Edcel.net – mind games

I feel like I’ve been scammed.

When I got home from the office, I figured I’d drop by the Ayala Center Cebu mall and find a better barber shop in order to have my hair trimmed down. 120 pesos was already fine considering the facilities and the place.

I told the barber to make my hair look clean. At first everything was okay, the service was good and had class. In the middle of it all, he asked if I’d like to have some hot oil done. I said yes, thinking that it was just part of the package since an acquaintance told me the shop is good at taking care of their customers. Prior to the hot oil, he told me that I should wash my hair first so we went to a basin and had it shampooed.

Afterwards, they put my head in some weird looking helmet spaceship device where hot air just blew around inside. I was on a high because I got some slight relaxation since the staff also did some basic massage on my arms and head. It was a first for me to get pampered like that. Being the ignorant one, I just completely surrendered myself to the barber giving me all the much-needed service they could provide.

I was even willing to give 100% as tip for the nice treatment. Boy was I treated for sure. When everything was cool, I went up to the counter and my jaw suddenly dropped when she informed me of the bill.

Cashier: “Hi Sir, that will be 920.”
Me: “920?” — (wtf?)
Cashier: “Yes, for the hair treatment.”

I’ve been had! I thought I’d only pay for the hair cut and the other services were already part of it. I tried to make the face — the shocked, jackassed face — but I was already a veteran on these instances so I was able to conceal the expression.

Well Ed, that’s what you get for not bringing a girlfriend with you in places like these. You’d suffer the consequences of not having a second opinion. I felt too vulnerable a customer to them and they sure were able to milk some money out of it.

But it’s not their fault. Heck, they could even dye my hair blue and I wouldn’t even feel a thing. Still, I felt like I was duped. I’m not a celebrity or a rich kid that I have to maintain a certain image for other people to ogle or talk about. Ayayayay.

It would’ve been good if there was a big event that I had to participate in like a party or anything of that sort but come to think of it, a thousand bucks (including the tip) still won’t do the trick just for a meager hair cut. My head feels good but my pockets aren’t.  Arrggghhh.

In the end, I just walked home in order to save more cash and just skipped dinner altogether. But I did myself another favor and bought some ice cream to calm my senses from spending too much. All the stress came back to me on the walk home. Sigh.

It’s going to be long days of instant noodles and hanging rice for me.

and I need to get back to work. It was fun while it lasted, or should I just be creating this entry tomorrow? I’m still in Dumaguete, still working. The food places and the hang outs have been really fun; I’ve never partied gone out like this even in Cebu. Dumaguete has always been a slow-paced environment, that one tiny bubble where you can just chill with your shorts and slippers, even in bars. It’s a traveler’s haven, the food is cheap and everything can just be traveled by foot.

I’ll be back to a much faster environment by Monday, good luck with all the pictures I need to take. I just wish I can go full-time in blogging. Maybe soon.

Ah, that’s it; always keep a thick face regardless of people passing by.

Since I got sick and I haven’t gone to the doctor, I resulted to eating veggies and fish or fruits for lunch or dinner. Also, I’ve been drinking Gatorade non-stop to keep me hydrated after going back and forth the bathroom. This has been a bummer. I’ve been sick since the weekend which was supposed to be my days off where I can hang loose. Instead, I just stayed at home and waited for the sickness to subside.

I’m just glad that somehow I get to buy some good fruits at SM Cebu. They have a salad bar opened up some time ago which gives a customer a chance to choose from a number of fruits available and pour some milk and cream on it. This is what I do whenever I drop by SM City Cebu which has also been pretty important for me to do today since I needed the fiber.

This is my lunch while my younger was eating a 2 pieces of KFC chicken by my side. tsk tsk.

At Bo’s coffee

First thing’s first, Debbie’s back from her stint in Manila and I joined her and Doi last night to grab a bite to eat. She was there with other trainers for 2 months and it’s nice to see a familiar face again. I remember my time when I was there for a business trip, it was nice because somebody had to take care of things for you and you don’t have to worry that much. Anyway, Free food again! bwahahahaha.

Why the title?

It’s because secondly, my back hurts. huhuhuhu. It must be the massage that I had last night as well. It pains me when I try to stretch out and straighten it that it’s been giving me a hard time when I sleep. I hope this is just temporary though.

Sumilon Island

Went to Sumilon for a free trip to and checked out what the island could offer. It was nice because there were many activities and we took  the liberty to try out a number of things. The Sumilon Island escapade was really great because it was FREE! haha. I’m a cheapskate at heart and when situations like these arise, I do my best to join in.

