MY FIRST WORST JOB EXPERIENCE

I want to share with you my first worst job experience here in the U.S. which is a real nightmare. I never thought I would experience being treated that way by an employer who happens to be a Filipino like me coz honestly that's my first time since.

I applied for such job coz I saw they were hiring for a weekday position when I was with my friend who was having an interview for a weekend job in such freight forwarding company. I sent my resume then by Jan. 2008 I got a call from my ex-boss that she wanted to interview me. So she did interview me after few days and hired me right away. She asked me if I could start by Tuesday for the training. By Tuesday I went to that office and she trained me for only 2-3 hours. After that day, it's so rare for her to come to the office. Definitely I was forced to learn the company's system by my own. It was fine with me at first coz if I just had some questions, I would just call her or one of the oldest employee there. The sad part was everytime my boss called me, she just nagged and nagged and nagged at something petty she thought would be my fault by making it a big deal like she was nagging about why I used lots of staple wires on such receipts with payments (I was using an old stapler that won't work anymore) or why I put scotch tape on the envelope where I put the daily report and money to seal it. She hurled insults at me on the phone after few days I worked there for such thing she didn't tell me during the training. At that time I tried to control my anger coz how I wanted to resign but I hesitated since I wanted to have work experience here and earnings so I can have savings or able to help pay our bills coz my husband's work was pretty slow. It just never happened once but it happened such bad experiences many times while I was working there. You know why? Because shes' a person who loved to hurl insults at me everytime she called me or I called her asking few questions for more details by saying "I'd better use my common sense," or "I was confused and didn't understand what she's saying to me and asked me to repeat everything she said to me" or when I decided on something urgent coz that's how she told me before or I couldn't contact her or the other employees then she was mad at me and told me that I should have checked it with her first before doing such actions. Definitely whether I would decide or not on something needed to be done on such urgent situations, it's always my fault for her. Honestly, such words ruined me as an employee and as a person coz I know I am not a stupid person. Modesty aside, I have a Bachelor's degree from a prestigious university in my country and always in the honor/dean's list since I was a kid till I graduated college. Even when I attended Tax Preparation Training, my teachers and co-students appreciated me for easily understanding the tax system here that fast even it's totally new to me. All I can say is she's the kind of person who thinks she's better than anybody else coz she owns the company and thinking she's more intelligent than anybody else. How I wished to say to her face that definitely she's not coz she spelled the simple word "petty" for petty cash as "pity." She also never wants to hear any suggestions from anyone or our reasons/explanations about the things she was nagging about. She's the kind of boss who doesn't know how to respect and appreciate her employees but rather always find faults and loves to hurl insults and nag at you again and again and again coz I know it also happened to all her previous and current employees. She's such a stingy and greedy person coz I never received any wage increase, benefits and she didn't even want me to extend hours when clients went to the office at closing time coz she didn't want to pay for the extra minutes. If I would then I'd better call her for an approval. During the last two weeks of our promo last April 2008, I worked from 9:30am till 9pm and she just paid me the minimum wage rate even there's a week I already worked over 40 hours so that should be overtime. I didn't complain anything about it or about many times I extended my hours coz I have to without charging her for that coz I really wanted to have a job even I know she didn't follow such law. She's even so fickle minded that from time to time, she would change the rules or policies about the promo or anything at the last minute without written memos ever which made us employees always in trouble with our irate clients. The worst part was she didn't want to hear about any complaints or she would be pissed off at you if you would tell her. The worst of the worst was she didn't want me to give her phone number to the irate clients if they wanted to talk to a supervisor/manager to complain on something or else she would certainly call and nag at me about that coz she said she paid me for doing such job. I kept asking myself why she was given a chance to be a businesswoman with such bad business and work etiquettes towards her employees and clients. She might be educated but she didn't act like one. Since I worked there for six (6) months from Mondays till Fridays at 9:30am till 5:30pm, most of the days were miserable to me coz of her. I've never been happy working for her especially when she kept bugging me anytime in a day for whatever she wanted to say or nag at me with insults. I never heard any form of appreciation, apology or gratitude from her but all negative comments/words. Last Aug. 12, 2008 I finally resigned telling her in my resignation letter effective same day that I don't deserve working for her for so much stress she's putting on me as an employee and as a person coz of her abusive attitude. It came to a point that I was so fed-up with her mean attitude towards me coz she nagged at me with insults on the phone again for two consecutive days last Aug. 11 and 12. So I told to myself that I am totally done with her coz I know she will keep bugging me again when she added more works to me lately. I felt I'd rather stay at home with a peaceful mind than having work with miseries and anger at my heart coz of her. I know it's not that easy to find a job for a newcomer like me with less work experience here but I am sure that I can find a better job in a better company. The only thing I am so happy working there is I met new wonderful and nice friends who were my Filipino co-workers.

I learned alot from such real bad experiences. I can see lots of differences when comparing my experiences working for a Filipino employer with an American employer. I am not saying that all Filipino employers/bosses/supervisors are bad and all American employers are good. But as for me, I'd better try to find a job in a company owned and/or run by Americans coz I have nice experiences working for and with Americans. They are nicer and appreciative as well as more understanding, helpful and will tell you in a very nice way if you make mistakes. The best part is they will pay you with what you are or the job is worth for and certainly treat you as a person. I hope and pray that the government will do something about such kind of employers by making a law against such company's bad practices and be more strict to employers/bosses by making them have psychological tests to protect the employees from such abusive experiences in order to be more effective as employees and persons.

PHILIPPINE TOURIST SPOT

Davao City, Philippines - This place is one of the key cities in the Philippines located in the Southeastern part of Mindanao. It is world's largest city with a land area of 2,443.61 square kilometers and a home for an estimate of almost 2 million people. We called it "The Land Of Promise" because of its rich and fertile land with so much abundant source of potable water , fruits, vegetables, seafoods and flowers. This city is also located in a typhoon-free zone with a temperature ranges from 15 to 34˚C. It is known for its exotic fruit called Durian which we usually describe as the fruit which has a smell like hell but taste like heaven. The city is specifically known among florists all over the world for its famous waling-waling which is considered as one of the most beautiful orchids especially the wild waling-waling which you can rarely find in the forests. Based on annual surveys made by Asiaweek on the 40 Best Cities in Asia, Davao City is one of the Most Livable Cities in the Philippines. It also ranked Second Cleanest and Greenest City in the Philippines ( Highly urbanized category ) for almost a decade. So if you are looking for a place to be called your home or considering to start a business, visit this lovely city and see for yourself the beauty of such place.