Mismo); Tina (Tinaryan); atbp....Sya? syempre me codename din sya (Manero, Kalbo, Sir Bench ha ha). He also has the penchant for checking & correcting your grammar (be it in writing memo, email, or when reporting during regular meetings). Kaya nga for some time, nagkaron kami ng grammar lessons weekly (he assigned someone to regularly email all section members the grammar tips for the week). Ok din naman!. He also has this reputation of making a-bit-harsh response to emails of other sections who would wrongly point out our section to be the one at fault on some work related issues (But of course, sino pa bang magtatanggol sa section namin di ba? Still, we accept if it's really our fault and work on responsibly to resolve the issue)...
And before he left, he says "it will definitely take a whole lot of time and space to get over this sadder-than-sad feeling"......and that "I hope we can continue to be as we are most of the time....friends!" (I copied those lines verbatim from his farewell letter)
Yon..yon lang ang recollection ko.
And here I am writing all these....coming from me....the person he would least expect to do it generously....he may not heard it from me vocally...but now I did it in some other way were I'm good at, but this time, it's posted on the web, all for others reading pleasure he he (I don't think he's reading my blog, so it's ok to lambast him here he he...peace!)
(Where on earth can you find someone paying homage to a boss? he he. But seriously, I was stirred to write this sort of thing because we worked with him for almost ten years, and in that span he became more of a "kuya" to most of us -that includes me, huh!-
We all feel that it's inevitable that a person's work tenure would end at a considerate pace. So I'm wrong to say that I never saw it coming (actually I did!). But since we are all busy laying out plans & project for the team, and we're all interdependent most of the time... and ten years is NOT JUST ten years....we never toyed with the thoughts of "endings" , "career prospects", or writing a farewell letter. (fyi, This has become a tradition in our company, probably in yours too...that is, writing the unimaginable, creative, clumsy, radical, friendly "farewell letter" emailed to ALL at the last minute, just so people would be notified, exalted, surprised & entertained about his decision to leave the company. With our big population here, some even send his/her farewell letter with picture of him/herself. Cguro, for instant fame? he he, or at least people would stop for a while and think, "ay oo nga no, sya nga yon, resign na pala sya, kya pala di ko na sya napagkikita sa canteen", or "ay sa Seagate lilipat yan")
With d' boss leaving, somehow there is an initial feeling of lost identity, and the question we ask ourselves, "pano kaya tayo pag wala na mngr natin?' But these are of course only initial feelings that come after an ending. Afterwards, we pick ourselves up, and function just like in a normal working day, with more possibilities open up to us.
So much for the "serious" side of it (oh so that's what I think, huh?), actually malungkot din especially since kumbaga sa pamilya, we're a bit clannish eh. Corny as it seems, but our team has kept the real friendship inside & outside of the workplace, kaya marami din ang nagtagal bago nag resign (and "heavy heart" pag nag resign, only because nkakamiss daw yong samahan).
Yong boss namin, kwela...extremes...he's serious and funny at the same time..Actually, nauna ako sa kanya dito sa company. he was hired to replace the boss who left so suddenly (but that's another story). Having him as my immediate superior was quite a breeze (well most of the time)...but of course sometimes we also had our disagreements and different views on things. Pero ang ending pa rin is to compromise and do the best deal.
He's also a friend...several times, I had the chance to confide and talk to him about my personal problems. He gives practical, sometimes funny advices, which are acceptable na rin since it's a different perspective coming from an "experienced" person (read: old)......("old' , well Sir Benj, you can't deny the fact that you're way, way older than all of us he he. But mind you, ang favorite nyang music artist recently is Bamboo (tama ba sir?), sbagay matanda na din si Bamboo he he.
One time I got surprised when he went to our house in Rizal (together with our Japanese manager at that time). Early on, I thought he was just joking me, when he looked at my ID as if memorizing my address printed on it, then he said "cge, abangan mo na lang ako sa bahay nyo ah". Holy week was approaching at that time and we'll have a rather long weekend, so it's time for me to come home and enjoy the long & winding road of Antiplo (fyi, work is in Laguna) and to do just like what everybody wanted to do on that season..that is, to rest. And besides, it's not so ordinary that one of my officemates would come to visit, unless there would be an important occassion at our house (e.g bday, fiesta). Laguna & our place is too far away from each other (mag eeffort ka talaga to visit me). And so, yon nga, they showed up at our doorstep (tinotoo nga!), silently coercing me to be their "instant tour guide" (kasi ipinapasyal nya yong Japs manager namin kasi bagong dating pa lang sa Phils). At ako ang napili nilang istorbohin he he. It was fun, we went to this uninteresting place in Rizal na pwede na ring pasyalan. Afterwards, they left, but he still managed to come back at our house alone (gutom yata kaya bumalik he he.....'kala tuloy ng tatay ko manliligaw ko! what!?)....wala lang, those were the days.
And he gave us codenames: ako (Jinggay Katuray); Si Arlene (Arlenis or Bunsotil); si Eds (Kuritas); si Lawrence (Outlaw); si Monette (Mismo); Tina (Tinaryan); atbp....Sya? syempre me codename din sya (Manero, Kalbo, Sir Bench ha ha). He also has the penchant for checking & correcting your grammar (be it in writing memo, email, or when reporting during regular meetings). Kaya nga for some time, nagkaron kami ng grammar lessons weekly (he assigned someone to regularly email all section members the grammar tips for the week). Ok din naman!. He also has this reputation of making a-bit-harsh response to emails of other sections who would wrongly point out our section to be the one at fault on some work related issues (But of course, sino pa bang magtatanggol sa section namin di ba? Still, we accept if it's really our fault and work on responsibly to resolve the issue)...
And before he left, he says "it will definitely take a whole lot of time and space to get over this sadder-than-sad feeling"......and that "I hope we can continue to be as we are most of the time....friends!" (I copied those lines verbatim from his farewell letter)
Yon..yon lang ang recollection ko.
And here I am writing all these....coming from me....the person he would least expect to do it generously....he may not heard it from me vocally...but now I did it in some other way were I'm good at, but this time, it's posted on the web, all for others reading pleasure he he (I don't think he's reading my blog, so it's ok to lambast him here he he...peace!)
