I know what you did on Good Friday

IF the crowds at the various malls last weekend were any indication, hundreds of families spent the Holy Week just here in Manila. Well, I don’t blame them. Why go to Boracay, where it’s all hot and crowded, when you can enjoy the free air conditioning at the malls? It may have been congested like any other weekend, but at least there were fancy shop windows to look into, and you weren’t all sweaty and icky. Never mind if you never intended to buy anything.

A friend who owns a resort in the new summer capital of the Philippines confirmed the same. He said there were fewer bakasyonista in Boracay last week compared with 2007. (On the upside, those who were on the island were Caucasians and other Asians...a development that will surely be welcomed by our hardworking tourism secretary, Joseph “Ace” Durano. It is, no doubt, the fruit of his relentless marketing efforts abroad.)

Time was when Holy Week meant Visita Iglesia, the pabasa, Seven Last Words, Way of the Cross, and processions of religious images depicting the passion and death of Jesus Christ.

Except for last week, normally, school is officially out by the time the Holy Week rolls around. It also heralds the start of the summer travel season. Families are on grand excursions to the beach or vacations in Hong Kong, Baguio and the US. Those who don’t want to add to the crowds in the nearby tourist destinations, or don’t want to spend ginormous sums of money on resorts unreasonably jacking up their rates for the four-day holiday, now choose to stay put in Metro Manila. And, yes, as was prevalent last weekend, they went a-malling.

Many people I know tried to catch up on their sleep and backlog on books they’ve been wanting to read.

Jeff said he was going to watch old cheesy biblical epics. (My favorite has always been The Robe, starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and that greasy hunk Victor Mature. Ooof!)

Sis had house guests visiting and planned to treat her nephews and nieces to the newly opened Manila Ocean Park everyone has been going gaga about. Even Pangs, who is normally in Bacolod for the Holy Week, was in town working on his editorial assignments, although, lucky dog, he still managed a few laps in the swimming pool.

As for me, the four-day Lenten holiday started out with a visit to a dear friend, Swit, whose brother had passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. Despite the rather sorrowful circumstances of the visit, it was a rather enjoyable gathering with friends. It took us just an hour from Quezon City to get to Bacoor, Cavite, where the wake was, as there was hardly any traffic on the road. We caught up on the latest gossip and basically laughed ourselves silly, tempting the Almighty to strike us with lightning. (Note to self: Never miss the opportunity to go to a wake in the provinces where funeral parlors donate kakanin to the dead’s bereaved families. I unashamedly devoured a plate of the softest home-made cuchinta courtesy of Samson Funeral Home.)

On Good Friday I started cleaning out my DVD and CD collection, as well as tons of books gathering dust in the attic. While I actually had made plans for Black Saturday, I knew I couldn’t finish the cleaning task in just a day. It eventually turned into an unscheduled spring cleaning of all the stuff I had in storage...and by God! I could not believe the amount of material possessions I had accumulated over the years! I decided to make the spring cleaning my penitencia for the rest of the Lenten weekend.

A lot of my CDs, DVDs and books were still in huge cartons, because that’s where I left them when I went abroad to work for a year. Along with some Pyrex dishes and other houseware, I still hadn’t unpacked them because I kept on thinking I would eventually move out of the parents’ house again and into my own rental one day. The attic dust must’ve shot up straight into my brain as I inhaled, shaking me out of my reverie. How dare I go off into Lala-land and think such crazy unrealistic thoughts! Achoo!

The task was sheer burden as I struggled to decide which items were still worth keeping and which ones I had to let go. Sometimes I had to force myself to label several items as junk just so that I wouldn’t think twice of tossing them out (e.g., college class cards), or undeserved nostalgic shit (e.g., petrified roses from ex-boyfriends).

Twice I had to go through the CDs just to weed out the music I had outgrown, such as the New Age woo-woo and shamanic recordings. (Anyone care to buy my Narada CDs?) As for the books, I decided to keep the classics, bestsellers and all-time favorites (e.g., the Dune series), and let go of authors I really didn’t know but whose books I had bought from the annual cut-price book sale of a popular bookstore chain.

