preMEDitated

I’m not saying that all Jollibee salesladies are slow in the mind. In fact, I admire how many of them balance studies with work. It’s just that I’ve come to encounter one slow saleslady earlier today.
At first I didn’t notice anything wrong with her. I ordered my recent favorite (Beefsteak 39er) and a new dessert item (Mango Caramel Ice Craze). She said the ice craze was unavailable. I was about to order another dessert when the manager came.
Now the manager looked familiar. I knew that I knew here before. I just couldn’t recall who she was. She knew me, and she calls me by my first name. I, however, couldn’t recall her name. The name posted on her name tag did not ring a bell. We even speak like old friends every time we see each other when I order. I pretend to know her, and wait hopefully that I might remember who she was. Unfortunately, the memory always eluded me.
So we were talking again, and the conversation shifted to higher education. She mentioned a name that sounded familiar. I recalled that the guy she mentioned was taking up Law, and was about to finish this semester. That gave me a clue. We must have went to the same high school.
Yet my jabs at recollection were interrupted by the annoying voice of the saleslady. She kept asking if I would order something else. I ignored her, and continued to speak to the manager. After the fourth same question if I would order something else, I was getting annoyed at her. I looked at her with the side of my eyes and muttered, “No.” She was dense. Apparently, she needed some discipline regarding interrupting her manager’s conversations. Just then the manager went off to see an issue with some of the other staff.
I was left alone with the saleslady. I decided to take advantage of this by asking her what the full name of her manager was. Her answer gave me another proof of her slowness. She told me the manager’s nickname, or the name plastered on the manager’s name tag. Then seeing the manager return, I cut the conversation loose and pretend to order another item.
Unfortunately, the not-so-smart-saleslady blurted, “Ma’am, unsa daw imong full name?”
Ma’am, he’s asking for your full name?
I froze. I gave the saleslady the slightest hint of the evil eye and imagined stabbing her in the arm with their complementary plastic fork. The manager sounded offended as she told me her real first name.
Then the memories flooded in my mind. I pretended to have always known who the manager was. I even mentioned her full name. I then made some lame remark on why I asked her full name.
Then I quickly made my exit, muttering about the mental capacity of some salesladies. Some salesladies are just too slow to be entrusted or trusted…

Alarmed by the out-migration of Filipino doctors, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the Department of Health (DOH) offers the Pinoy MD scholarship for those aspiring to become doctors. Benefits of the scholarship include:

1. Tuition Fees
2. Miscellaneous/Laboratory Fees
3. Living Subsidy
4. Lodging Allowance
5. Daily Transportation Allowance
6. Book and Uniform Allowance

for a total of Php 65637.00 per semester (as of June 2008).

Interested applicants may inquire at the medical school of their choice. Participating medical schools and their corresponding slots for 2009 Pinoy MD scholars include:

1. Emilio Aguinaldo Educational Group: 9 slots
2. Our Lady of Fatima University: 5 slots
3. Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng Maynila: 9 slots
4. University of the Philippines Manila: 6 slots
5. Cagayan State University: 9 slots
6. West Visayas State University: 9 slots
7. University of St. La Salle (Region VI): 5 slots
8. Iloilo Doctors College of Medicine: 5 slots
9. Southwestern University: 10 slots
10. UP School of Health Sciences: 10 slots
11. Mindanao State University: 14 slots
12. Davao Medical School Foundation: 9 slots
Finally, more details regarding the Pinoy MD scholarship.

Contact details for the schools can be found here.

Btw, they are now accepting participants from all sectors. Priority, however, will still be given to:

1. Applicants who have a combined Gross Family
Income of Php 50,000/month or Php
600,000/annum or lower.
2. Applicants who are part of, or are children of
Barangay Health Workers, government
employees or Indigenous People (IP).

Big downside for this scholarship, however, is the 2-year-service obligation to the government for every year of the scholarship enjoyed. Better be prepared for this!

Additional details can be found in this online brochure.

Since late January, I have been retailing load (cell phone credits). I started with GLOBE, but due to persistent customer demand I expanded to include SMART. I have no plans of including SUN Cellular. My time is already pretty much used up with those 2 networks.
GLOBE loading is straightforward. I just load input the customer’s number, and then select the required denomination. SMART, in contrast, is way more complicated. The sheer number of their promos confuse even the most loyal of their subscribers. I’m thinking even their employees don’t know about those promos. Their website doesn’t even give a comprehensive list of those promos. Btw, I give my SMART customers the load they request, but it beats me what more than half of those promos do.
So in the interest of myself and my SMART customers, here is a list of their promos:

E-load – Ordinary load. How I wish SMART did not add those other promos.

All Text – A majority of my customers ask me for AllTxt 20. There are a host of other promos under this category, but they are mostly ignored.

TNT Gaantxt – I only have 1 customer who regularly asks for this, and he does it only once every 2 weeks! There are 2 other infrequent customers who ask for this, but IMO, this promo should be scrapped. It’s not very cost-effective.

All Calls – I don’t remember having loaded a single customer for this one. I wonder how many SMART subscribers have used or even heard about this promo.

