Globe Rant

I am so frustrated with Globe right now. While they're all really nice, nothing seems to ever get done. I've just spend two hours to come to nothing regarding my problem.

5 Nice Things About Globe*... Not
*on broadband application

1. If you are on hold, then they will come back to you - Ok. This is not exactly a lie since they do eventually return, but it was taking a while. I asked someone inside the store if I was still on hold, and he said yes. Unfortunately, after another 30 minutes, he said that no- it got disconnected. I wasted around an hour holding a dead phone simply because I did not trust my instict that a phone with no music on hold was dead.

2. They will get back to you promptly - Nope. Not at all. Which has spewed a whole lot of follow ups that have all come to nothing. A word of advice, don't try their hotline. It's near useless. I just had many frustrating rounds of repeating everything about my case, only to get transferred again and again and again to end up with a - I'm sorry, this is all I can do. I will reply in 24 hours (which... hasn't happened).

3. You can use their customer service to get good service - if ever you get there. At the most convenient times for me, Globe is woefully packed and the line can take up to an hour. I tried using other measures given to me but the lines were perpetually busy.

4. You can follow-up in another globe store - apparently not. Globe can't cross communicate unless via email, so if you need something follow-ed up, you need to do it in the store you applied it or wait at least 24 hours for the other end to reply. Else your service is routed through the hotline (see above) which cannot communicate directly with another globe store anyway.

5. They can deal with your concerns - I've just spent two hours of my life with no one able to help me. I was told to go to the branch I originally applied in, when during my application process and my first follow-up (at the branch I did apply in) I asked and was explicitly told that I could use the hotline or the globe closest to me to follow up. Liars.

It's come to nothing. Nice people, but absolute shite when it comes to actual problem solving. It's very funny how my requests were met promptly when I was inquiring but it seems I have been dropped as soon as I have made a commitment.

Life, huh.

Edit: Saturday: June 15, 2013

Still another two hours in globe. Still nothing. All the regrets.

This is already four times worse than the last Sun trouble. Gah!!!!

End:

I now have Internet. I have given around 9 hours of my life to Globe. While I wouldn't recommend their service, I am now enjoying their product. Let's hope I'd have nothing to complain about in that aspect.

Highlands Coffee Eton

There's a new coffee shop in town! I've noticed that I've been caring more about food posts than beauty posts right now. Maybe because I don't have the funds for the latter? Also, I really have no Idea where my camera is so.... cellphone pictures all the way!

The first drink I've tried there is:

Cafe Sua Da

It costs P129 ($3) for a tall glass of vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. It takes a while for all the coffee to go down. Vietnamese coffee is a bit strong for me, so I wouldn't drink it without condensed milk.

Highlands Coffee

 The bar is well stocked with pastries, and some fresh fruits. They also have sandwiches. Unfortunately,  I doubt I'd be spending much on their food since they are a bit expensive.

Highlands Promo

I went on their soft opening so I was able to score some BOGO coupons and a loyalty card. You can only use one at a time. I'm hoping there's no expiration on each -there's no date stamped anywhere :)

Cafe Sua Da Done

This is how the drink looks after mixing! Their freezes are also yummy, but fattening.

A purchase comes with one hour free wifi. This makes me kind of sad since it doesn't encourage people loitering in the shop, and free wifi is one of the reasons I go to coffee shops in the first place. It also has few outlets, so charge before you enter. It does have some tablets on some tables, which I haven't used: maybe these have free wifi?

What's best about this place is that it's open 24/7 - one of the few places open in ortigas on Sundays!

Also, there's a Chatime opening beside it. Yay!

Reflections: Virtual Identity

It is 2012 and I've been thinking that the world has changed so much from the advent of the first computer - and more importantly, of the internet. Nowadays, we are so connected by our machines: desktops, laptops, tablets and phones - almost all of which have some connection to the internet. We use facebook, twitter, instagram and the like to chronicle our lives - mundane or otherwise. Before, each entry into one's virtual life was a matter of creating a story, a thought. Now, a simple or even incomplete sentence will do as we have the power at our fingertips to talk to anyone, anywhere.

Virtual identity. It is now possible to take part of, and steal, other people's lives because we have established a part of ourselves in this digital world where codes create our realities. Everything is now online, or at least available in it such that to lose such a connection becomes akin to losing a limb. I have tried to limit myself, but in vain. I cannot go a week without some device to connect me to this ever expanding web.

But who am I? What I find comforting about this new age, this new landscape, is the ability to create multiple selves with a few clicks of the button. I may have a copy-self: the me who exists in the real world. The one who frets about the lack of privacy, the fear that eventually my every step will be recorded and that this copy would define and overwhelm the me that exists in the physical world... I do not understand how some people are so comfortable of bringing their entire self into this domain. Where they would freely give personal information to a bunch of strangers such that it is normal to give the minutiae of one's life to the horde of friend-aquaintance-stranger and the keys to one's kingdom to service providers that can store this information infintely and sell it to multiple bidders.

It's kind of insane, now that you think about it. Today the tablet (iPad for those able to afford it - especially in the most affluent nations, societies, strata), the smartphone (iPhone, again), the computers (MAC)- ah, truly it is the age of the apple! - when once nobody, or very few people, could even dream it. I'm sure there are other events such as what I feel now that may be even more important - the industrialization comes to mind - but this is what I see now. This is the changing of the world from the century that preceded, if not the millenium.

 I am interested in how this will turn out. Will it get better? worse? Must the self that exists on the net be a full copy of the self that types these letters on the keyboard? Will the world change such that only one's avatar becomes acceptable in exploring a domain that becomes more regulated with each passing day?  But now, while I have the chance,  I will enjoy the little comfort the anonymity of this blog affords.

The internet is for...

Today, a couple of friends and I were talking about what the internet is used for. In my opinion, the top 3 (from highest to lowest)rankings for internet usage are:

1. Information dissemination
2. Porn
3. Trade

I lump emailing, facebooking and the like in the top 1. The top 3 ranking includes multiply, ebay and the like. The second placer is pretty much self-explanatory.