Even if the weather wasn’t good, we still had fun.

Random shot at Jollibee, IT Park.

It’s nice cause more and more establishments here in the Asiatown IT Park in Lahug are offering wifi connections. I just wish it would be free rather than having to purchase a meal or so. But then it would mean that I’m asking for too much. Still, a one hour connection for a value meal is already affordable enough. I wonder what will happen to the other establishments when this park will become a little Makati, wait Cebu Business Park is the little Makati of Cebu. How about a little Ortigas? Nah, I’m not really familiar with the cities in Manila. But still, I can only imagine having to take a cab ride if I were to eat lunch when it’s just a few blocks away. Or probably walking in an underpass to grab a drink or ride a jeepney which will take forever because of the traffic that would be occurring even if the place could be walked within 3 minutes since there will be a lot of buildings that will be constructed and people can just transfer from building to building whenever they get fired because they’re not valuing their job as much as they need to since they’re taking advantage of the situation that we are in demand and getting an above average salary is as easy as signing up for a referral bonus.

Oh well, the business process outsourcing industry is really booming especially in third world countries that have a good background in the English language. But people shouldn’t really take things for granted. I know of some who have gone abroad, let’s say Singapore, in order to find greener pastures; only to be turned down by prospect employers because of our Nationality since these companies are prioritizing in hiring individuals within their own country. This makes it pretty sad in this day and age of globalization wherein barriers and limitations are supposed to be torn down. They do not hire people because of the lack of skills but because of your race which is also understandable because of the ever-obvious recession being the hot topic in this season and the seasons to come.

“You’re nationality is NOT an ASSET” according to my friend when she did try her luck, if only for a few weeks, in the Lion City. Job seekers dress professionally and wait patiently in every opening whereas  here in the Philippines, most of the time people don’t even have to put their best foot forward just to get hired. So long as you can talk and understand and converse in basic English, then you can be trained to work in how many contact centers abound; even if you’re an undergraduate. I am a testament to that fact.

I hope more and more people will take care of their jobs even if we don’t get to appreciate the benefits that receive. We may complain a lot of the cons of our work and other responsibilities; sure, it does and it will take a toll on our health but we are being compensated for staying up all night. How we balance our work with our life is what we need to focus on; being able to take time to relax and not think about working all the time. Heck, if I weren’t in this nocturnal industry, I’d probably be working in a restaurant or a fast food chain, given the limited qualifications that I have. It wouldn’t be enough to suffice the daily needs as well as my contributions to my family. I wish for everybody to have this sense of enlightenment and not think of privileges as rights.

Free writing and what it can do, haha. I was only planning to blog about the picture and I didn’t think that I’d be talking about jobs and careers and trends. hehe. Now I better get back to my meal.

Come South, CamSur!
Had a blast at Camarines Sur between June 12-16, 2009! I can’t really describe how great the experience was, I’ll just post a few of the pictures here. Yeah, these are just a few out of a thousand shots, I believe. hehe.

Going there.
Went to Manila and then stayed a couple of hours there to prepare for our 8-hour bus trip to Naga. From Naga, we went to the Sabang Port and then finally got to the Caramoan Port so we could stay at the Villa Juliana Inn.

Island Hopping on the first day
Dropped by Matukad Island and also Lahos Island. The beach again, Nice to see good rock formations.

Visiting the Church and the town
Dropped by their 16th Century Church the next day and just took some more pictures. When we travelled, I usually stayed at the top of the tryke because I wanted to feel like I was part of the boondocks.

Island Hopping 2nd Day
Manlawi, Cotivas and Sabitang-Laya
2nd day to island hop, the islands were a lot far from the previous day. Saw some remnants of the Survivor Bulgaria challenges and dropped by the a sandbar that didn’t arise until after 30 minutes. Had great lunch prepared by our tour guide and had more pictures taken in the process.

CamSur Watersports Complex!
This is where I really had a blast. The CWC wakeboarding activities and the obstacle course at Lago del Rey. Something new to do and muscle pains were abound afterwards. It took  me 4 days to recover but the experience was really worth it. I’d like to go back here again if budget permits.

Foodtrip!
Got back to Manila to prepare for our flight back to Cebu. But before anything else, I had to drop by Chocolat in Mall of Asia where I tasted one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever eaten.

Everything was a blast, dunno when I’ll be able to have this kind of retreat again.