I LOST MY JOB.
Hello everyone! My name is Melai and I lost my job. My dream job. The only job I know. The job that I had been doing for a decade. I lost it. 
You may be thinking, what job was it? If she loves it so much, how come she lost it? She should’ve taken care of it. 

Well my dear readers, let me tell you how I lost my job. How I was told to rest my wings. I was a cabin crew. I have been for the past decade, flying for 9.25 years to be exact. And this is the only profession I knew and loved.
 
This year 2020, covid19 pandemic hit the airline industry “big time”. No matter how the social media tells you ‘this airline has won the award for the _th time’ or ‘airline is looking strong amidst the pandemic’ ; NOPE. These are not proof that things are getting better. Anyway, so  because of the pandemic airlines are forced to retrench employees from their company to try and keep the company alive. This is okay and understandable of course. Now normally when a company is dealing with losses and so forth, you’d think “oh that’s bad news to the newly hires and probies” cause probably last in first out. But in my airline it’s not. (We had 2 waves of retrenchment however they want to keep it out of the media’s eyes.) and this is why I lost my job, I’m not quite sure what are the possible reasons they saw that made them decide. Few days ago around 9pm, I received an email invitation for a one on one zoom meeting. I kinda had a feeling about it and probably why I that night I just doze off after reading it. Maybe it’s a way of my body telling me to just shut it and be numb. In the morning I felt the anxiety rushing in me and I did everything I could to bottled it up then the moment came. As soon as they shared the note of retrenchment on my screen, tears just overflowed my eyes, my ears were ringing and I can’t seem to absorb anything that they were saying. All I can say to them was “Bakit ako?”.

I am unsure of how my life would go now. I know that things like these happens for a reason and that God always has his reasons and he have better plans for me. I know, I get it and I have faith in him. I actually see somehow of the silver linings, he gave me a wonderful and loving husband month before this, I have the complete support of my family and friends. But you have to understand that I am still left heartbroken. ‘’Heartbroken’’ is the right word to describe it. I did take care of it so much, I did great in doing my job, I was able to get 2 promotions. I had perfect attendance records except when I had sore eyes or I need to have surgical procedures on my teeth. I am also a cabin crew instructor and I did great. I’m not bolstering or anything but I know I did a lot to help the department and the company. Co-write a cabin crew guide book that they have been using for 3-4 years already and what breaks my heart even more is that I tried my best to please them- the “management”. I am well aware of the “hatred’ that they have for me (for reasons that I still don’t know) but I did try my best to a point where I had classes that were not paid. Yes, you read it right, during ECQ they needed help to start the online training for the flight and cabin crews but the company is still suffering from a major loss and they will not be able to pay our instructor’s fee, they didn’t need to ask me twice. I agreed to give 4hour classes for the month of May (20 classes) , No FEE. That alone I thought “huh maybe this can make them see how passionate I am to my job and how I actually want to help them.” But sadly, it didn’t do anything for me. 

If I will be giving an advice not only to my brothers and sisters in the airline industry but to everyone reading this, DO NOT GIVE SO MUCH OF YOURSELF TO A COMPANY. May it be love, time, effort, knowledge or even compassion to the company. Always do things for the happiness and fulfilment of yourself NOT the company. Because however much you give to help the company you will always just be an “employee”, disposable and replaceable. No matter how senior you are or how great you are in doing your job or how much effort you give in pleasing them – the “management”, it doesn’t matter.

As of this moment, I am still mending my broken heart and hoping to survive in the midst of the pandemic. Appreciating everything God has given me may it be small or big. Let us all stay hopeful, God is always there guiding us. However bad the situation may be, trust in him. His plans are always better than ours. Stay safe everyone and God bless.😀