The House

The Upper House

I was assigned in the Human Resources Department and so most people I know are from the HR department.

1. Ms. Gigi is the HR Manager. By simply looking at her one could tell that she has a high position in the company. I stayed there for two months, but I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t know my name. She only talked to me once when she asked me a little favor, that is, to contact the Department of Labor and Employment.

2. Ms. Tricia is the Senior HR Specialist. I heard a lot of good and not so good things about her, but these things don’t matter. If there’s one person in the office who was able to beat me as an early bird, it’s Ms. Tricia. She’s quiet, but I often see her on the phone. She’s also one of those people who calls me “Gen” instead of “Jing.” She often wears high healed shoes, but she finds it difficult to walk. Ms. Tricia and Tita Rica were classmates in college. I like her because when I was invited to help in the job fair, she taught me how to analyze people by looking at their CV’s and application forms.

3. Ms. Deejay is, as we all know, my immediate supervisor. She’s my go-to person when I need something or when I have important questions. She never gets tired lending me her scissors, stapler and staple wire remover. She’s always willing to answer my never ending questions. She can be really wicked, but she’s super nice. She’s always funny even when she’s hysterical, stressed out and complaining. Besides having this “simple yet pretty” feature, there are two things I noticed about her during those two months, she’s intelligent and wise.

4. Ms. Lady is the ultimate fashionista. She has the stuff that makes a lady beautiful and she knows how to strut it. Her bronze complexion and short and slick hair make her stand out. Honestly, she’s the office’s own Queen Latifah.

5. Ms. Gaye as I’ve mentioned in my previous post hast this long shiny hair. If she’s not born with it, maybe it’s hair spa treatment and the likes. She’s covered by mystery… I don’t know, I guess it’s her silence that would keep a person asking for more.

6. Ms. Anna, I suppose, is older than the other girls, but younger than Ms. Tricia. She plays the best music in the HR office. I also like the way she smile at people- so genuine and no pretenses.

7. Ms. Inah is the loudest and jolliest person in the HR office. If you’re not used to her loud voice and wide eyes you’d probably think she’s mad at you. She’s also the funniest. Her side comments simply make me burst into laughter.

8. Ms. Andrea is the newbie. She’s the newly hired HR Specialist who often forgets to use her ID to open the door. She’s also known for conducting the longest interviews. Besides Ms. Deejay, she’s the only HR specialist whom I can talk to. One day she asked me “can you guess my age?” I eagerly said “28!” Oops, she’s only 24.

9. Ms. Kace is the shorter and fairer version of Ms. Lady. She’s called by the male interns as “Ms. Beautiful” because she is- a product of an exclusive school for girls. I’m always embarrassed whenever she hears me commit mistakes while on the phone because her laughter can invite other people to laugh as well. She loves saying “I’m happy for you.”

10. Ms. Nadia is called by Ivy as “cousin” because they share the same surname, but they’re not really related. If Ms. Kace is very lenient, Ms. Nadia is rather strict. If the agents are noisy she would raise her voice and tell them “Could you please lower your voices!” She also doesn’t like to have no one in the front desk even during lunch time.

The Lower House

1. Ivy is often called “Bossing” by Tita Rica because she is the only RA who can go in and out of the HR office effortlessly and she is the closes among the other RA’s to the manager and specialists. She has this strong personality that you would never want to make her your enemy. She is more willing to teach you if you don’t know something, but never ever say “ok” if you don’t really understand what she’s saying. 2. Tita Rica is the oldest RA- that’s why she’s called “Tita.” She’s the hungriest of all the RA’s and she definitely loves to eat. She brings junk food with her all the time- whether she’s in the front desk or in interview room 2. She’s finds it difficult to enter the HR office, as if she’s afraid of someone, that’s why she asks me to sharpen her pencil (the sharpener is in the HR office). She has a very loud voice and distinct way of talking. This is the reason why one would know if she’s doing phone screening or merely doing personal calls.

3. Achie is the only RA I can ask questions like “what would you do if you saw a bag with P1 million?” She’s nice, but she’s also absent-minded at times. Whenever she commits mistake, it’s with the senior HR specialist. What I like about her is that she couldn’t hide her mistakes; she’s the first one who would literally “brag” about it. Don’t dare ask her (except if it’s about the location of the washrooms) because more likely she’d just give you a blank stare. Her favorite word, as I notice it, is “shame.”

The Constituents

The Constituents are the other interns, like me. All in all there are seven interns in the office. Two of us are girls and, three I’m certain are males while the other two interns are still questionable. After three days of encoding I was asked to do phone screening of applicants- no wonder why I’m closer to the RA’s than the interns. The interns are stationed in the testing room doing encoding, filing and shredding. Any unexpected noise would probably be coming from the testing room. I listen to their stories while I’m in the interview room, and sometimes I laugh with them.

…Continuation

After few more minutes another employee arrived. She was all smiles at me- as if we already know each other. I felt at ease seeing her. She looked older than Ms. Deejay, though Ms. Deejay still appeared superior. The lady went inside the cubicle beside where I was interviewed.

