ink spills from my mind...

Dear all,

Let's play a guessing game.

Guess which Philippine local bank  I am referring to.

a.  Rejected the third party enrollment form that I scanned and submitted, saying that I need to snail mail the original form to them.  After one month, I receive an email saying that the information in my form is incorrect!  In order for my request to be processed, I need to visit my branch of account to sign another signature card. All this after I waited one month for my mail to reach them.  Sana they told me na lang at the start that my form is wrong. (Hmmm, madami na naman Pinoy dito sa Singapore. Pwede kayang magopen na sila ng branch dito?)

b.  Several years ago, I asked what the requirements are for a 200k loan.  Simple lang naman ang sagot, kailangan ko daw ng 200k in my bank account for them to approve my loan. (Di sana nagloan na lang ako sa sarili ko, interest free pa).

c.  When one of my old payroll accounts was suddenly closed and I wanted to know why, the call center guy told me that the matter needs to be discussed with the branch of account.  I asked to be transferred pero hindi daw pwede.  It took me half the afternoon to finally talk to someone.  (So tambayan na lang ba ang call center ngayon?)

d.  When you click the customer feedback link in their website, you will see this line, "Let us know if we are keeping our promise to help make your life easy."  (Ah, the irony)

Can anybody tell me of a good experience that they had with this bank?  Kung hindi lang talaga hassle gusto ko na magpalit ng bank.  It's such a pain whenever you encounter issues with your internet banking account with them.  In my opinion, you don't need state of the art equipment to enhance your internet banking facilities.  Neither do you need someone to visit the branch to enrol new accounts in internet banking!  Ang dami na kayang security software dyan.

Anyway, I noticed that I write easily when I'm not happy, so I'm gonna throw in a bit of happy news.  Sana matuloy, I'm scheduled to go on a trip to Germany next month for a month. Yay!  Now the question is, where can I go on day trips?  I don't want to stay overnight cos I'll be alone.  I'll be in Meerbusch, which is 30 minutes away from Cologne.  I'm thinking of going there and to Bonn.  Brussels is 3 hours away, kaya ko kaya yun na day trip lang?  I promised Cy that I won't go to France para it'll be both the first time for us when we go there, so sa nearby places na lang muna.  I want to go to Luxembourg din (3 hours away) but what can I see there? 

Give me tips please. Excited na ko. :)

dear doctors,

i once wanted to be one of you, but gave up the idea because i didn't want to cut up frogs, cats and people in class.  i wanted to be a dermatologist so that i can treat skin problems, something that i struggled with since i was little.  in my life, there were a few doctors who made a difference, God bless them, but generally, i try to steer clear from you.  i don't like visiting hospitals.  ironically, though, half of my barkada have recited the hippocratic oath.

i have one thing to ask of you.  aside from their safety, please, please, please, keep your patients' well-being and comfort and peace of mind at the top of your priorities.  as a patient, it is very frustrating for me not to know what's going on in my body.  i need my doctor to explain exactly what he's doing and what he thinks is happening to me. 

this year, i have visited several doctors here in singapore because my allergies/eczema/atopic dermatitis flared up after remission for several years.  after each visit i would walk away from the clinic a little hopeful but also a little downtrodden because of the lack of concern/care that i get.  there was one doctor who responded like a robot during our interview.  i had gone to see him because i had a swelling in my right eye.  he looked at my eye for like, 3 seconds, immediately said that it's something-itis, and gave me a prescription.  needless to say, two weeks later i was again in front of another doctor because the swelling had not cleared.  thankfully this lady doctor was able to diagnose the swelling properly as part of my eczema flareup. 

i had gone to the third doctor because my eye swelled again and the lady doctor was not available in the clinic.  this time i felt that he was only listening by rote and did not actually understand my problem.  he only prescribed the same medicines but left out the steroid.  so a week later i went back to the lady doctor for quick relief and made an appointment with a dermatologist.

