Confession

Maybe I've always been afraid to truly admit it. To say it out loud. That I loved you. All those years ago, the whole time we were "friends", I loved you.

As you pined for other girls.
Even when you told me how this certain girl was unattainable.
As you were telling me how you were wooing a new girl.
When your heart got broken
When we took a "break"
When you needed me, again
When you broke my heart

All those times I had always hoped. That somehow you would realize in the end, that you loved me too. That all along, it was me that you needed. Because I had always been the one who was there. But it never happened. Whether or not you had feelings for me, I have no idea. Maybe you did, but you didn't feel it was strong enough to pursue. That it was too complicated perhaps. That I was too good a friend to lose.

Or maybe you just didn't. Period.

And in the end, we both lost.

Or maybe I was the only one who did.

My Stressful Paseo Verde Weekend

NOTE: I know it's a long read. But I suppose it's only fitting for the weekend that my friends and I had. Please bear with me and read through the whole thing. Thanks!

My friends and I have been planning to go to a beach in time for summer.  After a little bit of research, we found a resort in Laiya, Batangas called Paseo Verde.  My friend then inquired about room availability and was told that a room for 9 persons is available for our group (7 pax) for P7,000.00. She asked if it was possible to get the smaller room and just add extra beds. She was told it wasn’t possible.  So we settled for the bigger room and she made reservations for April 5-6. After the deposit (P3,500.00), she then realized that she booked the wrong date. It’s supposed to be April 6-7. She then called the resort to make the change, and was relieved when the person she talked to told her that it was a good thing there was 1 room left for us.

When we got to the resort, the security guard asked us if we had any reservations. We told him yes and proceeded to give the name of our friend who made the reservation. He then told us that he didn’t have that name on his list. So I just asked him if we can talk to someone to clarify. We then headed to the reception area. My friend gave her name to the woman who seemed to be a katiwala. The woman told her:  “ah kagabi ko pa kayo inaantay ah. Dapat kahapon kayo”  I was there with my friend and upon hearing this, I started to feel anxious. Then my friend told her, we were booked for April 6, not April 5. The woman then insisted that we were booked for April 5. Then proceeded to say that they wanted to call us to confirm, but they had no contact number. She then said “hiningi ko nga kay ma’am yung contact number nyo, para tawagan, pero wala naman kayong iniwan na contact number.”  The lady who seemed to be the owner of the resort then said: “landline lang ang binigay nyong number. Kaya di naman kayo matawagan. Ito yung sa resibo o, nakalagay 6 tapos binura ko kasi nag-usap tayo pinapalitan mo ng 5.” The katiwala then said “inantay ko nga kayo hanggang 11:30pm.” My friend then insisted that the correction she made was from 5-6 and not 6-5. But the owner was insistent. She was sure that my friend was the one who made the mistake. The problem was, the change in date was made over the phone (my friend called through her mobile phone). And no confirmation was made by either parties. So at that moment, it was their word against my friend’s. The owner then told my friend: “Pasalamat ka naaawa ako sa iyo ah” while pointing her finger at my friend. Then told us that there was apparently a last-minute cancellation, but it’s a smaller room than the one we originally booked and was cheaper. But they will be charging us for the bigger room. This was the last straw for me. I asked my friend if she had any proof of their previous conversations. She turned her phone on (the battery had been dead when we got there and had to be charged) and showed me the exchange where it was clear that her original booking was for April 5 and was confirmed. This then disproved the owner’s claim that the original date was for April 6. I told her to show it to them. This was how their exchange went:

Owner: hindi ako yang kausap mo dyan.

Friend:  eh sino yung kausap ko?

O: hindi ko alam sino ang kausap mo. Hindi naman yan ang number namin. Ito yung number o. (She then showed her a flyer where their number was shown)

I told my friend to call the number and voila! The phone that the owner herself was holding rang, proving that my friend called the right number and that she was the one that my friend talked to. Then it gets even more interesting.

O: kaya nga mahirap yang text text na iyan. Sunod sunod na yung mga text kasi madami nag-b-book. Kaya tinatawagan na nga namin.

We then insisted that they can’t charge us P 7,000.00 for the cheaper and much smaller room. After discussing it with each other, they agreed to charge us just for the smaller room plus a fee for 2 extra people.

