Somebody's gotta do it

“Hello.” came the curt greeting from the other line.

“Hello, Lito. Are you ready for lunch?” I said cheerfully.

Before he could reply, “Wait a second. Are you going to be bad company today? You sound sad again. Please, can we talk about happier things? Please..?” He has been grouchy since beginning of the week and I can’t stand another day being at the receiving end of this whining. Again.

“I can’t help it. There is just something that Anne (Anne is one of his team members) said … "

“You know, I think I’ll have indigestion if we spend an hour of negativity,” I said sweetly. “Oh please can we talk about other things over lunch, please? I won’t like you as my lunchmate if you give me another round of those complaints. Only happy thoughts. This one time?” The sugary tone didn’t escape him.

“Okay,” he says with a sigh.

I relented. “Okay, I give you 15 minutes tops to let it out and that is it.”

“No. I promise. No complaining this time.” Happily, i put down the phone proceeded to the 8th floor cafeteria.

When I met him at 8th floor, I saw Anne with him and we spend an hour free of office issues that usually dampen their moods. But our new topic leaves a lot to be desired as well. (sigh) I prefer to keep it at that.

Four hours later, Lito calls me up for snacks. This time, with Colin. Still no complaints (yess..) but his face was morose and at one point, he bowed his head and rested his cheek on the table. Colin and I looked at each other, with questions in our eyes.

There are a lot of times when I do prefer not to have Lito join us for meals. He tests my patience. Whining has become his bad habit.

But I felt a wave of compassion for the guy.

“Cheer up. Lito.” With a defeated sigh, I said, “ Okay, let’s hear them.”

Without hesitation, he begins a litany of his office angst. We listen patiently. After he was done with his monologue, it was my (and Colin’s) turn to speak. We gave him harsh but honest words. Some were reminders. Others were corrections.

We gave him hard questions. He was quietly nodding his head. I just hope he realizes that Colin and I sincerely want to help him see things in a different perspective.

I don’t know how much of what we said really hit home. We did our part. The rest is up to him.