proof of global warming

the case of the controversial PRF

by the way, PRF means personnel request form. we fill up one in case we need
additional manpower.

story,

a month ago, my colleagues working in the shipping area were clamoring
for additional workforce to support the 24/7 operations there. although we alreasdy
had one but unfortunately his contract ended up after a couple of extensions. since he
is an addition to ICT - my department and much that he is not part of the 2006 plantilla,
consequently, he will undergo the regular hiring process however we're dealing with an
unbudgeted staff for 2007 here. y'all know what this means.

and so after weeks of deliberation, the PRF came into the picture. of course we
indicated there the great need..blah blah...and all that stuff..and finally, the
precious signatures from the following:

1. the requestor,
2. the department head,
3. the financial management and control head, and;
4. the human resource head

then the big 4 (oh yeah, not only PBB has this thing called as such). in most cases,
any two of these four guys can call the shots any how. what the heck, they're members
of the executive committee. so the can call the heavens and the earth and approve
everything right there and then

1. the VP for corporate finance
2. the VP for corporate management
3. the VP for corporate human resource and of course;
4. the chief operating officer (COO)

the situation:

the requestor and the department head signed the document and submitted the docs to the financial
management and control head (fmc)

everybody else in the ICT were doing their stuff that day and i felt the need to extend my service, of course
ICT is a team, right? and so i presented myself as the liason officer to work on the document and have it
done in perhaps one or two days max. (ah, that's chicken!)

of course this was "unbudgeted" so it needs a whole lot of explanations plus other
attachments to prove that, in fact, we're definitely short handed and there's a need
for additional staff. and the fact that she's the fmc head, she would know how this is
being settled in terms of financial stuffs and the like. (explaining it in english? ah, chicken too!)

so there, the fmc head asked me to attach all the job functions of ICT personnel because
she believed we're not really that short handed and we're more of like just looking
for ways to excuse ourselves from more tasks that are coming in (oh, how dare you!).

yours truly submitted the doc she needed. i thought all the while she's gonna sign already coz she
got everything needed for her to get that 0.5mm black sign pen and sign the damned
document. but hey, she did not. instead, she gave the papers directly to our COO who was,
at that time, trying to recover from an earlier neck-breaking show with our main principals from
italy. so what kind of miracle are we expecting here? of course, none. pffft...

the COO sent back the document to the FMC head without a word, of course, again, we
know why.

the FMC head sent the document back to me thru her staff and told me to route the paper
to the execom and try to explain to each of them why they need to sign it.

so the innocent me took the documents and started to find the first signatory - the CFO.
on my way there, i met the HR head (who didn't sign the paper earlier because FMC head
didn't sign...what da F!)

she told me that in some cases, or say most cases, if the staff needed is unbudgeted then
they go directly to the COO for approval. then she named a few who broke the damned
company policy and went straight to the COO.

and then there was light (above my head) - toink!

i took the liberty to send a text message to the COO, after all he knows me and i knew
him - of course he's my wedding godfather.

i knew i'm like having a couple of hours left to do what has to be done before he gets
in to his flight to manila after lunch and then to the US to attend the wedding of
the VP for operations' son (wait a minute, he's also part of the big four).
maybe if he replies then i'll rush to the airport or something

my message was:

11:20am -

goodmorning boss, ICT badly needs 1 staff asap 2 handle shipping&receiving
system in its 24/7 operation.we're shorthanded already as there r other important
projects also in the farms that need our attention. we're hoping u can sign the PRF
before u leave evn without the signatures from other VPs. sorry 2 bother u on this.

an hour has passed - no reply.

:(

loud and clear. he doesn't want to sign it.
with shrugged shoulders and a heavy heart i went directly to the office of the VP for Corp.Finance.
1pm - he was sitting there, the usual, facing the laptop working on something, i
suppose. then i got his attention. he received the docs, told me to wait in my office
coz he's gonna review it and call me later to pick it up. whoa! somebody's gonna
sign already!!!

3pm i went back, he was still facing the laptop. my god.

so i slid into the treasury heads' office and sat down. trying to weigh things, if i'm
gonna disturb him or not. the treasury head asked me what i'm doing (of course coz i was
in her office then). then she told me to just knock because in an hour he'll be leaving
also for manila and then to US to attend the same wedding (huwaat??).

guess what?

i did what my friend told me, i knocked, i got his attention again, then we're
talking. to my dismay, he couldn't sign the document because he's not privy to the
shipping operations and advised me to look for the asst. COO (who happens to be our
ex-ICT boss) and ask for a note from him to support the statements we made and then
have it sent back to him (the VP) for signature/approval.

this is easy, i said.

so i went down and looked for our ex-boss. after 20mins of searching, i found him
sitting in some desk. i approached and blah blah blah...and oh, he just couldn't sign
it because he doesn't want to be caught up in a messy situation with our current boss,
who is, by the way, his enemy no.1 in the whole company so to speak.

what now????

tired and nowhere to go, i went to my current boss. told him everything. all my
frustrations, all the pain (err..)...and then he told me he's gonna take it from there.

that was wednesday.

today, i was informed (thru email coz i'm in bukidnon as i'm writing this blog) that
the documents were signed/approved. how?

my current boss edited the PRF, removed those unwanted signatories re-routed the docs to the
people he pinpointed for signature then. plain and simple, that is.

:)

lesson i learned today:

never trust the people at the top. because most of the time, they also don't know
what to do even if they have all the power to do it. it makes me feel kinda awkward and
stupid knowing all these things after almost a decade of working here.