And Then There Were Two

Back when I was still in college, my kada and I promised our professors, and ourselves, that we won’t sell out and work in call centers. I ate that principle. So I said to myself that I won’t attach myself that much to people when I work. This will be easy, I thought, since in the world of outsourcing, there’s no such thing as permanent and stable, thus, there’s no sense forming relationships with people who’ll just be a memory after a few weeks or couple of months. Again, I chowed down that principle. After a year and four months, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I connected with my colleagues.

The first months of my stay in my company, I was feeling normal and fine. I was distant with the team and I prefer it that way. I hated my work, I hated my shift, but surprisingly, I felt very warm with my teammates. It’s like college all over again. Form new barkadas, meet new people, and pass grades (QA scores). The transition from college to professional was hard for me, but through the efforts of my teammates and colleagues, I blended in. I started going out with them on sessions and found that they’re really decent and fun to be with. It was then that I started enjoying going to work everyday.

Months passed by and I got to know my teammates better and formed good relationships with them. But of course, I belonged into a group, a “kada” of all sorts. These bunch of guys, they served as my brothers in the office as I was the youngest, I think, in our account. It’s natural that they look after and take care of me. Hehehe. I found wisdom in the person that is E, true caring in M, intelligence in K, paternal instincts in A, and sisterly love with C. Of course I’ve learned so much more in them but that’s besides the point. Humor probably describes our lil’ group the best, and it’s probably our best asset to boot. Now, I cannot exactly narrate every adventures that we had in the course of our friendship but it consists mostly of sessions, lunchouts, TimeZone, road trips, coffee, and the likes. And they were all, Good Times.

In the professional world, certain factors will definitely come and get in the way of friendships and groups. Shift changes, LOB transfers, termination scares, sickness; hah! We survived through that. We were still solid. But this time, it’s really graduation time. With the great FTE purge, M, A, and C became casualties of the account transfer scare. And for the longest time, E’s been contemplating if what he’s doing is really worth it. Verdict: it wasn’t.

And then there were two: me and K. I can’t help but feel sad for the demise of our once very animated circle. And K has his own shift in the afternoon until God-knows-when. So in a sense, I’m left to eat lunch and take breaks by myself. No more basketball shootouts after shifts, no more nightly window shopping, no more earth-shattering news, and no one will look after me the way C does. Sigh. Enough melodrama. It’s ruining my style. It’s not like I ain’t going to see them anymore. The shootouts and breaks may be over but the sessions will never die. At least I hope it wouldn’t. Yeah, I’m confident that it will continue. After all, M and A’s just two floors down and E and C’s just somewhere in Alabang. Hehehe. I’ll miss them much. Hmm…like I said, I think this was harder to take than my break up.

The question is: when will K and I follow their suit?