CDR King's Poor Customer Service

photo credits: ekspoze.wordpress.com

Earlier in the day, I went to SM City Pampanga to meet up with a college friend. Before going to our meeting place, I decided to drop by the CDR King store, since the laptop sleeve I used had no handle, and my lappy is constantly slipping from my fingers. I anticipated that there would be no customers yet, because it was quite early. When I arrived, though, there were already 4-6 customers before me.

As soon as I arrived, I called on a saleslady to ask a quick question, before getting a number. I was the only customer in that section, and the saleslady was not doing anything, and yet, when she passed by me, she completely ignored me, and never looked my way. When she made her way back to where she came from, I called on her again, and she looked, but only to tell me, "please get your number". I thought, fair enough, if you want to strictly follow your rules even when I wasn't asking to be assisted yet, i will respect that.

The incident that followed completely used up all the patience I had left. See, there were about 5-6 sales person in the store, but only 1 was assisting customers. To add to the problem, the customer being served were requesting a lot of things, not minding the other customers waiting for her to finish (not blaming her, though). There were customers waiting, and around 4 or more sales people were moving around the store, not doing something important. In fact, the lady I called who asked me to get a number arrange one item in its case. Was that more important than serving waiting customers?

I told myself, 'be more patient', as minutes passed by. But when I couldn't take it anymore, I asked the only sales lady assisting, "Miss, ikaw lang ba ang pwedeng mag assist?", that was when they all scrambled to assist me, since I was next in line. I didn't shout, but they must have noticed the tone of my voice was verging on that.

To my disappointment, the lady who ignored me when I entered the store was the one who was assigned to assist me. Even if I was really pissed of, I almost smiled when I heard the other sales people greeting customers, asking them what they need, becoming friendly - after what I did. Shouldn't they have done that even before a customer temper had gone off because of poor customer service? Even when I tried to sound cool while the lady assisted me, I couldn't hide what I felt. Honestly, I was tempted to look at their items and leave without buying just to teach them a lesson. I didn't do that.

What is really up with CDR King's store procedure, right? I feel like I was in bank or payment center when I'm there. It's messed up, instead of being organized. Would it be really a sin to answer a quick question from a customer? Should their sales people ignore customers just because they have this number thingy going on? I have worked with sales and customer service for many years, and customer is always first is the rule of all companies I worked with. If I were they, I'd station two employees per section, and they would only assist customers who need items there. Visits to CDR King stores are mostly bad experiences for me. I have had it with this one, that's why I'm blogging about it.

Jackass Dudes Minus 1 - Ryan Dunn Dead @ 34

I'm delivering a bad news today - Ryan Dunn, one of my favorite Jackass is dead at the age of 34. He's the guy who's usually thrown while inside a push cart or any type of vehicle, and ironically, he died because of a car crash on Sunday night (June 19, 2011) at Pennsylvania.

A photo of Dunn's 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 taken last June 12.

Photo of what's left of Dunn's Porsche.

Police said that the accident occurred at around 3 in the morning, on Route 322 and New Street in West Goshen Township. Ryan was with an unknown passenger, but it's still a mystery to the police which among the two was driving when the accident happened. April Margera, the mother of Dunn's "Jackass" co-star Bam, relayed the news to WMMR 93.3's "Preston and Steve" radio show.

2 hours before Dunn's accident happened, he tweeted a picture of him with some friends, holding a glass that looked like an alcholic beverage and a cigarette. The photo was uploaded on his Tumblr account. According to TMZ, the Porsche he was in caught on fire, and the flames may have burned him partially, the reason why he was identified by his tattoos (an information provided by a witness who was on the scene when the bodies were pulled from the wreckage.

Last photo tweeted by Dunn.

"We are devastated by the tragic loss of Ryan Dunn — a beloved member of the MTV family for more than a decade," Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music/Film Group, said in a statement. "He made us all laugh and had the tireless enthusiastic approach to life of your favorite middle school friend. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with Ryan's family and friends. The Jackass brotherhood will never be the same."

I would like to impart the same message to Ryan Dunn's family - my deepest condolences. Ryan Dunn cracked me up loads of times. Who would forget the x-ray of a toy car stuck up in his ass, right? Rest in peace, Ryan, people who'll remember you will always have a smile on their faces.

The famous pelvic x-ray of Ryan Dunn.

Remembering Ryan Dunn

"Memories" Music Video From Jackass 3D

All About The Green Lantern

"In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight

Let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!"

I have never been a comic book fan, so I am not really familiar with the superhero, Green Lantern. Growing up, the only superheroes I knew were Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Super Girl, and the X-Men. Oops! Almost forgot the other two, Darna and Captain Barbel. Haha!

Apparently, The Green Lantern existed many years ago, the reason why he's well-known to my father. I am referring to the original Green Lantern, because it turns out that there are both an old and a new version of him, aptly called, the Golden Age Green Lantern and the Silver Age Revival Green Lantern. Before I went to the cinema to watch Ryan Reynolds in a body-hugging green suit, I did some research about the superhero he's playing.

