How Would You React?

Imagine this…

Your special someone gently wakes you up with a kiss. And before you even brush your teeth or comb your hair, he shows you something on the laptop...

The video comes up. (I Won't Give Up On Us)

I wonder how you’d react…

I clearly remember my reaction that morning – I cried.

Then I hugged him.

MANAGER or MESSENGER?

I am assigned the position of site manager. As such, I am tasked to ensure that activities at the site are done according to international standards and company SOPs so that everyone is kept safe and protected. Also, being a site manager makes me the point of contact between the site and upper management. Theoretically.

I’ve always thought that managers are accorded a certain degree of autonomy and a free hand when handling people and activities at the site. One becomes a manager because he has skills required for the post. A manager gets to call the shots as long as these are compliant to rules, standards and SOPs. Upper management, a.k.a. your boss (sometimes inappropriately termed your “mentor”) does not step in as long as there is compliance, timelines are met and deliverables are delivered.  

Yes, I am a site manager.  I know I am.

So you can understand why I am irked when my boss contacted my site directly for additional questions, something that was mine to do, something that could have waited the next day. It was not urgent at all. Worse, he told the site “If you need any of my assistance do feel free to let me know.“  He could have at least said, “If you need any of my assistance do feel free to let me or my site manager know.”

Now he is asking me to follow-up with the site for information for which he contacted them directly to begin with.

Calling upper management…

Did you really hire a manager? Or just needed a messenger? Because I sure as Hades know what I applied for.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

I just love taking public transport. You get to encounter people from all walks of life. And although you don’t get to chat with them (starting a conversation out of the blue will give them the impression that either you’re losing a few bolts, or that you were was born with mutated congeniality genes), you can actually come up with all sorts of stories just by looking at them. A fun way to while away the time when stuck in traffic.

Travelling via public transport also gives me the time to think and reflect. One might say that I could always do it at home. But for some odd reason, I find that I am able to think more when I’m travelling. Probably because I do not have the TV or the bed or the home theater system or the PSP when I’m travelling, temptation that you’d normally find at home.

Taking the public transport also teaches me to be thankful – thankful for all the blessings and even the things that may be perceived as misfortunes. There were so many times when public transport made me realize how fortunate I was – from missing a freak accident because I got stuck in traffic, to serendipitously meeting with a friend who turned out that she badly needed help, to gaining new lessons in life by talking to the taxi driver.

Taking the public transport also allows me to enjoy and appreciate nature. Unfortunately, there is not really much left to enjoy and appreciate. So..

Tara! Sakay na!  J