Babawiin Ko Ang Lahat

Chapter 13

Sophia's point of view

Ilang araw matapos ang pag leak ng aking video, at maging ang huling pag-uusap namin ni Magdalena, ay muling bumalik ang lahat sa normal.

Inurong na ni King ang isasampang kaso laban sa kumpanya ni Adonis ngunit sa dalawang kundisyon.

Una, pananatilihin ang suspensyon ni Magdalena at huwag muna siyang pababalikin. At ikalawa, dapat ay hindi na maulit ang kahalintulad na insidente dahil kapag nangyari uli iyon ay hindi na magbibigay ng ikalawang pagkakataon si King.

Agad namang pumayag si Adonis, kaya ngayong araw ay nandito muli ako sa conference room ng kanilang kumpanya, kasama ang aming mga shareholders, at maliban kay Magdalena.

Kasalukuyan kaming nakikinig sa business proposal na dinevelop ni Adonis. Ginamit niya ang aking naunang proposal at sinabing iimprove niya ito at mas gagawing espesyal.

"So our restaurant will be called 'Taste of Tessa's'" ani Adonis.

"It is in honor for Sophia's grandmother, Lola Tessa. She was a good cook, and she knew a lot of dishes around the country. Name it, and she will definitely know how to cook it. And that's going to be the core objective of Taste of Tessa's – to offer different Filipino dishes to its customers" dagdag nito.

Hindi ko maiwasang mapangiti... at masaktan. Namiss ko bigla si Lola Tessa.

"But not only that, our value proposition will be kind of interesting and unique. I'm not sure if something like this has been done in the Philippines. Do you want to hear it?" nakangiti at excited na tanong ni Adonis.

"Okay, this is how it goes. We are going to hire elderly people with Alzheimer's and Dementia as our waiter and waitresses"

Napatingin ako sa mga shareholders at kita ang pagtataka sa kanilang mukha. Maging ako ay nagtaka dahil ngayon ko lang narinig ang ideyang ito.

"Interesting, isn't it? According to studies, Philippines has an increasing number of elderly suffering from memory loss. Some of them stay with their families, but some of them were left in a home for the aged, with no families visiting them. Just imagine how heartbreaking this is for them. It's like they've been excluded from the society because of their age and memory impairment"

"Personally, I want to change that. I want to give our elderly a chance to be relevant in our society. I want to empower them that despite their age and illness, they can still contribute to us" dagdag nito.

"You said that those elders have Alzheimer's and Dementia, paano kung magkamali sila sa pagkuha ng orders? Paano kung masyado silang mabagal sa pagkilos? Will it not affect the feedback of our restaurant? Baka hindi na bumalik ang mga customers dahil sa poor performance na maari nilang maranasan" tanong ng isang shareholder.

"That's exactly what will make our restaurant unique. This idea might be crazy and out of the box, that our restaurant can't even get its customers' orders right because our servers are elders with Alzheimer's and Dementia."

"They may, or may not, get the orders right but our job is to ensure that all the food that we serve is delicious and one of a kind. We will ensure that our customers will say 'It's okay if the order is not right, but this dish tastes so good anyway and I want to try more of other Pinoy dishes.' And I hope that Taste of Tessa's will not be just about food, but an advocacy and a voice for the elders who were already forgotten by the society."

Lahat ng nasa loob ng conference room ay nagpalakpakan dahil sa pagkamangha sa proposal ni Adonis. Maging ako ay malakas ang palakpak at hindi alam ang sasabihin dahil sa ganda ng kanyang mga sinabi.