My brother's phone was stolen again! Since the line was registered under my name, I had to call Globe's customer service to have it blocked. Upon stating my concern, the CS representative told me that their system will be 'up' in an hour and I have to call back later. I argued that the phone's stolen and there's no stopping the person from making unlimited phone calls charged to my account! But she calmly said that since their system is down, there's no way for her to have the SIM blocked.
HELLO?! Are you testing my patience?!
All I said was "FINE," and ended the call.
The least she could've done is to get the phone number and assure me that once their system is up and running, she will make sure that all calls made through the lost phone wouldn't be charged to the account. Or something to that effect.
After a few minutes, I called again planning to make her at least record the lost cell number and the time I called so that when the bill arrives, we can have the business center staff check their lost phone record to prove that we didn't make those calls. Surprisingly, it seems that their system is running already and the CS rep gladly terminated the phone account.
This proves two things:
1. Either Globe CS reps are not properly trained or they don't use their head.
2. System downtime in Globe takes a few minutes to fix, but then again there isn't supposed to be any downtime in the first place.
2.26.2004
2.23.2004
Worth it?
A month before valentines day, my cousin Sally partnered with her friend to help run her flower shop. The shop has existing suppliers, employees and clients when Sally joined the business. Being an eager businessminded person, my cousin planned on opening several short-term fresh-flowers-for-valentines kiosks but realized that she only have enough resources for 2 in addition to their main shop in makati.
So I jumped on the chance and talked my one-time-tiangge-partner Liza into our second biz-partnership. After determining that the venture entails minimal risk, we decided to open our own in Times Plaza from Feb 10 to 14. We had it all planned out. Thought that it would be as easy as personally choosing fresh flowers from Dangwa to personally arranging bouquets for sale.
As it turned-out, we didn't realize what we're getting into.
A week before:
Went to Divisoria to buy the necessary items for the store such as flower 'pails', bouquet tissue wraps, ribbons, and additional items for sale.
We went to the basement of Divisoria mall to look for deflated balloons and stuffed toys. I didn't realize that even on non-Christmas season, Divisoria is so crowded! The basement of the mall looks more like a small, dark, smelly, suffocating hole where people are squeezed and pushed to move an inch. Anyway, after a dizzying and hyperventilating 5-hour errand, we were able to get everything we need at rock-bottom prices.
A day before the first day:
We couldn't contact the supposed saleslady to man the store! And both of us cannot afford to be absent from work. Fortunately, Liza was able to talk someone into looking after the stall for us.
Since we have to get fresh flowers, we decided to go to Dangwa at 2am the next day when flowers arrive directly from Baguio. Liza & I met at 10pm at my place and took the jeepney to the flower market at 1:30am.
First day (Feb 10):
We bought bouquet boxes, tubes (which I like to call "the roses' life support system") and several dozens of roses, malaysian mums, carnations, baby's breaths and mysticas.
After a tiring 2-hour flower shopping spree, we went home at 4am, not to rest but to wash, clean and prune the flowers. At last, at 7:30am we were able to produce 2 bouquets, of course that is after several trial-and-error attempts to create the most appealing bouquets our sleepy souls could make. Pictures temporarily published at http://photos.yahoo.com/grace_chua_ay
While Liza went to fetch the saleslady, yes her honor has to be fetched or else she won't go to the stall by herself, I cleaned up the leaves littered all over our front porch.
The stall officially started business at 9am! After briefing the saleslady, Liza took the halfday off from work and went home to sleep. I went straight to my desk on the 8th floor and half-awakedly zoned into my usual routine of checking email and pretending to look busy.
At around 4pm, I was barely awake, wishing so hard that 8pm will arrive soon so we can close the store, go home and sleep!
By the end of the day, we had only sold 1 tiny stuffed heart worth P30! So much for motivation...
Second & Third day (Feb 11 & 12):
Nothing exciting happened. Sales were around P500 on each day, not even enough to cover a third of the rent & wage expenses for the day. Fortunately, my Unisys officemates placed a few orders which I had no choice but to deliver the next day.
My parents can't help but comment on how they've worked so hard to put me in college so that I can earn a decent living afterwards and not peddle flowers. They really couldn't see the point why I was doing all this... at that time, neither can I.
