Showing posts with label resourcefulness. Show all posts

Resourceful Cooking

By Apolinario Villalobos

With the soaring prices of various food items that include vegetables, fish, meat and spices, one must be resourceful to be able to scrimp on these. Along with the effort, one must also use ingenuity in coming up with recipes that make use of cheap ingredients and quick cooking to save on fuel, such as gas, electricity, wood or charcoal. The following are some suggested and simple recipes with cheap ingredients:

Other cheap ideas are:

Rene Pastrana: Grocery Store Manager Who

Can Melt the Anger of an Irate Customer

By Apolinario Villalobos

One morning, when I purchased some goods at Isetan grocery store along Recto Avenue in Quiapo, I had an unfortunate experience that almost spoiled my day. Rather than talk to any of the rank-and-file staff, I looked for the store manager, whom I found to be Rene Pastrana. Before I could blurt out my complaint, he broke the ice by asking with a smile, what he can do to make my shopping comfortable. His stance immediately pacified me. After relating to him my dissatisfaction, he gave me an assurance that he will do his best to patch up the “loophole” in their operation.

What touched me was his unabashed confiding that he knows what to do because he started his career as a “merchandiser”, which actually, was the focus of my complaint. Instead of anger, what I felt was sympathy while listening to his story. It could be a ploy on his part to divert my focus, with which he was successful. On the other hand, I selfishly thought, that his story could be another blog material that could inspire aspiring Filipinos.

According to Rene, he left his island-province of Marinduque after graduating from high school. When he arrived in Manila, he immediately looked for a job, with a plan to proceed with his college studies by all means. He fortunately found a job as a “merchandiser”, which sustained his studies, until he finished Computer Science.

His diligence in job, pushed him along his career path with unusual expediency until he became manager of Isetan’s grocery store, charged with its overall operation. He has been in the job for the past twenty years, his earnings from which have also helped his family back home, in Marinduque.

Rene could well be considered as a self-appointed “ambassador” of his province in his own way because he does not hesitate to promote it as a veritable tourist destination every time he gets the chance. This he did to me, when he shared touristic information about the island. His effort proved helpful to me, as what I knew about the island have all been updated, especially, about the islets with resorts.

In appreciation of all his effort to pacify me and giving me updates on Marinduque, I told Rene to count me as among the convinced patrons of Isetan grocery from then on. He practically “captured” another patron for their grocery because of his amiable and brilliant sales technique not found in sales training manuals…I know that, because, I, myself, have been a “sales person”.

Wilma Palagtiw: Repairs Junked Shoes and Bags

To be Sold for a Living

By Apolinario Villalobos

One early morning, while cruising the old railroad track of Divisoria where junks were sold, I chanced upon a woman who was engrossed in repairing a shoe. Her various wares on display were repaired bags, shoes, and other junk items. She obliged for some photos when I asked her, adding jestingly that I would send them to a movie outfit.

She was Wilma Palagtiw who hails from the island of Negros, so that we comfortably conversed in Cebuano and Ilonggo. She learned the skill of shoe repairing from her husband who has been in the trade for a very long time even before they met. That morning, Felix, her husband was out doing the rounds of garbage dumps for junks.

Without telling me her exact age, she confided that she was almost fifty and has six children with four already doing part-time and contractual jobs in different stalls in Divisoria. The two younger ones are both in Grade 7. Their pooled financial resources are enough to get them going every day with even a few pesos set aside for emergency needs, especially, for school needs of the two younger kids.

I did a quick mathematical estimate of their joint income, such as if a sales attendant of a stall in Divisoria receives 200 pesos a day, multiply it by 4, so that’s 800 pesos a day, and for a straight duty in a month without day off, the four elder children should be earning 24,000.00 pesos. Deduct the lunch for the 4 of them at 50 pesos each, so that’s 200 pesos…hence, 800 (total earning of the 4) less 200, that leaves 600 pesos net earnings of the 4 in a day.  Finally, multiply the 600 pesos by 30 days that leaves 18,000 pesos net total earnings for the 4 kids.

