More than a Six-pack

More than a Six-pack

I yearn to acquire six-pack abs as other guys have.  I absolutely envy them because they can flaunt it over huge ad tarpaulins along the stretch of EDSA. I often do crunches in the morning before I leave for work or at night after I arrived from the office. I bear all the pains, notwithstanding the sacrifices of waking up early in the morning or braving the urgency of going to bed early. Nonetheless, it pays.  When I look at the mirror, I always fret out a bit on bulging stomach muscles that are becoming more prominent. 

It took a few minutes before someone got a wheelchair for me. It wasn’t even an emergency nurse or a paramedic, but it was a security guard who rolled one out. At this moment, I couldn’t move my legs and arms. My housemate and the security guard had a hard time transferring me from the cab to the wheelchair.

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The Mending of Two Broken Souls

The night was humid even though summer was almost over, and the month for flowers to bloom to their fullest was about to begin.  The barking of a dog from the distance and the episodic passing of jeepneys at a nearby street disturbed the stillness of the night.  Only a faint ray of light from the street lamp that passes through a small hole on the window lit Dante’s dark room.  It was almost dawn yet he was still wide awake.  There was nothing in his mind except the fond nostalgia of meeting and reconciling with his long lost friend earlier in the day after seven painful years of silence and hatred.  The euphoria of fulfilling a long-awaited dream still echoed in the air, bringing joy to his heart.

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Rush Me to the Hospital, Please

I started to feel the pain in my legs, just around the upper part of the knees, a few hours before I went home at 10 pm last Monday. I thought it’s just one of the normal pains I frequently feel whenever the office got artic cold. Not minding it, I took a 20-minute walk from Ayala Avenue to my boarding house, which I usually do after office hours.

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Missing A Good night’s Sleep

This article was written when I was still working night shift.

I've been awake at night for more than three years now. Doctors had said that it's detrimental to health. I'm craving to be a "normal" human being but to no avail. This is a fact that many have to accept. I will not say that I don't have a choice because Philosophy won't accept that kind of reasoning. I'd rather say that it is the only good choice I have. I wake up at around 7:00 pm. Work starts at 10:00 pm at ends at 7:00 am. I sleep around 10 in the morning. Lucky if I could have an eight-hour sleep if my other housemates would be sensitive enough to feel that there are people sleeping in other rooms.

I must say that being a "day-sleeper," I am a victim of globalization. And my work, which pays better than a daytime job, is its outcome. I could vividly recall one of the callers that I had. She blamed us Filipinos for getting their jobs. Without getting intimidated, I told her that it's the outcome of globalization, which is the brainchild of her mother country. She was silent for a while, but later on agreed to what I said. That was just an exchange of ideas, and she was nice, nonetheless.

Statistics shows that we have a better customer service than American counterparts. Perhaps it has something to do with our culture -- a better edge, I guess. Filipinos like to serve. Look at our titas and titos taking care of their pamangkins; lolos and lolas taking care of their apos. We like to please other people as well. That's the primary reason services and hospitality businesses are thriving in this land.

Meanwhile, I'm just one of the luckiest creatures working in a "call center" because I'm no longer taking calls, being a pioneering batch of a non-voice account. Taking calls is tiresome especially for customer care account where discrimination and irate callers abound. Thousands could attest to it. Despite the fact that I no longer share the same sentiments, I still sleep at daytime. The system that we're using at work is only available daytime in the US, and it is obvious to say that it's nighttime here. Security reasons they say because we are handling sensitive data related to health insurance and finance.

The United States has certain laws governing protected health information, which will be tantamount to prosecution if used or divulged illegally. There are may call center centers where employees were caught mishandling sensitive information and were, at least, terminated from the job or even persecuted. One I heard was when agents of FBI went here to personally arrest contact center specialist for using bank account information of a client to purchase merchandise from e-Bay. Frightening? Not really, as long as you know your limits.

If I were to have a choice working daytime with the same pay, I'd grab it wholeheartedly. Who wouldn't? After all, I'm not a nocturnal being (well, I guess, I am right now). However, I could not survive with a mere income considering the monthly rentals, utilities, food cost and, of course, savings allotment. Who is to be blamed? No finger pointing, please. Nobody is accountable for what one is not responsible of. I think that's the best and safest answer.

Life is cruel. Life is unfair. Who said no? But, of course, life is just a matter of choice and acceptance and making the most with what you have. And if I should feel that life is cruel, I should also think of the moments when life is kind and wonderful. That's when life becomes fair. And if I chose to be in this job, then I must embrace it. I know this won't be for lifetime. "Life is a constant change," Jose Mari Chan said in his song.

One of the best thoughts that were said to me: "It is important to put joy in everything that we do no matter how insignificant it could be. And in so doing, we find meaning to our endeavors." I might be doing things daytime, I might be doing things nighttime, the focal point is that I love my job.

And with these things in mind, I'm optimistic that one day I would say, "Goodbye 'good day' sleep."