Saturday, October 21, 2006
Week Past 10/09-10/15
The house is still in disarray. Boxes here, there. Unpacked things everywhere. Since we were not able to properly label all the cartons I'm now unable to assemble some of the shelves. I'm missing some of the screws. We can't even park our cars inside the garage with all the clutter. Mon, 10/09, my day off, I did nothing but clear the clutter. I didn't even made a dent. Early evening W and I shopped for a water softener and microwave. Sat, 10/14 I started cleaning the garage and transferred some of the boxes in the basement. I wanted us to be able to park our cars inside since they are forecasting snow next week (it's too early!) . It's hard to wake up early in a dark cold windy morning to scrape your car's windshield of frost before driving to work. Sat early evening W's staff who transferred to the new staff house invited us for dinner. They cooked kare kare and lechon kawali . Dessert was Cold Stone ice cream . Burrp, thank you. Sun. 10/15 another group of W's staff dropped by at home and helped assemble some of the furnishings that IKEA delivered on Sat. They were still at home having dinner when I arrived from work. Can't thank them enough for spending their time helping us fix the house. Bottom pics shows view from the living room and moi spending my first Mon,10/09 at the new home "soaking" in the surroundings and contemplating on what might be my oeuvre in gardening . The lakeview is partly hidden by trees. By winter's time when the leaves are all gone the lake would be more visible. My work is cut out for me spring next year to clear thorn bushes. Hopefully it would give us more view of the lake.
Footnotes to an otherwise humdrum work...Sun,10/15 I had the misfortune...no...luck, (consider it a learning experience) to deal with a "character" who threatened to sue me specifically and not the company. He looks decent and respectable but then again we are always told not to judge a book by its cover. It started when he asked me to look in our computer his "other" account. His name is very common, like a John Smith or Juan dela Cruz. Using it as search entry would only produce hundred such names. So I asked for his phone number...my first mistake...he doesn't want to give out that information. He told me we're not supposed to have it in our system. He asked if we have it in our system. I said I have no idea since he didn't give it to me and I haven't even started to do a search. He started to lecture me on why he doesn't want to give his phone number and the dangers of giving out such information. He mentioned about him working in the federal government and how those information can eaily be acquired and used by somebody else. It's not just a lecture, he was talking in a slow deliberate and I'd say condescending manner. I was getting a bit impatient ...second mistake...I didn't want the line to build up. I asked for his driver's license....third mistake...He gave me an old expired license. I immediately entered the numbers in the search box. When I told him nothing came up he asked me why I entered his license number in our system. I explained that I just did a search. Nothing was "saved". He wanted the information deleted on our system. I told him I already deleted it in the search box. This is where the real "fun" begins. He wanted a printout that the license number was really erased. A "written" proof from the computer. I explained to him that there was no way we can do that. I tried explaining that we are only doing a search. That's when he threatened that he is going to sue me, not the company, but yours truly, if I do not produce a written proof from our system stating that the numbers were deleted. He again started his lecture short of saying to me that I shut up and just listen to his spiel. Finally he asked for a manager (good I said to myself) He told the manager about the printout. I tried to inform the manager what I did so he'll have an idea on what's going on. He told the manager that I'm no longer part of their conversation, I'm "out of the equation". Fine I said to myself and turned my attention to other customers waiting in line. The manager had to call the regional manager. I think they spent another 30 to 40 minutes. I had no idea how it was resolved. When I met the manager the following day I asked him what happened. He just said "That guy is crazy, I should sue you for having me confront him". I said "That's why you're a manager".
