My New Role in DOLE 12 - Regional Office

As you all know, I just got my regular item in the Department of Labor and Employment last September, and words were out that I was gonna be assigned at the regional office which is in Koronadal City, an hour of bus ride away from GenSan. It's a hassle for me to be going home daily to beat the traffic and the time for work, but there is no choice as I have to follow marching orders to be there on October 3 as my first day of duty at the regional office. It's just an hour, inisip ko na lang, parang Makati to Manila lang ang byahe ko, hahaha. Mas worse pa nga ata dun sa Luzon.

Words were not only hearsays, I have confirmed too, that I am going to be secretary to the regional director. Something which I still cannot believe, the regional director trusting me with all things personal and office-related is a big job for me, a work which is many levels higher than my previous job as a Skills Registry encoder, or my job as editor in my previous employer. When I got welcomed in the office, I felt a sense of belonging. When I went to the Technical Department I was also welcomed there, I feel like being part of the family already.

Seriously, the Day 1 started with a minor mishaps, and some stressing moments. Here's my account of Day 1:

I woke up very early, excited to join the new office, I was up at 5, did the cooking for the kids, prepared their baon and by 6:30, was dressed up in going to Koronadal City trying to beat 8 am to join in the flag raising ceremony.

One thing I will not do again is to hop on the first bus going out to Koronadal City. I hopped on a deluxe bus from a not-so-famous liner, which happened to be an all-stop bus and not a direct one to where I'm going. Gah! The bus ride was slowly killing me that time, I wanted to be early than 8, and the bus ride was an hour and a half. Major fail, but the good thing is that, God guided me, and the driver's hand that I was able to arrive there just in time, as in just in time, 8am.

The orientation was a buzz in my ears, the present secretary who will be leaving her post to me briefed me about all the things I have to do, from the confidential ones to the calls and the schedules of the regional director and how I shall be handling her guests and how the "for signature" papers shall be managed and all the incoming communications. How the outgoing communications will be done and how I will prepare the RD's travels and liquidations, and more.

Aside from that, I will also have to help the Labor Information Officer in creating articles and some essay on different topics. The essays and articles will be news and other features regarding the department or news about statistics in the labor market. This is something very exciting for me as I am into writing since God-knows-how-long, and I have a good friend here, who is my on-call editor and mentor. At least there will be less need for essay service subscriptions, or maybe I could try them when I'm down trodden with papers and reports. Thank God for friends, haha.

Information overload for me there, I wanted to give up as she was saying all these things to me. But then I thought about the kids, I have to do this for the kids. And I thought to myself, how can I be so negative the moment I hear the role, when I could always be patient and ask my God for the strength and guidance and all things will go smooth?

The afternoon went well, and I was already starting to answer phone calls, go back and forth inside the RD's posh office and dump all the papers she has to sign. I told myself, the RD is doing a better job than I am, and she's not even complaining. She has to read all those papers before she signs them, while I can only dump them on her desk for her signature. How can I be so pessimistic about my role?

If there's one thing I love answering, it's phone calls and I am already getting the hang of it.

The day ended well, surely, I will survive another one, and more days in the regional office. It is costing me time and strength to go home daily back to Gensan, but life is good, so I must live it.

With great power comes great responsibility, but I have no power yet, only great responsibility. I hope and pray that God will help me in using this great responsibility to help the people needing my assistance. And for additional work, I am also assigned to monitor and report Labor Market Indicators.

This moment as I write, I am steaming rice and blogging and preparing breakfast for the kids. And off to work again. I still have to time to blog, and hopefully, hop on your blogs when time allows me, but if not, I will see you this weekend.

This is a new adventure for me, I just hope i am included in your prayers as I get myself acquainted with my new work.

Ciao!

I'm crossing my fingers for all that will be.