Of course, there were brief moments of amusement amid the grueling task. I sat and sifted through old photographs and marveled at how amazingly thin my friends and I were way back when. True, we may miss our old slender selves (hey, round is a shape!), but not the hideous fashion we wore. It also gave me immense joy to note that over the years, we have remained basically unchanged. To this day, we still have the same ear-to-ear ludicrous grins on our faces. Sure, we’ve grown a bit wiser, but we still haven’t lost our sense of humor and our enjoyment of the ridiculous. Ah, those photos are definite keepers!

Two more days of organizing, filing, cleaning and sweeping...I fell asleep each night utterly exhausted. It was finally over by Easter Sunday evening, and managed to get myself to Mass. Everything was in order, packed and neatly labeled. Piles of stuff I wanted to sell were in one corner, and another pile was for items to give away. After dinner and the usual marathon CSI Sunday shows, I laid back against my pillows and clicked on my downloaded torrent of The Robe. There I lay laughing hysterically at the mala-Goma and Shawie dramatic dialogue between Brando and Simmons, and the constipated expressions on Mature’s face. Before I knew it, I had zonked out, but awoke on Easter Monday completely refreshed.

Thank you, Lord, for a new beginning. I really needed that.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Photo from BM)

Shit!

THAT'S what government probers are saying caused the explosion at Glorietta 2. I think that's a load of crap. From the little I've read about how excrement (human or otherwise) can produce methane gas...it would take tons and tons of it to actually explode.

Consider our open dumps like Smokey Mountain or the landfills in Montalban and Cavite...no methane gas explosion has ever occurred in those areas despite the mounds of garbage sitting on them. Of course one could argue that the dumps are out in the open and have ventilation and G2's basement was not. Still, I would side with the UP chemists who rule out the gas explosion. Are there any chemists working in the PNP Crime Lab? (Yeah, yeah, I know this is no Gil Grissom/CSI setup.)

I'm interested in what the Australian and American investigation teams are going to conclude. I doubt though if they would release their own findings to the public and possibly risk humiliating the obviously inept investigation of our own police force, especially if their findings are contrary to what the latter has concluded.

Look, I have no love lost for Glorietta mall management and its incompetent security force. But I severely doubt that in terms of construction and structural maintenance, Ayala Land, the mall owner, would be remiss as well. For the company not to install a proper ventilation system in their basement where all the sewage tanks and pipes run through is a violation of building codes. It would never have been allowed to open any of its malls if this were the case, especially in a strict city like Makati. (Btw, give those Castilaloys some props...they acted very wisely in footing the hosital bills of those injured.)

So I can't blame Ayala Land management for disputing the PNP report, and still calling the explosion a "bombing." I supppose this also has to do with the company's insurance claim...if government probers believe neglect caused the explosion, the company won't be paid. But I think it goes beyond that. I think Ayala Land owners know something we don't. I know that even if the Zobels and the wanna-be Castilaloy Presidentita speak the same language that they are not friends. Yeah, there are two Castilaloys who are BFFs of the Presidentita, but they sure aren't Jaza nor Fernando.

UPDATE: Fabulous Jessica thinks I may temporarily blinded by my lust for Fernando Zobel (just him hon, not your mistress Jaza) that's why I'm still harping on my conspiracy theory. Hahaha. Seriously, I'll take the word of the UP chemists over our police force anytime. I hope I'm wrong but you really can't put anything past the Presidentita's administration these days. People will always believe the worst about GMA and her dogs simply because she is the most vile manipulator that has ever sat in Malacañang. And even if it were a bombing, this still doesn't absolve Ayala Land of any liability. It will have to pay for its shoddy security measures.

