Random Thoughts

My favorite collague now sits next to me.  Para tuloy akong customer service representative sa isang information desk kasi ako ang lagi nyang tinatanong.  Sa akin din cya nagrereklamo tungkol sa client nya, para naman may magagawa ako.   Karma yata sa akin kasi lagi syang nasa blog ko…Try ko na maging good girl.

Lady - New Staff

Sean - Senior Staff

Visitor - South Asian

————–o000000o————–o000000o————–o0000000o—————

The Visitor’s Laptop froze.  He was trying to press ALT+CRTL+DEL but no good.  He approaches and Lady and asked what he should do.

Visitor:  Lady, I’ve bee pressing ALT+CTRL+DEL but it’s not working. Why like this?  What should I do?

Lady: I don’t know. 

(Sean is seen entering the room)

Lady: Ask Sean.

Visitor:  Sean, I’m pressing ALT+CRTL+DEL.  It’s not working.

Sean: Oh it’s easy (Sean pressed the power button).

It started with a call from a visitor - our subcontrcator based in a South Asian country (kababayan of our environmental manager) who is supposed to attend a workshop hosted by one of our major clients.  Apparently, our visistor was waiting in the airport for two hours already.  For whatever reason, our Engineer forgot to pick him up. Nagtataka lang ako bakit after two hours pa bago siya tumawag.  Eto ang mga sumunod na pangyayari:

Lady made some calls because she was not aware of the arrangements made for this visitor. 

Lady:  Boss, the guest is at the airport. Our Engineer forgot to pick him up.  He wants to go to his Hotel.

Boss: He will be staying in the villa and not in a Hotel.  Ask him to proceed directly to the workshop.

Tinawagan nya ulit yong bisita.

Lady: Boss wants you to proceed to the workshop.

Visitor: I want to take a shower first.  Do you know where is my Hotel?

Lady: You will be staying in a villa and not in a hotel.  Let me ask the direction to the villa.

Tinawagan ulit ni Lady yong Boss namin. Hindi kaya siya naligo bago bumiyahe? Two hours lang naman ang flight parang Manila-Hong Kong lang. Anyway, ito ang sagot ng Boss namin.

Lady: Boss, he wants to take a shower first.

Boss: (Habang natatawa sa sinasabi nya).  Tell him to take a shower in the Office.  Order a towel from the store dowstairs.

So tumawag ulit si Lady sa guest. Nakikitawag lang kasi yong guest namin na Limousine driver kaya:

Lady: Can I speak to the guest.

Pinasa nung guest yong fone sa driver. Hindi ata naintindihan.

Lady: Helo…….blah, blah, blah.

Driver: This is the driver.

Hay…Paskalye pa lang yan.  Maganda naman ang CR sa office kaya lang common kasi yon eh. Pagkatapos nya maligo, nagpunta na siya dun sa workshop.  Ibinigay sa kanya yong Office Mobile para mabigyan sya ng direction papunta dun sa workshop. 

Pagdating sa Office nung Boss namin saka nung Engineer, tahimik sila at parang wala sa mood.   Yon pala kasi yong guest namin, hindi naman pumunta sa workshop.  Hinintay lang nya yong mga participants sa lobby ng building, sinalubong nya ata para samahan pabalik sa opisina.  Hindi kaya siya nainip, ilang oras din sya naghintay.  Ano kaya ginawa nya, nagbilang ng tao na pumapsok sa pinto? nakipag-sap sa guwardya?

Ewan ko ba, minsan nga nahahawa na rin ako eh.

Great things about living in Qatar

• Tax free salary.
• More oppurtunities for greener pasteurs.
• Gasoline is very cheap, about Qr 0.80/Litre (P12/Litre). LPG is about P225/cylinder tank.  Subsidized electricity rates.
• Low crime rate.
• Gramatically incorrect English is acceptable unless your job requires an excellent written and spoken English.
• Less pollution as gasoline is used in most vehicles and natural gas is used in the industries.
• Ramadan (only 6 hours of work instead of 8).
• Free medical services including major operations, etc.
• Proximity to Europe.  Airfare to Europe is cheaper than to Philippines.
• US/UK/Schengen visa appllication is easier.

Not so great things:

• No pork, purefoods tender juicy hot dogs, dinuguan, chicharon, delicious mangoes, lechon….
• Summer can be as hot as 50+ degrees centigrade.
• Shopping.  Selection is limited and my favorite brands are not here!
• Crazy drivers.
• Roundabouts everywhere. Signages can get you lost.
• Lack of efficient public transportation and general government services.
• Medical services providers are sometimes not very competitive.
• The "PANA, ITIK and PATAN"
• People who doesn’t fall in line.  Arrogant local people.
• Most workers from government agencies hardly speak english.
• Protruding manholes in middle of newly contructed roads.
• Intrigero, intrigera, chismosa and chismosong PINOYS.
• Limited lesiure places.
• Lower salary bracket for Asians.
• Stupid customer service representatives in Banks.
• High rents although we’re not affected.  We are lucky to have a very kind lessor.

The peso continues to be strong for the past two (2) weeks.  For foreign workers like us, lower exchange rate means we have less peso for every dollar earned.  If I remember it right, at about the same month  last year, the exchange rate was approximately P53=$1.  Well, somehow I feel bad.  But looking at the other side of the coin, it is supposedly good for the Philippine Government.  I just hope that as the peso appreciates, the majority of the Filipino people would be able to benefit from it.