Workbae

This time last year I was a supervisor. They had me cover for the training unit supervisor who supervises new workers. While I was covering for this unit, in comes this cute Filipino girl. Young, but cute. I don't date coworkers cuz that's sketch, but it's all good, she's just eye candy. It's always good to have eye candy at work!

In February of last year I got a promotion. They moved me from working downtown to working in Mission Valley. I was training brand new county workers who had to learn the job and the programs we offer. It was fun! I was with a bunch of other people my age, like-minded, who enjoyed teaching. 

While I was there, I got close with this girl named Nika. I've known Nika for years. My friend Hannah actually tried to hook me up with her years ago. Things didn't work out but Nika and I became friends and would chat from time to time. Now she's married to a Filipino dude. Now we worked together, training people. Inbetween training people, we'd talk and really get to know each other. I also got to know Rosie, this other trainer who was cool. I told them about Coachellabae and all kinds of stuff I was going through at the time. They'll be important later in the story. 

In August they change my assignment and bring me back to working downtown. Now I would be managing the welfare lobby that I used to supervise at. And one of the staff that I'd be managing is Diana! Now that I'm managing her, I'm DEFINITELY not making any moves with her. That's baaaaaad. And I'm on probation so I can't mess anything up. It's cool cuz back when I met her, she was just this new worker who was learning the job. But now she's really good! All the managers and supervisors love her. I see her a lot more often now since we work directly with each other. 

It's cool, she dresses nice. Not really in a bougie, expensive way, but I like the way she dresses. It's always cool to have that cute coworker who dresses nice. 

Now that we work together, we talk, hang out, and shoot the shit. I get to know her more. We have similar tastes in music (R&B). We would talk about music festivals and concerts we were going to. I told her about Camp Flog Gnaw, she was jealous. She went to the Coldplay concert at SnapDragon. We like NPR tinydesks and talked about ones we liked. 

With other coworkers, we talked about which high school we went to. I said I went to UC, and she said she did too! She went there for freshman year before transferring to Morse, where she graduated. She went to Morse, so of course she's from PH, which is where I'm from!

In another conversation, she was telling us how some music artist came to her college. I asked her where she went to college, and she went to UC Riverside, which is where I went! We connected a lot about that. Talked about dorming, renting apartments, etc.

During all of this we're a little flirty with each other, but nothing crazy or obvious. She'd lean over to look at my computer and leave her hair on my arm. We'd crack jokes with each other. We have a similar sense of humor. We make and laugh at the same dumb jokes. But again, she's a co-worker and I'm not dating someone I work with. 

In October, Nika and Rosie came to our office to shoot a video. They were going to different offices across the county and having people try pumpkin spice lattes. They picked me to do the video. In the room it was me, Nika, Rosie, Diana, Sahar, and another worker. They had 4 different PSLs and I had to guess which was which. I ended up getting 100% and during the video, I could tell Diana was having a lot of fun. That's cool bae, I'm glad I could be your entertainment!

After shooting the video, Nika and I chat a little bit. She asks me if there's any girls I see here now that I'm back. I'm pretty sure she's hinting at Diana, but I say that dating coworkers is SKETCH and I'm not doing anything with anyone I work with. 

Sometime down the line her boss, who I supervise, let me know that she's taking 3 weeks off at the end of December to go to the Philippines. I talk to her about it and ask her where she's from. Turns out her family lives 12 minutes away from mine! My family is from Santa Cruz, Lubao, Pampanga, and her family is from Santa Monica, Lubao, Pampanga! What a fucking coincidence. We connected a lot on this. Turns out she was born and raised there before moving to the US at 7 years old. 

What a fucking coincidence! We have SO much in common. But this one hits a little TOO close to home. When we found out our families lived so close together, her first question was "wait, are we related!?" And omg, I would have been SO MAD if we were. Thankfully, I asked my mom and we're not related to her. 

