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FROM THE TIME we gained a foothold on residency, we realized we were already on our way out of our previous job. It was no longer a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when”.
As usual, we’re getting ahead of ourselves Precious Reader, but two things we make clear at this point: our employer has always been good to us, and (because of this) two, till our last day we were going to give it our all.
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Between the time we actually told ourselves, yes it’s a good time to start looking for something new, actually going through the motions, finding someone willing to give us a chance, and our last day, it was an emotional six to eight weeks.
No, we weren’t tip-toeing around the locker room and work area, figuring out how to make a clean break of it all and not make a big fuss. But at the same time we had made some friends in the work place, you do after all spend more time at work, probably a third of your adult life, than anywhere else – and some people we were gonna miss, more than others.
It was also the routine, the muscle memory and the sheer structure to your life that your job of more than a decade-plus that was gonna be ripped out of your system: the waking up at dawn, the 15000 steps around the plant that was a normal part of the 12 hour shift, the struggle to keep awake between 3am and sunrise. You won’t exactly miss those things, but they will undoubtedly leave a hole in your innermost parts.
[Perfect example : three weeks after my last night shift, I was still waking up at odd times and getting up at 5am for no reason at all. I actually asked my body : we’re not ready to pee, we’re not hungry and Baby Dumpling’s long past the nightly feedbottle phase. why are you doing this? To which my body replied: hey bro, we’ve been doing this for 15 years. We’ve only been back to night-is-night and day-is-day for a month, give yourself a break. You haven’t been normal since the Philippines, anubayan??? Napahiya ako.]
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Which brings me to the why of leaving. Obviously we’re no longer a young man, and considering the shift work, manual lifting and constant motion that the job required, it was time for a lighter job. We would actually suffer healthwise from the dramatic decrease in physical activity, but overall, the constant stress and lack of circadian rhythm was long-term very bad for us. We were very near the point of no return.
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So back to leaving. we didn’t know how to tell anyone, least of all the people in our pod, that figuratively (and quite literally) we were quite sick of the place. By nature we’re a cheerful and positive person, and almost always have something upbeat to say.
Not during those six to eight weeks. You might find this odd, but to us, looking for something new was like a betrayal of the entity that had given us livelihood all this time. To make it worse, we couldn’t tell anyone, because of the illogical feeling that the employer might make life hard for us once our intentions were exposed.
To compensate for our half-life (half still there, but half gone already) we became more cheerful, more attentive and loath to do the cheats and tricks that we’d become so accustomed to survive the 12 hour grind: do a test a little earlier, spend a little less time cleaning and tidying up, etc. etc. The slightest hint of us not being happy in our job, and we’d do a complete turnaround and act like we were the newest guy at work, 101% effort, all smiles and overflowing with positivity.
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But all good things come to an end. After what seemed like an eternity, we actually found a job, an actual desk job that we didn’t mind doing. Hours were decent, no manual lifting, and NO NIGHT SHIFT. Yes, we took a pay cut. But guess what? we didn’t mind, and it wasn’t a dealbreaker.
Hopefully next time we’ll tell you about our exit strategy, and our last day at work.
Thanks for reading!
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Mula nang makamit namin ang pagiging NZ residente, napagtanto namin na malapit na kaming umalis sa aming nakaraang trabaho. Hindi na ito tungkol sa “kung”, kundi tungkol sa “kailan.”
Tulad ng dati, nauuna tayo sa dapat na intro, Mahal na Mambabasa, pero dalawang bagay ang naging malinaw sa puntong ito: ang aming employer ay laging mabuti sa amin, at (dahil dito) hanggang sa aming huling araw, ibibigay pa rin namin ang lahat.
Sa pagitan ng pagtitiwala sa aming sarili na oo, magandang panahon na para maghanap ng bagong oportunidad, sa pagtutupad ng mga hakbang, paghahanap ng may kagustuhan na bigyan kami ng pagkakataon, at sa aming huling araw, ito ay naging emosyonal na anim hanggang walong linggo.
Hindi naman kami nag-iingat sa paligid ng locker room at work area, iniisip kung paano magkakaroon ng malinis na pag-sibat, at hindi nagdrama. Pero ganunpaman, nagkaroon kami ng mga kaibigan sa workplace, dahil hindi ba po, mas marami kang oras na inilalaan sa trabaho, marahil isang ikatlong bahagi ng iyong buhay bilang adult, kaysa sa anumang iba pang lugar – at may mga tao na mas magkakamiss namin kaysa sa iba.
