After The Sabbatical

I know that those who have been reading this blog ever since its conception are by now wondering why things suddenly came to a halt. And I believe that most of you might even think that this blog has finally met its demise.

The truth is, after that blog rant I posted last February 18th, I lost the drive to update this blog simply because life - for me - suddenly went downhill. It all has to do with my employment with my (previous) employer. It could've been simple: employer decides to shut the company down and pays all its employees their dues and benefits, and then all the now-ex-employees move on with their lives and finds work somewhere else.

But it wasn't, and still isn't.

It has been almost 90 days since we last received any money from our ex-employer. And if my computations are correct, they owe me at least 2 months' separation pay (a month's salary for every year of service) plus half a month of unpaid wages for service rendered for the latter half of March. It might not be that much compared to the company's officers and bosses with their large monthly salaries and all, but 30-plus grand is a big deal to me.

It could've been money to pay for my outstanding debts. Or money to pay for rent, buy me food, and get me around as I look for other employment opportunities. But, up to now we still have to see when we will ever get paid. Most of the items in my collection (some of which even made their way into this blog), have been sold off just so I could manage to feed and shelter myself for these past four months. Not that I've become too attached to the material things in life but those items took me a large amount of time and money to obtain, only to end up being sold at only 3/4 to even 1/2 of their supposed resale value. Ouch.

So when are we ever going to get paid? Nobody knows the answer to that, and it could already be money that most of us might be waiting for in vain.

Stupidity At It's Lowest

18 February 2007:

At around 11am this morning, after going to the bank to withdraw some funds I went to LBC Walter Mart Pasong Tamo which is located near where I live, to have some eBay items I managed to sell mailed out to their respective buyers. It had been agreed upon the night before, that I would have their items sent via LBC instead because: 1) they live at a very considerable distance from where I reside, and 2) my hectic - and unpredictable - work schedule severely limits my ability to make any meet-up transactions.

I consider myself a regular customer at that LBC branch, having used their services for a number of times in the past to ship out my eBay items to out-of-town buyers. I never had any unfavorable experience with their staff. They were friendly and would often start a conversation with me regarding my eBay items, which consist mostly of action figures and mini4wd cars.

Not until this morning.

I had - via eBay auction - successfully sold some G.I. Joe Sigma 6 action figures and, as I have mentioned earlier, was about to have them mailed out to their respective buyers. Entering that LBC branch I noticed that the staff that I have gotten used to taking care of my packages weren't there. Instead, there was a lone woman taking care of the branch and all it's usual business activities.

I asked her for a quote - how much the shipping cost would be - and showed her the items. She asked what items they were. I unrolled the bubble wrap that protected two of the action figures that were also placed inside individual ZipLoc bags. And then she saw the Sigma 6 equipment locker where I kept the figures' accessories so they would not get misplaced. I obliged and she inspected the contents.

And then she saw the guns:

Not real guns - not even replicas - and most definitely, not airsoft BB guns.

And so, with the conviction of an intelligent being, she flatly tells me: "bawal ito" ("these aren't allowed").

Me: "Ano?!" ("What?!")
Dumb Clerk (sternly): "Bawal ang mga ito." ("These are prohibited.")
Me: "Bakit bawal?" ("Why are they prohibited?")
DC (power-tripping tone in her voice): "Bawal ang mga baril." ("Guns are not allowed.")
Me: "Hindi naman totoong baril 'yan, at ang liliit pa! Bakit ipagbabawal 'yan?!" ("Those aren't even real guns, and they are so tiny! Why should they be prohibited?!")
DC: "Basta bawal ang mga baril." ("Because guns are prohibited.")

Wanting to smack this person upside her head, to try shaking an iota of intelligence into her, I realized it would only create some kind of disturbance inside the LBC branch. Instead, I put back the items inside my sling bag and stormed out of the place.

Feeling so pissed off, I went to an internet cafe upstairs and logged into LBC's website. I filed a customer complaint but, up until now (it's already 8pm) I have not even received an email notifying me that they have read my complaint. So what else is new? This is the very same shit I experienced with this cunt-ry's Labor Department.

By the way, just to let you all know how "big" these "guns" where, here is a scale comparison:

They're so tiny they wouldn't have even created a small bump on her head if I had ever thought of throwing these at her! These "guns" are made of rather soft plastic, without even a working mechanism inside. I've seen jeweler's screwdrivers creating more damage than what these could do!

And so, thanks to these stupid lady clerk, I have to travel tomorrow morning to the Megamall in Mandaluyong and then to Gateway in Cubao, just to meet these customers and then travel back to Makati afterwards so I can go to work.

