Celebrating New Year's Eve at the Office

People celebrate New Year's Day all over the world. New Year's Eve countdowns are done in almost every corner of the world in anticipation of New Year's Day. My family and I celebrate New Year's Eve by preparing food early in the evening. Then we watch a countdown on TV and go out for a bit to watch fireworks. After a short while, we will eat together then watch TV again for a while then head off to sleep.

However, last year, December 31, 2009, it was the first time that I missed New Year's Eve because I was at work. That's one of the things that could happen especially if you are in a 24/7 industry such as a call center. While people were partying, I was working.

I remembered back in mid-2009, I wasn't able to apply for a leave and sadly, when I tried to give my application, the available leave slots were all used up. So, I had to come in and work on the phones on New Year's Eve.

So I came in that night and the day seemed like a normal day. I had some of my teammates, who weren't able to apply for leave as well, with me and we were just hoping to go home early. Unfortunately, calls were gushing in like an uncontrollable lava flow and it was a busy New Year's Eve. But everyone stopped and shouted at exactly 12 midnight and greeted each other a Happy New Year and then came back to the phones.

I don't remember clearly but I think we were given lollipops or cupcakes. To be fair, our company was so generous this 2010 and gave us lots of gifts. Going back, I head out during my breaks to hopefully catch good fireworks and pyrotechnics but there were very few since it's already past midnight. We then had some food just for our team before we left for home.

Meanwhile, my mom and my sister were at home and prepared the usual feast before midnight and they ate a bit and waited for me to return home. I came home at around 4 in the morning and we ate happily. I promised myself that I won't spend another New Year's Eve in the office so this year, I was able to apply for a leave on time and I was on leave for this years New Year's Eve celebration.

It was a pretty quiet New Year's Eve. Here in the Philippines, fireworks and firecrackers are everywhere and the smoke fills the air from midnight till around dawn. But I guess fewer people buy them because they'd rather save it for food and other New Year stuff. Back then, when I was still a kid, it's really noisy as early as 7 PM. Last night, there were significantly few.

It's now 2011 and I wish everyone good luck, much wealth, great health and may you all be blessed in the Year of the Rabbit. Happy New Year!