MMMiii!

Two new characters in my daily Tech Support life. And I’m on time this time. I actually almost forgot. This is the problem when you’re on night shift. You leave the house at night and come back the next day. Sometimes you forget what day it is. You practically have to live in someone else’s timezone.

It’s not yet Monday in EST, but it’s Monday in PHT. Sooo… yeh.

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Ms Divorcee

Customer calls in. Tells you the story of her life. She has two kids, and she’s getting a divorce next week. She doesn’t want soon-to-be ex-husband to have access to her e-mails, to her internet accounts. She wants to delete the future ex’s email account as well.

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A customer called in once and asked what was the grade of the wireless modem router (gateway) they have from us. I told her it was a Wireless-G. Then she asked about Wireless-N because her son mentioned it and that he was a serious gamer and he needs one like that. I told her that it has a wider coverage and a stronger signal. She then asked if her Internet will be faster. I said that it really depends on her speed plan. A better router doesn’t necessarily mean faster internet, which a lot of Americans seem to think.

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Last night, I went out with my amigas Lori, Sara, and Sarah. We ate at Cafe Bola for dinner and then at Max Brenner for desserts. I was supposed to go to UnionBank first to make a deposit, but I left the house somewhat late, almost an exact calculation that I’ll reach the bank just in time before it closes. But when I arrived in EDSA, I realized that I had left my cellphone. I left my cellphone inside the refrigerator. I sighed, got off the jeepney and crossed the street. Hailed another jeepney and went home. I’ll make a bank deposit some other time. I can’t meet with my friends without a phone because you never know what comes up.

Going to Makati, I felt lazy walking to GMA station so I took a bus. I planned to get off two stations from GMA but when I was there, I couldn’t get off immediately so I’ll be walking, so I told the conductor that I’ll just get off somewhere else. And I did. And I realized that I was so stupid that I really should’ve taken the train instead. I would’ve saved about half my total fare on my way to the meeting place. Sarah arrived after 7 and we kind of got lost going to Cafe Bola. We had to ask where it was because Lori forgot where it was. When we arrived there, Sara just arrived as well.

At Cafe Bola, I ordered Spicy Green Curry with Carambola

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I went to Baclaran Church yesterday with my mother because we bought my grad dress. But because it was my first time visiting Baclaran Church, I had to make a wish. It’s kind of a belief I guess. The first time you visit a church, make a wish and it will come true. I did not, however, make a wish. I talked with God. Here’s the gist of it (translated into English already):

Hey God, long time no see, long time no talk.

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I just realized that yesterday was a Monday, but since I work on EST and it’s still Monday in EST, … Well… Yes. So. Yeah. You’re right. I AM making excuses. But it’s true! It’s still Monday in EST!!!

___________________
I had a call earlier (expect me to start with this phrase all the time) and this guy was calling for a friend. He said that he wanted to cancel their order for a new modem. I told this guy that it’s not possible to cancel an order, but he asked me to try to find a way. And so while I was chatting with Tier 2, asking what I could tell my customer, this customer asked “How’s Manila?”

Now, we have a rule. We’re not allowed to say we’re in Manila. We can say that we’re in the Philippines but never in Manila. So I wasn’t really sure how I was going to answer that. I floundered and said, “It’s night time there.” And this customer said, “Yes, of course.” I didn’t elaborate. I didn’t want or need to explain that I can’t say where I am for security purposes. Let him feel that he assumed.

After that, I told him again that we can’t cancel it and it’s really not in our system nor in our tools to cancel an order that has already been placed. I do understand the logic of not canceling orders since this could truly mess up a system. I told him to just decline the package when UPS comes but he didn’t want to hear me out. So anyway, Mr How’s Manila asked me to let him speak with a supervisor.

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Lately I’ve been playing some games on Facebook. I’m playing Mobwars, Knighthood, Dopewars, and other arcade games. Currently, my favorite is Mobwars. Next would be dopewars. I recently discovered an app on facebook called Classic Games. It’s got Super Mario on flash, Tanks, Duck hunt, tetris rip off, Prince of Persia, Frogger (without the music =/ ), and Invaders.

These really ARE classic games. These games remind me of my chilhood. I’m just a little disappointed with frogger because the music isn’t there. I miss frogger music.

Bah… I’m so old now.

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My family isn’t really very poor. Although, around the time he was elected into office in 1998, my family was experiencing a bit of a really rough time. My father came from a somewhat well-to-do family. My mother was practically a princess in her youth. And they both supported Erap. Actually, they still do. If Erap runs for presidency, they’re going to vote for him.

I knew they were Erap supporters, but I only realized how strong yesterday.

I told my mother that I won $200 dollars, and that I’m going to get about $300 from my PayPal soon. Then she said that’s not really a lot these days. And I do agree. That’s only about P12000. Not even enough to get the cellphone I want.