Meanwhile, Wilma shared that she and her husband don’t earn much from selling junks. For every item sold, they earn from 5 to 20 pesos “profit” after deducting the cost of materials that they use for the repair of the junks. They cannot afford to offer their goods at a higher price due to stiff competition among “buraot vendors” like them.

The small room that they rent gives them just enough comfort as they retire for the night, especially, for the kids. The worst days for them are those of the “flood months”, as there could be no income for several days. Despite the hardship, Wilma was still all-smile while conversing with me. I had to leave her as customers were beginning to stop by to gawk at her items that are neatly displayed, while she braved the biting heat of the sun at eight that morning.

If only the rest of us are brave and contented like Wilma, then, there would be no more crying to the Lord, blaming Him why there is no pork dish on the table, or why the money is not enough for a brand new cellphone, or why the remittance from a toiling husband abroad is delayed in coming, etc. etc.etc…..

Michael Quirante: Tenacious and Resourceful

Branch Manager of McDonalds-Hidalgo (Quiapo)

by Apolinario Villalobos

Lately, MacDonalds has been hugging the limelight because of the incidents on food poisoning. This seems unlikely as the food chain is known for being finicky as regards their products and service. I had the chance to test the trademark for which it has been known one morning when I dropped by their Hidalgo Branch in Quiapo for breakfast.

As usual I ordered the pancakes but the Cashier, Love Castaῆares smilingly suggested their new product, launched just that morning, the cheesy egg pandesal. I gave in to her insistence, but I was disappointed as it came in the size which was not my type, so I rejected it. At this instance, the Branch Manager, Michael Quirante volunteered that I still try the pandesal if only to check its taste. I declined, and perhaps in an effort to prevent me from getting irritated, it was promptly changed with the pancakes.

While I was enjoying my pancakes, I saw Mr. Quirante slicing the sandwich into bite sizes, and offered them to the few customers at the time, as it was still early. He had such kind of persuading approach that no customer ever declined his offer, and all of them practically gave their thumb up, to confirm that their new product tasted really good. In just a couple of minutes all bite-sized pandesal slices were gone, and Mr. Quirante was smiling from ear to ear.

What touched me that morning was the persistence of Mr. Quirante in introducing a new product of the company, by personally, offering it to the customers. He was not downhearted with my rejection. Also, I supposed that such gesture was not really part of his routine, but rather his own kind of personal gimmickry that put his resourcefulness to the fore.

My interest in the attitude of Mr. Quirante made me talk to him for a few minutes before I left. I asked him if he was aware of the latest impression on their company due to the issue on food poisoning, to which he answered in the positive, that is why, he told me that they are trying their best to maintain their image. Just then, a service crew came in and greeted him. He told me that the guy was a Muslim. I was surprised because I thought only Christians were being hired by their company. At that, I was told that they want to be fair to all those who seek opportunity to help them with their studies, that is why their outlet has hired four Muslim staff. I was not surprised by what he told me as McDonalds is known for its penchant in helping working students. In fact, Mr. Quirante told me that he went through the same stage, as he was himself, a working student when he worked initially with the company.

Quiapo is one area in Manila, a historic one, yet, which is being shared by the Catholics and Muslims who live side by side harmoniously. MacDonalds contributes to this harmonious co-existence by hiring service crew members from the area, regardless of their religious affinity. Mr. Quirante’s attitude on the other hand, has enhanced the effort of the company in his own way, by doing his best as part of the company – being nice to the clients and his co-employees. He told me that his rising from the lowest position, that of a service crew, until he became manager, gave him the opportunity to understand the entire nature of his job.