Btw, the Brits aren't discounting the terrorist angle still. And surprise! Makati Mayor Jojo Binay who is no good friend of the Zobels either, want an independent investigation into the blast considering the conflicting and confusing statements the PNP is making. What strange bedfellows in this time of a highly-charged anti-GMA atmosphere no?

Gloria goes malling in Glorietta

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday inspected the devastation at Glorietta 2 and went shopping at the adjacent Glorietta malls in Makati City four days after a powerful blast hit the area and left 11 people dead and over 100 injured.

Separate reports on radio dzBB and GMA News Flash Report said Mrs Arroyo, together with Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral and senior executives of mall owner Ayala Land Inc., walked through the boutiques and shops in Glorietta 1, 3 and 4.

She then visited stores at the first and second floor of Glorietta 4 and bought shoes and a blouse. (Click here for the rest.)

GREAT news isn't it? While the rest of the country's workforce are sweating it out in their offices or factories, the great leader of the land plays hooky and goes malling! What an inspiring example of professionalism! As usual, this is another of the hare-brained amateurish ideas of La Presidentita's PR guys. Hindi na kayo nahiya sa mga kababayan nyong nagtratrabaho, hoy!

Sure we get it. The government wants people to get out of their homes and shop, so La Presidentita buys some shoes and a blouse which she probably doesn't need. (Her fashion consultant Joanne Zapanta wasn't with her so God only knows what awful items the great leader must have chosen.) Shopping is good for the economy...that's this administration's mantra. Since we don't have enough foreign investments pushing the country's economy, might as well have personal consumption drive it right? What are all those dollar remittances for anyway?!

What am I feeling about this new publicity stunt from the great leader? Unimpressed.

Crappy investigation

(Debris from the blast at G2.)

I THINK what's scarier than Ayala Land/Glorietta mall's security lapse and the explosion itself is that our government probers still don't have a clue on what caused the blast. It's been four days since an explosion tore apart the Glorietta 2 mall and here they are still with a hundred and one theories on what caused it. The NCRPO says it was't a bomb. Another theory says it was caused by the reaction of methane and diesel but UP experts doubt that considering there was no pungent smell of rotting eggs in the blast's aftermath, a telltale sign of methane explosion. Since Saturday, all you hear from the mouths of government officials (one trying to hog the limelight after the other) is a bunch of "could haves". It could have been this, it could have been caused by that...anovayan?!

It's either our government probers really don't have the capability, either through a lack of adequate equipment or skills, to investigate cases of this nature, that they need the help of foreign experts, or they are deliberately fudging the investigation. I hate to cast aspersions on the credibility of our police investigators but really, who trusts the police these days? I'm sure there are a few honest cops out there. I just hope they're part of the investigating team.

Granting our police force has no capability to investigate cases like these, then maybe the government should do something about it. Sure, getting overseas funds for infrastructure projects is great (unless they're tainted by corruption like the ZTE-NBN deal), but the police force needs funds as well to beef up their skills/training and their crime labs' equipment. I always feel distraught whenever I watch CSI/CSI New York because it shows how our local police crime labs pale in comparison to those abroad. The cops in the U.S., for example, have access to a lot of equipment and their staff are not only trained as police but also as chemists, doctors, etc.

(The blast was powerful enough to tear a hole through G2's ceiling.)

There have been numerous local criminal cases that indicate how collected evidence have already been tainted either through neglect on the part of police probers, or contamination due to improper handling by the staff. DNA samples even have to be sent to UP labs or to the States just for proper processing. How embarrassing this must be for the Philippine National Police or for the National Bureau of Investigation! Something must be done about this soon.

*****

Planting evidence or planting a story? A story in the Inquirer says some men in Army Rescue uniforms were prevented from "planting evidece" in the blast area. Hmmm...why the government keeps getting on the case of the military (remember Saturday's story on a C-4 bomb causing the blast?) is something worthwhile to investigate. Pasok Trillanes!

(Photos courtesy of a concerned citizen who sent them to ABS-CBN. More blast photos here.)