Our conversation progressed to how Arroyo sucked so bad and how Marcos was an even better president than her. During Marcos’ time, when prices went up, it was also mandatory for the basic salary to go up, or something like that (according to my mother). Now, the dollar exchange goes down, food prices and gasoline keeps going up, and the salary remains the same. My salary as a call center agent will not really be enough to live on with the way things are right now. I’ll be living on instant noodles, probably.

My mother never really supported Edsa II. She would have gone to Edsa III if she was really up to it. She said, Erap may be corrupt, and even if he does buy luxurious things like a rest house to give to his women, are the poor still being supported? Life wasn’t really as bad when Erap was seated into office. The country really started crumbling during the time or Ramos. And Erap was just there to clean up the mess Ramos made. Why should Erap take the consequences?

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Who ever said that being on Night Shift is healthy?
Who ever said that being on a different shift every month or every two weeks is healthy?
I don’t think anyone would.

Being on a shifting schedule is unhealthy, yes, but what kind of unhealthiness? Especially if you’re on Night Shift, and your schedule only changes with an 8-hour difference, but still basically at night?

While waiting for UnionBank to open this morning at Starbucks, I was so bored that I read the papers (Yes, OMG! I can read!). I just found out that the country is having a food shortage and that the Ifugao Rice Terraces was selected as a UN treasure or something and that they’re kind of renegotiating our country boundaries for the Kalayaan Group/Spratly Islands, and some other stuff. Well, the only one I really read on was the Ifugao Rice Terraces.

What caught my eye was an article about how being on Night Shift can cause sleep deprivation (no, really?) and the health problems that come with it. What really piqued my interest in the article was how people had a higher risk of obesity when they’re on Night Shift. Because you get more hungry often when you’re on Night Shift and something to do about your metabolism and body clock and what not. I do notice that always, after my shift, I’m so hungry. Like I’m starving. So I grab something to eat sometimes on the way home, and when I arrive home, I’m going to eat again because Mama cooked breakfast to me (I know I could say ‘no,’ but who the hell can say ‘no’ to Filipino breakfast?).

Double breakfast.

I also think feel that I’m getting a tad heavier. *sigh* *starts blaming getting fatter on Night Shift*

But anyways, there were tips on coping with Shift Work.

Coping with shift work

Sleep experts suggest various ways to cope with unusual work and sleep schedules.

• Regular hours: Keep the same sleep schedule on days off from work.
  • No really? It’s past five pm, going on sick six and I’m still awake. Although… I really should be waking up at this time on normal work days. I time myself. I try to sleep by 10am, not later than 11am. I wake up at 4pm, not later than 5pm. That’s on normal days, but today is my day off…
• Strategic napping: Studies show naps of 20 minutes to two hours — either just before a shift or during a shift — can improve alertness and performance at work.
  • Strategy? Like whenever I’m Sleeping at Work? I’m really trying to avoid that now. What I do is if I get done early with bath and dinner, I sleep until 5:30pm or 5:45pm.
• Bright light: Exposure to bright lights during the first half of a shift may help fight fatigue later in the shift.
  • I’m not really sure about this. It’s always usually bright there, so I don’t really know the difference if I started in a dark place or bright one.
• Light restriction: Avoiding bright lights in the morning (such as by wearing sunglasses on the way home and sleeping in a very dark room) can help night-shift workers sleep better during the day.
  • I think my mother noticed that I’m still really having a hard time sleeping in the day even after she put curtains on my windows to kind of reduce the sunlight so I could sleep, so she put on thicker
    curtains. I really love my mother. Now it’s dark … ish…. here, but it’s really a LOT of improvement. I just got hooked up on J-Drama what’s why I’m still awake, not because of the light.
  • I have these neat cheapo shades that I use a lot these days. I bought 2 expensive ones but they weren’t dark enough. One was P200 and the other one was P250. This uber neat shades was just P55. One can usually find the best buy in cheapo places like Dakki or Daisan or whatever you call it, or Uncle Ben’s Store… Ugh, I can’t remember. But it’s UBL sunglasses and I got it in a Japan Home+Dakki+Daisan(?) Store.
    
• Melatonin: Supplements can promote daytime sleep when taken an hour or two before bedtime.
  • Haven’t tried. Probably will not try.
• Modafinil: This medication, brand name Provigil, was approved in 2004 for the treatment of shift-related sleep disorder. Taken just before a shift, it can enhance alertness at night, studies have shown.
  • Haven’t tried. Probably will not try.
• Caffeine: Caffeine has been shown to counteract drops in performance levels at night.
  • I love coffee. Except that coffee hates me. I have hyper-acidity and coffee gives me diarrhea as well. But sometimes, I do feel the need, and sometimes it doesn’t really wake me up, but it’s good anyway.