as expected, the derma's consultation fees were high.  i thought the doctor was okay on the first visit.  i got really disappointed on my second visit two days ago.  i felt that he should have been a scientist with a lab specimen rather than a doctor for humans.  i had originally gone to ask him if my original treatment from manila was available here.  since it wasn't, i asked him for alternatives.  what he did was to give me pamphlets of the three options and expect me to decide from there.  when i asked him for the differences between my two picks, the immediate answer was "this one is expensive. the other one is cheap."  i explained that we are planning to have a baby next year so that he could guide me to the better option, but he didn't seem to care.  all in all, i felt that he wanted me to pick one treatment so that he could end our session and get on with the next person in his appointment book.   that would have been okay if i wasn't paying a huge amount to be there!

i finally chose one option and i terribly regret it.  i woke up with rashes on my face and feeling really bloated this morning.  thankfully it's a public holiday today.  i've decided to discontinue the treatment because i'm so disappointed that i was not made aware of other side effects aside from the ones in the pamphlet.  i tried to call the clinic this morning but they were closed because of the holiday, and the hospital hotline girl said that there's no way that i can get in touch with the specialist.  i was like, do i need to go to ER just to be able to consult with him on the side effects? 

i know some doctors take on the profession because they want to help people.  sometimes i don't know whether that is the case here in SG.  it's so frustrating, i am actually dreading going to an OB-gyne here.  i wonder how they would alleviate the fears of pregnant women.  so anyway, dear doctors, if you are one of those who want to help, i'd tell you to crank up your listening ear and increase your empathy.  that would go a long, long way. 

sincerely,

purplestylus

 

 

 

this was forwarded to me. i think it makes sense.

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An interesting reflection : Slow Down Culture


It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.


Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.


Said in another words:

1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.

2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.

3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.

4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.


The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.


Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.


Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".


This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.


It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.


In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.


Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".


Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.

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tagged by freelysaid and dingdong96

Three Jobs I've Had In My Life:
1. Academic Tutor
2. mainframe system programmer
3. SAP slave

Three Films I Can Watch Over and Over Again (in no particular order):
1.  sleepless in seattle
2.  you've got mail
3.  pretty woman

Three Places I Have Lived:
1. UP Bliss
2. Teachers' Village
3. Singapore

Three TV Programs I Love to Watch:
1. The O.C
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Veronica Mars

Three Places I Would Have Visited If I Had The Money:
1. Paris
2. New York
3. Switzerland

Three Websites I Visit Daily as often as I can:
1. yahoo
2. livejournal
3. inq7.net

Three Of My Favorite Foods:
1. pizza
2. jumbo's cereal prawns
3. gerry's sisig

Three Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. manila, moving on with wedding preps
2. boracay
3. manila/new york/london, watching musicals

Three Bloggers I Am Tagging:
1.  lilswordie
2.
3.

i just want to share this forwarded email here especially to freelysaid and all others who, like me, are still in search of their life's passions. this email got me very inspired to continue searching for what it is that i truly love to do.

 

( Stay hungry. Stay foolish. (Warning. Long email.) )

freelysaid, i wonder if this can be useful in your application to pixar. :)

i am not a fast learner.  at least, not when it comes to remembering which food joints provide horrible service.  i should have remembered that our group was very dissatisfied the last time we ate in the bento box branch in leviste street, makati.  but no, i just spent 30 minutes of my lunch break waiting there for a table to be vacated. the waiting time would have been considerably shorter if not for one group who insisted on claiming the newly-freed-up table for their group, as they were supposed to be expecting more people. hmph. 

the waiting did not end there.  when we finally got to sit, it still took them around ten minutes to serve our food.  apparently, the food that they prepared when we placed our order earlier was already given to other people.  the sad part is, when we finally got to eat, the time we took to finish off our food was less than the time we spent waiting.  so word of warning, do  not patronize that bento box branch if you are in a hurry.  their service is TERRIBLE.  there. you have been warned.

side story:  this woman (or more accurately, a matrona) came into the store while we were waiting.  she bossily informed the waiter that their number is now only four instead of eight, so they should be allowed to get a table first. when the waiter would not agree (obviously because a table was not yet available, and their group was like, fourth in line), she demanded to talk to the waiter that she spoke to earlier. when that didn’t work, as she couldn’t identify which waiter it was, she stalked out in a huff.  made me wonder how people develop that annoying attitude. someone please bop me on the head if ever i show the slightest hint of it. please.  =D