Musings on the Glorietta blast

I'VE been covering a conference at the Mandarin Oriental for the past two days so it's only now that I've had the chance to write an entry in my blog. I was particularly looking forward to Friday's ending of the conference which would allow me to enjoy to relax and enjoy a spa treatment in the afternoon. Past one o' clock in the afternoon, however, Charisse, the hardworking director of communications of Mandarin walks by our table and asks if we've heard of the bomb blast in Makati. She said she just got a text message about it. So we all said no but just the same, I checked my two cellphones to see whether I had any SMS about it.

Then in comes the First Lady of Guam, Joann Camacho, on her cellphone talking to someone asking if she was ok and that to come home immediately. We found out later that her daughter had been at Glorietta 2 when the blast ocurred and was showered with splinters. Thank God the kid was alright. Mrs. Camacho was visibly shaken and was hugged tightly by my Guam editor Maureen, assuring her that everything would be okay.

I called this friend of mine who supposedly has contacts with some intelligence sources to find out what was happening but he couldn't give me any details. Of course, no one could say it out loud but the mindset of everyone yesterday was on a terrorist attack. Then I checked the Internet to see whether there were any stories out on the bomb blast already. The initial reports were an LPG tank had exploded. It was clear, later on in the evening, that it was no ordinary LPG tank explosion because of the amount of structural damage the explosion had caused.

I only realized later that I had been going to Glorietta the past two nights because I had to make an emergency purchase of some toiletries, and used part of the mall as a short cut to North Park where I ordered a congee dinner for those two nights. Man, what a difference a day or two makes.

*****

This may sound bitchy but I'm sorry, I really don't have any respect for Ayala Land management at all, especially after my stuff was stolen while walking in the Activity Center last year. To me, the company's security measures have been nothing but posturings and projections. They had sniffer dogs supposedly, but really, there were not a lot of security officers patrolling around. Most of them were just posted at the entrances of the mall watching out for what? Do these people actually know what a bomb looks like? Do they know what suspicious characters look like or act?

When I fell victim to petty thievery last year, there was no effort to even check the closed circuit cameras around the area until I asked, and even then, Ayala Land got back to me after a month. You think anything will turn up from their security tapes this time because of the blast? I highly doubt that. Even previous to my experience, there were already reports going around of thieves in the mall but it didn't look like management beefed up its security. They didn't even know how to deal with my case when I first reported it to the nearest security guard I found. So what drills is Jaime Ayala talking about? If you look at the videos posted on the Internet, there was no effort from mall security to actually cordon off the area as you could see people lazily even walking around. The first order of business should have been evacuate, and seal the area. Yet there were people just taking photos and videos from their camera phones, or just basically hanging about!

Customers pay a lot for the prices on goods bought at this mall but get very little security in return. While Ayala Land management will expectedly say that it was an accident and nobody wanted the blast to happen, it cannot shirk away from its responsibility of securing its tenants (who pay very high rental fees) and its patrons. How funny that they say there was no security lapse. Obviously there was otherwise, how could the bomb or bombs be snuck in? Magic? Teleportation? Beam me up Scotty! No matter who the culprit is (and I don't believe for a minute it's the handiwork of terrorists), Ayala Land clearly has culpability in this matter. If I were a tenant at this mall, I'd demand a refund from mall management equivalent to the opportunity losses I suffered yesterday.

*****

Even before Sen. Trillanes pointed his fingers at the Presidentita GMA and her henchmen being behind the Glorietta blasts, the man on the street and your friendly neighborhood cab drivers were already thinking the same. I spoke to a few later in the evening. Pinoys aren't stupid although our politicians make us out to be. (If this was the handiwork of terrorists, by yesterday evening, they would have claimed responsibility for the blast already because they are a proud bunch.)

