The value of time

“What you get free costs too much.” -Jean Anouilh

Beware SM shoppers. If very friendly people in semi-formal clothing approach you in order to give you free items such as umbrellas, knapsacks or even movie tickets (and the chance to win a BMW!), make sure you have 3 hours and a lion’s share of divine patience to spare. If you don’t, just walk away.

I learned that people in sales have this unique gift for conversation, but a lack in empathy. I understand that they need to sell in order to earn (hence the intensive training on what to say, how to say it and how to counter common excuses), but to overhear that they get scolded for “lost sales” (which I am a part of), is simply inhuman. Sure they need to try hard, but if a potential customer simply chooses to remains so — that is, a potential — then the salesperson can do squat to convince that customer otherwise. Not even a supervisor or manager can change that. NO MEANS NO. Nobody is obliged to buy a product, however good it is, within a deadline. Heck, if I really wanted to buy a product, I want to think about it at least overnight. I don’t like having my hand forced NOW.

Detention in an air-conditioned room, face to face with a sales agent can be the most trying time of your life. All for 3 knapsacks and 4 movie tickets. Considering what I lost that day, I regret it.

Sour Cream Fries

This afternoon found me looking for a small reward for getting myself out of the house for something productive — getting a haircut.

Instantly I thought of my fill of my Food-of-the-Month: a Cappucino McFlurry from McDonald’s. However, as I stood in line for my 30-peso delight, my eyes drifted to the menu plastered on the ceiling behind the counter.

Try the new McShaker Fries! In Sour cream or Chili Cheese! Only 42 pesos.

Being a sour cream-on-anything fan, I decided to try it out. The fries were placed in a paper bag, and I was given a packet of the sour cream powder. After shaking the bag with the powder, I was delighted to see that the powder evenly coated each fry, with the ones at the bottom getting more than the others, since the powder had more time to stick to them.

Rewarded I was, with a full 10 minutes of palate pleasure. The powder was really sour, not justin small measure, but truly tongue-watering sour. The salt content was negligible. This is the way (powdered) sour cream should be done.

Now, will McDonald’s come out with the real sour cream?

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Moments like this afternoon remind me that amid the chaos of everyday, in between work and more work, beyond the momentary preoccupation of the tired worker, there lie experiences waiting to be relished. Maybe it’s not a pack of french fries. Maybe doesn’t have anything to do with food.

Maybe it’s simple conversation. A walk in the park. An unexpected opportunity to be more of a friend to others.

As John Mayer put it: I am bigger than my body gives me credit for. Live!

iPod accessories invade the bedroom

Endgadget – OhMiBod Picks Up Good Vibrations

This nifty new iPod addition will make lonely nights less … urm … lonely. A vibrator attachment plugs in alongside the earphones. It vibrates to the rhythm of the music, so one would get aural and tactile stimulation in sync.

Best with your “Intimate music” playlist.

Corporate madness

So there I was, punctual at my interview on the dot, for a position at a donut retailer. I was told to wait at the lobby extension, so I did, expecting that I would be called in within the next 30 minutes or so.

A full hour passes before the receptionist tells me that the interviewer was stuck at a meeting but he’d arrive soon.

Another 30 minutes passes. An army of frontliners of this donut retailer’s sister company passes by me to get to a seminar room. The excitement was palpable in their faces as they entered in full battle gear: company provided shirt, pants and cap, with a hairnet for the ladies.

People shuffle into the lobby. A meeting is held, a check signed. Smiles abound. But not on my lips. Strike 1!

My patience wearing thin, I SMS G and my mom: How unprofessional! I’ve been here for an hour and a half and I still haven’t been interviewed! The reply: Well, speaks f d company.

Finally I get called, along with the two others left in the lobby. The interviewer said that he was sorry for the delay, but he had to make an impromptu presentation to upper management just that day. Strike 2!

I was offered a job, but I sincerely think that I deserve more than the salary on the table, considering my work experience. Strike 3! You’re out!

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My mom was right. The whole experience today spoke volumes about the company. Even without being employed, I learned that in this company,

1. punctuality isn’t valued, even by upper management.
2. upper management must have its way, even at the cost of ruining other people’s (not just their employees’) meticulously prepared schedules
3. experience doesn’t count for much, even for a potential officer of the company.

I don’t mean to blow my own horn, but I think I know what I am entitled to (which is far lower than what I dream of earning). With all things considered, this company simply has no guts to do the right thing, at least as far as punctuality, sensitivity and just remuneration are concerned.

Sucks to be you, Mr.

Live chatting at Meebo

Techcrunch reports that Meebo has launched a Flash-based live chat widget for websites.

Some may say that this is old news, but for Meebo this is a breakthrough: the chat doesn’t go through any of the IM networks. In the future, Meebo plans to integrate use of the widget with the Meebo accounts presently available, though these are used only for using the IM-networks component.

What are the implications of such a development? Meebo will offer a more secure IM service, in that there won’t be any Big Brother from the IM networks who can go through your IMs.

Read up: Techcrunch » Meebo Launches MeeboMe

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