Office Supplies
The Good
When I was in second year college, I received my class card for Engineering Drawing 2 from my ‘trying-hard-to-speak-English’ instructor who just happened to be the architect of the school building we held classes in. This was my very first below 85 grade and instantly it crashed my dream of graduating cum laude. I never did try to be on my knees and beg this professor to change the grade in my class card like one would do if he got a failed grade. I moved on with my college life and attended two more classes under this instructor (without much choice) but he never made it to my list of favorite teachers ever.
On my second year at work, I received my performance rating from my team lead through a one-on-one talk inside a quiet room. The rating was better than what I got the previous year and this at least satisfied me, Until she told me something more and it made me wanna jump up and down on my seat. I realized two things after this: (1) I didn’t have to graduate a cum laude to get it (2) the Drawing classes I had in college didn’t really help at all in getting it because I am a programmer.
The Sad
The closest officemates I had since bench days to my first project, Rox and JohnF, are transferring to a different building location starting next week. Despite them staying in our first project and me not being absorbed, till I finally got rolled in to my current project and even if I now have shifting schedule, we managed to keep in touch, go grocery shopping together at least once a week, meet for occasional lunch outs and lately SB coffee breaks.
We met up Wedneday night for dinner along with other batchmates then they invited me to come over their area in 11th floor to hang around while they work overtime. Sitting on an office chair placed between Rox and JohnF’s cubes, I can’t help but think how things would have been had I stayed in their project, I thought to myself, working hard is one thing. Working with people you are comfortable and happy to work with is another.
