Money Grows On Trees

Wala lang. Just wanted to rant. Iniisip ko kasi kung sucker ako talaga or sobrang lambot lang ng puso ko.

I have a friend kasi who's so down on his luck. Old old college friend. One of our friends (let's call him Friend E) sent out an SOS message to all of us asking for help in behalf of this friend (let's call him Friend C). Apparently, Friend E took in Friend C since Friend C is jobless and homeless and is also sick.

Ok, when Friend E sent out the SOS, I bought Friend C medicines (twice this year na and they're not cheap ha. I think I spent more than 3K on the meds) and one time, Friend C picked them up in the office (he walked from Mandaluyong). He even asked if I could buy him lunch pa. I didn't blink an eye. So when he came over, I took him over to Jollibee and bought him the biggest lunch. Even gave him "pocketmoney" when we parted ways. I felt good afterwards kasi it always feels nice to help. Of course, I never thought that it will be a precedence of something else.

Friend C then texted me the next week when I was in the middle of a crisis in the office. He said that he's in PeopleSupport applying for a job and while waiting for the result of his exam, can I treat him to dinner (yes, that straight). I begged off due to the crisis (hello! I was in a telecon with our Regional Credit Head and he didn't want to approve an account that was endorsed by the Consumer Banking Head and all 3 of us -- me, the Credit Risk Head and the OIC Credit Head -- were being scolded for even endorsing the account to the RCO. And then after that, we had to call the Unit Head who endorsed the account to the CB Head and we spent 15 minutes over the phone arguing why we shouldn't approve it. hay naku!).

This afternoon, he again texted saying that he left Friend E's house since Friend E's sister is in town and is living with him. So Friend C moved out to make room and is now living in Manila (he did not elaborate). He's asking for help again.

As usual, ang sama ng timing niya (I was in a meeting and I was stressing over my lack of FTE--hello! freeze hiring! To think they took out 3 of my FTEs and one moved to another department and not one of them will be replaced!) and I responded late na. I said no because I did not have any spare cash (which is true!). Although may hirit pa ako na I'll see in the next couple of weeks.

Ewan ko ba. How does one deal with such issues? Ako kasi, nagi-guilty ako if I don't give. Parang iniisip ko kasi, what if I was in the same situation? Pero may nagsabi kasi sa akin na dapat may ginagawa kang paraan para makaangat sa situasyon mo and you should not wallow in it too long. One should have enough pride and dignity not to depend too much on dole outs and really try to improve one's life. The problem with Friend C is that it seems that he's not doing his best in getting a proper job and we cannot understand why he reached such lows when he was such a brilliant person when we were in college. Wala na talaga siyang hiya and he will really ask out straight if he needs money. He used to have a good job but somehow got himself fired (tama ba cess?). Is it because of his eccentricities or  he just doesn't know how to hold onto a job?

I don't want to judge him when I haven't seen him for the past 10 years. Maybe he went through something bad that made him turn out this way. But a strong person can weather any storms that comes through his life if he deals with it properly. But from the way I perceived it, he just went with the flow and let things be. Ewan ko ba.

Note that I didn't post this to everyone as some of them know Friend C. Well mommycess knows who he is. Hehehe. Haaay naku.