NEW YORK. Friendship has to be established in a certain place, at a very precise time, and on a specific date. The problem with human nature is the fact that its memory has certain limitations. Yep, I remember that I met my life buddy Sheila when I joined New York Life but I cannot remember the exact time and date.
Sorry for the misleading intro. I did it with the intention to deceive. If indeed you were deceived, blame your faulty brain structure for telling you that the intro refers to New York City.
Sheils is one of the snob ladies in our group who sits in front not because she prefers ist but because she loves coming late from time to time. Training, after all, is all about being on time and still coming on time (we are always on time to be late) but late (at least with reference to the agreed time a trainee should be inside the training room). Sheils is a kind of person who doesn’t talk much. Not when she’s not interested. Well, I guess everybody has the same attitude but her stillness is apparent. The twist is, whenever she smiles and laughs, man, you’ll feel it that it’s genuine.
I’m a person who prefers the back seat. At the back, I can see what’s happening in front, chat with my seatmates, make some silly comments, laugh, and do everything I want to do without being noticed. There are certain characteristics of other trainees which are simply contagious. In our case, the characters of the trainees at the back row are undeniably infectious. Towards the end of the training, Sheila became a familiar face at the back row enjoying the company of men who have a lot of experiences to share. The back row personalities include Sir Mon (who happened to be the nephew of Dean Jara of San Beda College of Law), Lawrence (a stock exchange broker and a chick magnet – his gf is a member of Hotlegs Dancers), Sir Tony (a seasoned medical representative and a basketball prayer), Erik (an elite new graduate from Benilde), and Jeffrey (who invited us for coffee but actually it was a buy-your-own-coffee-cum-recruitment to a networking company). This bunch is the most boisterous company during the training and Sheila is one of the boys. Yes, she’s one of the boys but she’s not boyish at all to be despised. The company of the boys brought out the girl in her. Sheila was with us when the Trainer walked out of the training room because we were too educated to be controlled. It happened twice. On the second instance, we didn’t ask for any apology. Not anymore.
Amidst the violations of the house-rules during the training, the back row team managed to finish the training course. After graduation, we went on our own. I’d say that my first month was painful and discouraging but on the third month, I topped and assumed the 25th rank (Company wide ranking) based on my monthly production. The next month, my performance plummeted. During the last few months of my stay with the company before I finally decided to call it quits, seldom do I find the back seat team in the office. I knew they went somewhere else.
Though we parted ways, the back seat team made sure to get in touch. We started from a big group until finally it was reduced to two: me and Sheila. We have many things in common like how we look at things, our level of appreciation of life events, and certain beliefs as well. We both put premium on keeping relationships. Sharing certain sentiments and preferences doesn’t mean that we don’t have differences. We belong to different religious groups but our religious affiliation never became an issue. She has a degree in Marketing; I am a Philosophy graduate.
Sheila is like Nokia, she connects people. I remember one time when she asked me to join her in meeting her highly intelligent boss who did not treat her like an employee but a trusted friend. I admire her on how she keeps relationships. We would see each other and simply enjoy our never-ending stories about crazy stuff. We did laugh at ourselves and find ourselves crazy.
When the Supreme Editor-in-Chief transferred me to the Marketing Department, Sheila became my crutches. She introduced me to BIG people in Marketing. Funny but with zero background on Marketing, I had to learn the basic design development process and insisted that she had to discuss it even while she’s inside the elevator. She always finds time to answer questions and extends help whenever I needed them most. She never said no. Thank you Sheila, I am forever indebted to you.
There were moments when life brought us to certain unfamiliar zones but we never stopped communicating. Proximity to people who are willing to listen whenever there are challenges is always an advantage.
I’m lucky I have Sheila as a friend. Earlier today, I asked her to read my blog entries. She asked me why I chose Coach Spike as my site name. Why not AL she inquired. Below is the conversation which transpired during the afternoon chat and the explanation why I chose Coach Spike as my blog site.
