I wasn’t surprised at all when our colleague was promoted 2 level higher than most of us who were about 5-6 years senior in service than her.  She was a budding junior IT specialist , new university graduate  but armed not only with charm but considerable stock knowledge and fresh ideas.  Undoubtedly, she is bright, very much opinionated and ambitious that somehow, some senior ladies in the department oftentimes resent her presence and brushed aside her inputs.  For some reason, one officemate would always consider her a “threat” and labeling her as someone who is  ”pulling too many strings”and using good connections to facilitate her early rise to Supervisory position.

While it is true that this very ambitious stance of her is getting the ire of some, but my personal views changed after a chanced one to one talk with her.  Aside from her family life, she also recounted how she struggled past through her university studies and how she strives hard  to get Online Courses and pursue her long dream of becoming a good web page designer.  She persevered studying while working because she has a goal…. She bravely admitted that her projected toughness was due to  the hardships she had in life and this inspired her no end to work her way up.  She also recounted that upon learning of a supervisory position in our IT department would be vacated soon,  she divulged that she started mapping up her career path by taking online degree program in web designs to elevate her level of educational attainment.   And true enough, she best qualified and was hired for the position not long after she finished her program.

I felt the sincerity in her voice when she said she felt sorry for her colleagues for thinking otherwise because of her recent promotion.  She would like to reach out to those colleagues who alienated from her to also go for their dreams of promotion ( if they have any).  Well, she added that should they want to further their  studies, it is always possible with on line degree programs offering various courses of choice and like her, she availed the assistance of Federal Student Aid College Finder http://studentaid2.ed.gov/gotocollege/collegefinder/advanced_find.asp.

Her parting word was… “once they have finished the program, it might work wonders for them too!”    Whoa!  That was quite an intriguing one!

There goes my highly opinionated friend..err supervisor!

Office  is not all paperwork, we also have occasional  ”table topics” that is … food … food.. food galore.   Pictures posted here are  our favorite food that we commonly serve in office get together.  Last time, to honor a colleague who will be leaving us for good, we prepared wide choices of food for lunch.   You bet, we all enjoyed it!

Our office “party” (done during 1 hour break time) is a welcome respite from the monotonous work of typing, file, request memos, regular meetings, conferences and dealing most of all with toxic staff and colleagues.  Such a stressful  office life!.

I think food really comforts us,  so our running joke in the office holds true… we are all on SEE FOOD DIET… because whenever we SEE FOOD , WE EAT!

Biryani

Homous

Beef

chicken

Chinese rice noodles

spring rolls

siomai

These are some of our favorite dishes… Yummy!

My officemate was conspicuously late for work and I was getting anxious that she might not be able to do her morning routine of preparing our conference room for the daily Cardiology morning meeting.  If she will not be able to make it on time, surely, the bulk of the work will be passed on to me.  Actually, I won’t mind but still, I also have loads to do and additional task will derail my time table.

True enough, I was texted that she will be late and was asked to take over.  Though I wasn’t prepared for it, I was obliged to do it, but I was somewhat disappointed because the conference and kitchen keys are nowhere to be found.   How can I prepare the projector for the Powerpoint presentation, open the computer for the log in timesheet and the coffee pots should have been brewing with fresh coffee by that time?  I was all pressured!  Apparently, she took the keys home and I have to call for security personnel and  request to open the doors.

What a morning!  You are all made up, all perfumed for work and now you’ve got yourself a little bit sweaty for being a bit panicky because the clock is ticking fast and the doctors are all coming in to log- in their attendance. The conference room still closed, the security is on his way…. got to compose myself and wait for expected rants of our Department chairman just in case I won’t be able to prepare the room on the dot.

Whew!  How can you blame a colleague for being late who was profusely asking apology for her tardiness?  Well, no recourse but to say it’s alright! I hope she is not making up excuses… it would be better if she will set her alarm clock an hour earlier so there will be no rushing on her part.   This getting up early should become a habit so that some people will not get affected in a way.  I was very much influenced of my husband’s promptness and 5-10 minutes delay on schedule is considered a big deal for him, so I always make it a point to keep up with his pace.

As the saying goes “ Time waits for no man!”

I was like a little child showing my husband 2 of my fingers with Band-aid because of paper cuts.   A thin piece of paper slices my skin as I was filing documents and believe me it was painful!  You might say I am over reacting but a loose paper is usually soft and sometimes as thin as a razor blade that it can cut through skin.   It was suprisingly painful, I dont know why maybe our fingers have a greater concentration of sensory receptors or the small cut is irritated by chemicals used on papers that is why there is continued pain.

Anyway, my officemate was quick to give me an alcohol swab to disinfect and a Band-aid to cover it.   That is why, it is important to have an emergency kit handy even in the office.

They say that a good secretary need to have a good filing system to be effective.  My first day in the office was spent reviewing all work that I had missed,  clearing my table of unnecessary papers, reading and deleting old mails in my computer and meeting my colleagues to keep me updated with work and latest happenings in the hospital.   I was overwhelmed with well-wishers who stopped by to welcome me, especially those staff under my section.  They were more than glad to see me.  Now, they are starting to bug me with their endless request- vacation leave, exit-reentry visa, etc.  

It’s good that I dealt with piles of file on my first day of work.  I am now dealing with day to day work as it comes.  No pending or backlogs.  I love my work!

I am now back to reality!  Life is not all pleasures. After 44 days of vacation, I found myself struggling to get up to prepare for work.  I am willing and excited but  my body clock is still adjusting to the different time zone.  So, somehow, I am having this laziness in me.

My officemates welcomed me no end, especially my colleague who absorbed all my day to day work.  On my table are piles of papers that I need to review and do as well.  I haven’t settled yet and they were endorsing back the work I had missed.  

That’s how it is!