birthdays

my technical lead was in a meeting yesterday so i was the one who called our support group for assistance.  i asked for the manager, ha-ha.  i apologized for bothering him instead of the point person he had earlier identified explaining it was the guy's birthday that day.  he said it was perfectly ok.

we were on the phone several times during the day and the last time, was i surprised to notice an e-mail from his birthday staff.  i blurted out, "nagtatrabaho pa si _ _ _ _ ?!"  (e-mail timestamp was already beyond regular office hours.)

he says yes and i chide him saying the documentation i was asking for could have waited after the guy's birthday.

he tells me his staff continue working and don't take a leave on their birthdays.

i kid him, "yuck!  what kind of manager are you???  there's a personal component to the managerial aspect, you know..."

he breaks into a laugh saying he was actually suprised i know about his staff's birthdays.

i ask, "don't you???"

he says he's just been finding out through me and it's not something he thinks about throughout the day.

ooops, ha-ha-ha.

1.  actually, i learned about his staff's birthdays unintentionally.

the first one last week, i called for a meeting with their group and, on the day of the meeting, one of the attendees tells me it was the birthday of another one of the attendees.  when the manager arrived therefore, i told him he should have told me earlier it was his staff's birthday so i could have excused him from attending.  he said he didn't know : }

and then the one yesterday, i found out through friendster and MyMiniLife.  he invited me to be a friend and friendster sent a notification while his MyMiniLife profile showed his birthday to friends.

2.  his staff's birthdays are not really things i think about throughout the day, ha-ha

it's just that one was at my office on the day of his birthday and another sent me work mail on the day of his birthday and such times, at least, i remember that it is their day.

if you are my staff, unless something is really, really urgent, i'll actually unload you on your birthday.  i'd like it if you go on leave but in case you don't, i'll make an effort to make your work day lighter.  work is work, it never goes away.  your birthday comes just once a year.  i'd like it to be YOUR day... : )