Fourth day (Feb 13):
Accdg to my prediction, this is the day when the bulk of the sales will be. Liza & I met up at Dangwa around 2am again. My poor sleepy dad, who insisted on coming with us after being threatened by my mom, waited by the car while Liz & I got all the flowers we need. We were home at around 4:30am to wash and prepare the orders for the day. By 8:30am we brought the fresh flowers to the stall. I took the bus to makati to deliver the flowers as promised. Thinking about it now, I looked so pathetic, like an old lady peddling flowers inside office buildings. But of course, I wasn't peddling, I was merely delivering the orders to their owners. A sleep-deprived zombie carrying a bruised dignity, I was worrying if there will be enough sales for the day to cover the costs we already paid cash for. My dear brother was kind enough to ask his friends to purchase from me. Thanks to him, almost a third of our profits were generated by the dozens of orders his friends made.
Last day (Feb 14):
At last! The day when we get to decide the fate of our biz. I was in school in the morning while Liza went to rest because she was up for 48 hours straight! She was also helping their church raise funds by selling flowers. At the end of the day, we cleared the stall space and went home to do accounting. We were able to make a good 35% financial profit from the experience. After having settled the accounts at 10:30pm, we went to Bacolod Chicken Inasal for dinner to 'celebrate.' Celebrate the fact that we made money, that our business did not fall apart, and that we don't need to sacrifice sleep anymore!
Thinking about it now, most entrepreneur will be lucky if their business is able to generate 15% net profit annually. We should be happy that with such minimal capital, we were able to produce 35% net profit in 5 days. But then again, we gave up a lot of things, like sleeps, breakfasts, and half-days from work where we get paid by just sitting in aircon room checking emails. In terms of experience, I personally think that although we did learn some things from it, I wouldn't exactly consider the learning precious.
Worth it? You betcha!
Do it again next year? You betcha! NOT.
So I jumped on the chance and talked my one-time-tiangge-partner Liza into our second biz-partnership. After determining that the venture entails minimal risk, we decided to open our own in Times Plaza from Feb 10 to 14. We had it all planned out. Thought that it would be as easy as personally choosing fresh flowers from Dangwa to personally arranging bouquets for sale.
As it turned-out, we didn't realize what we're getting into.
A week before:
Went to Divisoria to buy the necessary items for the store such as flower 'pails', bouquet tissue wraps, ribbons, and additional items for sale.
We went to the basement of Divisoria mall to look for deflated balloons and stuffed toys. I didn't realize that even on non-Christmas season, Divisoria is so crowded! The basement of the mall looks more like a small, dark, smelly, suffocating hole where people are squeezed and pushed to move an inch. Anyway, after a dizzying and hyperventilating 5-hour errand, we were able to get everything we need at rock-bottom prices.
A day before the first day:
We couldn't contact the supposed saleslady to man the store! And both of us cannot afford to be absent from work. Fortunately, Liza was able to talk someone into looking after the stall for us.
Since we have to get fresh flowers, we decided to go to Dangwa at 2am the next day when flowers arrive directly from Baguio. Liza & I met at 10pm at my place and took the jeepney to the flower market at 1:30am.
First day (Feb 10):
We bought bouquet boxes, tubes (which I like to call "the roses' life support system") and several dozens of roses, malaysian mums, carnations, baby's breaths and mysticas.
After a tiring 2-hour flower shopping spree, we went home at 4am, not to rest but to wash, clean and prune the flowers. At last, at 7:30am we were able to produce 2 bouquets, of course that is after several trial-and-error attempts to create the most appealing bouquets our sleepy souls could make. Pictures temporarily published at http://photos.yahoo.com/grace_chua_ay
While Liza went to fetch the saleslady, yes her honor has to be fetched or else she won't go to the stall by herself, I cleaned up the leaves littered all over our front porch.
The stall officially started business at 9am! After briefing the saleslady, Liza took the halfday off from work and went home to sleep. I went straight to my desk on the 8th floor and half-awakedly zoned into my usual routine of checking email and pretending to look busy.
At around 4pm, I was barely awake, wishing so hard that 8pm will arrive soon so we can close the store, go home and sleep!
By the end of the day, we had only sold 1 tiny stuffed heart worth P30! So much for motivation...
Second & Third day (Feb 11 & 12):
Nothing exciting happened. Sales were around P500 on each day, not even enough to cover a third of the rent & wage expenses for the day. Fortunately, my Unisys officemates placed a few orders which I had no choice but to deliver the next day.
My parents can't help but comment on how they've worked so hard to put me in college so that I can earn a decent living afterwards and not peddle flowers. They really couldn't see the point why I was doing all this... at that time, neither can I.
