CHAPTER I: Into the New World (part 1)

It was yet another busy shift. The sound of aggressive fingers tapping every key on the keyboard seemed to harmonize the soft yet tired and pissed voice of my co-agents assisting their own clients through call.

“Sir, again, I apologise however your situation is not under our control.” My voice was starting to lose its firm as it was drying due to hours of endless call queues.

“What do you mean it’s not under your control? I was robbed! The fuckers who used my credit card purchased over a thousand dollar worth of items in your shop! Now, why is it not under your fucking control?!” 

I immediately pinched the bridge of my nose. The voice on the other side was low and husky, yet, the sound of him shouting rang wild in my head.

I briefly moved away my microphone and let out a heavy sough. After a second, I smiled on the screen and with a firm grip answered, “Sir, kindly refrain from using profanities. This will be the last time that I will tolerate it. If you cuss once more, I’ll stop entertaining your situation and end the call.”

“Fine!” He clicked his tongue and remained silent.

“Sir, following our rules on the security of our clients, we cannot ask for your credit card number. Thus, I have no way of tracking the orders since you do not have an account with us. What you can do is to contact your bank and file a dispute. This is so they could track where the purchase had been made. Is that okay with you?” My lips remained its upward curve to maintain the calmness of my voice. 

Once again he clicked his tongue and cussed with a low and tight voice. 

“You guys are no help! I’ll make sure your patrons know about this!” 

The deafening sound of the call ending made me finally lose the last drop of my sanity. With haste, I turned off my queue and typed ‘biobreak’ on our team’s group chat. 

I let myself out of the production floor and with two hands clenched the root of my hair. Water started forming on the side of my eyes as I grit my teeth—my whole body began to shake.

“What an idiot!” I hissed—still gritting my teeth. “I already told him multiple times, and yet he does not seem to understand.” Quickly, I walked towards the restroom and locked myself in the last cubicle. As soon as the door clicked, my tears began flowing heavily.

This was not the first time that I had encountered such rude customer, I had the worst. But the feelings that I have been keeping these past few days decided to burst right at this moment.

I sat on the bowl—big droplets of water are still alternately traveling from my cheeks down to my neck. With shaking hands, I covered my mouth—trying to supress the loudening woes that keep on escaping from it. 

I am tired. From my morning part-time jobs plus my graveyard shift as a Customer Service Representative made my body numb. Unable to feel anything. As if I was programmed to work almost twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. 

After a minute or two, I slowly calmed down. My breathing became stable and my cheeks started to dry. Despite all the crying that I had, my chest still felt heavy.

I stood up and decided to let myself out of the cubicle—wobbling. Seeing my reflection through my peripheral vision made me turn my head facing the adjacent mirror. 

There, a woman with heavy eyebags met my sight. My hands suddenly found its way to my face, tracing it. I let out a sounded smile. How haggard.

Checking that there is still five minutes left of my 15-minute break, I settled myself on the couch right outside the production floor. As soon as my body rested on the velvet furniture, I became quite relaxed. I was not sure if it’s due to the fact that it has been days before I slept soundly or because I just finished crying, my eyes became heavy. Before I knew it, I entered into a deep slumber.

***

“Lex…”

My forehead creased when I was awoken by an intense shaking. With trembling eyes—I looked up to see who was the person firmly gripping my shoulders.

“Lex!” It was my co-worker, Mona. Her eyes emit worrisomeness—still making an effort on fully waking me up.

“Mona? What is it?” There was almost no voice left in my throat. Maybe my saliva has all dried up.

Mona forcefully pushed me, making my back find its way pressing the couch once again.

“’What is it?’” she mimicked me. “Lex! You have been oversleeping! TL’s calling for you.”

My eyes rounded, abruptly, I looked at my watch and concluded that there is only ten minutes before my shift ends. I have been asleep for almost two hours! Shit!

I quickly stood up, leaving Mona. I made my way to my Team Leader’s office, silently practicing the alibi I will give.

As I became nearer the said office, my steps became heavy. My chest started pumping hard. This is the first time that I made a mistake and it made me wonder if it’ll cost me my tears just like what happened to my colleagues. I just cried tho?!

