Thursday, March 02, 2006
Calvin: Too bad the world will be ending soon.Hobbes: Beg your pardon?
Calvin: Halley's Comet. Comets are harbingers of doom.
Hobbes: No they arent, thats just superstition.
Calvin: Really? Guess I'd better write that book report.
MY CLOSING SPIEL
To graveyard shift...
To bottomless ice tea, juice and coffee...
To queuing season...
To daily spams...
To petix modes...
To critical work weeks...
To ever-changing metrics...
To kickbacks and fines...
To out-of-this-world computer issues...
To Cable Car nights...
To the Geebras...
To my new friends...
To my teammates...
To my CNB (crush ng bayan) Team Leader...
To my headset...
To Indian and Chinese callers...
To irate customers...
This has been Man, have a great day!!
manÜ @ 4:10 AM
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Girls are like slugs - they probably serve some purpose, but it's hard to imagine what.-Calvin
Forgive me for being mushy today... haaaaayyy...
Did you ever fall for someone you know you shouldn't?
Try hard to fight your feelings, but you just couldn't?
You fall deeper with each passing day,
But try to hide it in every possible way.
She's only a friend, and nothing else--
That's the lie you keeping telling yourself.
You keep on saying she's just a chum,
But deep inside, you're falling in love.
You get so giddy when you meet her eyes,
But keep reminding yourself it isn't right.
A simple glance turns into a stare,
But you pretend that you don't care.
It's "not right" for you two to be.
Is that why you hide it so no one can see?
But how long will you pretend?
Keep lying that she's just a friend?
Perhaps your feelings you can never show.
Perhaps it's "wrong" for her to know.
Your friendship can't be risked over this,
So being his man is an impossible wish...
manÜ @ 3:04 AM
Monday, February 27, 2006
You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help.
-Calvin
Sad news from a friend's email greeted me today...
Why do wrong things are, most of the time, the most pleasurable? This is one of the ironies of life that I most despise. But then again, guilty is also my plea. It's just that it's painful to know that anytime from now a friend might suffer the consequences. It's alright if it's me. I'm used to suffer the dose of my own little stubborn ways. But witnessing somebody going through that same pain, it will break my heart.
A friend in college, a close Christian friend, has just explored the dungeon where I trudged before... It was a place that looks like a majestic castle from afar. Looks like a fun place. Yes, let me admit, there was pleasure in there. The thrill was unexplainable and very inviting and makes you wanna ask for more. But I was a fool. I refused to believe the warning sign before I entered saying, "the effect is irreversibe." Before I knew it, that was the darkest, horrible, traumatic, spirit-weakening place I've ever been. I was hoodwinked by its gate called "ultimate pleasure."
I went there unnoticed. It was part of the adventure that I was looking for. Then the aftermath was a torture. It was agonizing . The word "regret" really made a lot of sense to me. It was like losing a precious jewel that you long to offer to the most beautiful princess. The memory of how pleasurable being there was so enticing that you wanna go back, but then again it's so scary. It has its endless pit called addiction.
Choises... choices... a blessing or a curse?
manÜ @ 1:54 AM
Sunday, February 26, 2006
To make a bad day worse, spend it wishing for the impossible.
-Calvin
The street was almost empty when I went to work today. Strange for a saturday night in Manila. They say that an empty street is the most dangerous. Is there a looming danger?
State of Emergency while commemorating EDSA 1. Ironic or incidental?
I was surprised by a friend's text message yesterday when she jokingly said, "Nakauwi ka na ba from work? Wag kang lalabas, baka mapagkamalan kang kaaway. State of emergency ngayon". I automatically thought that this could be because of the rumors of coup attempt. A prelude to Martial Law? Is the President provoking the people to go out the streets of EDSA again?
To be honest, I wanna see another EDSA uprising but then again I think it's going to be irrelevant if there is no upright and competent new leader that will be instituted. Political system is a mess. Popularity is the priority of the politicians. Sometimes it's hard to trust their intensions when they come up with suggestions for the country.
A complete political and cultural overhaul is the best solution that I can think of and its a long shot. The situation, in my own narrow perspective, is helpless, almost hopeless. Another Manny Pacquiao victory to unite the Filipino people?
I'm upset. At least the traffic's not heavy.
manÜ @ 4:44 AM
Friday, February 24, 2006
Hours passing without number,
My eyes trace 'round the room. I lay
Dripping sweat and now quite certain
That tonight the final curtain
Drops upon my short life's precious play.
From the darkness, by the closet
Comes a noise, much like a faucet
Makes: a madd'ning drip-drip-dripping sound.
It seems some ill-proportioned beast,
Anticipating me deceased,
Is drooling poison puddles on the ground.
A can of Mace, a forty-five,
Is all I'd need to stay alive,
But no weapon lies within my sight.
Oh my gosh! A shadow's creeping,
Omnious and black, it's seeping
Slowly 'cross a moonlit square of light!
Suddenly a floorboard creak
Announces the bloodsucking freak
Is here to steal my future years away!
A sulf'rous smell noe fills the room
Heraldingmy imm'nent doom!
A fang gleams in the dark and murky gray!
Oh, blood-red eyes and tentacles!
Throbbing, pulsing ventricles!
Mucus-oozing pores and frightful claws!
Worse, in terms of outright scariness,
Are the suckers multifarious
That grab and force you in its mighty jaws!
This disgusting aberration
Of nature needs no mitivation
To devour helpless children in their beds.
Relishing despairing moans,
It chews kids up and sucks their bones,
And dissolves inside its mouth their li'l heads!
I know this 'cause I read it not
Two hours ago, and then I got
The heebie-jeebies and these awful shakes.