Upsize – I only get requests for Upsize 35. The others have all been ignored.

The sheer number of those promos, most of them useless, ultimately makes SMART simply amazing (sarcasm).

Q: Who watches the watchmen?
A: ME!!

–but not until next week–

A few days ago I went to the city branch of Jollibee in Iligan.
Since I just came from the community, I went to the lavatory to have my hands washed. Unfortunately, there was no water. I went queuing with dirty hands, and decided to order something that didn’t involve finger foods like french fries.
Miss, pa order kog Chicken and Spaghetti ug one rice, I told the saleslady.
Miss, I want the Chicken and Spaghetti plus one cup of rice.
Unsay drinks, sir? she answered.
What drink would you want with that?
Coke, I told her.
Sorry, wala na mi Coke karon. Pineapple ug Iced Tea lang among available.
Sorry, we don’t have Coke. We only have pineapple juice and iced tea.
After a few seconds of trying to decide, I said. Kanang Pineapple lang.
Give me the pineapple juice.
Mag-add ra ba ug P12 ani, she said hesitantly.
You have to add P12 for that.
Ngano man? I aked her while my blood was heating up.
Why?
Dapat i-upsize man pag mag add ug pineaplle juice
You have to upsize your drink if you want to order pineapple juice., she said.
Now that statement almost made my blood boil. I answered her in a sarcastically polite voice.
So if I don’t order pineapple juice, I won’t be having any drinks? What happens to the money I’d paid for a regular sized Coke?
What kind of policy is this? You make us pay for something we’re not having, or you let us pay extra for something we should have gotten from the value of our payment.
Sorry, sir. Ipunch mangyod namo ang pineapple
I’m sorry, sir. We are required to have the pineapple juice purchase credited.
I took a good look at her. She looked tensed. She was jittery, and was obviously wishing she was in another place. I could easily pounce on her and, pummel her with arguments against their bureaucratic policy. I was about to call the manager on her, but she reminded me of someone who used to work as a phone technical support agent: me.
I used to sometimes bear the brunt of customer dissatisfaction. I was one of the many ears and mouthpieces of the company who had to face irate customers, whether with legitimate or non-legitimate concerns. People from America called me for help with their computers.
Some of them complained about the company. In such cases, I had to resist the urge to tell them that I’m only the disembodied voice of help. Yet I was tasked and paid to represent the company. I was part of the company, and that meant I had to own all its policies and faults.
The girl in Jollibee was clearly waiting for another backlash; but I changed my mind. I let her off the hook. It was not her fault that Jollibee Iligan lost its water supply. It was not her fault that the same branch lost its supply of Coke. She was merely there to accept orders from her superiors and from her customers. I knew exactly what she was feeling. I didn’t want her to be forced to defend something that she herself was annoyed at.
So I paid the extra cash, went to my table, and ate; because I was already very hungry. In the middle of my delicious meal, I forgave Jollibee Iligan: main branch for not supplying running water, and for lousy service and policies — that’s how
good their food is for me.

While I was waiting for my phones to be loaded, a friend’s son sat beside me. He was only about 3 or 4 years old, but he was already knowledgeable with current local nighttime TV shows. He described scenes from Luna Mystica and Gagambino. He pointed to a poster and correctly said the name of the model: Dingdong Dantes. I asked him what show he was featured in. He said Marimar.
Tigtanaw ka ana na mga salida, I condescendingly asked.
You watch those shows?
O, he said enthusiastically.
Yes.
Unfortunately, kids his age could not pick up sarcasm yet. Whereas older people would justify themselves saying there were no other available shows, he got more excited about the story. Not wanting to hear anymore about Tagalog shows, I steered the conversation away.
Tigtanaw kag cartoons, I asked.
Do you watch cartoons?
Unsa na?, he answered.
What’s that?
I was about to say its equivalent Cebuano word, but he had another question.
Unsa na, he asked as he pointed his finger on my nose.
Silently thinking of ways to steer the conversation away from my giant zit on the side of my nose, I asked him to clarify his question.
He repeated the same question, but this time he pointed to the side of his nose. Then he asked, Nganong naa man kay inana?
Why do you have that?
Now I used to have dozens of pimples, but they’ve cleared up. A few recalcitrant ones pop out every now and then. This zit the kid was curious about was particularly large. I couldn’t control myself. I had it popped. It had slightly scabbed over but was otherwise still inflamed, during our conversation.
Knowing that a lecture about comedone types, inflammation reactions, and facial hygiene would be lost on him. I answered him with a simple word.
Germs.
Unsa na?
What’s that?
I told him the Cebuano equivalent.
Kagaw.
Unsa na, he asked again.
So I used the loosest translation I could think of.
Hugaw.
Dirt.
Then I studied his face carefully. He had smooth, fair skin, with very fine pores; the type that would retain its quality without the use of dermatologist-prescribed-medication. He would be growing up without any pimple problems. Hence, I could not scare him with promises that he’ll soon get a lot of pimples.
Fortunately, his mother returned and saved me from my predicament.
Kids just say the darndest things.