The Golden Age Green Lantern

The original Green Lantern was created by Martin Nodell (using the name Mart Dellon) and Bill Finger, during Golden Age of comic books, which was between the 1930s until the early 1950s. The Golden Age was the time when comic books enjoyed immense popularity. The story of the Green Lantern was first published by All-American Publications (one of the companies that will merge to form DC Comics) in the All-American Comics # 16.

The real name of the Green Lantern was Alan Scott, a railroad engineer who had come into possession of a magic lantern after a railway crash, which spoke to him and said it would bring power. From this, he crafted a magic ring which gave him a wide variety of powers. The limitations of the ring were that it had to be "charged" every 24 hours by touching it to the lantern for a time, and that it did not work on non-metals like wood.

Unfortunately, after World War II, the popularity of superheroes declined. The Green Lantern comic book was cancelled with issue #38. All Star Comics #57 (1951) was the character's last Golden Age appearance.

The Silver Age Revival Green Lantern

DC Comics was formed in the late 1950s, and it was them that introduced the public to the Silver Age revival of comic books, and successfully revived comic book superheroes, one of them being the Green Lantern.

This Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, a test pilot who was given a power ring by a dying alien, Abin Sur, and who became a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar organization of police overseen by the Guardians of the Universe. The Corps' rings were powerless against anything colored yellow, due to a yellow-colored "dopant" in the master power generator located on Oa, where the Guardians maintained their headquarters, without which dopant the master generator would not function as such. Jordan's creation was motivated by a desire to make him more of a science fiction hero, editor Julius Schwartz having been a longtime fan of that genre and literary agent who saw pop-culture tastes turning in that direction. It was this Green Lantern that Warner Bros. turned into a movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the superhero.

The Green Lantern is now out in cinemas beginning June 16. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it yet to comment whether it was great or not. Hopefully, I will be able to watch it tomorrow. For Pampanga residents, below are the cinema schedules in the Angeles City area.

(Article Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern)

Kasalang Filipino 2011 at the Marquee Mall

Being a budding wedding planner, it was a great opportunity for me to attend bridal fairs. They are the coming together of wedding vendors, and where else could I gather vendor contacts but there, right?

Last June 11, I was able to go to my first bridal fair, Kasalang Filipino 2011, at the Marquee Mall. I chatted with representatives of wedding vendors - caterers, wedding photographers, make-up artists, photo booth renters, and caught glimpses of displayed wedding gowns by famous capampangan couturiers, including that of my friend, amazing designer Jojo Macapinlac.

It was both a business and pleasure trip for me. It was made fun and pleasurable because we were able to taste dessert samples from a caterer, and had our photos taken at photo booths, The Photo Pop and Baicapture.

Kasalang Filipino is the premiere Philippine wedding and tourism fair road show. Their stint at Marquee Mall was the 6th leg of Kasalang Filipino 2011. The bridal road show’s aim is to promote the local wedding and tourism industry. Kasalang Filipino 2011 is scheduled to appear in 13 cities in the Philippines. Aside from Pampanga, the cities of Cabanatuan, General Santos, Dagupan, Bacolod, Dumaguete, San Pablo, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, San Fernando, Bulacan and Cebu are also included. The event is open to the public.

Booth of National Art and The Photo Pop.

The Oops Shop, one of the most in-demand wedding invitation makers in Pampanga.

Aunt Vit and Aunty Din posed beside Jojo Macapinlac's breathtaking gown on display.

MS PhotoVideo's booth.

Another wedding photography booth, Cris-Mont.

Booth of Ever Bilena, where you can buy their products.

One of the caterers in the fair, Uni-Chefs.

A beautiful table setting on display.

Aunty Vit enjoying the free taste of yummy desserts from Uni-Chefs.

Table setting of Hotel Stotsenberg.

Titanic: Sailing Back in Theaters 3D Style

Great news to all moviegoers who loved the Titanic movie, which used to hold the title, "the highest grossing film of all-time", because director James Cameron has decided to convert the film in 3D. By the way, he was the writer, producer, and director of the movie (as well as the hand who drew the naked Kate Winslet while she's wearing the 'heart of the ocean' necklace). Cameron is in collaboration with his Lightstorm producing partner, Jon Landau, along with Paramount Pictures, and 20th Century, in re-releasing Titanic.

This is a great opportunity for people who saw the film, when it was released back in 1997, to enjoy watching it again in 3D quality, as well as to the generation who are only able to enjoy it through DVDs. Cameron was quoted saying, "There's a whole generation that's never seen Titanic as it was meant to be seen, on the big screen," he continued, "And this will be Titanic as you've never seen it before, digitally remastered at 4K and painstakingly converted to 3D. With the emotional power intact and the images more powerful than ever, this will be an epic experience for fans and newcomers alike."

I know that I am not alone when I say that Titanic is one of the greatest films of all-time. In fact, the film won an outstanding 11 Oscars (including Best Picture) during the 71st Academy Awards, a feat only reached by the film, 'Ben Hur'. Together, they have the record of 'the most ever won Oscars'.

Currently, Titanic, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, is the second-highest-grossing movie of all time, since Avatar (a film written, directed, and produced also by Cameron) already took their number one spot.

The re-release of Titanic will be on April 6, 2012, a date that coincides with the 100th anniversary of the ship setting sail, which is April 10. It's only June 7, 2011 and I am already excited to see the film.