It's All in the Graveyard

My aunt once told me that praises and criticisms don't do anything to you. She told me this after a colleague whom I thought all these years was an angel, gave me such a whipping of nasty criticisms during the day of the Prom that  its stinging venom left me weak and dazed weeks after the cotillion and all the JS brouhaha had already long gone.

My aunt's remark surprised me. She is, after all a psychologist and my own studies of the human psyche led me to believe that praise can actually do a lot of things to the ego. The same is true with criticisms.

I guess now I understand what she means. If we know ourselves well enough, I don't think we need praises from others nor criticisms. If we know where we're standing and and evaluate our own strengths and weaknesses, then we don't need validation from others.

What I picture out is a balloon. When there's no air inside it, it's lifeless, shrunken, and wrinkled. It will never give joy to anyone who holds it. When we criticize someone, they become like this kind of balloon. That is because they allow one needle of criticism to poke through it. On the other hand, if you're full of air, there's a big possibility that you'll fly away and forget that you're not supposed to be up there in the clouds. Praises can do this to you.

I think the key here is balance and a good dose of self-knowledge. If I know myself enough, I don't have to feel bad when criticized nor feel extreme bliss when praised. See, I don't need to be a balloon because I can just be myself.

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I finished Neil Gaiman's the Graveyard Book tonight and the ending made me a wee bit sad. I was surprised that the author is a Newbery awardee!

"Face your life 
Its pain, its pleasure, 
Leave no path untaken."

This book's trying to tell me something about praises and criticisms in some way. Special thanks to my sweet little sister in Christ, Gabby Moralidad for lending me her book.

Globe Telecom Technician Incident Report

April 15, 2013

THE MANAGER

Globe Telecom, Inc.

SM City

Mandurriao, Iloilo City

Dear Sir:

Greetings!

I would like to address my concern regarding one of your technicians whose ill-manners and unpleasant attitude have marred my perception towards Globe Telecom employees, specifically towards the Internet technicians.

I am saddened that I was not able to get his complete name, but I am sure that you have a complete record of your employees and the clients that they had catered to. He is about 5’2 in height, medium-built, probably in his 40’s, and has a distinct skin allergy on his hand (I cannot remember if it’s left or right). If I will be shown his picture, I will definitely recognize him right away.

This technician has offended me on two separate occasions.

The first time was May of last of year (I can no longer remember the exact date, but I trust you have a record of it) when I had my Internet connected. My landlord did not allow him to connect the cables to my room through a shorter route; thus, he needed about two more meters of cable, more than that of what is supposed to be the required length mandated by the company. He told me that I will be charged for the extra cable and it will appear in my bill the next month.

I did not expect the extra payment so I asked a friend who used to work in Globe and he told me that there is no payment for anything else.

With that answer from my friend, I asked the technician if he can give me an approximate amount. He replied that it’s going to be quite expensive, that is of course, if he is going to report it. He gave me another option. He will not report the extra cable and all I have to do is give him an amount and I’ll be off the hook. I asked again how much I’ll be giving him. He said ‘biskan pila lang da ihatag mo a.’

At this point, I knew that the technician’s simply fishing for a tip, so I played along with his game. I said I’ll give him money for his troubles. But I was greatly irritated by his manners because even if he didn’t mention anything about an extra payment, I would still give him a tip.

When they were done with the connection, I handed him a plastic of fruits (freshly-picked tambis), but he condescendingly refused by saying, ‘Indi na a.’ His younger assistant, however appreciatively got the fruits from me and said thank you. When I gave him my ‘tip’ of P200.00, he pocketed it straight away without looking back.

That was my first encounter of this rude technician.

The second time was last April 6, 2013. I didn’t have an Internet connection for two days and he was once again the one who facilitated the connection. This time he had a different assistant.

After checking my modem, they went out and came back after about 20 minutes. He asked if I had load because he didn’t have load anymore and he still needed to call somebody in the office. I said I didn’t have enough load for a phone call. He replied that he’s just going to text. Thinking that he needed to communicate with someone regarding my connection, I reluctantly gave him my cellphone but I ended up texting for him because his assistant didn’t know how to type through touchscreen. His text went something like this (it’s quite hazy in my memory now): Tawgi na si Manok or Patawga na si Manok.

When the connection was ok and when they were bidding their goodbyes already, I overheard him ask his assistant, “May load ka da? Ma text ko.” His assistant gave him his phone. After a minute, they came back to check my modem again. The rude technician was talking to somebody on the phone. The assistant told me that somebody from Manila wanted to talk to me. The caller was a woman who wanted to know the details of the connection. One of the questions was, “Naka proper uniform po ba ang mga technicians?” The assistant was in his proper uniform while the rude one was not. He gave a thumbs-up sign to me and I resignedly answered, “Opo, nakaproper uniform po sila.”

Well, how could I say no? The loudspeaker was turned on and he could hear our conversation. I felt that I owe him so I didn’t give him a negative feedback. He’s not just rude, he’s also quite tricky.

With that, I believe that this technician deserves a disciplinary action for the following reasons:

1. He demanded an extra payment from me even if it wasn’t stipulated in any way that I will be paying extra for the connection. What he did was just plain bribery.

2. I find it improper that he’ll use my phone. Why did he have to use my ‘load’ by using my cellphone when his assistant also had a loaded cellphone? (Feeling close?)

3. I believe that as a client, I need to give my feedbacks of the service in private, free from influence of any kind. I find it improper that he turned on the loudspeaker of his phone so he could eavesdrop over my feedbacks and over the questions of the evaluator.

I wrote this letter because two incidents are enough for me to prove that this man’s ill-manners do not give a positive image to your company. I believe that I wasn’t his only victim. In fact, when I posted in my FB status about the incident, two of my friends expressed the same sentiments about Globe technicians (I like to believe that we encountered the same technician).

I hope that my letter be given a positive response and I also hope that I’ll no longer encounter this kind of technician in the future.

Thank you in advance and more power to Globe Telecom, Inc.!

Truly yours,

 (sgd.)

VAN KRISTINE L. MENDOZA

Globe Subscriber

Summer Break? What's That?

Earn as much as I can.

That's one of my goals this year. It's ranked twelfth out of my thirteen things-I-should-do for 2013. By earning as much meant extra work so I'll get extra pay. I should have heeded that adage which says that I should be careful with what I ask for because it might come true.

I was hoping that this months of April and May, I'll be staying at home and just laze around, do some serious writing, and pursue other hobbies. But, I was invited to teach summer class because no one else will take the load. My class is from 10:30 AM-5:30 PM with a one hour break in between. I'm teaching Children's Literature which is a first-time class for me, so no there are no powerpoint presentations that I could just rehash.  That means I'm spending a lot of time making my slides and also studying my lessons.

My weekend also isn't free. My colleague asked me to help her teach the online Long Distance class which will be a three-hour session every Saturday afternoon. Sure, I'll just spend three hours in front of the computer but my lesson preparation is going to be longer than three hours. I know it's going to eat much of my time.

Then, next month I'll be handling a two-week teaching class in Calinog campus which is again another preparation for me.

On top of that, I have my online night classes every weeknights. I also have action researches to edit.

I wonder why I'm doing this to myself. I'm not even financially supporting or helping anyone. It's just me, myself, and I. Really, I need more rest than money. The problem with me is that I can't seem to say no when someone asks me to teach this or that.

I guess, I'll just have to wait for another summer before I can do serious writing and do my other hobbies.

Who says teachers are lucky because they have summer breaks?!