Ika 27 ng Enero 2009: Looming Threat in the Year of the Ox

The Year of the OX was ushered in yesterday. Kong Hei Fat Choi! What is in store for us in the Year of the Ox? A friend born in the Year of the Ox visited my home in the weekend and told me a Chinese told him that it is going to be his year. He feels so lucky as he sees some positive development in his food cart business. He said he hopes to try franchising soon. I am an Ox, so am I supposed to feel good this year.....

Just as I opened my email, a former colleague at the school sent me an email with an alarming news, " Employee Termination continues Worldwide!". I forwarded the email to all my contacts. In a while, hubby would send me a message saying that they would soon join the crowd with more than a thousand of their workers offered voluntary resignation...... Oh, oh. It seems that the buy out of their company by another will push through......... What would happen then? I am so threatened by this news I would not want to contemplate on it right now. I have been hearing the news on TV and it seems it is slowly creeping in at home. This kind of news are life changing. I fear the worst.....

This makes me appreciate my work as a government employee. We enjoy security of tenure as public servant. There are certain compromises........ low pay, fewer benefits, slow career development, limited potential for growth, politics (although all offices have their own brand of politics)........... Still, it is good enough than being jobless. With the economic meltdown, it dawned on me that some things are as they are for a reason. Government cannot afford to pay high salaries because they need to maintain their workforce whatever the economic conditions are. Bureaucracy have to be put in place to manage a very large organization........ without it, order would be compromised.

It is said that the new year brings a new promise......... a fresh start. So why do I feel like I am in doldrums?

PS: Mukang marami ako lakad ngayon linggong to. Mamayang gabi magkikita kita kami ng mga kaibigan kong di ko nakita nung kapaskuhan. Sa biernes naman yun mga kaibigan kong kasama ko sa pagtuturo dati at idedespedida namin yun isang kaibigan na aalis papuntang US.