Monday, April 13, 2009
Man down, man down. Understaffed, understaffed.
In short, today can be summarized in a lot of ways. One word, hectic. Two words, particularly busy. Three words, taxful and challenging. Four words, all work no play. Five words, you get what I mean.
So, today, I reported in for work earlier than usual cause we have a bunch of guys who are coming in for their in-camp training and for our job -- which is kinda similar to the reception counter at a hotel, we have to check them in. Psyched and all fired up, I arrived at the office, anxiously anticipating how things would turn out.
Halfway through when I was sorting out the documents, I was interrupted by this caffeinated high-pitched voice from nowhere, asking if somebody was there and who it was. Like a slow-witted reaction, I didn't pay any attention initially but in a split second, I had this portentous feeling that it was someone I'd usually prefer not to see and a rough idea of who that might be. Obviously, in my excitement, I had totally forgotten about the existence of that ominous being who prowls the office and occupies the center cubicle. Just as I guessed, the clownish head of 'Auntiesaurus' bobbed out from behind the file cabinets and I thought to myself, note to self, never ever doubt your intuitions. However, it was all too late to hide and she immediately showed her 'I-have-work-for-you' grin after informing me that my senior was reporting sick. That instantly gave me the feeling that doomsday was just round the corner.
The ten minutes where I was alone with her in the office -- it was pure chaos. All the documents that she demanded, I had no access to cause I had already returned the access card to my senior last Thursday. She of course realized that and was also at a loss on what to do. As though lady luck was on my side, my very experienced colleague, Cher How, from our section came in just in time and everything was solved with a snap of the fingers. Pfft, talk about a supervisor who knows nothing about what we do and yet, still happily barking orders. Then, when he went out to the hangar to 'check-in' the guys who were coming in, I quickly followed behind. Purpose? To avoid having the 'Auntiesarus' dump all her work on me again. Truth be spilled, it was like the best decision I had ever made since I was posted there. Spent two hours or so in the hangar, awaiting the arrival of our 'guests'. While waiting, my colleague was surfing the World of Warcraft Armory site and we started chatting about it, admiring other players' masterpiece.
Like stepping into a mall and out, half a day has already passed us by. From there on, it was work, work and more work. It was an exceptionally busy day since our section is down to Cher How and I -- the two of us -- while my senior with two other colleagues were on medical leave and we're expected to cover up for them. As such, I had to handle stuff that I had no prior experience with and is pretty fresh to. Thankfully, the system isn't all that difficult to figure out if you're literate and there's this wonderful invention called the telephone/cellphone. In the end, I was able to cope with the mountainous heap of work and everything turned out just fine. In fact, I kinda like the experience since it's quite challenging and you get to learn stuff along the way. Stuff that even 'Auntiesaurus' don't know about. That ought to give you a huge advantage over her in any debate on work issues.
Lastly, even when it's clearly past knock off time, 'Auntiesaurus' still had me check up the absentees report and worst of all, wants me to deliver a mail for her on my way home. Gosh, persistent much!?
Last Updated @ 8:09 AM
Signed: Whoever was here...