So far, this has got to be the most stupid human being that I have come across.

No wonder this country is in shambles.

What Does It Take?

What does it take to make an employee stay in a company? Attractive incentive packages? Higher-than-average compensation? Bountiful benefits? Cool bosses? Complete facilities and hi-tech equipment?

Most of the time it's a combination - if not all - of those.

But sometimes, it's a very simple thing that it often gets taken for granted: SALARIES BEING RECEIVED ON TIME.

I just cannot see the logic nor the place of being paid late in the overall scheme of things in this universe. One needs to put fuel before any flame starts to burn. One needs to put gasoline in a car before it can run. So why the fuck should a human being be forced to do more work before receiving any of his past dues?

Promises, promises. "Tomorrow" turns to "in a few days", which then turns into "next week", and then "it's coming - hang on", which in turn becomes "we're not sure yet". Easy for them to say. They probably do not have bills to pay and other people to feed. Or they have set aside this huge trust fund.

Employees being treated like kids, with these promises. It's not their fault when the head honcho makes poor business decisions.

People are leaving and yet Big Boss acts nonchalantly, never addressing the issue to his subordinates.

"Hello. Anybody there?" Dimwit.

I just hope he has enough to cover his face, once the shit finally hits the fan.

And this cunt-ry's Labor Department? Sheesh. Couldn't even send an email to notify you that they have received your complaint. So much for going hi-tech, you brown morons. Fuck this country's government - fuck them all to Hell. Different names, but monkeys all the same. All they're concerned about is their next seat in the coming elections.

A Chance To Escape From It All

I guess I need a break from all the work-related ranting I have been doing ever since this year started. Sad to say that our office woes haven't been completely given a solution, and this feeling of uncertainty as to how much longer we will have work looms over us like a dark cloud.

If I only had a choice, I would spend at least a year unemployed, kick back at home and spend time on my hobbies. But I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. So much for wishful thinking.

Though I despise summer, it is going to creep in anytime soon and I will again be having a hard time breathing the hot air (I have asthma). I never really looked forward to summer, except maybe when I was still just a kid and summer meant no school for about two months. But way back then the asthma had already been with me, though no school meant one less thing to worry about everyday so I guess it was a fair trade for "freedom".

"No more classes, no more books. No more teachers' dirty looks," as the line of a once popular song went - though it was immortalized in my mind by Bugs Bunny. I didn't get the "dirty looks" part, though. Must've been a lot of lecherous teachers in that school.

And so summer will be a-coming in soon. With this, the thoughts of the majority of the population will converge on one single idea: to cool off in a beach or resort somewhere in one of this country's several popular summer destinations.

Which could only mean one thing: all these popular summer destinations will once again be crowded. And I hate being in the middle of a mass of human flesh - I just can't get to relax in a crowded place. So, if you are also like me, who would like to relax but would like things to be, uhm, less crowded, I have got a suggestion for you:

Somewhere south of the Philippines is a travel destination that has not yet become a cliché unlike Puerto Galera, Boracay, Subic or wherever, and is still as pure and as untainted as can be. This paradise is located in Camarines Sur and so, if you and your friends or family would like to experience something new this summer, why not visit Caramoan?

I'm not going to spill the beans right here; so if you would like to know more about this "secret destination", kindly visit The Caramoan Blog. My friend will be more than happy to entertain your queries.

Another Thing To Be Pissed About

I'm taking a break from my personal rantings at work (though we have yet to be paid fully) and rant about something of a more national scale.

I just came across a newspaper headline about this country's aviation safety rating being downgraded to below global safety minimums. Even though I have not taken a plane to go somewhere, this news just pissed me off. With Php 3.1 billion projected annual income, it's a wonder how the management has failed to correct safety deficiencies.

But given the fact that they have monkeys for bosses to run the show at the ATO, it's no wonder why things have become FUBAR'd.

What next? I think sacking those responsible is indeed a start, but it's not enough.

Tie 'em to the landing gear and have the plane takeoff, level at 50,000 feet and then land. Do this several dozen times.

The Suspense Is Killing Me

It has been announced again by our employer, that we WILL be paid THIS coming Tuesday. Whew! Finally!! What a relief!!!

NOT!

Because, you see, after all these weeks of the CEO crying wolf, we have grown indifferent of all the broken promises. Irreparable damage has been dealt, especially to the morale of the company's personnel, and some of us have decided to jump ship and look for greener and more stable pastures.