We work with a lot of Mexicans. Diana and I are the only Filipinos in our unit. We compared Mexican dishes with Filipino dishes. We both have menudo. We both have lechon. 

I realize that I'm starting to like this chick sometime in October or November. I've seen other coworkers hook up and make things work, but I can't imagine doing all that. Usually if things work out, HR will make one of the two move locations. I'm not trying to do all that, so I'm hoping one of us (preferably her) promote and we won't work together anymore. 

In November, my mom, sister, and brother in-law took me out for my birthday. We went to a restaurant that I picked. I found a random Italian restaurant named Cesarina. Diana asked what I was doing for my birthday and I said my family was taking me out to some Italian restaurant. She said "omg is it Cesarina!?" This is around the time that we started to realize that we had so much in common, so this kinda creeped me out. Did this beezy have my phone tapped or what!?

I let her know that it was Cesarina. She said "you HAVE to try the tiramisu. It's SO good. If you don't get it, I'm gonna be mad at you." Duly noted homie, I can't let my futurebae down! 

So my family and I go to Cesarina. The pasta is dopeeee. My sister let them know that we were celebrating my birthday and they said they'd bring out some dessert. They brought out dessert, but it wasn't the tiramisu! Motherfuckers. They brought out some tart that ended up being really good. But before we dug in, my sister said I had to make a wish and blow out the candle. Okay cool, one wish coming up. Don't judge me, I'm about to sound like a fucking cornball! I wished that things would work out between me and futurebae. HOW CORNY. 

After we finished the tart, they asked if they could bring us anything else. I let them know that we wanted the tiramisu. I couldn't let workbae down! 

I know what a tiramisu is. It's like a cake with a glaze on top. Well these motherfuckers bring out something called lady fingers. I was so confused. Then they pour cappucino on top. WTF, this is the strangest tiramisu I've ever seen! Then they pour something called marscipone cream on top, and finish it off with some chocolate powder or something. I had to confirm with my sister but this was indeed tiramisu. I was confused, but it was SOOO good. Good recommendation, workbae!

I go to work the next morning and Diana asks me if we got the tiramisu. I tell  her that they brought out a dessert for my bday but it wasn't tiramisu. She told me she was SO disappointed in me. Then I explained the rest and how I was confused about what a tiramisu was. I guess I'm not cultured enough, lol. I thanked her for the recommendation and it was lit. 

I leave for my trip to Europe which was lit. I came back a couple weeks later. That Monday morning, I came in and she and her boss told me that she had some news for me. Turns out, she's leaving! She's promoting and leaving our office. Not just that, but she's promoting to QC, which is the same job I promoted to from my first county job. This just adds on to the list of things we have in common! She said she's sad she didn't get to tap into me to prepare for her job interview, but I was happy she didn't even end up needing the help!

Now it's LIT. We're no longer going to be working together! I can make a move without feeling guilty. Now I'm starting to flirt a little more, without being obvious to everyone else. She gives me crap because I don't know Tagalog or Capangpangan, our dialect. She gives me shit because she says I pronounce kare-kare wrong. Another thing, she's still going to be working in the same building, different floor.

So it comes to her last day with the office. I'm planning out how I'm gonna say bye to her and this other worker who happened to be leaving that day as well. Well my plan got cut out from under me because my boss needed me to leave and go cover for another manager at the other downtown location. So I left right away and when I got there, I realized I wouldn't be able to say bye to Diana in person! 

So I gameplan how I'm going to say bye to her. There's no way I'm gonna see her in person for the rest of the day, so my only option is to say bye over Microsoft Teams instant messenger. The plan is to send her 2 messages: the first is a professional message, the 2nd is more of me shooting my shot. I send her a message thanking her for being such a great worker, that we'll miss her, and we know she'll make us proud. I said sorry that I'm not able to tell this to you in person the way I wished.