Of course you can say it's just another conspiracy theory but really, the public, especially the masa have come to distrust the Presidentita and her people. We can't put anything past her. Almost everyone believes she is capable of doing anything just to perpetuate herself in power and refocus the public's attention away from her government's latest foibles. As usual, the Presidentita's text brigade (Hello NTC: Check out 0905-346-8994) is actively trying to spin the bombings against her critics especially politicians in the opposition. While she tells them to stop politicking and taking advantage of the incident, her handlers are doing it for her. Amateurs talaga!

UPDATE: This statement is no surprise. I'm just amazed at how long it took Esperon and company to say it and blame everyone they could think of. Gads, Presidentita, san bang kangkungan napulot mo ang mga taong ito?

September na!

AND you know what that means...Christmas is upon us! But is there anything really to be excited about the Yuletide season? But of course there is. Call me a nut job but I enjoy the Christmas holidays for the family reunions, the endless joyful eating, the giving of gifts, and sharing of hearts. Hopefully, there will be more love and peace to go around this year.

So bring out your pen and paper and start making your shopping list. I'm starting the Christmas countdown today – see the counter on the left. (Tip: Do your Christmas shopping early while most department stores are on sale. It will save you a bundle!)

And why not do something different this year? Instead of just emailing your Christmas greetings to your friends and relatives in the provinces or abroad, why not send them an honest to goodness Christmas card for a change? It will mean more to them that you took the time out to write down your thoughts and wishes for them instead of sending a pre-written email greeting via Internet. So avoid the rush at the post office...mail those Yuletide cards early!

Trinoma on a Saturday

All these people just sitting around...how ironic considering it's an "activity" center.

Monday bitching... Gordon Gekko and the Ayala malls

YES, yes, I know it's Tuesday already. I was just too preoccupied to write yesterday so apologies to all. But 'Monday bitching' seems to be a good title for my weekly bursts of outrage so I shall keep it no matter what day I write.

Anyway, I was reading the news today and got my blood pressure elevated again. I mean the nerve of this government to keep on announcing that it would be opening NAIA-3 to the public at some date and whenever that date approaches, they have a million and one excuses why the grand event would not push through! Of course everything will fall apart. The frigging structure's been standing there unused for the longest time! Anobayan!

(Inside the NAIA-3...the terminal that never was. Photo from www.skyscrapercity.com)

I am probably one of the few journalists who was able to tour NAIA-3 a few months before its scheduled opening and from what I remember, it was really designed well (I'm talking here about the interiors not the structural integrity, of course). Everything was almost ready for its use and there was just some discussions with PAL and other airlines about moving in. But of course the grubby, greedy hands of the GMA administration just had to intervene so they could make some money off the project proponenents (Fraport AG and Piatco). I am pretty sure if GMA and her henchmen, you know who you are, didn't stick their noses into the project, we would all be comfortably travelling from one of the best and most spacious terminals in the country right now. Sure, the deal may have been fraught with corruption, show me one deal this government made that's above board, but the point is,despite Piatco's Chengs supposedly not having enough capital to undertake the project, the terminal was built and finished.

It's funny how GMA chose to stuck with the decisions of her henchmen which unfortunately, cost the Philippines' standing in the investment community. Who would bother to invest in the Philippines if their projects won't be safe with a change in administration. To this day, if you ask foreign businessmen, they will tell you that the biggest problem of the Philippines is its changing of rules midstream. So now you have a case in the international courts against the presidentita's government for taking over NAIA-3 without paying for it. (It wasn't a national security issue so what presidentita's henchmen did was actually un-Constitutional.) Investors don't want to touch the Philippines with a 200-foot pole. And what do you know, to this day, the presidentita has yet to be invited by the German government for a visit because for all intents and purposes, she is persona non grata for having scuttled a business investment by one of that country's largest companies.

I am not making any excuses for corruption. As many will attest, I even joined a campaign to prevent the presidentita from implementing an incinerator project being pushed by her henchmen. However, I don't think we can undo corrupt projects already sealed and delivered. What the presidentita's henchmen should preoccupy themselves with is stopping such acts from being committed, for projects yet to be awarded and implemented. Set the example themselves by only approving 'clean' projects, and keeping their greedy hands in their pockets instead of dipping into other people's.

