Friday, October 31, 2008

A story about my old job...This would be the last...

I've been meaning to write about this before but because I was enjoying my vacation, it completely blew out of my mind. So I was speaking with my friend Noel, he was the guy who hired me before, then I was explaining to him why I resigned. Yes, its been over a month since I resigned and its only now that I told him why. It got me thinking, and I remembered this thing that I wanted to blog about. The day I got hired at work. See im working backwards, I started with how and why I resigned. Check my entry on blurbs about my old job.

So when I applied in PeopleSupport, it was kinnda on short notice. Lucky for me, I always have a copy somewhere of my picture and resume. So I woke up one day summer of 2008, and I thought, "Why dont I go and apply at a call center for fun?". So I got up, took my bath, got dressed, and then left my dorm. I actually missed all of my classes that day. So when I got there, I gave the guard my resume and waited to be called. Apparently, this is done by batches so I was with the morning batch. There were around 50 something of us. So we filled out our application forms, I applied for full-time. Then we we're off to our initial interview. After the interview, we were dismissed for lunch. By the time we got back, we we're gona take our online exams. By the time we were taking the exams, I noticed that from 50 something, there were only 33 of us. After the online exam, we waited for about 3 hours for the result. And then from 33, we we're boiled down to 7. So the next day was our final interview. Out of the 7 of us I was the only one hired. Lucky me huh.

When Noel hired me, he hired me for part-time first. So i guess that was ok. I only had 4 days of work for the whole time since it was only part-time. So on my fourth day, my friend already signed his contract for full-time yet I have not. So during my break, I went to the HR's office and looked for Noel. I practically nagged him to hire me. He said he was having doubts since I was a student. Then I said, "if being hired means I have to stop school for a while then I'l do it". So he thought about it and told me that I'll be receiving a text message regarding the schedule of my contract signing. I was so happy. Two hours after that, I checked my phone and there it was. A message saying that I was to sign my contract that at 9pm that day.

So at 9pm I was back at the office, then Noel came in with these folders that had our names on it. So he briefed us of what's gonna happen and what our job will be. Then he said, "You guys that Im gonna hire, don't resign just like that." then he looked at me. Somehow he still wasn't sure if I was gonna stay long.

Well, glad to say, I lasted 6 months. And in the call center industry, 6 months is already a long time. Well, enough about my old job, time to move on. Im gonna go back to school. Back to reality everyone.


Cheers. ^^

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Something from Will and Grace

I was watching Will and Grace earlier when I heard this. Will and Grace by the way was a show by NBC about a Gay lawyer named Will and his bestfriend for almost 15 years named Grace. Together with Will's gay dancer, singer, actor, choreographer, bestfriend named Jack and Grace's millionaire pill-popping, booze-chugging secretary Karen, they get into their ridiculous shenanigans all the time.

It was the episode when Joe and Larry got married. Will and Grace were fighting because will was getting tired of paying for everything and doing everything while Grace got all the credit for it. Meanwhile, Jack was addicted to coffee because of this guy he was dating who worked at coffee shop and gave him free coffee all the time. Then this guy lost his job so Jack's coffee fix came to an end. In order to help him, Karen made sure that Jack remained coffee free. While at the wedding, Karen was trying to order vodka or something when the waiter told her that it was dry wedding at the grooms' request but it was an open coffee bar. So now things shifted between Karen and Jack. I dont remember what they did afterwards. Back to Will and Grace, they were asked to do a reading during the wedding and here is what they had to say:

W: When im feeling like theres no love coming to me
G: And i have no love to give
W: When im feeling separated from the world
G: And cut off from myself
W: When im feeling annoyed by every little thing
G: Because im not getting what i want
W: Ill remember that theres an infinite amount of love available to me
G: And ill see it in you
W: Ill remember that im complete within myself
G: So ill never have to look to you to complete me
W&G: and most of all ill remember that everything i really need i already have
and whatever i dont have will come to me when im ready to receive it

When I heard them read this, I knew that I had to get a copy of it. The words really spoke to me. By the way, Will and Grace is one of my favorite TV shows together with F.R.I.E.N.D.S, The Nanny, Supernatural, American Dad, Futurama, Charmed, The X-Files, and Buffy. I know most of them are reruns already, but lets face it, TV shows today took their inspirations from these original shows. Happy watching to me.

Cheers.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Confessions of a Coffee Addict


"Easy does it... Let go and let God... One day at a time..."
-Alcoholics Anonymous Mantras



Hello my name is Anton and I am a coffee addict. It all started when I was in 3rd college. I took a sip of that searing hot latte mixed with 1 shot of skim milk and 2 packs of sugar and I got hooked onto it. You would normally see me at Starbucks in SM Baguio or at Oh My Gulay(Vegetable) or Pizza Volante. Recently though I discovered the Cafe by the Ruins. I guess that'll be my new hang-out. But yes, its true. I am addicted to coffee. I could finish 2 venti caramel macchiato's in one sitting. I could drink 5 cups of coffee and still crave for more. To me coffee isn't something that I would to keep me up, its something that I would drink in substitute for water. Believe me, caffeine has absolutely no effect on me. For what its worth I even drink coffee to fall asleep. Its not a crime to indulge from time to time. Not a day goes by that I dont drink a cup of coffee. Its only now that I've been slowly kicking the habit. That's because of two thing. First, its so blasted hot that drinking a hot cup of coffee is just plain stupid. Second, there are no Starbucks franchises here so that saves me a lot of money. I remember when I would pass by starbucks and order a Venti Cafe Americano or venti Espresso, (anything venti) every night before going to work. Lets not forget the sandwich or bagel I would order for dinner. My officemates would wonder whenever I come to work without a cup of coffee in one hand and a bagel or sandwich on the other. Well, time to kick the habbit. No coffee. Goodbye coffee. Hello pineorange juice from 7/11.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Being BIG is not a crime

I was channel surfing last night when I stopped at a channel called VELVET because I saw a familiar face on the screen. To those who followed this show I know that you know who this person is. Carrie Bradshaw. Apparently there was a Sex & the City Marathon last night from 1 AM to 3:30 AM. So back to my point, the episode was about people called Modelizers. So I watched the whole episode... you know for fun... then I continued channel surfing. The thing I noticed was that 30% of the shows were Fashion Shows or Reality Shows with girls who are so thin that they look like bamboo and guys who look like they spend 16 hours in the gym and 8 hours taking their beauty rests.

Then it donned on me, our society worships or looks up to people who look like they have Anorexia or something. Now don't get me wrong, Im not being spiteful but did we ever stop to consider the fact that all of us dont look like that. I mean can't Big be beautiful too? Is it a crime weighing more than 150 lbs or having a waistline over 30? I mean, are we so insecure about our looks that we care more about what people think than what we think of ourselves? Quoting a character named Dianne from Will and Grace: " Whenever we have a party at Vogue, we all fight about who gets the last piece of Tic Tac."

I admit that Im the Big type of person being 188 lbs and size 34 pants. But do I care if everyone else around me wears skinny jeans? NO! Because first, those pants are so tight that theres no room for anything and second its hard to walk with them. Im not the type who goes to a restaurant and only orders a salad. If I'm hungry, I eat. I can eat a Big Mac and still want a sundae. My point is, why should we deprive ourselves of food? Why should we be like everyone else? We can be ourselves and still stand out. Im just glad because now the are brand labels like BIG MEN. Clothes for Big People.

Being BIG is not a crime. Anyone could have the extra baggage and still look great. Take me for example. Haha just kidding.

Cheers.