Freaky Friday

Upon going to work last friday, I sure told myself that I would be hooking up with "long time, no see" college friends to see and have a chat with them to know what had gone and what happened with their lives. For no reason at all, I called two of my college friends I had never seen for a long, long time, like the mesozoic era. So I really had to contact them and just sit down, talk and enjoy, like what we always do.

So with that plan in mind, I acted as the organizer. I started to call both, one after the other, disclosing my plan for us three for the night. Each one agreed to meet up at Glorietta, a place jampacked with jologs, I know. But that was the most mundane meeting place and most accessible in the Makati area. And after all, it will just be going to be the meeting place, not THE place.

Everything seemed to be sailing smoothly, not until I was ready to leave. My boss called, which happened to be my friend's mother that made it so, so (with a strong, grave emphasis on this one) hard to refuse an order from. She wanted me to do a step-by-step procedure on how to pull-out and bill the consignees of the magazine that we have, which I found a not-so-vital thing to do during that time. It got me perplexed for having to need that list on a friday evening because no company is willing to be billed on weekends. And right before I get off from work? But since, I value and give a high regard for her, I did what I was told, also thinking of my friends' predicament once they find out that I was still there at the office typing something I was not sure to be useful and urgent on a friday night.

I was totally pissed off that all I could do was to do constant deep breaths everytime I finished typing a word. I never felt so restricted in my whole life. That was my first and only job that made me that obedient. What happened to devious and 'I-speak-my-mind-me'?That entire hour I stayed there, I could hear my mobile phone over and over for those SMS messages from my friend who happened to be there already, indignant and worried.

The whole time I was there, I felt helpless and possessed that instant that I could not voice out what I wanted to say considering and keeping in mind my friend and I was working for her mother. It kind of complicated things in instances that you have to say no but couldn't. It is fun staying and working for somebody you know that is close to you somehow, but in instances where you have to refuse, say something totally different and just give out simple comments, it is not easy at all.

I ended up staying for one more hour in the office to finish what was asked from me, pissed the whole time. And it caught me thinking, is it bad to actually be good at what you do? When do you say no and how do you say it when you know for sure that a certain tie is going to be on the line?Will it be better if you knew and work for a boss whose not totally related to you, just plain professionally, I mean?