After all the commotion, we were finally able to check in and settle in. We then got our stuff from the car and decided to grab lunch. When we were about to leave, one of our friends realized her wallet was missing. We looked for it everywhere, in both cars, in all the bags and in the room. It couldn’t be found anywhere. After about half an hour of searching, she decided to just try looking for it later so we can all eat since it was almost 3pm already. After lunch, we went back to the resort and she talked to the owner to ask for help. She told the owner that she had lost her wallet and if it’s possible to talk to the person who lent us the cookware and the person who delivered our free water. Her immediate response was: “I can assure you that the people here are honest. Hindi sila gagawa ng masama kasi mahal nila trabaho nila.” My friend then answered that she wasn’t accusing anyone. She just wanted to ask if anybody saw anything. The owner then called in her staff and asked who lent us the cookware and who delivered our water. The girl who lent us the cookware said that after leaving the cookware, she immediately left and she didn’t notice a wallet. As for whoever delivered the water, nobody was admitting anything. It took a while before anybody said anything and even the owner was getting impatient and said: “sino bang nagdala nung tubig, alangan naman naglakad mag-isa yan papunta dun” It was only then that one of the staff spoke up and pointed out who delivered our water. He said: “di ba ikaw ang nagdala ng tubig dun sa kwarto nila, sabay pa nga tayo, dun ako nag deliver.” The other man then replied while scratching his head: “ah oo nga pala no, ako nga nagdala.” Now, we don’t want to accuse anyone. But this was just a few hours ago, it seemed suspicious that he wouldn’t admit that he was the one who delivered our water.  Of course he also denied seeing my friend’s wallet, then that was that. The owner didn’t offer any sort of help or assistance to try and find the wallet. Granted that it had been irresponsible of my friend to leave her wallet in plain sight with no one “guarding” it, but she could have at least tried to make an effort to help us look for it or to prove that it wasn’t one of the staff who took it.

The next day, a man who appeared to be an owner as well, asked my friend if she found her wallet. She told him that we weren’t able to find it. He said that it bothered him that such an incident had happened. But the lady that we talked to the day before, whose name was Lita, just told my friend the same thing that she said the day before. That she can assure us that her staff were honest people and that they wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their jobs. Talk about bad customer service. And she said it in such a rude manner.

As for a review of the place itself, I found nothing special about it. The airconditioner wasn’t as cool as you’d hope it would be. Considering how small our room was, I was expecting it to be cooler. The flush was broken and the toilet/bathroom was roughly around 1x1 sq. meter only! The electricity seemed to be faulty as well because the phones that were plugged in overnight didn’t reach 100% even after so many hours.

We do realize that we’re not entirely blameless. Perhaps we should have researched better and we should have been more careful with our things. But the treatment that we got from them was totally unacceptable. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that none of us will ever go back to that place. And we want to make sure that people find out how badly they treat customers and how rude they are. 

Old > New ; Switching > Staying

In most cases, we have been taught that loyalty is a good thing. It is even rewarded. For example, a kid that goes to the same school from nursery until high school graduation is typically given a loyalty award. Some companies give incentives to employees on the anniversaries of their employment. But these days, that isn't always the case. 

Take the case of the telco industry. While I won't ever criticize their aggressive campaigns to bring in new subscribers, I would however like to ask why old subscribers, loyal subscribers aren't given the same treatment? Shouldn't companies be working as hard to keep their current subscribers happy as well? Of course I don't mean it in the literal sense, because that might not work all the time. But at least try to offer your loyal customers something close/applicable to what you're willing to offer someone new. 

Prepaid vs Postpaid:

Kind of the same thing. I'm not asking that promos for prepaid consumers be lessened, I am however wondering why postpaid consumers seem to get the shorter end of the stick? Most of the time, it's either a promotion is only applicable to prepaid consumers, OR it takes months before the same promotion is valid for postpaid users as well. Perhaps there is an explanation, and I'm all ears. No one wants to feel like they're not being valued by a service provider that they PAY for. Sadly, there is no real competition when it comes to this issue. They are all the same. So opting to change providers isn't really an answer.

While I've always been optimistic about many things in life, including the state of our country, this culture however has me thinking that it is sadly an aspect that won't be seeing change for a while.