LONG AWAITED TRIP

Mitzie had been preparing this trip to go and visit her aunt. It would be an extraordinary trip. Imagine how exciting it would be to travel by plane in which she could only visualize in her imagination, that place where a king reigns over many nations. But a week before her trip his father was rushed to the hospital and she had to decide to cancel her trip to Europe. She learned that his Father Salvador according to the attending physician of his father had a suspicion that he has cancer, MItzie felt an agonizing fear knowing his father had many health issues, The more she thought of putting aside her plan to travel. She didn't like to leave her father at his present situation. For herself to plan this long awaited trip was a way for her to go away for a short while inorder to relax to leave her busy office work supervising her co-workers and overseeing into the quality and production of their products. That was also a hard decision to make when her assistant was not totally agreeable to her vacation leave. Mitzie was also hesitant to leave knowing that the quality of their products and the volume of their production will be reduced, Her past experience qualified her to replace the supervisor who retired when she applied, In her interview with the Human Resources Manager she told him how she had worked closely with the General Manager and the Operations Manager. " So you were there for eight years to oversee the overall performance of the employees and the production of materials? How did you deal with the group factor of employees?" "I have to deal each one of them by checking their daily production." Mitzie replied. " The hardest part in the process was to be there and actually find out how far was the assigned task has been accomplished." She was hired to supervised not to handle the same kind of products but the same kind of people to look after their individual performances. This time she had to check orders, to look into the pallets skids paper sizes and boxes. On her first day at work, at one of the work stations, the machine operator feeding colored papers to the machine was instructing the material handler in a loud voice. She didn't approached her but she asked the other operators in the other areas why she is acting like that, One said , "Nobody liked her because of what she is doing." "Why was she tolerated to do that?" Mitzie learned that it was the past supervisor pet peeve to ride with him in a power trip. Mitzie met this kind of people where she came from and she knew for sure how to deal with it. She didn't put in her mind about her power her position to these kind of employees but she chose other strategies to deal with such kind of employees. Instead of confronting her she asked an audience with the Human Resources Manager and mentioned what she had observed on the floor. "This kind of behaviour was not mentioned to me ." he said. " This is what we are going to do," Mitzie said, " Please tell Linda, the Production Lady to assign someone who will handle all the stickers issued in every work station. Then call the machine operator who has a big mouth to your office and warn her that many reports has reached your office that she has to discontinue these kind of practice. She must remember the company policy of Respect and Dignity in the Workplace." Mitzie closed her meeting with the manager. When the sticker lady assigned by Linda to put them on boxes the old workers became jealous, How easy is that job to do when she is a newcomer? Linda was all smiles. They can no longer throw away or hide her stickers, More production and the quality of products was foreseen. Mitzie was relieved to see how workers changed in their performance. They became aware of the shop orders to be filled. There was a coordination with the forklift operators bringing boxes and bringing out skids to the warehouse, Unlike before when the bigmouth lady will instruct them to bring in and out all the boxes to be filled and boxes filled with products back to the warehouse. The workplace athmosphere has changed to an open free workplace without any intimidation against the power of a supervisor. No guilt or burden to small mistakes and corrected right away without reaching the supervisor. Linda had done her work diligently to handle orders efficiently. The sticker lady was assigned with other task while putting stickers on boxes. Machine operators can no longer leave their post to instruct their co-workers. The more production the more the company pays to its employees. Everyday the Overall Manager who handles everything from operation and human resources inspects and walked around on the floor but he seldom talked with Mitzie,. maybe they meet closed doors to avoid misconception among employees who sometimes wait and see happenings that they could make stories against them, Mitzie grew up with her family's beliefs and traditions about the importance of family. She followed her Christian parents to be supportive to their growing family raising Mitzie to be God fearing to look up to her parents and be supportive to them in their later years. That's how Mitzie felt when she saw his father in the hospital while she signed her consent that Salvador his father will be confined , They recorded her ID card to find out what benefits he was entitled to in connection to the tests prescriptions and many other specialist consultations and procedures. Mitzie totally cancelled her long awaited trip and decided to spend her vacation to take care of his father. To look into the possibility of surgery of his cancer. What kind of cancer had afflicted him is yet to be seen. The reason of his confinement was the lesions on his liver that they punctured him to draw out the liquid and to replace the blood that was poisoning him. The more Mitzie felt miserable what had happened to his father. The doctors were quiet and Mitzie was very much afraid to ask questions while she left all these matter to the health care professionals. Many visitors came to the hospital to visit him including two church ministers. Her mother went to different church. When they were young with his brother all of them went to the same church but Mitzie and his brother no longer go to their churches. The Christian beliefs they learned when they were young have made their family stick together until they reached their ripe age although they go to different churches and as they say all of them worshipped only one God. That was where Mitzie was drawing her strength in facing his father's health dilemma. Then after forty days in the hospital his father had been discharged with the persuasion of her mother to the doctors that we could not take care of our father alone at home with his life threatening condition of cancer. the doctors with their benevolent care decided to put him under palliative care. It is a program to help families in such between life and death condition of a patient to help their families. As soon as he was discharged from the hospital, a home care team was dispatched to help him in his daily personal needs like bathing, changing his clothes and to monitor his medications. If his condition worsens the health care worker will inform their company nurse and the nurse will inform the doctor from the hospital. Mitzie didn't find any hardship like this kind even if she had worked for so long but looking at his father made her heart sink to the thought of losing him. The family doesn't know what will happen after a cancer specialist decided that he will not undergo any surgery because of his age. Mitzie forgot the trip that she had planned and don't know if it will happen at all,