As an individual, we all have our own opinions and differences in dealing with our daily lives. We approach every circumstance in a distinctive manner that defines us how the way we perceived these situations. These differences brought us to the position where we, sometimes, put ourselves in the corner and think if you can face it on your own or do you need a companion along the way?
As a confessed self-centered perfectionist, I admit, this is the question that I asked myself every time I had to deal with a group of people to accomplish a certain task. As far as possible, I want to finish the whole thing on my own to assure that everything will be organized, flawless and will gain credit on my part; but, in return, this behavior constantly leave my group mates behind the limelight. I know it sounds selfish yet, I keep on doing the same thing over and over again. BUT NOT THIS TIME!
Last January, 2014, during our 2nd preliminary examination, our professor in Cruise Line Operation and Management, Ms. Sally Reyes, advised our section to conduct a case study that relates a specific issue in regards with the cruising industry. She decided to divide the class in six (6) groups. I landed on the fifth (5th) group. We closed our first group meeting by settling down the title problem:
Advantage of HRM graduates in the hotel operation of cruise lines. (click the link to know more)
This is the first time that I am going to deal with the 3rd year Hotel and Restaurant Management class on my second year of staying in Saint Clair College. To be honest, I was a total stranger to these people and so as they are to me. We never established any formal conversations, just a casual smile every time we encounter each other on the hallway or in times that we don’t know who to ask when we are looking for our friends.
Since the day that I transferred to my new college school, I promised not to be egotistical any longer. I have to leave introversion to the rear line of my being. I took this opportunity to change this behavior and let myself be open to others.
THE SETUP
Without hesitation, they placed me at the position of leading the group. Justine Mae, Diana, Arianne, Lorence, Peter, Janine, Maridel, Arnelie, and Ms. Tantay were my members.
Unfortunately, I had to eliminate Ms. Tantay out of the group. It was due to her schedule and also her frame of mind where she doesn’t know what to prioritize since she has a part-time job. We can’t afford to loose even a single moment to adjust for someone who doesn’t have a clear mindset of the task. It is important for me as a leader that my members are really interested in the task delegated to them. Second problem occurred when, Arnelie stopped attending classes. And now, we are down to seven members. We have to straighten out the study though we lose two of our members.
During the time where we are in search of answers for our study, we had the chance of knowing each other and exploring the side of ourselves outside the four-corner everyday learning venue.
The Chum Bucket
I am the second eldest among these kids (maybe, let’s not talk about the age gap and our ages. All I know is that I am a way older). Generation gap? Present! There are some topics that they used to talk about, and of course, I don’t have any idea of what these are all about such as trending gadgets or hangouts where they spend their recreation time; likewise, there are some life and wisdom matter that I bring into play that they can’t catch up.
Justine and Diane are best of friends. They remind me of my high school days—they are bubbly, easy going and full of astonishing dreams. Justine, despite her childish acts, can adapt to any type of person, while Diane is a serious one; until now, I can’t figure out how these two can get along with each other.
The eldest, Arianne, is a working student and undergone her training at Negros Navigation. Her experience has helped us completing the study.
For the heart of the HRM department, she is the Ms. SCC title holder even if she didn’t got the title, Maridel eagerly involve into the study while preparing herself for the competition. I should have apologized to her; I stereotyped her and thought she was some sort of irresponsible—I was completely wrong.
The dedicated and enthusiastic, Janine and Lorence, these two lovely ladies and the polar opposite of each other, Janine is the typical Maria Clara, reserved yet full of ideas in her mind, astound the crowd during the case presentation when she fluently explained in English language. There is no more eager other than Lorence, who is excitedly asked me from time to time whether when we would go to 2GO office or if there are improvements on our study.
Lastly, the Mayor, Peter caught the attention of the class when he showed his comic moves while reporting. He closed his topic by simply waving goodbye to the viewers. Quiet informal, but impressively made us all smile and loose the group’s anxiety while the reporting was continuously moving.