I was typing out the second message, when I saw that she was typing. She messaged me saying "Wait, are you not going to be here next week!?" and I say I am going to be here, I thought today was your last day! She said no, next Friday was going to be her last day. Now I'm flustered, annoyed that I got the date wrong. But it's lit, now I can say bye to her in person. I can also do a little more flirting next week, lol! I let her know that I wanted to get lunch and it'd be nice cuz we won't be coworkers anymore so I can be a little less filtered and we can swap UCR stories and whatnot. And she said she's down! It's LIT.

So I'm thinking about her all that weekend. I kinda need to confirm that she's single! I can't broach that subject at work, it's kinda weird. So I reached out to the homie Nika. I looped her in on everything. Nika confirmed that Diana is indeed single. It's LIT. However, Nika warns me that Diana is getting over a bad breakup and she's heartbroken. The last time they hung out, they got dinner and Diana broke down and cried in the middle of the restaurant. That's pretty bad! I appreciate the homie Nika letting me know that part. 

The next day, one of my staff was playing music. He played "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. I told him and other staff how that song reminds me of the first time I was heartbroken. I was talking to this girl named Alana Griffin. We were supposed to end up dating each other, I was supposed to lose my virginity to her, but without going into details, I fucked things up and we didn't end up getting together. It ended up just being a talking stage with nothing more than making out. 

It HURT. I was soooo hurt. You don't know how to deal with heartbreak the first time it happens! I found myself wrapped in a blanket, lying down on a couch, listening to two songs on repeat: Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls and Better in Time by Leona Lewis. I couldn't cry, no tears were coming out, but I was SOBBING. My chest HURT. I did that for a good hour before I came to and shook out of it. And my staffmember playing that song reminded me of it!

I told that story to Diana and she connected to it. She said that those were my songs, and she had a similar situation but her song was "The Scientist" by Coldplay. She said that when she went to their concert a few months back, she was hurt and it made the concert all that much better. It was nice to hear her open up a little bit. 

So her last day, there's like an hour and a half left before she leaves for vacation and leaves our office for good. I'm hanging out with her outside, shooting the shit inbetween working. She asks me if I've ever eaten balut. I tell her HELL no. She says she LOVES it. Our mexican coworkers agree with me and I shame the shit out of her. She's TOO Filipino. She's TOO adventurous. Then she sees Agnes, this Filipino auntie who we work with. For context, Agnes is the sweetest woman ever. She brought lumpia and pancit that day for everyone. 

Diana sees her and says we need to settle this once and for all. We need to ask Agnes if I pronounce kare-kare correctly. So we call for her to come out. While we're waiting for her, I say wait, we need to put stakes on this! What happens if I win and what happens if you win? Diana says that if she wins, I have to eat balut. I tell her I will straight up throw up. I was gonna say that if I won, she would have to let me take her on a date or something similarly flirty, but I couldn't do anything in front of other coworkers. We didn't end up coming up with anything specific because Agnes came out.

Agnes comes by and Diana starts talking but I say WAITWAITWAIT. First of all, Agnes, thank you for bringing pancit and lumpia. It was super good. I ask Agnes if she knows the Filipino dish kare-kare. She says she does, and I say it's really good right!? Well when you hear me say it, do I say it with an accent, or do I say it correctly? 

I'm so excited for her to validate me. Diana and I have been talking shit for weeks, and now I'm finally gonna be able to say I say it right! And Agnes goes and says I say it correctly! I was SO HYPED. I talked so much shit to Diana afterwards. Agnes kind of walked it back afterwards and said that Diana has to understand, I was born and raised here, I don't know the language. But the damage was done! I was pronounced the winner. 

I didn't get to say bye to Diana that day the way I really wanted to. I kind of walked her to the parking structure but I had to leave to do work related stuff on a time crunch. But walking to the parking structure we did say we'd get lunch together and hang out when she came back. And now she's gone for 3 weeks, returning on the 16th. She said she'd film a video of her eating balut. We'll seeeeeeeeeeee!