I knocked on the door three times the moment I reached TL’s office. 

“Come in.” His voice made me want to vomit due to nervousness. What a roller coaster set of emotions. Great!

My right hand was antsy as I gently turned the knob and pushed the door. My Team Leader and Supervisor’s worried face greeted me as I entered the office.

“Hi, TL,” I gave an awkward smile to my Team Leader and slowly faced my supervisor. “Hello, Ann.”

Ann just gave out a sigh before beckoning me to sit beside my TL. “Hi, Lex. You must know why you’re here.”

I moved my head up and down in a slow manner. My feet became unrest and I was beginning to rub my palms against my thighs. 

I felt the person beside me place his hand on my shoulder. He then gently gripped it as if telling me to calm down. Despite the fabric between my skin and his palm, I felt how cold his hand was. It made me feel more antsy.

“Lex… Look at me.” Ann placed her hand on top of mine—waiting for me to look straight at her. “You have to relax, no one’s gonna bite you.”

I raised my head and decided to meet her eyes. Her lips curved upward and reassured me by gently tapping the back of my palm.

“Lex, you are an excellent worker. This situation actually shocked all of us, but we know you have a reason. I heard…” she paused for a while and moved her sight towards TL. Tha latter on the other hand nodded. Ann looked at me once again and continued, “I heard that you’ve been taking multiple part-time jobs during the day. I’m sorry to ask this, but is your salary not enough? Plus, you’ve got incentives, bonuses at that! So we were really wondering…” She eyed me with hesitation, unable to continue her words. However, I already knew what she wanted to ask.

I breathed heavily and answered her, “I am the sole breadwinner of a family of six. My father’s maintenance is quite costly. Our second eldest is going to enter college. So as her elder sister—who did not have the opportunity, the time to finish college, I wanted to provide for her. So that she won’t worry about anything related to money.” I looked down and bit my tongue to prevent myself from crying in front of them. 

“My total monthly salary in this company is not enough to get us by everyday. So, I had to look for another job during the day…” 

Their eyes widened with shock. Maybe they were not expecting that the ever-happy Lex had this kind of background.

Ann opened her mouth and after a millisecond closed it once again. I gave her a gentle smile to assure that she did not have to hesitate. I did the same thing to my Team Leader who seemed to have been frozen on his seat.

“Look, Lex. I really understand your situation. However…” She pressed her lips towards her clenched fist. “As per our company’s rule… I’ll have to issue an incident report about this.”

“Yes, I understa—“I abruptly held my forehead when a monotonous sound reached my hearing. It felt like something was drilling a hole on my skull, I had to resort on squeezing my head to somewhat overpower the internal pain.

“Lex! What’s happening? Are you okay?!” TL’s panicking voice worsened the ringing in my head. Immediately, I waved my shaking hands—telling them that I am fine.

Slowly, the ringing stopped and I felt somewhat fine. I looked at my superiors’ worried face and showed them an apologetic emotion.

“Lex, you have to rest. I’ll file a one-week leave for you.” Ann’s voice was firm, as if she was commanding me to do so.

“Ann, I don’t have any paid leaves left. I can’t afford to go on unpaid leave!” I almost stood up from my chair just to emphasize the importance of a complete attendance to me.

“For heaven’s sake! Losing a week’s salary is far better than losing your entire job because you kept on making mistakes due to your health condition. Lex, we sympathize, but we cannot ignore the rules. After three IRs, you know it’s gonna be… Expulsion.” Ann’s eyebrows met as she begged me to take her advice.

TL on the other side, placed his hand on top of mine and said, “Ann’s right, Lex. Your body deserves this rest. You can continue doing your jobs during the day, but you have to rest during the night.”

I felt defeated. Although I know for a fact that they are just worried for me, I can’t help but feel irritated. 

With a heavy heart, I slowly nodded and excused myself from TL’s office. My onced tensed muscles started to feel fatigue that I could barely carry myself out of the company. 

***

TBC

Lluvia Ramirez 2021