The Venture behind the Scene of the
Study
You might not believe, but this is the first time that I and some of the members of my group had the chance to travel outside the city without parental guidance. We don’t even know how to get to the locations that we set for our field familiarization: Pier 2 at North Harbor; F&B Dept., of 2GO Inc., near Manila Hotel; and Times Plaza building.
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| :: Just Stolen! Inside 2GO Head office at Time Plaza Bldg. :: |
We were like fifth graders who are excited to have a field trip. We rode on a public bus; it was a majority decision not to take a private bus because two of us (Diana and me) will suffer in nausea. We used to talk about anything that comes to our mind to forget the word ‘vomit’.
We stop over at Lawton and took another jeepney ride. There goes the unwanted experience that we will never forget. Justine and I preferred to sit near the driver seat while the rest settled them at the passengers’ seat. During the trip, Justine was shrugging and doing some gestures which, during that time, I can’t actually understand. When I turned my attention to the driver, I refuse not to look back again. As we reached Delpan, Justine and I hurriedly jump out of the vehicle. It is more awful than feeling nauseated. “HAVE YOU SEEN THAT?!! SO GROSS!!!” That’s the first word that came out from Justine. She actually saw the driver doing ‘something’; I don’t know if we were just pretty and sexy in our short-skirt uniform or he just can’t control his libido. Another mind blowing experience was when we were walking along the Tondo area, where there were male residents who stared at us like it was their first time to see such lovely ladies.
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| :: 2GO F&B personnels; busy on decorating for Valentine's :: |
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| :: Applicants waiting for their documents :: |
Let us forget now about those unpleasant memories. Did you know that Justine and Diane fought over Adobong Pusit? You might laugh out loud while Diane insist on the idea that the squid’s eggs are not clean and safe to eat while Justine justifying that it’s not and it was the head instead.
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| :: Diana and Justine, fighting over Adobong Pusit :: |
Wanna play hunger games or the hungry games rather? It was truly tiring to travel from Caloocan to Manila and worst is that we haven’t had our lunch while waiting for our interview for the manager of HR department of F&B department of 2GO Group Inc. We had our lunch by 5:00 PM.
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| :: Janine, tired and hungry... :( :: |
During this journey, we developed the phrase: (“It is expensive to get lost.”).
What
I Realize…
Dealing with other people is the biggest gift that this group work has brought to us. It became a Give-and-take process. You may not understand them sometimes, but there is still some point in time where I saw myself in them. I learned from them, the same way they learned from me, and we all learned from this experience.
In the end, it was not about completing the study and understanding what the study was, it was all about the hardship that taught us unity, friendship and finding a way on how we deal of every circumstance that we faced along the way.
There are a lot of times where I used to be a leader but I’ve done everything on my own. I never tried to consider what my members can do for the task. I just depend on my own idea and disregard the fact that it is a GROUPWORK.
Selfishness and being self-centered made me survive from my previous university. I had to depend on myself because I don’t have any companion that I can trust without knowing that I was starting to forget to communicate and connect my self into the reality that I can’t live myself alone.
Immaturity, carelessness, childish acts… These are some of the negative behaviors that most of us rejected and I thought I was mature enough to deal with it, but at the end of this journey, I realize I just close my eyes to the world that these kids see—happiness beyond struggles.
I learned a lot form you guys and I thanked you to for being part of my life. in behalf of the group, we also wanted to send our sincere regards to Prof. Sally Reyes for giving us the challenge where we can learn way beyond the usual learning system. You let us step out of the box and explore and see the college life in a different way.
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| :: (From left to right) Lorence, Diana, Arianne, Ms. Sally Reyes, Me, Justine and Janine :: |
Yes, we considered ourselves as individuals, but after the hardship that we have been through, we are now standing as one. We gained experience, we learned and we developed ourselves into a new and well-rounded individual.
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