GI-Joe Wannabee

I am at work now but I cannot resist the urge to blog. I am so furious towards a person. Some shit sucking Peking guy. He has been here for barely 4 months only, and yet he speaks as though he has seen everything there is to see in the Philippines. I admit I am not the patriotic kind of a person but this fucking GI Joe-wannabee is just pushing me to the limit. Let me tell you that I am well aware of the Philippine's economic status. We are a third-world country, no doubt about that. We are lagging behind other third world countries but I know more than what he assumingly knows.

A guy phoned him just a few minutes ago, and judging from this Peking guy's answer, I think the person on the other end is asking how is the Philippines. The motha-fucka answered him "they are poor. Chinese here are well-off but Filipinos are poor." Ok, I admit that most Filipino families are living way beyond the accepted norms of living. My eyes are open to the shanties alongside each and every roadside. I know that poverty here in the Philippines is very evident but no, not every Filipinos are poor. I am half-Chinese, and so I am hurt that I hear this kind of comments. I have Filipino friends that are well-off. And I have Chinese friends that are not that prosperous. I myself, belongs to a middle-class family, cliche as it may seem.

All I want is for foreigners, especially this fucking reporter-wannabee, to respect the Philippines, simply because he is working here. No one, and I emphasize NO ONE wants him to be deployed here, and we are all just abiding by the Main's decision of whom to deploy here. He should be thankful that because of this assignment, his ass is being paid for with a lot of money, more than how much he is earning before. I don't fabricate things. I tell him what the Philippines is all about. I don't only tell him stories of the good ones, but also the negative ones. I tell things as how they are, as transparent as I can be. Being a foreigner, working here with more than half of your staff are Filipinos, I think it is only appropriate to respect one another, including each other's respective countries. If you are not happy with the situation here, which, by the way, is none of your fucking business since you are here only for two years, then by all means go back to your country. If you simply cannot do that, then zip your mouth and keep your opinions to yourself if you cannot construct a less insulting way of describing things. I do not restrict people to say what they want to say, or their opinions, whether or not it is favorable to the Philippines. But please DO NOT GENERALIZE, and assume that you know everything when in fact you know nothing at all. You don't even take time to know Filipinos, their culture, their beliefs. You do not even know what is "Cojuangco" nor the significance of "Hacienda Luisita", considering you are a journalist. You do not read things about the Philippines and yet you act like you know Filipinos.

This has not been the first time that you insulted my country. Let me just tell you that if you love your country, I love my country too. It is true that your country has developed more and in a shorter span of time than what the world expected. But you know boy, your country is not heaven. There are stinking parts on your country. There are unresolved conflicts among your countrymen. Just like here in the Philippines. You do not have the right to insult the Philippines and the Filipinos just as we do not have any right to insult your country, or any other countries as well. Mutual respect pal. It is important especially if you dream of joining the "Party". Much as it is important if you are assigned to another country may it be in the USA or the Philippines.

Dude, two points
1. Do not generalize
and;
2. Mutual respect

We can co-exist, can we? If you want to trash my country, be sure that I will not hear it. If I hear it one more time, be prepared to what kind of trashing you will hear from me. Do not worry, I will not trash your country, I am not like you. But I can trash you. Oh boy, you gave me enough trash to hurl at you over time. Be prepared. "Be scared, be very scared."

No, it is not a threat. It is just a friendly reminder, boy. And if you have spare time, instead of brewing evil thoughts and insults in your mind, it will do you more good if you will read about the Philippines. So you do not end up being a shit-head relying to whatever answer you get from random people that you keep on disturbing with your very basic questions. Use the internet kid, its free, the company is paying for your internet connection at home not only for your porn sessions. Use it to your mental advantage, and not only for your carnal satisfaction. Lessen your QQ in exchange for Google search or even Wikipedia. Or better yet, read the newspaper. We have plenty of them in the office, don't be shy, just get one and read it even as you shit so that you can utilize your time better.

Damn it. And I thought this will be a good start of the week.

Behind the Story

Here's the scene

"Where's the report?"

"Still in the process of finishing it

15 minutes after..

"Where's the report?"

"Give me a few more minutes. I'm summarizing everything up."

Another 20 minutes after..

"What time is it? Give me the report"

"Ok, I'll give you the ones that are already done."

*Busy doing the undone part of the report*

"Shiela, I need the production posting of these items"

*Posts the production report

"Shiela, have you encoded the data of the other warehouse?"

"..."

The next day...

"Where are the supporting documents (in relation to my submitted partial report)?"

"I don't have it with me"

"Then how did you verify if the reconciliation is justifiable?"

"..." (inside my head: As much as I want to do verifications, I just don't have the time to do everything at once)

"I did not ask you to just copy the reconciliation report they've done without verifying it. You have to make sure that what they wrote in their reconciliation report is justifiable blah blah blah.."

*Thinking: If only I have time to do it. I really want to do it but I am running out of time. I'm exhausted. Confused. I'm working my ass off but still it is not enough. In the first place, how do you expect me to do inventory auditing when accounting is my least favorite thing in this world? How many warehouses do I handle? I am just one person doing at least three person's job. I encode. A lot. I audit. I make purchase orders. Do follow-ups. What else do you want from me?

Funny how our bosses do not realize that we are incapable of doing too many things all at once. Not because we are not efficient, but because one person simply cannot do three person's job simultaneously. Especially if those that he is coordinating with also do not have a clue on what is going on in their own warehouse. I am not Superwoman nor am I Einstein. I need time, plenty of it, to finish everything. It's not easy to fulfill the requests of everybody. If someone needs something, I have to do it. Even if it does not concern me, I am the one being asked. Think of the time being wasted every time I get up to go outside to make or take a call. The time it takes me to try to answer queries that I don't even understand at all. The time for me to follow-up on some scheduled deliveries. I don't have the luxury of time itself. 8 hours a day is not enough for me to finish everything. My work do not only require good summaries. Before I can write a good summary, I have to spend hours to analyze things. I want to see through the reports submitted to me thoroughly but I am constrained by time.

I have never submitted late reports, at least not that kind of late. I want to do it thoroughly and surely. If only I have time. Or if only there is someone I could split the work with. I know I am not irresponsible. I know how to budget my time. But in cases like this, even well-budgeted time won't be enough to accomplish everything for so many more reasons.

Its not that I don't have the guts to speak out to my boss. But because I know that when I speak up, the ugly truth will surface. That both people and facilities are not enough. Just like when you cram a lot of your wardrobe inside a suitcase, stuffing more than its capacity, it explodes. People too, "explodes" when forced to take in everything way beyond his capacity.