When she went out she said “Have you taken your breakfast? Come on, get some.” She was offering me Clover Chips- junk food for breakfast. Healthy? She noticed that I kept on calling her Miss because I didn’t know her name yet so she told me to simply call her Rica. Eventually, I would hear other people call her Tita Rica so I would call her as such.

I looked at my watch, few more minutes and it would be 9 am. “Am I supposed to look for my supervisor to ask what am I supposed to do?” I told myself. Alas! Another girl, someone in her 20’s approached me with a bundle of papers. “Gen, come with me, I’ll tell you what to do.” Her name was Achie to the employees and Ms. Cherry to the applicants. She’s tall, has long hair and has several pimples on her face. I spent my first three days beside her encoding some information of rejected applicants. For three days I also kept on asking her question, but she gave me vague answers or nothing at all.

From time to time there’s another girl who would enter the encoding area, which is really the testing room. It’s just that the computers used for encoding are also placed in the testing room. This girl looked pretty snobbish, superior and snooty with her old-maid hair style and stiff eyeglasses. Her name’s Ivy- the sickly, physically sensitive and prone to papercut recruitment assistant who needs to bring her own first aid kit because of her condition.

Tintin, my friend, was late. I was told by the other recruitment assistants (RA), Ivy and Tita Rica, that it’s her first time to come in late. She got stuck in C5 for an hour and a half.

I felt at ease when Tintin arrived. At least there’s someone I really know. Deep inside I felt like it shouldn’t be like that; that I have to stand by myself and shouldn’t be under her shadow. 

Day 1 and Beyond

Is this luck or what!? My first day was welcomed by a typhoon. I couldn’t hide my excitement that’s why I was in RCBC Plaza at 6:30 am- to think that office hours start at 8:30 am. That’s what we all call thrill. I was there with my trusty messenger bag, lucky white shirt, boots and a baby blue coat- the complete picture of an intern.

Of course I couldn’t bear the embarrassment of being the one who will open the office that Monday, October 30, so I stayed at the ground floor where most people, I noticed, were carrying brown envelopes. I found out that they’re going to the different embassies located in Tower 2.  Uhm… Migration.

More than the huge building that reminded me of Men in Black, the different people were simply amazing. I saw a stewardess in her blue uniform pulling her big luggage bag, there’s this European that caught my attention with her own deadly weapon- stilettos, the call center agents who tries to warm themselves by smoking and a lot more.

By 8 am I’ve decided to go to the 29^th floor, the IHG office. There I was greeted by the guard. “I’m looking for Ms. Djoanna. Is she here already?” I asked. He smiled and answered “applicant? She’s not yet in. You can stay in the waiting area. What’s your name?” “I’m Geralyn. I was here last Friday. I’m an intern and today is my first day.”

Again… I was asked to stay in the waiting area. It was raining so I expect people to be late. Before 8:30 I noticed a silhouette grew bigger. Someone’s approaching… Suddenly her head popped out. “Jing… You’re early.” It was her, Ms. Deejay. All I could say was a short “yeah” though I really wanted to tell her “I was anticipating traffic jam in our area.” She left and went to the washroom.

To be continued…

Day 0 – Patience is a Virtue

After a night of doing research on today’s major industries and the company background, I somehow woke up late. I only have 2 hours to prepare for my interview this afternoon at 2 pm. Still, I can feel the hesitation of pursuing my application for internship because of my frustration to be selected as one of the interns for Citibank.

For business students like be, being an intern at Citibank is synonymous to being bankable in the future. Everyone knows Citibank. Everyone wants to be there, but not everyone is chosen.

I wonder why misfortunes strike me in just a day. My lucky crisp white shirt is in the hamper, I don’t have a shampoo to use and I can’t fix my hair the way I want it to be fixed. Bad day. Bad mood.

When everything’s finally polished, I looked for a tricycle to take me to the loading area for commuters. It suddenly rained so hard that the folder protecting my freshly printed resume was almost tearing apart. No! My resume! My internship! Good thing the funny-smelling driver noticed my reaction and he offered to cover the tricycle with thick plastic to not further damage my day.

My appointment, according to Tintin, was at 2pm. I was in their office before 2.

It’s October 27, Friday, I wonder why they’re wearing all the same shirt. Is this their Friday uniform? Minutes passed… Hours passed and yet no one’s calling my name. I’m getting frustrated. I peed more than 10 times already because of the low temperature in the waiting area, I already interviewed the other applicants before they were interviewed by the girl with long hair and pseudo-intelligent eyeglasses and I’m still waiting for my turn. More than three hours have passed. I thought it’s better to go home. Then I noticed a petit girl enter the room in front of me. I also heard someone from the front desk whisper “goodluck.” Then my name was called.

I was nervous- So nervous that when she asked me “how are you in the family?” I literally forgot to mention my sister- that I have to say “I’m sorry; I forgot to count my sister. Can I repeat that?” It was one of the longest days of my life. In the end, she accepted me to work for the company as an intern. “Who’s going to be my supervisor?” I asked. “Me. I’m Djoanna” she replied with a smile.

