Back To Office

August 17, 2021

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It seems just yesterday when we were asked to work from home due to the pandemic that started to hit us last year. I have to bring a lot of things with me when I get home that day. Carrying boxes of files to be checked, bringing with me some office supplies and tools such as my laptop, calculator and external hard drive.

Back home, I have to set up my makeshift office.

I remember the first makeshift office that I set up. It was in our living room beside the window. My table was facing the big television screen. So when my hubby (he was still on vacation from work at that time) watched the news, I can also watch the news at the same time. Hearing the bad news of covid19, what it brings to the people, the daily death counts and the hospital situations made me stressed out much.

After a few weeks of that kind of situation I finally decided to transfer my office. I transferred to our dining area. I have the dining table moved to the living room and my office was now facing a blank wall. For more than a year it was my perfect office. Until one time when there was a very strong rain. It seems like a water faucet was fully opened from the heavens above. The water drain from the roof has leaked and entered into our house. Good thing that it happened during the day, we were able to remove all the gadgets, especially my laptop and nothing was damaged.

After all the cleaning we made, we set the dining table back to the dining area and my makeshift office is transferred back to the living room area. But this time I am facing the back wall, exactly opposite the television. During this time, my hubby is back to work and the tv shows are no longer about the current news events but more on Korean pop groups, Seventeen, BTS, Blackpink and many more.

Now, after 18 months of working in three different set-ups, I am back to the office for the first time. Today, August 17,  is my first day of work in my office space. Although this is not my daily schedule as I am only allowed to work once a week. Our office is still following the IATF protocols. I choose Tuesday as my schedule to work in the office so that my staff will not have to send to me their documents for checking which they do every Monday afternoon.

I arrived at the office past 8 in the morning. My regular time in is at 9 so I am not late. I came early as I still have to pass through our Occupational Health Nurses (OHN) for clearing. I also have to submit a barangay clearance which I got last week in preparation for today. At the OHN office, I was attended by our nurse on duty. She took my temperature and BP. After several questions, I was cleared to go up to my office.

When I get inside my office my staff were already inside. Only half of them though as others were still required to work from home.

My office was previously cleaned by our janitor so I can just work right away. But I first greeted my staff, moving from table to table but still maintaining social distancing.

Everything felt so new to me, especially my computer screen, it was so way bigger than my laptop. It made me wish to bring it home with me.

I also don’t have a calculator in the office as I brought it home. I have to make do with the computer’s calculator app. Though it doesn’t have the feature that makes computation easier and faster, it has to do for now.

An hour after, I was called to a face to face meeting. Beforehand, I was informed that my section, AP section, will be merged with another section, the GL and Tax section. This will entail another bigger task for me.

Instead of having separate sections, me and my colleagues will be in charge based on type of industry. We have three types: 1. Construction / Education & Others, 2. Real Estate and 3. Manufacturing and Logistics.

I will be handling Real Estate and will be overseeing the general accounting for such type of industry.

Under the Real Estate Industry, there are 2 main / big companies and 18 smaller affiliates. I was given 17 staff to oversee.

On top of this, I have to oversee the transfer of staff and their tools. This new re-alignment will take effect by the first of September. I have two weeks to finish the transfer, yes TWO weeks!

 I am definitely BACK TO OFFICE.

Thanks for reading and listening to my rants. This doesn't happen often so please bear with me. 😁

 Lead image is my office wall reminder board.

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