Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Elections are Over and Everything Will Be OK

First of all, BREATHE...1...2...3. Everything will be OK. Your friends and family will be around and care for you even after several elections have occurred. Be careful what you say to them. These are the people who've loved you and may save your life one day. Do you know how hard it is to find a kidney? Christmas is also around the corner and you want as many presents as possible.

Do you realize how angry you're getting? So what if they voted for Clinton or Trump? Why are you so angry? Is it because you're viewing those individuals on the most extreme spectrum of the political party they're supporting? It's all about YOUR perception. Just because they voted for Trump doesn't mean that they are on the racist, misogynistic, ultra-religious and hateful extreme right. Most of them don't really believe that an ACTUAL WALL will be built. Just because they voted for Clinton doesn't mean that they condone lying, secretly support ISIS or on their way to making the US a Communist nation. No! Most people are actually closer to middle that you'd think. It's just those one or two issues that made them lean one way or the other.

The candidates and their political stances are like the assorted bags of Halloween candy at the store. They can't just place all the best sellers in one bag, otherwise they wouldn't be able to move the crappy candies. I really like Reese's Pieces peanut butter cups, but that bag also includes black licorice, Snickers and Milk Duds. Now the other bag has peanut M&M's, but it also has candy corn, nerds, and Kit kats. Which one do I choose? I love peanut butter cups but HATE black licorice. My second choice is M&M's but I hate candy corn. If I buy the one with the Reese's all of a sudden I'm supposed to be a black licorice lover? That's the way you're looking at your opponents, black licorice or candy corn lovers.

We are not all black licorice or candy corn. We're more M&M's and Reese's peanut butter cups.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Top 10 Bacon Recipes


1. Bacon
2. Bacon
3. Bacon
4. Bacon
5. Bacon
6. Bacon
7. Bacon
8. Bacon
9. Bacon
10. Bacon

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Working From Home: Day 2

Day 2 of my self-imposed exile, working from home. I still feel the same, just more refreshed. So far, I still wake up at the same time every morning and go through my usual routine.

Without realizing it, all these years I've spent making this home a comfortable, livable environment have also made it an ideal place to work. I have regained control of my environment, and have slowly been stricken with this sense of entitlement, loudly making declarations like, "I am king of the castle!" and "I should always be able to send all emails in my underwear!" Note to self: do not video Skype my calls.

In a short time, I've come to these realizations:
- I get more things done
- I am able to perform more tasks
- My head is clearer, with less time spent using the online thesaurus
- Daytime TV sucks
- Bob Barker was better host of the Price is Right
- Risperdal can cause boys to grow large breasts
- Ed Asner is still alive

Because of this, I have chosen to keep the TV off.

I do see why people love to work from home. I can make myself meals while finishing an email. I can do work in our database and catch up on shows I DVRed. Too bad this isn't a permanent situation, but I'll take it when I can.




Thursday, January 26, 2012

The "Pasensya Na" Syndrome

Just to preface this entire rant, no one loves my home country more than I do, and yes I am a proud Filipino. I don't even "claim" I'm half Spanish. You know what I'm talking about. I love everything about the Philippines, the food the culture and the history. I would soooo love to one day finally root for its economic success. But alas, even with this undying love, I cannot overlook certain folly that prevent us from excelling in the economic arena. One aspect is our own incapability to adapt to the western world's standards of business, one that will keep us down forever. This is NOT a blanket statement by any means of my countrymen. This just addresses the many who cling to an archaic way of conducting business. This is why I dread doing business with anyone in the Philippines, and even some legacy Filipino businesses in the US. Nothing personal, I just want things to actually come out the way I paid for in the time it was supposed to be delivered. Call me Americanized that way.

As a culture, or at least a stereotype, we are intelligent, resourceful, educated and diligent but despite this we have a fatal business flaw, our inability to understand what modern society's customers expect. In the Filipino culture, patience, "pasensya" is one of the primary virtues. It is expected that as one matures, so does one's patience. In essence, patience can be seen as a product of wisdom. Wisdom and love of family is why the elderly are held in the highest esteem within the culture. The elderly are the "holders of wisdom." We don't pass our parents around as a burdens when they grow old. In fact, it is an honor for the family to be chosen to take care of an aging parent. All well and good...but I digress.

This in itself is not a hurdle to the country's economic success. The problem is when you as a culture not only EXPECT patience from yourself, but ASSUME it of others...paying customers, even ones not of Filipino decent. "Patience please," or "pasensya na" is a very common saying when conducting business in the Philippines. The expectation that the customer will be patient is so widely assumed that in many instances, the customer may not be receiving the optimal service they paid for because they will "bear with you." In modern society, you cannot assume that your client will bear with you if things don't go according to plan. In fact, it is the diametric opposite of one of capitalism's primary virtue, "the customer is always right." Unfortunately, the pendulum sometimes swings so far that they use the "pasensya na" mentality as an excuse to deliver less than stellar products or services. "The customer will always have to bear with me."

You could be on your way to pick up your wedding dress on the day of your wedding and wait 3 hours for the seamstress to get to the shop because she overslept, caught two masses at church or a myriad of other excuses only to be given no other reasoning but the phrase, "pasensya na." Even in the United States it is not unheard of to go to a Filipino restaurant, order fried chicken and hear the unfortunate phrase, "ay, naubos na," "we ran out," even if the primary motto of the restaurant itself is "the house that chicken built." How could you run out? That's what you do! Was there a chicken epidemic? If I go to any KFC in the US, even one minute before they close, I can expect that they will have chicken. They are called Kentucky FRIED CHICKEN, the option of running out is not even conceivable.

Will I be patient for your incompetence or lack of organization? Maybe, but don't expect it. To be or not be patient is MY right, not yours to enforce. If I'm paying full price, I do not expect half the effort or results. If you, as a business, deliver less than what is expected, then assume that I will ask for compensation other than the excuse "pasensya na." Call me an ass, but I actually want what I paid for in the time I was originally told, not 3 hours after that.

This doesn't only span across business. Unfortunately, this is culture-wide. I have Filipino friends who know that there are people waiting for them, but see no urgency to rush because they expect me to be patient, like I had nothing better to do. I could've had an extra hours' sleep, had a chance to eat dinner, etc. Did that ever cross your mind? Why do I always have to adjust my schedule because you lack the time-management skills?

This can go on forever...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Corporate Gift Giving Marketing

Do you just buy and allocate corporate gifts to clients without tracking its effectiveness?

In many industries corporate gifts, such as sports tickets and suites, are an integral part of their company's marketing campaign. These gifts allow a company the means to attract lucrative clients, as well as open doors to meetings that would not otherwise be opened. It also creates goodwill between you and your clients in hopes that it will one day be reciprocated. In most instances, a corporate gift is welcomed even when unsolicited. Unfortunately, many companies do not track its effectiveness and impact to the bottom line, and just accept it as an expense for being in that particular line of business.

Track Your Corporate Gifts
It is imperative that when you use corporate gifts as a part of your client acquisition/retention campaign, that you track metrics just like any other aspects of marketing. At the very least, you must know your budget spend, ROI and effectiveness. Programs, such as Spotlight TMS, should be able to help you do that.


Post-Event Tracking
After the gift is received and/or the conclusion of the event, communication with your clients is paramount to gauge its impact and whether you need to set this particular event as their annual gift. You may also want make sure that this gift was appropriate to this particular client.

Keeping these aspects in mind will help better monetize your gift giving budgets instead of it being that proverbial "Bermuda's Triangle" of spending.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Happy Thursday everyone!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Triple Overtime!!!!