Sorry for the misleading intro. I did it with the intention to deceive. If indeed you were deceived, blame your faulty brain structure for telling you that the intro refers to New York City.
Sheils is one of the snob ladies in our group who sits in front not because she prefers ist but because she loves coming late from time to time. Training, after all, is all about being on time and still coming on time (we are always on time to be late) but late (at least with reference to the agreed time a trainee should be inside the training room). Sheils is a kind of person who doesn’t talk much. Not when she’s not interested. Well, I guess everybody has the same attitude but her stillness is apparent. The twist is, whenever she smiles and laughs, man, you’ll feel it that it’s genuine.
I’m a person who prefers the back seat. At the back, I can see what’s happening in front, chat with my seatmates, make some silly comments, laugh, and do everything I want to do without being noticed. There are certain characteristics of other trainees which are simply contagious. In our case, the characters of the trainees at the back row are undeniably infectious. Towards the end of the training, Sheila became a familiar face at the back row enjoying the company of men who have a lot of experiences to share. The back row personalities include Sir Mon (who happened to be the nephew of Dean Jara of San Beda College of Law), Lawrence (a stock exchange broker and a chick magnet – his gf is a member of Hotlegs Dancers), Sir Tony (a seasoned medical representative and a basketball prayer), Erik (an elite new graduate from Benilde), and Jeffrey (who invited us for coffee but actually it was a buy-your-own-coffee-cum-recruitment to a networking company). This bunch is the most boisterous company during the training and Sheila is one of the boys. Yes, she’s one of the boys but she’s not boyish at all to be despised. The company of the boys brought out the girl in her. Sheila was with us when the Trainer walked out of the training room because we were too educated to be controlled. It happened twice. On the second instance, we didn’t ask for any apology. Not anymore.
Amidst the violations of the house-rules during the training, the back row team managed to finish the training course. After graduation, we went on our own. I’d say that my first month was painful and discouraging but on the third month, I topped and assumed the 25th rank (Company wide ranking) based on my monthly production. The next month, my performance plummeted. During the last few months of my stay with the company before I finally decided to call it quits, seldom do I find the back seat team in the office. I knew they went somewhere else.
Though we parted ways, the back seat team made sure to get in touch. We started from a big group until finally it was reduced to two: me and Sheila. We have many things in common like how we look at things, our level of appreciation of life events, and certain beliefs as well. We both put premium on keeping relationships. Sharing certain sentiments and preferences doesn’t mean that we don’t have differences. We belong to different religious groups but our religious affiliation never became an issue. She has a degree in Marketing; I am a Philosophy graduate.
Sheila is like Nokia, she connects people. I remember one time when she asked me to join her in meeting her highly intelligent boss who did not treat her like an employee but a trusted friend. I admire her on how she keeps relationships. We would see each other and simply enjoy our never-ending stories about crazy stuff. We did laugh at ourselves and find ourselves crazy.
When the Supreme Editor-in-Chief transferred me to the Marketing Department, Sheila became my crutches. She introduced me to BIG people in Marketing. Funny but with zero background on Marketing, I had to learn the basic design development process and insisted that she had to discuss it even while she’s inside the elevator. She always finds time to answer questions and extends help whenever I needed them most. She never said no. Thank you Sheila, I am forever indebted to you.
There were moments when life brought us to certain unfamiliar zones but we never stopped communicating. Proximity to people who are willing to listen whenever there are challenges is always an advantage.
I’m lucky I have Sheila as a friend. Earlier today, I asked her to read my blog entries. She asked me why I chose Coach Spike as my site name. Why not AL she inquired. Below is the conversation which transpired during the afternoon chat and the explanation why I chose Coach Spike as my blog site.
Sheila is more than a TAMBAY (STANDBY) BUDDY! She is a real-life buddy!
Yes Sheila, you may call me Spike.
1 comment:
Thanks Al for writing about our friendship. You are truly my life buddy. Kahit san ka man mag punta you find ways to keep in touch, i appreciate it a lot. Take care and promise to visit me each time you are in Manila.
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