If we ever meet again (Part 1)

Written by IamAmber

 

The plane is supposed to arrive in Manila at 12AM and by my time calculations, I should arrive in Holiday Inn near Robinson’s Galleria maximum at 1:30AM. But the flight has been delayed for more than an hour so I arrived at the hotel at 3AM. Damn! I muttered to myself while I stared at my handphone’s calendar. I shook my head, and took a quick shower, afterwards I went to the bed and checked a few emails, sent a message to my mother, checked a few social networking site, then I dozed off.

“What’s somebody like you, doing in a place like this? Say, did you come alone, or did you bring all your friends? Say, what’s your name, what you drinking I think I know what you’re thinking…” STOP.

It was 7AM when I shut off my alarm. I am very used to Timbaland waking me up every morning for the past 4 years and I never bothered to change it. 10 more minutes, I said to myself. I need to snooze some more because I barely had 3 hours of sleep.

7:15AM and I forcefully dragged myself to take a shower. I have a conference call with my client at 8AM and a candidate interview at 9:30AM. Since I am not really a morning person, I got a bit grouchy when my stomach started grumbling and I don’t have much time to grab a breakfast. I turned my laptop on and started to get dressed.

It’s 7:45AM and I received a SMS from Andrew, my boss: “Get ready, we will start the con-call in a few”.“Got it. Ready whenever you guys are.” I replied back. I quickly grabbed my make-up kit, my Livescribe Dot Paper and my Echo Smartpen. I am just too lazy to take notes now so this comes very handy at this point in time. At the same time, I need to multitask and get myself ready for the face to face discussion later on.

8:03AM when my phone rang and I am midway in applying my foundation. “Hello good morning!” I said, then I turned on the Echo Smartpen and jotted down in the dot paper: Discussion notes – Technical Director, Philippines. I put the pen down next to my phone then I shifted to speaker mode so the discussion will be recorded clearly. “Hi Eunice and Albert, I am looping in my colleague Andrea, she is currently in Philippines for a business trip. She is the one in charge for oil & gas vertical…. ”, I continued applying my foundation while my boss is giving a lengthy introduction to our clients.

Now it’s my turn, “Hi Eunice and Albert, how is it over there?” I said. “Hi Andrea. It was okay here nothing very unusual from what we always get used to” Eunice answered with a chuckle. “Cool, that’s good to know. Firstly, thank you and Albert for making time to do a con-call with us. I know it is quite tight and we are rushing to start this project urgently so shall we move on?” I continued, trying to fake a lively voice. “Okay proceed then” Eunice replied.

“We have the Job Description with us and it’s a pretty straight forward Technical role. Since we will be working on a targeted search, can you help to share with us more on the specifics of the role itself?” Eunice started explaining while Albert is chipping in some inputs. I started applying eye shadow and made a smoky effect. I took a glance in the mirror and took my eyeliner. Albert on the other line said something and I asked him back, “To clarify what you have mentioned, does the candidate have to be a Filipino or you are okay with other nationalities as long as they have experience in doing technical projects in the Philippines?” I started applying the eyeliner and mascara then after that I put a bit of bronzer on my cheeks. I looked at my wristwatch, it’s already 8:30AM. Man! This guy can talk more nonsense rather than going straight to the point and I am getting really impatient and sleepy at the same time. Thank God he finished already. “Okay thanks for the clarification, I think all is clear on my side. Andrew, any questions on your side?”

My boss asked a few questions and discussed our rates and payments and our SOPs. I started to put on my lipstick. Since it was an interview, I decided to put on my MAC Chili Matte lipstick, it will compliment my blouse. Usually I don’t really put on make-up on a day to day basis but I am feeling flirty today and of course I wanted to make a good impression on the candidates that I am meeting.

I sensed that the con-call is about to end so I shifted my attention back there again. “Okay since we have agreed on the terms and I think the specs are okay already, we will draft the Terms of Service and we will kick off the search immediately. Andrea will keep in touch for the updates and follow up” Andrew said. And we bade goodbye to Eunice and Albert.

Andrew is left on the line and said “Still have time for a few catch up?” It was 8:45AM. “Okay quick one only, I have 5 minutes left” “But your interview is at 9:30AM, what?” Andrew asked sarcastically. “I know! But I am still in the hotel room, my hair dishevelled and all; I still need to fix myself, you know?! Now go on, what’s up?” I have a good working relationship with my boss since he is only a year older to me. We always have lunch together so offline, we chit chat like what normal friends do. He discussed how we are going to structure the search and the fees – the normal ones which bored me a lot. So I started combing my hair, and tucked-in my blouse – “Are you still there?” asked Andrew. “Yup, go ahead I’m listening but I really need to go in 5 minutes. I will discuss with the team later so we can kick off the research today” I said. “Update me on your discussions later okay? Happy Hunting!” he said and I felt like he has the usual smirk on his face. “Sure, will do boss! Have a nice day over there.” Then I hung up. I took the smart pen and draw a star on the dot paper then I pressed the off button. Discussions recorded.

I grabbed my bag on top of the bed and put on my stuff inside. I made sure that everything is there – My iPad, my Echo, the Dot paper, and a power bank. Now I am all set to go. I took a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror, I fixed my blouse, combed the stray fringe using my fingers, and put on my blazer. It will be my lucky day today, I said to myself. It was 9AM and I headed down to meet with the candidate in The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.