Greed may have made America, as Gordon Gekko proclaimed in the film Wall Street, but it will be the undoing of the Philippines.
***
A columnist today wrote of how the Ayala mall management is again re-evaluating its security measures after a few overeager security personnel apparently pounced on a woman shopper who they thought was soliciting for, ahem, customers. Of course the woman declared she was innocent and refused to cooperate with them after she was brought to the security office. Well the next day, the Ayala mall management received a call from a "furious" CNN News anchor whose wife apparently the security personnel had mistakenly apprehended. Apologies were made and graciously received.

Well, you guys know how I feel about the Ayala malls. Their security personnel are either inefficient, or just overzealous. Why can't they just be competent? Ayala Land Inc., which operates the malls, is one of the most profitable property firms in the country (they proudly proclaimed a P3.9-billion net income in 2006), so my question is, why can't it hire really top-notch security firms whose security guards are well-trained to keep snatchers and thieves out of the malls, or at least be able to apprehend them, and are really able to accurately profile hookers?!? I have yet to hear of any complaints of this sort from similar upscale malls like Podium or the Powerplant. If these malls can keep their customers safe, why can't Ayala?
***
(Kainggit naman si Dr. Belo! Does anyone besides me think that Hank Azaria is a hottie? Photo from www.carouselpinoy.com)

The most ridiculous item of the past week: Dr. Vicki Belo vouching for the faithfulness of James Yap to Kris Aquino. I regularly have a facial at Belo Medical along Tomas Morato. In fact, I share the same facialist with Purefoods' Mr. Tender and Juicy. I have never seen Dr. Belo at that branch, so I don't know how she can vouch for James being a good boy there, or anywhere for that matter. Unless he's been spending 24 hours of his life with the good doctor. Or she has closed circuit cameras installed in those rooms! Oooh...shades of Big Brother!

And yes, the rooms are pretty conducive to doing more than just the nasty. Doors of treatment rooms are kept closed to prevent intrusions from the outside. I'm sure they lock it. I mean c'mon, if people can have sex in the rest rooms of airplanes, doing it in a clinic treatment room is no problem at all.

I think Dr. Belo has gone overdrive just to protect Mr. Tender and Juicy from the lashing he is getting from his critics she is willing to use herself as cover. (I wonder why she's doing that. It's not as if it's James who helped boost her clinic's revenues, but Kris.) Now she is telling everyone that a former employee is bent on destroying her and is the source of the chismis. Whether it's true or not that this former Belo employee is out to get the good Doktora, the point is, no one believes Mr. Tender and Juicy's denials of an affair, neither does Kris and Boy Abunda, so why should we believe Dr. Belo?

Monday bitching

HEADLINE: ARROYO URGES 4-PARTY SUMMIT FOR CLEAN MAY 2007 ELECTIONS (GMA News TV)

THE nerve of this woman! She should practice what she preaches first, noh? Ang kapal, grabeh!
* * *
Anyway, what I really wanted to bitch about today is the really slackening customer relations management of most of our supposedly old reliable department stores and malls.

My first beef is with SM. Look, I love SM because of the many products they sell at reasonable prices. Often, I find the stuff I need, even in last-minute situations, in the department store or its various outlets like Watson's or the Home section.

I've already gotten over the fact that most of its sales staff and cashiers don't really have very high IQs, are inefficient and would rather chat among themselves instead of actually attending to their customers. But there are some very few jewels in the rough among them who make up for their inadequate grey matter by being courteous and polite.

What I absolutely hate, however, is buying stuff from SM using gift cards. Normally, I love getting gift cards because these are practical presents. The gift giver would rather want me to buy stuff I want instead of he or she making the mistake of giving me the wrong gift.

