Bad Experience #3

Last Monday my husband and I had to go to SM to buy diapers for Kali. I didn't get to eat properly the whole day so come 5pm my stomach is rumbling and I can't think straight. I told Lay to choose a place to eat since my mind is at that time stationary. Usually when we got out to eat I would always suggest a place, but this time I left that task to him. We walked around SM Fairview's annex building and chanced upon Dimsum and Dumpling's. We already ate there once but it was a long time ago so I agreed on his suggestion to eat there. A crew was standing outside trying to entice passers by to their restaurant showing their menu. I immediately sat on a booth and rested my tired legs while Lay procceeded on the counter to order. There were only 2 tables occupied. The restaurant doesn't have a door so the loud music coming fron the atrium can clearly be heard where we are seated. Jollibee was singing his heart out to the kids participating in their program. He might be dancing too, but i'm not with a kid that would strangle me to get up and check out the show so I didn't get to see his dance moves. I ordered their Chopsuey Rice with chicharon while Lay ordered Fish Fillet. He asked me what would I want to drink and at that time my preference was soda - Coke to be specific. They don't serve Coke. Alright then, i guess they might be selling Pepsi products only, that would do for now. They don't have Pepsi either. Hmm, hmm, hmm... I'll get iced tea if they don't have soda. All of their iced teas are mixed with other stuff. There's no regular lemon iced tea in the beverage line up. There's an earl grey tea which sounds refreshing. It's not available. I asked for water instead while Lay got a pineapple infused iced tea which tasted disgusting for me. My food arrived after about 7 minutes and I told Lay I couldn't wait for his food to arrive as I need to eat already, I just gave him spoonfuls of rice with chopsuey, careful not to place chicharon on it since the chicharon could really damage your teeth if you're not careful. While I was eating my bowl of chopsuey rice the music outside surged and people started to clamor their way to the banisters to check out Jolibee and his celebrity guest, including 3 staff of DND and their shift manager. No one was left to man the restaurant, nor the guests. They were clapping along with the people unmindful of our needs. It was more than 15 minutes already and Lay's food hadn't arrived so we called the attention of the guy who took our order when he came back realizing that we might be needing something. He proceeded to the window of the kitchen and shouted at the cook and we heard him say "hindi mo ba narinig kanina?" . Apparently, Lay's food was not prepared because the cook didn't hear the order. We thought the guy would approach us to apologize but he just said "sandali lang po" and then went outside to check out Jolibbee again. Grrrrr.....!!! I wanted to talk to the manager but he was busy texting while drinking iced tea behind the counter. Lay didn't want to be confrontational that time since he was on his uniform and identified with our brand. After another 10 minutes his food arrived. The crew just mutterred an insincere apology. I was finished eating my food and just waited for Lay to finish so we could go home. Halfway through his meal he saw a small strand of blue plastic. This is becoming irrititating in so many levels. This particular restaurant is struggling to stay in the business since not so many people go there to eat. We always pass by this spot and I can only recall a few times that they are half filled with customers. If they would really want to stay in this business they need to reflect on their weakness. And that is the people they hired to work for them.

Terrible, terrible day

My first day to go back to work yesterday was a bit of a struggle. I had a difficult time leaving Kali at home with the yaya. And for all days, PISTON picked yesterday to stage their transport strike. I borrowed Tatay's car so I won't have a difficult time commuting. I arrived in the store 45 minutes early so I had my caffeine fix first before the big first day. Around noon it started to rain, heavily. Mind you, it's the middle of summer in this tropical country. The roads were difficult to traverse since there's almost zero visibility. From our store we could see cars crawling it's way down Commonwealth avenue, most of them have their headlights on. Then all of a sudden traffic jammed up and busses, jeepneys and cars were stuck in that 7 lane highway. It continued on for more than an hour. The second shift should arrive by 5pm, there's 3 of them and only Jose has arrived. Two of them sent message that they will be late because of the traffic in Fairview. My husband Lay will work the graveyard shift that starts at 7pm. He left the house at 5pm and after 2 hours he is still in North Fairview. Traffic was so bad, cars were not moving. And some of the idiotic drivers took the opposite lane, blocking all roads. Bevz who lives past SM Fairview walked in the middle of the rain from Fairview wet market up to Batasan. She then took a cab from there to get to our store. She arrived in the store at 7pm, she left her house at 2pm, imagine 5 hours to get to the store when in the normal day you get there in less than 2 hours. I felt so bad for her as I see her trying to dry her socks and rubber shoes. She even cried and had to be comforted by Liz. She already has colds and it would probably get worse. My husband Lay arrived in their store in Quezon Avenue past 9pm. More than 4 hours on the road. It wasn't just the rain or the transport strike. A bus sideswept a car somewhere in Fairview that worsened the already terrible situation. It had always been that way. Motorists never learn. It's already a cliche to say that in the Philippines defensive driving should be in mind whenever you are behind the wheel. I was supposed to go home by 8pm but since I don't want to suffer what they had to endure I had to wait and let the traffic subside. My sister waited for me and we decided to leave around 10pm. We took a different route and tried Don Antonio. Good thing my sister knows the road as I would have been lost altogether. We finally got home by 1130pm. I missed Kali so much she slept beside me in the bed. I can only pray to have better weather in the coming days. I don't want this terrible day to repeat again.