My parents swore upon their honor
That I was safe, and not a goner.
I guess tomorrow they'll see their sad mistakes.
In the morning, they'll come in
And say, "waht was that awful din
We heard last night? You kept us both from sleep!"
Only then will they surmise
The gruesomeness of my demise
And see that my remains are in a heap.
Dad will look at Mom and say,
"Too bad he had to go that way."
And Mom will look at Dad, and nod assent.
Mom will add, "Still, it's fitting,
That as he was this world quitting,
He should leave another mess before he went."
They may not mind at first, I know.
They will miss me later, though,
And perhaps admit that they were wrong.
As memories of me grow dim,
They'll say, "We were too strict with him.
We should have listened to him all along."
As speedily my end approaches,
I bid a final "buenas noches"
To my best friend here in all the world.
Gently snoring, whiskers seeming
To sniff at smells (he must be dreaming),
He lies snugled in the blankets, curled.
HEY! WAKE UP, YOU STUPID CERTIN!
YOU GONNA SLEEP WHILE I GET EATEN?!
Suddenly the monster knows I'm not alone!
There's an animal in bed with me!
An awful beast he did not see!
The monster never would've come if he had known!
The monster, in his consternation,
Demonstater defenestration,
And runs and runs and runs and runs away.
Rid of the pest,
I now cah rest,
Thanks to my best friend, who saved the day.
The End.
manÜ @ 11:40 PM
I was scanning through some old files in my office email to see which ones to keep before I leave. Then I found this commendation note from a certain caller named Jeff Jurena. I actually received two notes, both from him -- one was through the email survey we send to our customers and the other one was a transcript from a technician who handles calls from customers giving commendations. Here's the one from the email:
"Man - Thank you for your patience and help tonight. It looks like the repair you suggested to the operating system helped get my computer back to running properly. It was nice to get someone who was helpful and who knew when to laugh when I needed a laugh. I hope I never run into this situation where I will have to call again for help, but if I do I'm hopeful that you're on the other end of the phone. May our paths cross again.
- Jeff Jurena (a very satisfied Dell customer) "
And here's the phone trasncript:
"I had a very good experience with the technician on the other end of the line. He took time to understand me on the phone and realized that it was OK to chuckle a little when I tried to crack a joke or two about my computer seizing up. His communication skills were about the best I've ever received during a technical support phone call for any tech product. If all your reps were as concise and helpful as this person was, you'd have no complaints on tech service. He was good."
It feels good to receive comments such as these. This person doesn't know me and I know nothing about him either. All I can remember was he needed help for his computer. Gosh! i can't even recall what his problem was.
More than the graveyard shift, the emotional stress in handling irate customers is the most painful in working in a call center, at least in my experience. I admire agents who can shrug their shoulders and even sing while the phone is on mute while a customer on the other line is screaming and cursing at you. No-brainer job they say, but I learned a lot in terms of dealing with people. In saying the right words and saying it in the most pleasant way. Rule of thumb, it's not what you say but how you say it. My patience was really tested and I doubt it if I even pass. Let me share to you Man's unforgettable lines which has been a source of laughter of his officemates...
"Ma'am, the reason why we can't solve your problem is that you're so hasty, you're so clumsy, and you're not listening to me!"
"I even key-spelled it for you twice! it's msconfig... M for Mike, S for Sam, C for Charlie, O for Oscar, N for Nancy, F for Frank, I for India and G for George. Got it?!" (in the most insulting voice)
"Ma'am, don't cry or I'll panic here... Don't problem the problem if it's not yet a problem!"
At the end of the day, it's about people with problems. Simple ones compared to man's greatest problem -- SIN. This is the next job that God want's me to deal with. More gruelling, probably but the worth is eternal.
manÜ @ 5:21 AM
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Seven days and I'm good to go. I'm counting the working days left before my last day in my first job. I have mixed feelings of reminiscence and anticipation. Looking back and looking forward.
My more than a year of work in a call center has been such a learning experience. Somebody called it as my "wilderness" like that of Moses' 40 years. Probably (good heavens! good thing mine was just one year!). As for me, the whole experience has been God's way of showing me the "world". To compare and contrast and make my choice.
It was my most materially lavish and comfortable epoch. Every month I get an allowance almost triple of what I have when I was in college. I was living in a place with two house helps. I can buy whatever I wanted. I've indulged in several overnight gimmicks, including one where we went to Tagaytay after an after-work party just to eat "bulalo", overlooking the breath-taking Taal Lake (but lemme say that I enjoyed it so much even if we haven't got any sleep that time). It was fun... It was worldly. Those were also the times when I would go home to rest my tired body and feel so empty and lonely. I would always ask myself, "Is this really the life I wanted?"
Sure, I escaped the prying eyes of friends and my life in LB, or should I say my Christian duty, because I said I was "burned out". I needed a new environment. A breath of new air. A walk in the park. And off I went. And off I enjoyed my so called freedom... but not for long.
The Wise Man's words in Ecclesiastes were true, "everything is meaningless, utterly meaningless". Indeed. Contentment is not on the next block. You're looking at the wrong place, buddy. Not here.
I got tired. I have to face some truths. I have to make tough decisions. I have to let go of my comfort zone. I have to face the reality that I have to grow up and be responsible.
Now I'm heading back home. Surely it's not gonna be the same when I left it. Why did I made this choice? Peter once replied to one of Jesus' questions, "To whome shall I go...?". Not that I'm running out of options or I was threatened or I reached the dead end. It's because this is the life God prepared for me. It's because home is where my heart is and my Father is waiting.
manÜ @ 3:49 PM
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
give way to the new blogger in town...
manÜ @ 10:01 AM