I just read this from The Wichita Eagle.


Geoffrey Stanford, East Junior High student, encounters an error in a state writing test. Instead of saying, “the emission of greenhouse gases,” the test had a question that said, “the omission of greenhouse gas.”
So he informs his English teacher Jennifer Fry, who int turn informed the district test coordinator, who eventually informed state education officials, who were properly embarrassed as all educators who’ve made such a mistake should be.

Now everyone in the US is hailing this kid as smart, observant, and insightful! Seeing an error in a national test in the Philippines, however, is quite commonplace.
Students around here get to see errors in state tests all the time. This comes as no surprise considering that their textbooks are full of errors. People don’t consider students who see errors here as smart. People consider them average. They, however, consider students who don’t find mistakes in state tests as the opposite of smart.
And as for our national education officials — I can’t confirm if there is any bribery involved, but let’s just say they don’t get embarrassed when errors in tests or textbooks are shown to them.

Sources:
1. Error on state test slips past everyone — except East High student
2. New error-filled textbook bared

Even though the Philippines prides itself on its low HIV/AIDS prevalence, it is no guarantee that there would be no forthcoming epidemic. Even the Secretary of Health Francisco T. Duque III has mentioned that we are on the verge of a full-blown epidemic.
The Department of Health (DOH) has released the following data. From 20 cases a month for previous years, the number of new HIV positive cases has risen to 29 a month in 2007. The total HIV cases reported in the country since 1984 has reached to over 3,305; of which 793 developed full-blown AIDS. 310 of this number have already died.
The DOH also reports that transmission of the virus through heterosexual contact dropped from 193 cases in 2006 to 139 cases in 2007. Homosexual and bisexual transmission, however, have increased. Transmission through homosexual (81 cases in 2006 to 107 cases in 2007) and bisexual (26 cases in 2006 to 74 in 2007).
I wouldn’t go on lecturing about the evils of immorality or whatnot. I’m sure people already know whether their actions are good or not. I’m just posting this friendly Valentine reminder:

If legs cannot be closed or if pants must come off, then at least make every effort to be safe.

Remember that the reported HIV cases are only the tip of the iceberg. There is no regular HIV screening in the country, and most people wouldn’t even think of having themselves screened. The actual prevalence of HIV could be many times the reported number of 3,305.

Please save yourself from pain and don’t get infected.

Please save the doctors from the added burden of caring for more AIDS patients…

Source:
1. The Philippine Daily Inquirer

I had thought adult illiterate Filipinos didn’t exist. I was, however, proved wrong. This incident happened around July last year.


While waiting to get my ATM card from a very long wait, I heard an interesting exchange.
Sunda lagi ang instruction, sir, the teller said in a tone that bordered on annoyance. Or maabtan ta ani ugma.
Follow the instructions, sir, or we’ll end up finishing this tomorrow.
Naa biya nay example dira.
The examples are there.
The teller returned the man’s application forms and went out to do some other business. The man meekly accepted the documents and signed whatever the teller marked.
ID number, na bay, I said as I noticed that he apparently forgot to read the instructions. Dili na sign-an.
Those blanks are for your ID number. You do not sign there.
He didn’t seem to understand what I was saying, but he did stop placing his signature on the other blanks. He asked his companion for help, but his companion was no better than he was. His companion could also not understand what the blanks were for.
I was shocked when I realized what the situation was. Those guys were functionally illiterate! Apparently, they could write rudimentary words like names or some words, but they could not read.
I told the man beside me to get his IDs and copy their numbers on the blanks provided. I had to point the numbers that he had to copy to the form.
Isulat dira COMELEC, I told him on the space provided for type of ID used.
Write the word COMELEC there.
He, however, could not do it. I kept pointing at the words “COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS” as I told him to write their acronym, COMELEC. After telling him several more times, he ended up writing what he thought were my words. He wrote the word “COMMILIC”.
I told him jot down the characters of his driver’s license. Then I told him to write “driver’s license” under the area where it said “type of ID used”.
He still couldn’t do it. Then I pointed the word “license” on his card, to which he meekly copied the characters to the blank spaces provided for him. He then turned over his forms to the annoyed teller.
Saving herself the effort of further scolding, the teller silently accepted the forms and approved them for processing.
From further observation, I surmised that the man and his companion were trying to cash out their checks. Unfortunately, they needed a bank account to have the money transferred there. And more unfortunately, they had to learn to read in order to open a bank account. And most unfortunately, the bank had to close before they could cash out the check.


I never met those men again, and I wonder what their lives must seem considering they didn’t know to read. There was also something suspicious about them. They were illiterate but had voters’ ids. How were they supposed to vote if they didn’t know how to read.
I still wonder about the plight of thousands or perhaps millions of Filipinos, who like them, don’t know how to read but are being used to elect officials to the government.

I don’t care which side of the abortion debate you pledge your allegiance to, but this is just sick! This is an excerpt from the Associated Press:

Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.
Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure.
Only Renelique didn’t arrive in time. According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.
What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic’s owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant’s umbilical cord. Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

This is plain murder! There can be no excuses for such a blatant act.