Fourth day (Feb 13):
Accdg to my prediction, this is the day when the bulk of the sales will be. Liza & I met up at Dangwa around 2am again. My poor sleepy dad, who insisted on coming with us after being threatened by my mom, waited by the car while Liz & I got all the flowers we need. We were home at around 4:30am to wash and prepare the orders for the day. By 8:30am we brought the fresh flowers to the stall. I took the bus to makati to deliver the flowers as promised. Thinking about it now, I looked so pathetic, like an old lady peddling flowers inside office buildings. But of course, I wasn't peddling, I was merely delivering the orders to their owners. A sleep-deprived zombie carrying a bruised dignity, I was worrying if there will be enough sales for the day to cover the costs we already paid cash for. My dear brother was kind enough to ask his friends to purchase from me. Thanks to him, almost a third of our profits were generated by the dozens of orders his friends made.
Last day (Feb 14):
At last! The day when we get to decide the fate of our biz. I was in school in the morning while Liza went to rest because she was up for 48 hours straight! She was also helping their church raise funds by selling flowers. At the end of the day, we cleared the stall space and went home to do accounting. We were able to make a good 35% financial profit from the experience. After having settled the accounts at 10:30pm, we went to Bacolod Chicken Inasal for dinner to 'celebrate.' Celebrate the fact that we made money, that our business did not fall apart, and that we don't need to sacrifice sleep anymore!
Thinking about it now, most entrepreneur will be lucky if their business is able to generate 15% net profit annually. We should be happy that with such minimal capital, we were able to produce 35% net profit in 5 days. But then again, we gave up a lot of things, like sleeps, breakfasts, and half-days from work where we get paid by just sitting in aircon room checking emails. In terms of experience, I personally think that although we did learn some things from it, I wouldn't exactly consider the learning precious.
Worth it? You betcha!
Do it again next year? You betcha! NOT.
2.11.2004
values
money is the reason why, even if i feel insignificant in this project, i am still with the damned project.
Espoused value: the value you tell everyone like 'employees are our no.1 concern'
Actual value: the real (deep inside) things you value based on your behaviour and action like 'generate profit or cut cost whatever it takes even if it means laying off employees'
A person becomes self-actualized when his espoused values and actual values are the same.
-----
My espoused value: the significance of my existence.
My actual value: make more money.
I guess I am a loooooong way from achieving self-actualization!
Espoused value: the value you tell everyone like 'employees are our no.1 concern'
Actual value: the real (deep inside) things you value based on your behaviour and action like 'generate profit or cut cost whatever it takes even if it means laying off employees'
A person becomes self-actualized when his espoused values and actual values are the same.
-----
My espoused value: the significance of my existence.
My actual value: make more money.
I guess I am a loooooong way from achieving self-actualization!
2.06.2004
Quarterlife crisis
For the past year, something kept bothering me. It is the feeling of being lost, of living each day aimlessly, without direction, clueless of where I want to go. The me I imagined as a kid is very far from what I am now. A typical quarterlife crisis scenario.
Quarter-life crisis means during our mid-20s, we still do not know who we are and where our life is heading. The crisis part is we get scared because we feel we are getting old without achieving much of anything significant. For me, this crisis doesn't end when we reach our late 20s. We will continue to carry this state of confusion up until we get to middle age, which is another crisis of similar nature called the Middlelife crisis. No one is spared of going through this cycle.
Doing research in preparation for this Saturday class' oral exam, I was directed to www.theworkingmanager.com. The page has an interesting section where their Thought of the Month is posted. It said that the world's greatest tragedy is when the people never find out what they really want in life or what they are really good at. And this is precisely what I am afraid of happening to me.
I will quote some part of it here just in case the page is removed from the site.
"It is exciting to realise that each one of us, every day, has the opportunity to create the beginning of a new self. The self we want to be. "But that is impossible," you say, "You just do not understand my circumstances." You are right, I don't. They are your circumstances, but this I do know.
Your circumstances may not be in your control, but your attitude is. It's not what happens to you that is important it is how you deal with what happens to you. Every person forms his or her own estimate of him or herself and that estimate determines what he or she becomes. You can do no more than you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. If you really do put a low value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise the price!"
Beautiful!
Quarter-life crisis means during our mid-20s, we still do not know who we are and where our life is heading. The crisis part is we get scared because we feel we are getting old without achieving much of anything significant. For me, this crisis doesn't end when we reach our late 20s. We will continue to carry this state of confusion up until we get to middle age, which is another crisis of similar nature called the Middlelife crisis. No one is spared of going through this cycle.
