P.I.O.
The team that I love which caused me ups and downs. The team
that honed my skills for five years. And the team that continues to teach me
how life is.
When I resigned from Citigroup a couple of years back, I was
torn between two job applications: I applied at the Registry of Deeds (national
government agency) and the Public Information Office (local government unit).
Although the former guaranteed higher compensation, my heart fell for PIO because
I knew it was the place where I could finally use what I learned in college as
a Speech Communication major. I was right. And I liked best the writing part.
I enjoyed my work so much that I felt that I gradually
became workaholic. I used to feel that I had more sense of fulfilment at work
rather than when I’m at our house. Then I had a domestic problem. And I had office
concerns too. Despite my constant issues, part of my heart still belonged to PIO.
I still opted to stay even if there were times I feel like I’m better off
resigned.
What I feel for PIO is like being totally in-love with a
partner who is too difficult to understand, yet too difficult to let go because
it’s my comfort zone and it’s the only thing that satisfies most of my life’s
passions.
On December 23, I attended our simple Christmas party at the
Town Hall of Valenzuela Town Center. I only took few pictures for I know that
most of my officemates will also use their camera phones to capture the moment.
With the few shots I had, I’d like to share the story of my team in seven
pictures:
1.
We’re naughty and nice.
It’s a plain background – a tarpaulin and
few gift prizes for the games.
If you will look at the text on the
tarpaulin, it says “Plantation Bay, Cebu City.” Pun was intended there because
number one, until the last minute, we didn’t know our party venue considering
that we were the local government’s events unit (Haha! The irony); number two,
some of my officemates wanted to make our absent-officemates believe that the
team got a free travel package from our big boss as an incentive because we’re “great”;
and number three, we wanted to elicit the reaction of people from other “extravagant”
departments when they find out that we’d still have to take plane ride just to
get to our party venue. Despite these so many corny motives, at the end of the
day, we just wanted to ward ourselves off the bad vibes that recently lurk
around our office domain.
2.
We’re each other’s piece of cake.
This cake was baked by Kuya Jocar. It looks
nice, isn’t it? It tasted good too. This cake is like the members of my team.
We’re artists and office personnel who are beautifully created by God to serve
one purpose – to deliver public service. We may not be perfect, but we’re
stronger when we’re united.
3.
We see light amidst darkness.
Like this chandelier shot, our office
shines beautifully in the eyes of many departments. We are their artists and
documentarists. We often get involved in nasty controversies yet we remain
functional and productive.
4. Most of us got balls.
Literally and figuratively.
5.
We accept challenges with smiles on our faces.
Sometimes I wonder why certain bad things
had to happen in our office. Before, we were all happy and united. Times
changed, some horns bloated and some monsters were born. Despite these, a lot
of us still choose to shrug off the bad vibes every day. All of us put our happy
faces on. It’s a very useful mask. *Grin.
6.
We laugh at green jokes (some don’t).
Our artists are funny men who often crack
green jokes. Although a lot of us can grasp these, there are some who don’t
appreciate it.
7.
We’ll go where our circumstances will lead us to.
Our office experience is just a slice of our
mundane lives. No matter how much we wanted to stick around, we couldn’t avoid
being shaken. So while we’re here, I suppose we’re just enjoying our journey.
Team PIO, hang on…