While it is true that employees of service-oriented companies are mandated to smile their best to attract customers, the difference lies in the “sincerity” in how it is done. Being an employee myself that handled customer needs, I know if smiling is candidly done or words that are muttered are meant to help or appease irritated clients or not. Mr. Quirante did more than all those…he made use of his resourcefulness to help his company to show that the golden arc does not only symbolize excellent service, but superb products, as well. 

Getting Ahead of Time

By Apolinario Villalobos

People who are always late in reporting to work or for their appointments, make me wonder. When I still had a regular job,  it has puzzled me a lot of time why I could make it to my job site on time despite my living a good fourteen kilometers from it and others who live nearby could not. Just like the management of other offices, ours also got worried because of rampant tardiness among employees.

Our management, to remedy the situation, has asked all department heads to advance their wall clocks by ten minutes, except for the bundy clock (used for timecards) which must be on time always. The instruction was filtered down the line and as expected, caused quite a stir among the employees.

Although, I was surprised by the request of the management, I was even more surprised by the unpleasant remarks heard from the ranks. What these complaining colleagues did not understand was the objective of the whole exercise. In the first place, the bundy clocks still ticked the standard time so the work schedules were not affected. What was affected was the ATTITUDE towards time.

It is not necessary for one to finish post-graduate studies to understand the adage that we cannot move back the hands of time. Time wasted is really time wasted in any language.

People run after time catching rides to their offices and other destinations. In Manila, everybody blames the traffic for not getting to work on time. What is funny is that we refuse to recognize the solution, which is just waking up early and taking the ride ahead of time.

In the offices, comfort rooms are crammed with employees at exactly one o’clock to wash up. Very few ever think of washing up several minutes before, so that they can begin working before, or at least exactly by one o’clock.

At the airport, passengers clog check-in areas when it is almost closing time. This causes long queue and sometimes, lost flight for some due to the on-time closure of check-in counters. The same scenario can be seen in piers and bus terminals.

My suggestions are:

-during workdays, there should be limitation in the time spent for socializing after office hours so that employees can have enough time for their travel home and catch up with enough sleep;

-in the morning, one should try to be at his/her desk minutes before the official start of office to review the previous day’s accomplishments and pending matters, aside from  other things to do before doing those that come for the day;

-have a grand time in doing weekend bonding activities with friends or families  on a Friday night or whole day of Saturday, so that Sunday can be spent for rest;

-to beat the pestering traffic jam, be on the road at least two hours before appointment time, never mind spending time a in coffee shop near the meeting place, if you arrived earlier than expected.

Most people tend to oversleep on their days off on the pretext that they need to rest. I tried this, but it just gave me a headache! My suggestion on weekends is for one to wake up while the sun is still peeping from the horizon, have a cup of coffee and contemplate on things to be done for the day, then, take a brisk walk or jog. The midday, can be spent for a nap.

What is sad, is that we only feel the ill effects of our bad attitude towards time when we become a victim, such as missing our flight, opportunity for a bus or taxi ride, resulting to lost revenue or job opportunities.  If we will not change, we will never be able to educate our children, too, and they will surely carry this habit with them when they will have their own family. There is a need to break the vicious cycle.

In looking for jobs, the hiring companies are looking for those who respect time. There is a story about an average college graduate who bet his co-graduate but a summa cum laude (they both came from the same school), to a much coveted job. On the appointed day, the interviewer of the hiring company who had the habit of going to the office early found the average graduate waiting outside the yet closed door of the office as early at 7 AM! The interviewer was impressed and lost no time in interviewing the “early bird”. After the interview, the applicant was told to report to work the following day. The average graduate applicant learned later that his summa cum laude co-graduate arrived for the interview, at past nine.

Finally, being on time is alright, but getting ahead of time is much better. Using the principle of space, I could say that more time gives us the opportunity to do more things. The best thing to do then is, get ahead of time... as lost ticks of its hands cannot be recovered. We must exert our best effort to “earn” time that can be used for other better things to do.

Again, lost time cannot be recovered, but we can “earn” time by getting ahead of it.