Saturday, September 3, 2011

uncompromising

i don't know if my title would even be appropriate for this post.  regardless, i'm thankful that i'm writing again.  while i am typing away, i am revising my (final) paper in another window. i like these times --- a weekend, sedentary yet productive.

i was in my former office yesterday.  i took the exams for, hopefully, another opportunity to go back to government service.  funny how i feel so open to taking exams, especially those that would gauge my emotional maturity and management competencies.  while i know i have mellowed over the years (in terms of being impulsive, feisty and reckless in the workplace), standard evaluations and self-assessments become empirical basis to my "growth."  those questions on management competencies also allowed me to internalize the kind of manager i am now and probably how i could be better.

one of the questions that struck me was whether i respected other people's time, and i remember answering "strongly agree."  frankly, one does not have to be a manager to be capable of giving courtesy to another person's time.  lately, i have been peeved by several instances when my time (especially when i'm at home trying to spend quality time with family) is rudely interrupted by others, who obviously do not have (personal) lives outside work.

i sincerely want to be understanding but there are those times when you want to simply entertain your anger because, after all, you being upset is very valid.  i want to pity those whose work seem to be defining their existence but pity is not for those who have choices.  they chose to be slaves to their own jobs.

i cannot even rationalize by being grateful that, at least, i am trying to lead a balanced life and then wish the same for them.

no. there are those issues that i cannot accept as "default."  i do not care if they have no lives outside their workplace.  i do not care if they have chosen to make a career out of their day jobs and breathe it 24/7. 

what i am fuming about is the fact that they assume that others are probably like them, that when it is about work, regardless of time and place, they can just bug you about it AS IF you do not have children to attend to, spouses to talk to, or some "me" time to enjoy. 

for some reason, the only thing that aptly describes them is: RUDE.  this is not about them being married to their work or making their workplaces their home --- because they just do not know when to stop.  they do not put barriers between what is work time and personal time.  they do not know that there is a fine line between consulting about work or making kulit for the heck of it.

and i realized that it is not true that respect is earned in all cases.  sometimes, the other person is simply bastos, because not matter how much respect-worthy you are, that person is that, rude, plain and simple.




No comments: