The concept of talents cannot be lovely in its own right. For while all the processes of works and designs are in their hands, the question of attitude will always be the weighing scale. There are a few people who hold that scale in Gautarza as if it is the only boundary of the many applicants coming in and out of the building.
The HR Manager always imposes direct hiring to know each of the potential employees of Gautarza. It is her favorite roller-coaster of disappointment and excitement --such an experience she is privileged to have while not being a CEO. She always gets thrilled to see new people staging their desirable characters. For they are unconsciously inviting her to a game of hide-and-seek just to bust out some horrors before they plague the workplace. Many coated skills and the sweetened stench have not passed her.
Then for the past ten sessions of facing the candidates, none of them personally impressed her. They are good in talents but might have
Oneil once had a good nightdream. Its ambiguity gave him a different ache that even his heart cannot say if it started from it. All of it reran against his face. Even the same details and delight are moving through that vision. Curtains linen white were flowing from unknown heights. The fabrics are waving like walls of emerging sweet disclosure. Sunset light crisps through the scene. A window opens. Then, he hears the sound of glee. He keeps moving the curtains away until a familiar silhouette is also trying to get closer to him. There is a face he cannot recognize. Another set of curtains flowed between them. His hand reached out the figure and moved the fabric to know it. He can see the eyes clearly, but only that image alone with irises in its hue of amber bright. He proceeded to her cheeks then that familiar lips smiled at him. He pressed on trying to recognize her face. Then he woke up.
Everything seems to be going smoothly. Oneil’s day begins without suddenly arising from a heavy dream. He has a good night's sleep. Every person that he passes by is smiling at him. Others are congratulating him because he is heading to his job. He may never comprehend why the people of Bayanihan counted his career shift a piece of big news. There are varying reactions. Others were amazed, and some mocked the mediocrity of his work. He does not have time to defend it. All he knows is that his day is good. The orientation was brief but uplifting. His assignment to the third floor is not a problem. He might meet Essi any time of the day while cleaning in the building of Gautarza Company. He is still smiling while standing inside the elevator with his equipment, right in the far unnoticeable corner. But it didn’t last when the office men started to mention Essi in their conversation.
His workplace is indeed a different world of experiences. The office workers are in varying proximity to him. But what is more astounding are the interns who make themselves their bosses. He even has to bear someone’s spoiled behavior and follow some of his requests. Does he even have a choice when it is his only way to save his colleague of older age? “Son, let me just do it,” the senior janitor, Mang Pablito said. “Please let me help you, sir. You are already busy with your tasks downstairs but you also have to produce bulk copies for that intern.” “I must follow that person, Riley. You know that they have the power to cut me off from my job,” Mang Pablito always talks like this, feeling chased by other people. “But they are just interns,” Riley said. “We are worke
After that conference, Essi still felt dissolving in herself. Her hands are quivering right back to the office. Her eyes are on her table. Was it thrill or disbelief? That she was able to speak with many people professionally? She would have just scolded them like how she did it with the Willoughby kids. Those kids can learn and recover from the fall. But to the interns, they have heavier stakes to protect and a grave consequence to face no matter how they fall. They are no more young like the Willoughby trainees. But they tend to be more stubborn than them. Essi is still shaking with disappointment in the interns. Essi could have let go of that now. But there are many cups of coffee and sandwiches placed on her table. “The youngsters seem to be taking double time to compensate for their offenses,” Victor tried jesting. He has a smug smile, waiting for his la
It becomes unfair to know that another gossip breaks out in the Gautarza Building. One intern passes it to another, at varying gravity and speculation. The one who witnessed the scene at the pantry has filtered out the name of Oneil for her advantage. Everyone else who heard her trivia cannot point out who that man could be. He might be a man of a reputation that the CEO of Gautarza Company counts as special. Too special that she even set aside her fiancé. “I knew it. This is always how an arranged engagement turns out. Either party has its relationship to another. Secretly dating while no one can see.” “Oh no, what would Sir Oneil say to her almost perfect fiancee?” That is how the conversation among the interns and regular office workers do. Five of them are in the same pantry. Speaking disgust and thrill while
Being a leader, the worst that you could have is fighting your group. Essi felt antagonizing her people again. At the scene of them getting to her entrance, she got even more disappointed that the event yesterday led to enslaving themselves at the service never required from them. They are following her, asking her how her morning is. One recites that the halls are already prepared for whatever she might like to do. Another implies that he already coordinated the press at any time that Essi has something to announce. Another one also said that he already prepared Essi’s office, neat, tidy and all papers are arranged on the side. Other than the machine, their stunts didn’t impress her. She saw an office worker trying to nudge in anger the janitor who was passing by him with his mop that had just touched the edge of his shoes. “Stop feeling guilty for forgettin
Bayanihan has also become the Town of Smiles. People are beaming sweet glances to Essi while she is leading her horse to the race track. There is no need for her to join. But here she is, standing with the strange beating of her heart, with Aggresso. The same excitement. The same thrill. Familiar feelings churned in her stomach as she looked around and knew that the people were watching them, ready to pay off their stakes for the horse of their likes. This race has become a battle for herself. A rebirth of her passion long-buried in the reality that new and young racers have come before her, willing to learn at the expense of her retirement. The only time that she was defeated was in an accident. Other than that, the podium is always her finishing place. This equestrian activity will always have a special place in her heart. Not because memories are joining i
That convention day is too short to be ordinary. But Oneil stands between the relativity of time to only exist as is. He cannot recall his speech. And he can no more explain his feelings to extended details. Speaking to unfamiliar people and smiling faces grant him no myriad of mixed excitements and anxiety at all. Perhaps, in his attempt to suppress his stage fright, he lost excitement and delight. He smiles and nods to those who greeted him after the forum. But he only felt empty inside. It could have been his defining moment for others to see that he is the standard-bearer of the Mercators. It should have been. All of them are convinced. Oneil can say it. Yet, it is himself he found the hardest to persuade. He got through that day. But what about another more to come? It is inevitable to not make that appearance the last one. So his thoughts rumbled at second's length to preclude his notice of time pas