Thank God For Batchmates

It may not be obvious to everyone who knows me well, but I’m actually a shy person… when I’m a newbie.  If you don’t believe me, just ask the AP folks in P&G when I was a newbie. My teammates actually asked me, “Tahimik ba talaga ang mga taga ZC?” (Are people from ZC really quiet?) because my former schoolmate Marlon and I hardly said anything. Then one day, Bryan, one of the AP team leaders who also happens to be from my hometown,  rode the elevator when I was in there with my batchmates, and he witnessed how I interacted with them – as the real me. He looked shocked as he told me, “Nuay yo sabe kay alboroto gale tu.” (I didn’t know that you were noisy.) Well of course I was also a newbie to my batchmates, but I was myself around them because we were all newbies – I’m only shy when I’m the only new one in a group.

So imagine my delight when I found out I had batchmates, and Filipina ones at that, at my new company. Suddenly I am reminded of the high that comes with making new friends. The last time I had batchmates was in P&G, and some of those turned out to be best friends I will keep for life. The laughter I share with my new batchmates reminds me of the same laughter that I used to share with my old ones – when you all have the same sense of humor, and even though you’ve known each other in less than a week, there are no awkward silences, like you’ve been friends for a long time.

We had our first beer-and-chips day in the company last week. Every Friday, we get free beer, wine and chips. I was so happy to find Doritos taco flavor, which I had been craving for some time now. We didn’t drink any alcohol, just got some free cans of soda from the vending machine.

We were dismissed at 6pm, and on our way to the MRT, we decided to have a pictorial at the lovely park outside our office. This was right after they laughed when I enthusiastically called out “Hey!!!” to our supervisor when I spotted him. “Miss Congeniality ka talaga!” They said, amused. If someone had told me that back in high school, it would have been a joke. Back then, I couldn’t even say hi to my elementary classmates who were no longer my high school classmates – I was that shy. Thank goodness for change. Change that also makes it possible for me to say now that yes, I am happy. Truly happy. And only a select few true friends know exactly what this is supposed to mean, because even though I’m Miss Congeniality and find it incredibly easy to befriend people, trust is a completely different thing altogether.