Not only that, some of us have damaged the trust we have tried to maintain with the people we owe money from.

Just take into account my own tribulation these past six weeks: I now owe the cellphone company two months worth of bills and managed to have my line temporarily cut off. I owe overdue rent for the room I'm renting, and also some significant amount of money to a colleague I had taken out a loan from, last October. And I've been practically living in the office premises for this past week.

I have yet to pay for some items at eBay which I had won LAST MONTH, and for this, my Feedback Rating is now in danger of being given several non-paying bidder strikes which will mar the otherwise flawless Rating that I have tried to maintain for the past sixteen months.

So once we get the money, most of it will only go to our payables. Just like an outdoor breeze briefly grazing one's skin.

On the (somewhat) good side, being broke for the past one and a half month taught me a lesson as well. It has taught me to cast off my attachment to the material side of life. It gave me the courage to downsize my growing action figure collection, to only the figures that I really like. It has taught me to let go of the excess, and keep those that are really dear to me.

But then again, I had to sell even some of the ones I like that were really hard to find -- those that had me spending time and money hunting for.

So it's back to square one with the hunt, and I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Distractions, Distractions

As mentioned in my previous post, we have not been paid at work for more than a month now. And this has been both a major inconvenience and a source of distraction, day in and day out.

I've experienced a couple of Holiday Seasons without a job, but this is an entirely different situation. It is more difficult when one is expecting something to come in and it doesn't, than when one isn't expecting anything arriving at all. Unlike some of you who might be reading this, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I do not have a trust fund nor a multi-million dollar inheritance. Nor am I an overpaid executive in some large corporation.

It has become tedious, to try to explain to the people I owe money from, that my paycheck has been moved to yet another week. Day in, and day out. Not everybody can be as understanding and considerate as I am, when somebody owes me some money. Bills and payables have started to pile up.

Looking for another job isn't as easy as it may seem to some of you. Because, in this country (guess where I am?), you need money to earn money. How else am I going to travel around the metro to show up for a job interview, if I don't have any money to take me anywhere in the first place? And if I do ever land on a new job, it's this silly "tradition" in the local employment industry that a new employee has to wait for one month before he can receive his first paycheck.

One month? So where do I get the money to feed me, house me, and get me to work and back home everyday, for an entire month? Isn't this why I was looking for a new job in the first place - for the money?

So I am stuck here in this dead-end job, along with my colleagues who are as broke as I am now.

And so, to fend for my everyday expenses, I have been selling my action figure collections on eBay. Yes, the same ones I have worked hard for and traveled around just to look for. The same ones that had me staying glued to the computer monitor, trying to snipe them at eBay. And I am selling them cheap, just so they could be converted to much-needed cash quickly. Shit. I'm selling my collections at a loss.

One step forward, two steps back.

When will this nightmare ever end?

2008

Time flies so fast, another year has come. I never realized I haven't been posting for some time now. New Year's resolutions? None, frankly. Because it seems that the more I set goals, the higher the chances that I won't be achieving any of them.

I've become too preoccupied with eBay. That, and more than a half-dozen or so action figure forums I joined during the last half of 2007. I've gotten myself hooked with action figure collecting once again, after dumping my Mini4WD hobby last year.

Collections can get expensive, but quite rewarding. Especially the hunt for those hard-to-find "hot" items and variants. And so while I am at work, I also have another internet browser open besides my already-busy Mozilla with 30+ tabs simultaneously open (for work purposes) just so I can monitor what's being posted up on eBay.

And then there's the action figure collectors' forums I've joined. Most of the time I just read all the silliness that gets posted up or contribute some knowledge or helpful information to those who are in need, and learn some as well. Sometimes I even post my items up for sale. But for all the haggling and no-shows I've encountered in the forums, I've decided to keep my selling strictly at the 'Bay.

Ahhhh... eBay. All was well until our paychecks at work started to get delayed. And as of this posting, we haven't been paid our salary for the whole month of December, plus the remainder of our 13th month bonus and 5 days' worth of unused vacation leave.

What makes things worse, is that I am currently stuck with 6 eBay auction items that I have won last month which have yet to be paid. All because of my employer's promises that our money will arrive "next week". The next thing we know, "next week" has now been more than a month, and our payables have started to pile up. Rent's overdue, and so is my cellphone bill (my line got cut off yesterday). And the 6 eBay items I have yet to pay for? My account is in danger of being given several simultaneous non-paying bidder strikes.

So much for that 100% positive feedback rating that I've worked so hard for, since September 2006.

What a way to end 2007.

What a way to start 2008.