Who among you here who's been working from home since the pandemic started?
If you've read my previous blog, I was one of the lucky workers who no longer need to wake up 2 hours ahead of shift just to travel heading to the office during the Covid19 Pandemic.
I've been living in Cebu City for more than 5 years to work in the BPO or call center industry. And for sure, to some of you here who are working with the same line of industry, we all know how strict the clients are when it comes to protecting their customer’s security and privacy.
There are a lot of events that happened in 2020, I may be lucky to work from home when the pandemic entered our country early that year but a few months after, luck turned into misfortune. Due to the pandemic, I once belonged to millions of our fellow Filipinos who lost their jobs. Around October 2020, my former company (I won't disclose it) called a meeting to all of their employees announcing that they will be closing some of their sites including in Cebu City in February last year 2021. We were all shocked because they are a big company and they are very good, salary and benefits wise (forever grateful). That shocking announcement adds up to my stress during pandemic, because I will be then unemployed.
I felt more horrible that time because aside from being alone in Cebu and getting unemployed, it was also almost Christmas and New year so I thought it would be better if I continue working from home in my hometown in Cagayan de Oro City and take the opportunity to spend time with family and friends.
Working from home opened a lot of doors for us, the flexibility of our time, bond among our families, being able to do other things while working, and many more. However, some companies, they are not allowing their employees to transfer the company's equipment or properties due to security reasons, and that includes my former company. I understood it,because that was the policy. However, I tried my best of luck to ask and convince our management if I could go home given that I'm living alone, it's pandemic, the company is closing, and I wanted to spend time with my loved ones during the holiday season. Unfortunately, the management didn't consider it.
I've thought about it for weeks and even asked my boyfriend's opinion about it. As per him, since the company is closing, it wouldn’t make any sense if they terminate me just because I went home and brought the equipments with me to be with my family. In which I believe he has a point and I’m not after for our customers information at all. So, I spent days of thinking and made a final decision to secretly escape from Cebu City with my former company’s equipments and none from my colleagues knew it not even the closest one until now.
And here’s what happened to my journey and stay in my hometown Cagayan de Oro City ⬇️
I set up my PC right away when I arrived and continuously worked during my quarantine acting like I didn't commit a crime though I'm honestly guilty 😂
I may have not followed my work’s policy, but I didn't regret my decision at all because this is what I gained ⬇️
I know it was bad of me to still pursue the plan of escaping. Please know though, that it's not natural for me to do wrong at my work. I'm someone who is religiously following rules and policies at work (hahaha defensive me) however, this one is an exemption given the situation, and I never regretted my decision. I was very happy to see my family and friends amidst the chaos that I feel when I was alone in Cebu City during the pandemic.
Thank you so much guys for reading and supporting my blog it's overwhelming. See you in the next one 💖
Cheers,
Mary 🌷