Doing research in preparation for this Saturday class' oral exam, I was directed to www.theworkingmanager.com. The page has an interesting section where their Thought of the Month is posted. It said that the world's greatest tragedy is when the people never find out what they really want in life or what they are really good at. And this is precisely what I am afraid of happening to me.
I will quote some part of it here just in case the page is removed from the site.
"It is exciting to realise that each one of us, every day, has the opportunity to create the beginning of a new self. The self we want to be. "But that is impossible," you say, "You just do not understand my circumstances." You are right, I don't. They are your circumstances, but this I do know.
Your circumstances may not be in your control, but your attitude is. It's not what happens to you that is important it is how you deal with what happens to you. Every person forms his or her own estimate of him or herself and that estimate determines what he or she becomes. You can do no more than you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. If you really do put a low value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise the price!"
Beautiful!
2.03.2004
Annoying
As usual, we went to Frio Mixx UN Ave for lunch. That place is preferred because it's the nearest and the least crowded at noontime.
My lunchmates have been irked by the fact that the branch had been in operation for at least more than 6 months already, but the service is still lousy. Servers couldn't differentiate Orange from Honey Ice Tea. Their Fried Chicken, a best seller, is usually out-of-stock (I'm pretty sure not because of the Bird-Flu scare). Waiters get confused with the orders because several customers share the same number.
I usually have high tolerance for order mistakes and doesn't really mind when my order comes late or when the water I specifically asked from the counter didn't arrive. But today is different! My officemate's entire order was not served, Italian Sausage in White Sauce, Spicy Squid, Passion Fruit Juice and all, just because some wise guy thought that sharing numbers is a great idea. What's so great about sharing numbers? Order takers write the shared number on the several order slips, waiters get confused and opted not to serve food that they thought had already been served, customers wait a long time thinking that their orders are being prepared, customers stomachs are growling and they get impatient. They really should consider getting more of those number stands so that customers don't have to share numbers.
I usually prefer water to go with my meals. And so everytime I eat there, I ask for drinking water. Everytime! As in we eat at Frio at least once a week, and at most 3 times a week, for 6 consecutive months! I am a repeat, repeat, repeat customer. So I guess it would stick to the waiters' minds that I need drinking water, not juice, not tea, not shake, just plain water to go with the dry meal. And so for the nth time, I was choking on my beef tapa and the water, which I requested 3-4 times to several different waiters, wasn't served yet. That was fine, I can manage... but almost after finishing the food, two waiters brought 5 plastic cups filled with iced water and place all 5 cups near my plate. There were only 4 of us at the table, all of my companions have their drinks. Do you think the waiters were trying to tell me something?!
Lesson to be learned, still eat at Frio Mixx because it's the nearest and the least crowded place during lunchtime. Period.
My lunchmates have been irked by the fact that the branch had been in operation for at least more than 6 months already, but the service is still lousy. Servers couldn't differentiate Orange from Honey Ice Tea. Their Fried Chicken, a best seller, is usually out-of-stock (I'm pretty sure not because of the Bird-Flu scare). Waiters get confused with the orders because several customers share the same number.
I usually have high tolerance for order mistakes and doesn't really mind when my order comes late or when the water I specifically asked from the counter didn't arrive. But today is different! My officemate's entire order was not served, Italian Sausage in White Sauce, Spicy Squid, Passion Fruit Juice and all, just because some wise guy thought that sharing numbers is a great idea. What's so great about sharing numbers? Order takers write the shared number on the several order slips, waiters get confused and opted not to serve food that they thought had already been served, customers wait a long time thinking that their orders are being prepared, customers stomachs are growling and they get impatient. They really should consider getting more of those number stands so that customers don't have to share numbers.
I usually prefer water to go with my meals. And so everytime I eat there, I ask for drinking water. Everytime! As in we eat at Frio at least once a week, and at most 3 times a week, for 6 consecutive months! I am a repeat, repeat, repeat customer. So I guess it would stick to the waiters' minds that I need drinking water, not juice, not tea, not shake, just plain water to go with the dry meal. And so for the nth time, I was choking on my beef tapa and the water, which I requested 3-4 times to several different waiters, wasn't served yet. That was fine, I can manage... but almost after finishing the food, two waiters brought 5 plastic cups filled with iced water and place all 5 cups near my plate. There were only 4 of us at the table, all of my companions have their drinks. Do you think the waiters were trying to tell me something?!
Lesson to be learned, still eat at Frio Mixx because it's the nearest and the least crowded place during lunchtime. Period.
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