These ubiquitous gift cards are slowly replacing the gift cheques and come in several denominations like P500 or P1,000, and I supppose SM makes a lot of money from selling those to its customers. What sucks, however, is the fact that most of SM's cashiers are utterly clueless on what to do with them. I present the plastic and everything goes downhill from there. The cashier will stop and stare at the card, look around helplessly, swipe it at the POS terminal a few times pretending she knows what to do with it until help arrives. When she finally realizes she doesn't know what to do with it, she gets up from her chair or tells the bagger to get up and go, says "Sandali lang mam", then waits for a supervisor to come over and help her with it. In the meantime, a long line of customers has formed behind me, getting impatient as I am.

Now this happened to me unfailingly in the past two weeks alone. The cashiers are especially dumbfounded when the gift card amounts to P1,000. I don't understand why. It's the same card with only different loads. Parang pre-paid card yan 'ne.

This obviously isn't the fault of the cashiers. That's why they're operating those machines because they're not smarter to do something else, like be Tessie Sy's right hand. So these impossible situations can only be the fault of SM's training department or the supervisors themselves. Why issue these frigging gift cards without training the cashiers on what to do with them and give them all sorts of scenarios to operate in (e.g. what to do when there is a balance? And can customers use 2 cards at once?)

So let me warn all of you who are thinking of giving out gift cards as presents...don't buy them from SM. You might end up being sworn at by the recipient of your otherwise good heart.
* * *
Rustan's is a good place to get your gift certificates, and I always love shopping there. I've been going there as far back as I can remember, usually either to their San Marcelino branch or the main branch in Makati (back when it used to be known as Makati commercial center), tagging along with my mother. I feel safe, clean, and calm when I shop there.

So I've had my own discount card, then a frequent shopper's card/discount card in one since way back. When I lost my wallet to a petty thief at the Glorietta activity center last November, however, I've had to basically rebuild my identity by getting replacement cards from government offices, banks and credit card companies and yes, even from SM, Rustan's, Healthy Options and the like.

What bugs me is that when I applied for a replacement for my FSP card, I was told that Rustan's is now issuing separate cards – one FSP and one discount card. But why? I asked. It's just how it is, I was told. Still, why? What folly this is as I would know have to carry around 2 different Rustan's cards in my wallet instead of just one. Not very customer-friendly. The old system worked very well. I don't know who among the new managers thought up of this new system. Is Rustan's going to make more money by issuing two different cards? Duh.
* * *

My favorite customer relations horror story of all time, of course, is the Glorietta mall. Its security system obviously only protects customers against terrorists and not petty thieves.

People have been asking me whatever happened to my case at the Glorietta. (Just to refresh everyone's memory, please click here.) I usually tell them that after the initial flurry of email messages sent between me and Ayala Land's PR and some officer at Glorietta's management, NOTHING. NADA. ZILCH. Never got my stuff back, not that I actually expected that happen. They said there was a group of thieves arrested the evening of the incident, but none of my items were among the thieves' stuff.

I am just appalled by the mall's ssssllllllloooooooow response to the issue. Glorietta officers never thought of looking through their closed circuit camera tapes in the area (and Ayala execs claim they do have those CCDs in their mall) on the evening my bag was pilfered, until I asked them. Of course, they eventually got back to me one month after the fact, and asked me to view the tapes with them. By that time it was December already. And believe me, you wouldn't want to get caught in the middle of Makati during December.

I told Ayala Land's PR that I really don't know what going there to view the tapes would accomplish since they really never said what they were going to do in case I do identify the thieves. There was nothing concrete discussed about implementing better security measures. Expectedly, he never got back to me. He probably had more important Christmassy stuff to attend to than my complaint.

These days I try to avoid the Glorietta mall as much as possible and tell my friends and relatives, especially those coming in from abroad, not to shop there anymore. Surely this won't make a dent in Ayala's revenues enough for its management to beef up security and think of better ways to protect mall customers, but at least, my friends and relatives won't get victimized like me. If I need to meet people, I would rather do it somewhere else like Shangri-La Edsa Plaza, Rockwell Power Plant, Gateway in Cubao even. Better to be safe than sorry.