I left the office minutes before 5:30pm.

That same night I received a call from Tintin.

Besides learning that patience is a virtue, they also taught me the first choices maybe wrong and the last choices maybe the best. And money (in this case, an allowance) is not important. What's more important is the learning and experience I acquired from the internship.

Thank You

My thoughts last December 21…

Tomorrow would be the last day of my internship. It’s that one particular day that never came to my thoughts since the day I started working for this consulting firm, but I can now feel it approaching. Three days before Christmas I would leave my host company. No matter what, I’m still glad that I received three gifts. Among the three, two gifts were unnamed. I hate it. It’s like pretending that you care for someone. My immediate supervisor, Ms. Deejay was so thoughtful. She gave me a pair of pink socks.

I’ve heard in the office that she was actually thinking of giving me a hairpin. “Is she out of her mind?” I asked myself. I guess she realized that I have some sort of alopecia and that a nice hairpin would only attract more attention to my shiny scalp.

Now I’m thinking of giving her something before I finally say “goodbye” to my internship. Should it be a pen or a book? I don’t know. How would I know? Maybe I should just give her a card saying “the best way to say thank you is really meaning it. Thank you.”

Anticipation…Anticipation… is worse than the day itself. I feel like a retiring employee who doesn’t want to leave the company. I feel like I’m about to depart for a trip alone. I feel like I’m laughing at my own jokes. I feel like I want to say and be told “thank you.”

To enumerate the reasons why I should be saying these two words, I have to go back to day 0.

Internship

Before I started this blog I was actually thinking of devoting a whole blog to my two-month internship. I would’ve given it the title “The Internship Report.” Since I couldn’t get over my internship (I’m so in love with it), my next articles would be about my internship. All true. All raw.

Best and Worst of 2006

Best Things that Happened to Me

1. I was one of the winners in a recently concluded essay writing contest. The topic was “Is the Pinoy Youth Emotionally Ready for Sex?”

2. My internship with InterContinental Hotels Group made me realize that I would enjoy being in the HR department because of its dynamism and diversity.

3. I wrote an article about my internship and it got published in Inquirer Libre.

4. For the first time in my college life I got a 1.75 in Finance- a “number” subject.

5. I finished reading 2 books- The Color Purple and Laramie Project.

Worst Things that Happened to Me

1. I took calculus twice and had to pay more than P20,000.

2. My favorite linen dress from Anne Klein was ruined.

3. I cried the whole night last December 20 for something I wish I never witnessed.

4. I found that I’m super unhealthy.

5. I spent my money to some useless things.

Best People

1. Ms. Deejay because she’s wickedly nice, and delightfully cruel

2. Deejei because, when he left for London, I never thought that I would really miss someone

3. My dentist because she never gets tired of fixing my braces.

Worst People

1. JB because his badminton court is blocking my view of the world outside my room and the players are so noisy which makes it difficult for me to sleep.

2. My supervisor from Supply Chain (I couldn’t even remember her name) because she was completely clueless of what she’s supposed to do with her intern and what her intern is capable of doing. That’s why I resigned.

3. My useless finance girl groupmate because she was plain useless- she didn’t do anything except tell the panel “you know it better than we do.”

Best Restaurants

1. Green Tomato- good food, good pasta, fast serving- the only restaurant in Shangri-La where I would eat my carbonara.

2. Sugarhouse- food maybe expensive but the taste is very classic and classy.

3. Burgoo- the idea of letting customers doodle around while waiting is simply unique. Oh, the serving is large, too.

Worst Restaurants

1. Cyma, a Greek restaurant in Shangri-La with a branch in Boracay, I thought the waiters already forgot about our orders. It took them forever to serve our clamshell pasta and grilled cheese. They also forgot to bring another one of our orders, I think it’s gambas. The waiter couldn’t describe their special drink.

2. Big Apple simply because the place lacks chairs and tables

3. Buddy’s in Ortigas- service is so slow.

Best Things I Did

1. Give my lunch to a hungry lady

2. Get an internship

3. Read two books which nobody required me to read

Worst Things I Did

1. Put Elmer’s Glue in a lotion bottle and let my sister and mother use it- believing it’s really lotion

2. Remain silent though I knew something wrong was happening

3. Hide

Class Resume

After the 2-week holiday vacation from school, what more can I expect than for classes to resume. I “believe” the school would re-open today, January 2, so I woke up early. You should understand that I only have one subject this semester that’s why I’m always excited to go to class. Going back, though my class would start at 10:30 I was already in Pear Drive at 7:30 am.

New Year, New Blog

I received several e-mails from different people asking whatever happened to Corners and Centers, my previous blog. My usual answer goes like “I had technical difficulties I couldn’t fix so I decided to delete my blog.” Yes, I experienced technical difficulties, but more than that, the primary reason why my blog disappeared was I couldn’t write about anything that time. How am I supposed to write if I’m locked in my room 20 hours a day? No, it’s not depression. I literally went into a sleeping and dreaming spree. It’s something I wasn’t able to do during my four years of college life.