The Eye

It is, officially, the start of my annual leave. Several years of staying put in Hong Kong resulted to almost a month of holidays. And what better way to start the day than with a signal number 8 cyclone?

Alright, I’m overreacting. It’s just T3 as I stepped outside my building. There was a light drizzle but I decided not to buy another umbrella—a bad habit (buying, that is). I keep forgetting the umbrellas at school and I’m quite sure I have at least five waiting for me there. If I can keep my composure while walking in the rain, I’ll make it to school only slightly wet.

It is my first day off on my annual leave and I’m heading to school. Each step on a puddle got me irritated not because of my wet sneakers but because of why I have to go to school in the first place. In a nutshell: three months of unpaid salary, and I’ve come to collect. I just hope the supervisor checked the weather. A cyclone is headed his way.

The rain strengthened just as I arrived at the school. All the other teachers were there. Most of them anyway and the ones who were there have filed their resignations. Three teachers and two staff will be leaving the school. It only shows the degree of mismanagement of the so-called ‘super’visor. Why I’m still with them is a long story that you will not hear today.

The super and his sidekick (we lovingly call ‘the rat’), arrived an hour or so later. I just stared at them. They obviously know why I’m there. I have sent a demand letter, sent an email, attached the same letter, and sent a follow-up in a span of three days.

They dodged me, pretending to attend to other matters. To be fair, the other matters did matter. I waited patiently. Two hours later, the super sat beside me. Took a deep breath and said “I received your email.” The rain outside increased, I’m boiling up inside. I am the eye of this storm. “We are working hard on it,” he added.

After that, I let out a rant that might have been out of place if I had no claim to anything. At one point, the rat said that I should write to members of the organization to ask for my salary. I told him that I have never been in a workplace where employees sourced out their own salaries! In a sense, I told him to do his job.

When all has been said and done, the rain calmed down. I’ve accepted the incompetence of my supervisor and it is perhaps my fault why I am still in the school. I walked out of the school empty handed and only with a false sense of hope that everything will be fine. When I got home and typhoon signal 8 was hoisted. This is indeed a sign of better things to come.