BEING A GOOD WORKER

October 19, 2015

On this 16^th death anniversary of my most dearly beloved maternal grandmother, I meditated on the values she has passed on to me on being faithful to my work, however menial or great it may be.

Having worked in both the private sector and the government service, I have come to meet different kinds of people and learned that work values wherever are still the same.

Everybody is here to earn a living, and that’s fine.  But our true characters come out when we consider that there are still ways we can earn more by being recognized more.  When we come to appreciate the advantage of rising up the corporate ladder whether for monetary or self-esteem purposes, that is when office politics come to play.

Seldom can we find people who are content to be in the same position or earning the same pay forever.  That is why middle and top management are always striving, sometimes to a point of cut-throat competition, to rise ever higher.  That is also why even rank-and-file groups regularly conduct rallies calling for higher pay and better working conditions, even if in the whole of Southeast Asia, the Philippines has one of the highest, if not the highest, labor cost.

I looked back at what my grandmother believed in and learned that she is one tough cookie and an inborn perfectionist.  Never settling for mediocrity, she always made me re-fill up her (and my grandpa’s) official forms again and again until she is satisfied that they are neat and legible.  She taught me (by having me tag along) to have the confidence and the guts to face up to any kind of person, whether a bank manager or an ordinary employee, and not get intimidated by positions or prestige when I know that I am in the right.  She taught me to speak up for myself, how to walk properly—chin up, shoulders relaxed and parallel to the ground, back straight—by having me walk to and fro and not letting a hardbound book on my head fall to the ground.  She taught me to scrutinize things well and fast, to look for quality over glitter, and to choose substance and function over form.  Though I did not inherit her nitpicky way of shopping for clothes, bags and shoes, she taught me to make them my own by doing my own adjustments, and putting my mark on (or personalizing) everything that I own and everything that I do.

My grandmother not only taught me to be interested in the arts and crafts (by aspiring to be like her who was a smart businesswoman, excellent cook, gifted gardener, talented dressmaker and designer, and professional photographer).  Most importantly she taught me that good work habits are not only used in the office, but they must be a reflection of a life well-planned, well-lived and solidified by strong faith in GOD, made happier and more peaceful by creativity and integrity. 

I realized then that what my grandmother taught me as good work habits are more than that.  They are really good life habits that one cannot live without, all through the rest of our lives.