Kasama na rin dito ang rutina, ang muscle memory, at ang nakasanayang trabahong tumagal ng mahigit sa isang dekada na bigla na lang tatanggalin sa iyong sistema: ang paggising nang maaga, ang 15,000 hakbang sa paligid ng planta na normal na bahagi ng 12 oras na shift, ang paglaban sa antok mula alas-tres ng madaling araw hanggang bukangliwayway. Hindi mo sila gugustuhing i-miss, ngunit walang alinlangan, maiiwanan nila ang isang puwang sa iyong pinakakalooban.
[Halimbawa: tatlong linggo matapos ang aking huling gabiang shift, patuloy pa rin akong nagigising ng hindi karaniwang oras at nagigising ng 5:00 ng umaga nang walang dahilan. Prangka kong natanong sa aking katawan: hindi tayo handa para umihi, hindi tayo gutom at matagal nang tapos ang paggatasni Baby Dumpling sa gabi. Bakit mo ginagawa ito? Sa sagot ng katawan ko: pare, ginagawa natin ito nang 15 taon. Isang buwan pa lang tayong normal mula sa Pilipinas, anubayan??? Napahiya ako.]
At heto na tayo sa topic kung bakit kami umalis. Malinaw na hindi na kami bata, at sa pag-aalala sa shift work, pag-bubuhat ng mabigat na bagay, at patuloy na paggalaw (constant motion) na kinakailangan ng trabaho, oras na para sa mas magaang trabaho. Totoong magdaranas kami ng problema sa kalusugan dahil sa dramatic na pagbaba ng pisikal na aktibidad, ngunit sa pangkalahatan, ang patuloy na stress at kakulangan ng circadian rhythm ay masamang epekto sa amin sa haba ng panahon. Malapit na kaming maabot ang punto ng walang balikan.
Kaya’t bumalik tayo sa pag-alis. Hindi namin alam kung paano sasabihin sa sinuman, lalo na sa mga tao sa aming grupo, na figuratively at literally ay lubos na sawa na kami sa lugar na iyon. Sa aming likas na personality, kami ay masayahin at positibong tao, at halos laging may magandang sasabihin.
Ngunit hindi sa mga animo’y animo na linggong iyon. Maaring ito ay tila kakaiba, pero para sa amin, ang paghahanap ng bagong bagay ay tila isang pagtataksil sa employer na nagbigay sa amin ng kabuhayan sa buong panahong iyon. Upang gawing masama pa ito, hindi namin maaring sabihin ito sa sinuman, dahil sa hindi makatwirang pakiramdam na ang employer ay maaaring gumawa ng buhay namin na mahirap kapag nalantad ang aming mga layunin.
Upang mapunan ang aming kalahating-buhay (kalahati pa rin doon, pero kalahati nang lumikas), kami ay naging mas masayahin, mas maingat, at ayaw namin gawin ang mga panglilinlang at pandaraya na naging kasamahan namin sa loob ng 12-oras na gawaing iyon: gawin ang pagsusuri ng kaunti nang mas maaga, gumastos nang kaunti ng oras sa paglilinis at pag-aayos, atbp. Ang pinakamaliit na senyales na hindi kami masaya sa aming trabaho, at magbabalatkayo agad: ay magpapalit kami nang buo at magpapakatino na parang kami ang pinakabagong empleyado sa trabaho, 101% pagsisikap, palaging may mga ngiti, at puno ng positibong pag-iisip.
Ngunit sa lahat ng magagandang bagay, may katapusan. Pagkatapos ng tila isang walang hanggang panahon, nakahanap kami ng trabaho, isang tunay na desk job na hindi namin iniinda. Ang oras ay maganda, walang pag-aakyat ng mabibigat, at WALANG NIGHT SHIFT. Oo, nagbawas kami ng sahod. Pero hindi namin iyon iniinda, at hindi iyon naging sanhi ng pagputol ng pag-asa.
Sa susunod, isusulat namin sa inyo ang aming exit strategy at ang aming huling araw sa trabaho.
Salamat sa pagbasa!
