A wild churning, wilder than the maelstrom where the epic battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman happened in the blockbuster movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, raged in my stomach as I emerged from the shower last Wednesday morning. What followed was (pardon the graphic content) an eruption of gastric juices mixed with small bits of eggs, danggit and fried rice from my mouth. Then queasiness and stomach ache joined the gross parade, leading me to think that if I was my wife, I’d be jumping for joy. But no, I’m the husband, so I couldn’t be pregnant.
Consulting a doctor later that day, I was told that it was either due to a viral stomach infection or over-fatigue. Since the vomit-fest didn’t persist but my jelly legs did, I bet on the latter.
Last Friday, it was migraine – splitting headache, nausea, inability to look at anything without your head feeling like it’s in a vice-grip. Not the I-have-to-excuse-myself-from-work migraine. I know because even though I feel like a victim of Jack the Meat-grinder, I still reported for work.
Am I starting to sound like a martyr? I assure you that I’m not trying. It’s simply that bad at work. Wanna see how bad? Here:
– Almost everyday I get out of work unable to remember where I parked my car
– Yesterday, while in my room I was wondering when’s the next time that I’ll see my room with sunshine streaming through the window. Because I honestly don’t know.
– I could no longer trust an associate (the client PM) because she has the ability to smugly look everyone in the eye while lying through her teeth, knowing full well that everyone knows she’s lying (this person does a lot of damage to the brain and she doesn’t have the nerve or the professional integrity to own up to her mistakes)
– I no longer feel alarmed whenever I receive an email-full of expletives and insults from the client manager
– No other manager, I repeat, NO OTHER MANAGER wants to be involved in any account by this client
– Some of my subordinates suffer nosebleeds, get hospitalized, or miscarry because they’ve been working too hard and too much
– The others start thinking about consulting the DOLE for laws imposing too much work (and they have a point in doing this)
– I’ve tried several weight-loss techniques, from weight-training to boxing, for years, almost to no avail. In two months here I’ve lost more weight than anyone would have lost with a strictly-followed South Beach diet or typhoid fever
– Seeing my plight, the manager I replaced could only shake his head in sympathy and say “Don’t say I didn’t warn you”
– Why do I have a job here in the first place? Above-mentioned manager was removed from the project by the client because he kept pushing back on obscenely unworkable schedules. I’m talking about projects with computed 40-or-so man-days that the client demands to be finished in one week.
– Why do you think my team is suffering from over-fatigue and losing babies and whatnot?
– And when I say “it’s not doable, you have to give us more time”, client says “If you can’t do the job I’ll find someone else who could.”
So I say…
TO HELL WITH THIS!
Disclaimer: to those who know the company I work for (or used to now that I have submitted my resignation), it’s not the company itself that’s the problem. The company is actually good, with a nice location, good management, and some exceptionally great people to work with. The problem is with the client… really…
