malta goes grass roots

today was supposed to be a two objective day:
1.  update emails, fb and blog
2.  read the AKI chapter.

this was not to be the case when i received an invite from our dialysis unit head nurse in a famous philippine mall to attend the employee's meeting.  we needed to go there, doctors included, in order to be eligible to get an ID.  Now, this ID gives us a very important power:  we can go inside the mall before store hours as the dialysis unit opens at 9am.

my eyes were glistening in anticipation as i imagined getting that ID.  my thoughts whispered "my precious" as i imagined that identification card in my hands.  imagine being the first one in the mall.  i could be first in line in whatever mall stall i chose, provided of course that i was already finished with rounds.  no more long lines at BDO or the supermarket or at the sun cellular shop!

therefore, i willingly attended that meeting with my fellow staff nurses.  the meeting was to be held in the second floor in some area unbeknownst to me.   i followed the nurses with faith and was led to a part in SM beside a clothing apparel store.  the line to the entry point of the place was very long.  talo pa ang MMFF block buster sa haba ng pila.  we patiently awaited our turn to enter the room which i imagined to be a large multi purpose hall, given all the bodies that i was lined up with outside.  we took pictures to document our grass roots moment.

as i was waiting to enter, i was thinking that i went through four years of college, five years of med school, internship included, three years of residency and two years of fellowship, consultant to boot,  in order to end as....an employee of SM Fairview!  and i was standing in line with the sales ladies and frozen yogurt men.  my malta views were tested as a man, no older than 25, authoritatively threatened to close the "multi purpose hall doors" and herded all the people out, myself included, because all the bodies couldn't fit in.

as luck would have it, one of my colleague nurses exhibited abilidad and pulled us in as the doors were closing so we would get to attend the meeting.  of course we wanted to get it as we lined up for the longest time with the common people.  of course we wanted to get it para tapos na.  of course we wanted to get in because we didn't want to wait for another 15 minutes for the next cycle.  of course we wanted to get in to get those precious IDs.  but of course, i wanted to get it because i was dying of curiousity and wanted to find out what would meet me inside the hall.

as we forced our way in, i had to swallow my laughter compulsion as the inside of the "hall" was dark,.  and it wasn't even a hall.  it was a bodega.  more aptly, it was an empty SM stall stripped of everything.  in pure concentration camp level, we were inside a stall stripped to its cement and piping beginnings.  for more, as if it were not enough that we would hold a meeting with the grass roots level in a bodega -- WALANG ILAW!

to my very amused horror,  we were herded in like cows so that we would fit into the hall and the meeting could get underway.  and the meeting began in the dark.

i wanted to die laughing because the first line of the "emcee" was "bawal ang tsinelas sa mga empleyado"

i looked in horror at the fit flops i was wearing every time i would come to work here.

then he continued, "except kung fit flops kung nagtatrabaho ka sa fit flops"

i zoned out for the rest of the meeting.

to end it all, i wanted to grab my id, but the man said not now.  it was such a shame.  it was at the top of the pile!

http://www.facebook.com/marissa.e.lim/posts/10151428320686518?notif_t=like