Last year, actually it all started a year before 2012, a friend asked me to help her with her client. She needed someone who will act as a "caretaker" for a company that she is setting up for a foreigner client. As I know my friend from way back, I did not think twice to say yes. The job description did not require any other skills or specification, just common sense and some reading and writing.
Middle of the year, I found out that I lack common sense. I had been in the middle of a turbulent turf war between two foreign corporations fighting over Manila space and I am now looking after me. My friend who placed me in this situation, has left me to deal with her clients, saying that I should be the one to talk to them about my demands (apparently receiving an honorarium from them automatically made me responsible for them). I also found myself a respondent in a criminal case with respect to this. Having a criminal case made me realize that what I just read about anxiety, sleepless night and stress are not mere words on paper. I was also exposed to the lowest of the low in our criminal justice system.
Hopefully, this start of the new year will bring me good news. I should learn to fight for myself. No more being nice. I now learned that this really is a "dog eat dog" world, and unless you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth, life will never be easy in a third world country. I also learned that some friends are just there for PR and marketing and the length of time that you know each other is not a guarantee that they will stand by you through thick or thin.
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