I head a small group of online English writing tutors, and I’m also a tutor myself. Teaching ESL (English as Second Language) students can be quite fulfilling, but because I do it everyday, it can become trite and unappealing, especially for someone who’s been doing the job for four years now, well, not exactly four years because the first two years I only performed the work on a part-time basis. I only assumed full-time position in April 2007.

I’m usually a passionate worker, but in the past months, I’ve been dragging myself to work. I think I’ve been bitten by the burnout bug. These past few days, however, I’ve found a renewed enthusiasm for my work, which I attribute to the following:

1. My bosses came up with an incentive scheme for tutors. If we go beyond our expected monthly quota, we are entitled to an incentive pay. This act is much appreciated, especially this holiday season and especially in these times of global economic crisis.

2. My bosses granted my request to release my 13th month pay early because I told them I need to give something to my son’s yaya (nanny) who’ll be undergoing an operation this December.

3. I realize I’m lucky that I have a job. There are many jobless Filipinos out there, and I’m one of those fortunate enough to have a regular source of income. I just hope there’ll be more jobs available in 2009 for everyone.

I guess there’s really no reason why I shouldn’t love my work.

The answer is you can’t. You can complain day in and day out. You can rant and rave. Unfortunately, the consumer is always at the losing end of things because, again, you can’t do anything to have your Internet connection back unless the company you’re complaining to is quick enough to respond to your perennial whinings.

One of the disadvantages of an Internet-based job, like mine, is you’re at the mercy of your Internet service provider (ISP). I lost my Internet connection late Monday night, early Tuesday morning, to be exact, so I wasn’t able to work at home last Tuesday and Wednesday. My Internet connection came back Thursday night, so I was able to work the whole day of Friday at home. From Saturday until last night, I had been having intermittent to no connection at all.

I have complained several times already. Our account is very much active as we haven’t been remiss in our monthly payments. The call center agents have been giving us the same answer. First, there was really no problem, so the agent said she’d send off a technician to our place. When I called customer service again, there was now restoration work around our area. I called them up again last night, and there’s no more restoration work going on. So what is the problem?

I really don’t know. Perhaps, it’s about time we change our ISP.

I’m so looking forward to the end of my work shift today. It’s Friday, and it’s the end of my work week. I used to work on Saturdays before, but not anymore. I only work on Saturdays now if I really have to, like when I have to orient a trainee or when the submission date of my end-of-the-month report falls on a Saturday. Otherwise, my weekends are for my son Justin alone.

I officially started working from home last July and all because we were having problems with Globe in our Mandaluyong office. (We did not have phone and Internet at the office for well over a month despite numerous complaints.) The adjustment wasn’t all that bad as I’m the type of person who easily adapts to situations. After more than two months holding office at home, how do I find the experience? I’d say it’s both good and bad.

I’ve had some benefits working from home. First, I get to know how my son spends his whole day. I can text or call Manang any time I need to give instructions: if they can go to the playground or not, if Justin should have Cream-O or champorado for his snack, to tell Manang to stop Justin from playing with the DVD player or his VCDs, or simply to ask what happened if I hear Justin crying. Second, I don’t really need to wake up that early. I can wake up at 7 or 7:30 am and still start my work hours the usual time. I don’t need to commute anymore, so the time spent on commuting is added to my sleeping time. Finally, I save a few hundreds on transportation costs. I spend Php50.00 everyday to go to and from the office. (I still go to the office occasionally, though.) The savings from this get used up in other household expenses. It’s not really that bad working from home, I guess.

But it has its downsides, too. The thing is Justin doesn’t really know I’m working in the bedroom, although he can very well hear the sound of my typing at times and he will actually know I’m inside if he looks hard enough through our bedroom’s translucent door. He tried doing that one time; he actually saw me, and I hid in the farthest corner of the room to make him believe I wasn’t really there, that it was his imagination playing tricks on him. Since he doesn’t know I’m just inside the bedroom, I had to make as little noise as possible. I’m actually learning the art of sneezing silently, but I haven’t really mastered that yet. I have to bring my lunch, merienda, drinking water, and “arinola” inside the room because going out of the room meant the end of my working day. When my official work hours are over, I text or call Manang again to take Justin to the bathroom while I prepare for my grand entrance, again making my son believe that I came all the way from the office. That’s a lot of pretending to do. Whew!

So, given the pros and cons of my working at home, do I still want to continue with this arrangement? The answer is yes, for the time being, until a better opportunity comes along, and I hope that opportunity is just around the corner.

So when the great word "Mother!" rang once more,
I saw at last its meaning and its place;
Not the blind passion of the brooding past,
But Mother -- the World's Mother -- come at last,
To love as she had never loved before --
To feed and guard and teach the human race.
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I’m a new mother at 34, currently savoring the joys and enduring the sleepless, tiring, and backbreaking wrestle with my little Buddha – I call him that because he’s such a chubby cherub. One thing I realized about myself, though, becoming a first-time mom, is I often find myself worrying too much, short of saying I’m almost always in an anxious mode. And I have every reason to be. Leaving my tiny bundle of joy to someone else’s care, let alone a house companion, leaves me quite apprehensive. For one, can a non-relative care as much for a kid totally not her own? Can she lull my baby to sleep with such amorous delight as I do? And with nary a mother’s instinct, can she discern what’s wrong with my precious one when he cries? For motherhood entails all of those nurturing and loving and sacrificing, and much, much more. Indeed, motherhood is a career all by itself. It requires much and expects less.

Being a mother is a 24/7 job. It demands your undivided time and attention. Unlike your regular daytime or nighttime job where you’re mandated to render an eight-hour work at the very least, motherhood requires you to work three shifts. You’re supposed to be on guard for when your baby feeds, wets or soils his diapers, or simply cries to be held and comforted. It’s overwhelming when the survival of someone so small and so helpless depends largely on you. Simply put, motherhood is a great, as in huge, responsibility.

One needs to be multifaceted to be a mother. You have to be adaptable to the ever-changing needs of your young one. Babies are an unpredictable lot. They change habits as often as they change nappies. So if you think you’ve mastered everything there is to know about your youngling’s predicaments, think again. What seems to be your newborn’s established routine may become yesterday’s news in a jiffy. And where a worker with a flexible personality gets the better of the corporate rat race, mothers also who are able to adjust more to their baby’s capriciousness are on top of their game.

Promotions, salary increases, commendations – these are quite a few that engender satisfied employees’ in the workplace. Workers strive harder for that most coveted position. They toil doubly hard for that forthcoming performance bonus. And they are prompted to do well when a boss only has words of praises for them; oh, what music to their ears!. On the other hand, it doesn’t take much to make mothers happy. Moms don’t get elevated to a higher position. They aren’t compensated for what they do. And their line of work is the one most often overlooked, ignored, taken for granted. But have you ever realized what’s behind every CEO, every EVP, every head of state, or every worker for that matter? Every single one of them was raised by a mother. Need I say more?