alone again, naturally

no, i'm not back to being single.

i'm just being literal.

with some bad viruses downing a couple of my colleagues ... sorry, those are all the colleagues i have! ... it falls upon me, your humble blogger, to hold the fort so to speak. holding the fort in this case means, being the sole person responsible for the office. can you imagine this? a decent company earning a modest black bottom line has only three full time employees, and is currently being manned by one man. time to wear the multitasking hat. for a week.

note: this is being blogged after the fact, which just goes to show, i don't even have the time for bathroom breaks. or posting (yeah right).

how long have i been in this place? its been a long journey since i roamed Greenbelt when it still wasn't the G it is now. if it hadn't been for an 18-month break with Urban Bank (r.i.p. Sir Ted Borlongan), i would have an uninterrupted 14-year iron man streak with the same company. would you believe they gave me my first job? i still have that newspaper ad from the Manila Bulletin.

and speaking of that newspaper ad, it said "some travel required". or something like that. basta, it involved the word "travel". after several trips to China (and some good horror stories), i thought it was going to be that way forever. i had no inkling that i would end up here in the Big Apple. New York was just a fantastical place i read about in my comics.

ah, but before i would get to these mean streets that Rudy cleaned up, i was sent to Orlando first. that was like heaven. they tell me to support a few customers (nowadays they call you a call center agent), gave you a nice 1 BR apartment and a car (how i miss that Cougar) and let you live your own life. for just a measly $45 a day, i was still able to send a balikbayan box or two back home from time to time. now that am a full-time salaried employee? bleeeh.

Orlando was a dream job location then. but it already provided me glimpses of holding the fort - what with salespeople mostly on the road most of the time, leaving me to my own devices in the office (Napster!!!). punch out at 5, drive around, get home just in time to watch Friends and Seinfeld, and do it all again tomorrow. no wonder i got fat.

and in keeping with the lone wolf theme, i was the last employee there when we closed the Orlando office and moved to New York. i remember holding the company signboard and tossing it in the back seat, and drove away playing "New York State of Mind".

i count myself lucky to have been taken by the company on a permanent basis despite the economic ills brought about 9/11. all the crazy shit it created (paranoid and gung-ho Yanks masquerading as patriots, stupid airline security policies, the Iraq mess, the immigration chokehold, no salary raises since) i barely squlame ... sorry, squarely blame on those jackasses who flew the planes in the towers. thanks a lot, jerks. i hope those 77 virgins are actually AIDS-infected cryogenically-frozen spinsters.

ok, ok, am rambling.

there were only two of us taken from our Manila office. nobody followed since, except for short stints and those were few and far in between. but since 2 out of 3 of the current personnel are Pinoys, then hell, i consider this the Manila Extension office.

three people making up an office seem pathetic. would you rather be a jack of all trades, enjoying a bit more freedom and leeway in your working environment, or be a cog in the big machine, neutered by strict policies but only saddled with specific tasks and responsibilities? even i am torn on that one.

so here i was, having the whole week and the office to myself. maybe if i were younger i'd skip to watch a movie (yeah you know who you are!). but no, there's too many calls and problems to analyze to even consider going to lunch. ok, that's a bit extreme but you know what i mean.

despite the novelty of being alone (means i can play Crystal Method at a non-dog audio level), i look forward to have my colleagues back next week.