Sources: Dr. Diane Boivin; American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
c/o Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times

Stolen from … Darn I forgot. I’m not even sure if it’s Manila Times. -_-;; But thank you, one of the local news papers. I do remember the page. It’s on E4.

The ones in italics are just my side comments. Don’t pay too much attention to them.

Anyway, my first thought of this was, “This should be shown to all Call Center Agents. This should be circulated so that we can all stay healthy.” A lot of my teammates have fallen ill and may resign because of health issues. It’s really sad.

So… to all you call center agents out there who are on shifting schedules or always on night shift, make sure that you get enough sleep.

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Finally, today, I was able to get two other valid IDs. I’ve been having this problem for so long now. I had to get money from xoom.com before but stupid BDO was asking for two IDs even if it was written on the site that I could have 1 valid ID and a password. The only (supposed to be) valid ID I had that time was my school ID which they said that since the semester ended about a month ago, it’s not valid anymore. I thought to myself, “One day, I’m going to have a LOT of damned valid IDs and I’m going to slap it on your face.” I went to a pawnshop that also does xoom transactions and I was able to get my money.

Five months later, aside from my company ID, I now have a TIN Card and a Postal ID. I applied for them last week, and surprisingly, for government IDs, they were prompt. They said one week/3 days, and I got them on the date they told me.

At BIR, I almost had to wait. I arrived there a little past 7am and they still weren’t really fully open. So I bought some donuts and when I came back, they were letting people in already. I asked one of the people there where I could get my ID and he told me to go in the office in the back. I went there and I asked again where I could get my ID, the guy there told me that it’s still early and sit down back in the front and wait. On my way there, the first guy I spoke with asked me if I already got my ID coz I was so quick, so I told him that I was told that it was still early. He stood up and said, “If it’s still early, why is he there wasting electricity then?” then told me to follow him and then after two minutes of looking for my ID, he finally found it.

I had it laminated just outside BIR and ate Pancit while I was having some documents photocopied and the ID being laminated. I was good to go to UnionBank.

Last week, I applied online for UnionBank’s CyberAccount and to get the card, I needed to present two valid IDs. I only had one at that time, so with my newly laminated TIN Card, I could finally get it.

However, I was more than an hour early, so I hung out in Starbucks and read the papers until UnionBank opened. So now, I have my Debit Card but it will be activated next week. But still, at least I’ve got it now so I could soon get my PayPal money!

If only they would accept my school ID, then I would’ve applied for it sooner. But no. They didn’t. It wasn’t valid anymore.

Valid IDs are stupid. They won’t accept my University ID because I graduated already. It’s got my picture. It’s got my signature. It’s got a barcode. What more do they want? Just because I’m not enrolled for this semester (because I don’t need to anymore), they won’t accept it. That’s real bull. To support my identity, I also have my birth certificate, Barangay, Police, and NBI Clearance (the last one being a real biatch to get). I have my TIN application form, my pink SSS application form which I heard is supposed to be accepted as an ID as well. What kind of documents do they want to prove my identity? It’s just really stupid.

Such a stupid world.

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Lately, I’ve been hanging out in eBay. I’m getting frustrated not being able to get my money from PayPal because Xoom is being utterly stupid. Not that I’ve got a lot in my PayPal, but still… it would be nice to be actually touching them or seeing them take interest in my bank account, right?

So… I signed up for eBay! And I bought three things.

Silicone Skin Case for my Zen V Plus with lanyard and armband.

You’re probably thinking I’m crazy. The item is $1.00 but shipping is $9.49, a total of $10.49. If you convert that to peso, that’s still less than how much the silicone skin case will cost here. Including the arm band. So I’m still fine with that. It’ll just take about a month to get here plus red tape, so that’s two months… maybe.

Brand New Sennheiser CX300 Ear Canal Headphone Silver Black.

Actually, I wanted the black one, but stupid me didn’t notice that I bid on the Silver one. I emailed the person and asked him if he could send me the black one instead. I don’t know if it’s real or not, but it’s cheaper than the Phillips in-ear earphones that I’ve been eyeing for some time now. a LOT cheaper, and a LOT cheaper than it’s price in malls. I can’t spend my real money, so why not spend money that I can’t obtain? right?

And my last purchase…

Nodame Cantabile: Megumi’s Piano Pattern Tote Bag + Coin Purse

I don’t remember seeing Nodame with this coin purse, but what the heck. I’ve been wanting to buy a new bag and I don’t see anything that I like that is within my budget (my budget for a new bag is P150). Nothing I see, even in Ukay-Ukays, meet that budget and design that I want. So… I thought of getting the Nodame bag. And it’s … not very cheap, but good enough. It’s about 5 times my budget, but considering I didn’t really spend anything from my salary for these… s’all good.

Well… those are my first eBay purchases. I hope I don’t get addicted and spend too much. The things I usually see have to come from overseas, and knowing how this country’s postage system works, these things will probably arrive past my birthday. *crossing fingers*

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