YOU would think that a telco or banker's life is full of talks on mobile phones, cell sites, signals, ledgers, financial statements, ratios, and formulas. And…you’re right! Close to it.
The fact is, a lot of things happen inside those four walls. What makes these moments interesting is they come unexpectedly.
Here goes.
I was calling a colleague. Suddenly, her son stood up and howled, “Why are you calling?” As it turned out, he was using his mother’s mobile phone for his online game. His game abruptly ended because the phone rang. His mother tried to get the phone to talk to me, but her son kept saying, “Why is she calling? She’s just there.”
He could not understand the need to call when I was just two tables away. He’s got a point.
During a webinar, the facilitator told us to categorize accounts. Someone asked what’s between hot and warm, and how about those worst than cold? A participant said lukewarm for between hot and warm. I said “Jaded” for those worst than cold. The facilitator laughed and said, “Are we still talking about accounts?”
One month-end (close to midnight) of years back, my colleague and I put our feet on the desk. Out of the blue, Kako said, “Ga LQ imong toes?” I looked at my toes, and we laughed out loud. My toes are, well, ginger-like. LQ, by the way, means lover’s quarrel.
We are three in the office with ginger-like toes. Diane shared her technique when wearing open-toed sandals, “I-hiyak lang na, Ms. Mae.” I tried several times and finally mastered it. Not easy to hiyak your toes.
A few Mondays back, after a long weekend, I called Cham. I asked for available CIs. She replied, “Kinsa man imo gusto?” that sounded more like, “Pili lang.” I mentioned a name, and she replied, “Ay, on leave.” I was about to reply, “Why bother to ask who?” when she realized her blooper. We both burst into a laugh.
Lesson learned, don’t talk business in the first hour after a long hiatus. It’s like accessing a webpage that’s still buffering or an app that’s still loading.
In a group chat, where most of us belong to Generation X, someone typed LOL in reply to a comment. The recipient replied, “Anong ulol? Sinong ulol!” We all sent a laughing emoji and told him the meaning of LOL.
That’s the other side of corporate life. It’s full of unexpectedly funny moments. Care to share your anecdotes?
