comparison

“free at last, free at last! thank God Almighty, i am free at last”

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

a chain was broken. arms not….. who am i too kid myself? don’t have time to be poetic. am not good in that. what im trying to say is that i’m free! okay, not quite. just that i don’t have time to think of working on a regular basis anymore. my contract has ended. and they didn’t pour buckets of water on me (one of the unregistered traditions when it’s your last day), maybe because i was sick.

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was trying to make a list of the contributions i did to the two stores (jollibee and kfc) and this is what i came up with.

Jollibee: November 12, 2003 – May 03, 2004
Position:

1. Jollibee Express Delivery Service (JEDS) Operator

   —> in-charge of answering all telephone calls within the stores premises (we have 4 di fferent phones). and if it’s a call for delivery, i get to be the one who takes the order, assembles it and gives it to the rider –and in some cases, also delivers by foot or by ride just to meet the standard delivery time; otherwise, i have to deal with customer complaints for the next few minutes or so).

2. Store Marketing Assistant (SMART)
   —> tries to improve the traffic count of the store and introducing new products to the customers. in-charge of putting up banners, posters, toys, and other merchandise for marketing and the like.
   —> in-charge of hosting parties (but since our store was small, we don’t have kiddie parties — thank God! –), and making reports of our store’s standing with regards to the promotions, both local and national.
   —> also in-charge of being our store marketing officer’s proxy in boring meetings and relays the agenda to him.

Ed’s REPORTS:

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    • Tuna Pie Monitoring (when it was launched last year)
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    • Meatier Spaghetti (remember the ad? Jolly Spaghetti na ngayon!)
    • Ranger For Your Hunger (only in the Vis-Min regions)
    • Customer Survey (we conduct customer surveys once every other month to see how we’ve progressed or digressed when it comes to improving the store’s three key target points: Food, Service and Cleanliness
    • JEDS Turn-Around-Time (TAT) Summary (i get to summarize and tally our performance both in sales and service)

Outside-Store Activities:

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      • MaAGA ang Pasko sa Jollibee 2003 – we visited a small town and helped in giving out used toys to the children there
      • Bulk-Orders in December 2003 – we visited some schools and tried to market our products for their Christmas parties.
      • Community Outreach – went to two nearby public schools and gave out medals and certificates to their top 10 graduates. was also able to write a photo caption and it was published in the local newspaper. and it felt so good, even though it was just a small piece of writing

Kentucky Fried Chicken: July 01 – November 30, 2004
Position:

1. Counter Service Station
   —> frontliner in giving the customers and assisting them. one who takes charge in taking, assembling and dispatching the orders in real time.

that’s probably it. you may have noticed that i had so many contributions to the former store i worked for. i’m quite surprised myself. in kfc, the only consolation i got that i really liked was i got to eat their products whereas in jollibee (since it was a franchise), i don’t. instead, there’s a carenderia that they tied up with to provide our food but with some privilege of course. and after thinking over and over again. i’d rather eat in a carenderia than eating the same meal (even though it’s kfc’s fried chicken!) everyday.

i’d rather choose a work that would help me develop what needs to be developed and whose bosses sees the better of me than another who doesn’t. before, in jollibee, i hated the many responsibilities my manager would give me. but now, i’m, starting to regret not doing some of them. even if those projects were his job (note: i’m only his assistant which means i get to HELP, not do the work; but i’m not saying that i did ALL of his work), i learned a lot. compared to my fellow assistants, who seldom had assignments besides the regular operations, i was given a lot of opportunities to do more than what’s expected of me. the exposure i got was more than a common fastfood worker could ask for. the trust that the higher people had given me is what’s most… satisfying (couldn’t think of another word). and it’s especially nice if you see and actually feel that you’re not useless.

in kfc, i was good (humbleness aside). but it felt like i wasn’t giving enough which made my situation monotonous. well, of course, there may be some days when things really are just dull. i guess it’s also my fault. i wasn’t contented with my position. my station had some limitations that weren’t that suitable for me. i had no time to complain. but they treated me well. it’s just the sense of accomplishment that i’m looking for that weren’t met is what i’m murmuring about.

so to choose, i’d rather “bee happy” than “finger lickin’ good”. of course, we all have different experiences in different companies… so it’s not right to generalize everything. but enough of this, i just made this list so i can have a basis when i’ll enter the ‘big world’, pandagdag sa resume kumbaga. and with the informations i’ve disseminated (in details), i hope no one sues me. am just a legal kid sharing his side of the world to fellow net-freaks out there. i have no intention of defaming or discouraging anyone, i’m just sharing.

eitherway, i’m still free.

posted Thursday, 2 December 2004