I'm annoyed. Again. It has been raining since yesterday (August 18)and the government officials of most cities and municipalities in Metro Manila and nearby places had already declared cancellation of classes and work . Obviously, as years go by, cases of massive flooding become worse.
I remembered, one of my topics when I started this blog was how “business is business” policy had been prioritized over the safety of the employees in this company. You see, most places in Metro Manila are already flooded, but to receive a text message from my team leader this morning that we still had to report to work was not a surprise anymore. Yes, amidst heavy rain due to Bagyong Maring intensified by southwest monsoon or more famous as “Habagat”, we were still required to go to work.
Of course, as expected, there were a lot of teachers who were not able to go to work today. I'm sure, there were some of them whose houses had not been flooded, yet they still couldn't go to work because the main roads and the streets had already been flooded. I might be considered one of the luckiest, who were still able to go to work because Comembo is one of the high-elevated places in Makati area, so flood was not that severe.
Since there were a lot of teachers who were absent today, it was raining subclasses as well. If you were working in this industry, you might understand that the company is preventing losses caused by missed classes. The management kept distributing classes here and there, to any available teachers. If you were aiming for higher teaching incentives, you would be happy but those who were already handling a lot, this would be too much. The same incident happened last year, while “Bagyong Habagat” unleashed its wrath, but unlike last year, there had been a lot of subclasses today. And unlike last year, the Internet and the phone line were both functioning properly and there were no line problems.
I had been a bad employee, wishing that we would all encounter line problems in the office today. Why? I'd like the management to realize that no one can beat the extreme weather conditions. I'd like them to consider canceling classes in the morning because it was already proven last year that they could cancel classes in the afternoon. I'd like them to consider the dangers that their employees are facing because some of us live kilometers/miles away and some of us live in flood-prone areas. I sometimes think, what if one of the management had an accident while on the way to work? Will they bend their rules a little? Will they realize how cruel they are to impose “no late, no absent” policy in this company? Will they realize the importance of the teachers working for them? Please, not the teachers, our family members depend on us. This is my evil side talking now. This is too much for me to wish for, I know. But when will they start thinking about the safety of their employees? Oh wait, I think this is impossible because each of them live in their own condos nearby.
So why did I still go to work? I'm a big girl already who knows what is right and what is wrong. I just went to work for these reasons: first, to get my perfect attendance incentive. Two thousand pesos. It could have been three thousand if the Municipal City Registrar was able to affix his signature on time on my petition last summer. I wanted to curse him now, but what for? Two thousand pesos. If I maintain a good attendance, my perfect attendance incentive will be three thousand pesos by October. Enough to sustain our needs until my husband gets his salary. I cannot not afford to lose this incentive.
Second, to avoid being absent. Being absent will mean deductions from my daily wage aside from forfeiture of incentives. Imagine the big amount of money that I cannot afford to lose. Not only that, because I already had used all my service incentive and sick leave of absences, I will be given a memo whether it's an informed or uninformed, valid or invalid. Flood and natural calamities are not considered valid either. So, those who'd like to work for Korean ESL, think about it. Are you willing to put your lives into risk?
And lastly, no one forced me to work in this kind of company. I already knew the rules, but I still I chose to work here. For six years since I graduated, I was not able to work as a classroom teacher. I would have enjoyed playing Nintendo 3 DS and watching anime at home because classes had already been canceled. Anyway, it's my choice, it's my fault, then I have to suffer.
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