Hounded by creditors!!!

Oh okay it is not I that's being hounded by creditors... Thanks God for that!

Anyway, this afternoon they were talking about one of the staff in another department who will be resigning by month end. She has been with the company for more than 20 years and the separation benefits she'll be getting is already earmarked to pay for her debts with several people in our company and another was still trying to make a claim but it seems that all of it will already be going to a lot of people. I think one of the reason she is also deciding to leave is because so many people have been collecting from her and she was getting tired of it that she is no longer thinking about the future but just wants to clear up her present debts so she could have some peace of mind.

In the past an audit family has resigned because the credit card bills have piled up and she cannot pay it anymore. It is sooooooooooooooooo easy to be bitten by the credit card bug! They offer you free first annual dues and they say you could just make the minimum payments... they did not mention that the interest and surcharges could be so high that after a while in paying minimum you discover that your principal has not been moving and instead you are just paying for the interest... and little by little your balance is increasing instead of decreasing!
That could really give you a headache.. and all forms of other aches... a tremendous STRESS!!! And of course your productivity in the office is affected... oh okay not just your productivity but also the productivity of other staff who has to answer the telephone calls from those NASTY collectors who says that you are hiding your officemate from them. Grrrr!!! Those collectors are really nasty and persistent!!!

Life in our country is really hard... our economy is in really bad shape and most people's salary are already depleted from all the deductions made in their payroll after availing all forms of credits --- SSS, Pag-ibig, Cooperative loans... and from the small amount that's left, their personal creditors will also run after them... some of the creditors even require them to surrender their payroll ATM card so they could get it before the borrower do... so how else could one be productive and enjoy her work when she knows that she won't be getting any money from all her effort... oftentimes one would get another loan to pay for an older loan and the interest just piles up... and the more that they are in a mess...

I guess I am lucky since I have no big debts...
oh, I always borrow from Social Security System.. interest is low plus it is best that you always have a loan there to make sure that nobody else uses your name... I just paid my loan from our company cooperative and would get occasional loans but I am one of those people that is not really comfortable having loans -- I'd rather wait when I know I have something to pay for the thing I want before I buy... I use my credit card more for convenience since I get only those I can pay for when the bill is due. I am just using the extra time before the bill arrives. I know the danger of not paying the whole amount! one time I picked up the wrong balance and ended up leaving a balance of P233.00 left and when I got my next bill I had financing charge of more than double the amount... I was shocked! They have a weird way of computing for the interest... good thing I was able to ask the customer representative to reverse it (I told them I'll cancel my card if they charge it--- I got that from Weng...she is pretty clever when it comes to money.... hmmm... actually she is a genius when it comes to money!!!)...

Anyway back to our officemate... I am not really sure that resigning is the best solution for her problem...but maybe at the moment she just feels she is the tight end of her rope and she just wants to let go of that rope... I hope she falls in a safety net and bounce back...

Eating time in audit!

Belle will be leaving soon so i thought i'd take a picture of our normal eating time.
This is one thing she's going to miss for sure since it is the same thing everybody misses when they leave!

They'll miss our company...
They'll miss the talks that goes on while eating... gossip on the entertainment circle... updates on the telenovelas (soaps) on TV...plus a lot of things about life...
They'll miss the free foods... especially when there's some celebration--birthdays...despedidas(farewell blowout)...first salary blowout (hehehe... a must for the new members)... and when helen is in the mood to buy lots of food
They'll miss the sharing of foods and the cheap foods... and sometimes even sharing one order of viand and splitting the cost! Just lots of rice to make up!!!
They'll miss the messy table-- just look at all those plastic bags and scratch papers used to cover the table!
They'll miss Alma's washing of our plates, mugs and spoon and fork!
They'll miss getting snacks from Malou and Annie on credit!
Guess they will be missing a lot! but i think Belle won't miss the bulge that accumulated from constant eating... hehehe!

PS.. the picture is not complete... Jane is on leave taking care of Enteng! Julie is on his own table eating(hmmm.. ayaw mag share???) Helen is also away... plus i took the shot (okay not really a good shot)...but my food is there! See the volume on my plate???
Ahhh... eating time is certainly interesting in Audit!

Sunset from Helen's window!

I was busy working at my desk when Jane shouted "Beth look at the sunset!" and many of us stood up to go to Helen's window to view it! It was indeed a lovely sunset but there are actually more beautiful sunsets you'll see from that window!

Our office is on the 26th floor and our building is the only tall building in the area so that we are often times blessed with a view of beautiful sunsets in the Manila Bay.

The picture is just a shot of lovely sunset taken from a camera of a mobile phone that day... there is no UFO looming around the horizon! The light you see on top of the rays is not a UFO but just a reflection of the light from our office :-)! It would be nice seeing a UFO though, right??? that is.. apart from the sunset!

Well maybe one day we'll get a sighting! but they may not actually be UFOs though they may appear so from a distance... they might actually be our auditors from afar flying HOME to us ;-)))

So many goodbyes!!!

Aghhh... another family handed her resignation yesterday!!! Over the past few months there have just been so many resignations and it is so hard getting a replacement! Helen has a certain criteria for choosing a new family... she or he should possess the "it" factor! You know.. the feeling that you belong!

ME... I am not really worried about the work though the backlog is a little bit concern for alarm! In the work front, I no longer subscribe to the idea that nobody is irreplaceable...

I used to believe I was irreplaceable (Hehehe...what can I say... I am a Filipino and one of my foreign friends noted that a Filipino is "egotistical".. of course he says it with a big smile! actually I would say it is more "Bilib sa sarili" or belief in ones ability!)... I used to stay in the office late...even working on Saturdays and bringing home works!!! Well until I got sick -- well actually not really sick but a bungled up operation in 1999 had me in and out of the hospital for more than 3 months... grrrr!!! That meant that for the first time in my life with the company I was gone a long time! I was worried how the people would do while I was gone...how they would survive without me!!! (can you see me "EMOTE"??? hehehe) but I was wrong.. they were fine... okay there were backlogs.. but the rest were doing fine!

Ouch..Ouch..Ouch my ego said:-)! But it was temporary.. it was a good thing for it made me realize to focus on other aspects of life :-) plus I did go on longer vacations!

Anyway... when Bong resigned to go to the US... he said that leaving the audit family was a more painful decision than leaving the company... leaving the company only meant a career move... moving on for greener pastures... but leaving the audit family, the family he had for 18 years.. that was another matter!

He is right! There will be other auditors to do his work... but no other auditor could actually take his place in our hearts! It is clearly etched there!!!

The same goes for the others... the mark is there...deeper for those who have stayed longer! And no amount of surgery or cosmetics could erase such mark!!!

So it is never really a goodbye, right??? I think a Bon Voyage would be more appropriate... A good journey!

And I hope that the light of our friendship... our oneness... will keep each safe on our journey through life!!!