2 bottles and wounded soldiers...

It was 8:03am..everyone started to set their Nortel phones to "make busy" twice. Another day at work has ended. It's a cue for everyone to leave and go home...or proceed to the Diner's where reps, team leaders and exchangees hang out for after shift beer.

For most of the people working for call centers, drinking sessions after shift has become a habit. It's our way to relax and talk about our not so good experiences with our customers. Our exchangees from Rhode Island seemed to have developed the same habit. They would even stay up until 2pm with the gang. Brian, one of the exchangees would ask "dalawang bote?" in a very americanized way. I am not a beer drinker but I enjoy hanging out with the guys. Today, we had a full house at the Diners. Those who are in attendance were Brian, Ryan and Paul (exchangees), John and myself (Team Leaders), Mark, JC, Joe, Gem, CJ, James, Egay, Vic, Bryan,Jac, Bernard (reps) and Linet (QA). It was a happy to sight to see. Despite cultural and individual differences we were having fun.

Soon after..reps started to leave and all that was left were wounded soldiers.. the empty bottles of SanMig Light that witnessed the bond that friends have over two bottles.

NOTE:
We call it 2 bottles even if we consume more than that because we stop counting after two!

Thoughts to ponder..

This is an email sent by my friend Dexter, who incidentally is also my manager:

There are two ways to live your life:
One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

There is no mistake so painful that love cannot forgive… no past so bitter that love cannot accept.

And no love so little that we cannot start all over with.

Brunch and more @ ATC..

It's the 15th..PAYDAY! Like any other payday...we decided to eat out. We got tired of our usual fast food and Hidden Tapsi visits. Today, we are off to North Park Noodle House at Alabang Town Center. North Park offers scrumptious Chinese food.

We had to travel for a good 45mins to an hour just to have our brunch. I can say it was worth the travel time and the money. We had Yang Chow Fried Rice, Salted Garlic Squid, Boneless Lemon Chicken, Lechon Macau and Fresh Prawn Dumpling. To say that my tummy was packed that day is definitely an understatement. Not to mention that we also made a quick visit to Dairy Queen. Judy wanted to check out their famous Blizzard (served upside down or its free!)

I am enjoying my nice super creamy and funkily messy Oreo blizzard when we saw Dexter, our manager on the same side of the mall and walking towards us. We candidly asked him to join us. After a few spoonfuls of blizzard (from Judy), he headed on his way to the bank nearby to pay his bills. Realizing that we still have to report for work in the evening, we decided to call it a day and go home. On our way to the car park, Vic asked if we could stop at Starbucks and smoke before we leave. Since most of us are smokers..we all agreed. I was about done with my last stick when we saw Brian and Paul. They are exchangees from Rhode Island who reside just beside ATC. It was funny how we all worked that day and found ourselves bumping to each other inside a mall that's definitely not a stone's throw away from our office. It was a great day spent with friends over good food.

I am pretty sure we will do this again next payday..wonder where our next stop is though.. c',)