Falling apart, let’s stand up.

As I enter the training room, the smell like that of vinegar sprinted into my nose. No spilled one. It’s just that some of the old washed casino chips used in training had been unpacked to accommodate 40-plus aspiring casino dealers for a month-long training in casino dealing. The smell of old chips lingered as I scanned the whole of the training room–10 or so Blackjack and Bacarrat tables, lots of casino chairs, lots of banners, and tons and tons of chips, old and new. Ah yes, that smell may well represent income raise. Progress, that is.

And progress seemed to cripple what was used to be a happy Asian Gaming Academy.

Being part of what I always thought as my “next to kin”–and like someone brought up to a good godly home–I always have the opportunity to tell every possible acquaintance about this home, the Academy or AGA, and the good it has provided me.

I remembered an example during our MBA class. While some of my fellow students (who are also fellow employees of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) seemed to elaborate all their complaints and hassles of being employed in the Corporation, I was the one reaching out and proudly conveying about AGA’s high-level of energy and performance, non-existence of politics, and caring attitude of its staff towards each other. And that way somehow I made them feel that AGA was THE department others need to emulate.

Even during all of the training I facilitated, I was a proud kid of saying I belong to a caring home. Training participants seemed to get my perky and grateful feeling everytime I share them how teamwork exists in AGA to the extent that few of them approached me and signified their willingness to join the “happiest place in PAGCOR.”

But like any other family, AGA also experienced ordeals.

There’s a leakage of politics, going on, where most of us felt cheated when someone got an easy manipulated promotion and the rest of us were stuck to our places.  They say that AGA can never do something to step up, AS YET, because promotion for us was just inappropriate and untimely, and this person, AS YET, ultimately had the chance.

Today, I feel demoralized, I think most of AGA members feel the same way. There are indicators such as applying for other job inside the Corporation, working for other company, or finding job abroad. There had been offers and there will be eventual release soon.

Until then, AGA is unhappy. Happiness now is individualized and no longer shared.

The smell of vinegar still lingers on.