I Hate the service of Cebu Pacific Airlines

I really disgust the service of Cebu Pacific Airlines. I can't believe that they didn't let us to board the plane after the check-in process that caused us to miss the Eid'l Fitri trip going to Kota Kinabalu last Monday, August 29th (Flight No. 5J733, 3:50 PM). I admit that we didn't know that a return ticket is necessary for tourist travel and checked-in during the very last minutes before boarding time (not to mention the long lines on the check-in station), but the fact that they asked us to purchase a return ticket on that day, and I asked them if we still going to make it which they said "Pwede pa sir, wag na lng kayo pumila sa ticketing, diretso na kayo sa counter" which I did, the fact that I explained that to them, we should have been assisted or at least they should have notified the people in boarding area that we will be a bit late because I still need to purchase a return ticket for my companion (my sister), which they agreed on before checking us in. We didn't waste any time, we got the return ticket paid all the fees (Travel Tax and Terminal Fee), before we reached the Immigration the guy (who was wearing the Cebu Pac uniform) informed us that we can't board anymore, I thought he was just joking, I even told him, it's not yet 3:50pm, the plane has not left yet, he said the boarding time is over, they have got our baggage off the plane. I explained to him why we were late because of the return ticket but they didn't listen, instead they accompanied us back to check-in station. I spoke to the person in-charge, she said we will rebook but we have to pay for the penalty and the ticket differences, which was over Php 16,000.00 which was really crazy. We would have not booked earlier if we wanted to spend that amount for the trip. I explained to them I booked the ticket three months ago and took advantage of the promo fair for a cheaper admission but they just apologized though admittedly telling us that they should have at least assisted us. One of the people in-charge even said that they were not informed about our case that's why they just didn't let us board the plane. Apology is accepted but that doesn't make things easier for me and my sister and our family who were waiting for us to spend the holiday with in Malaysia. The worse part about it is that they won't even refund the money that we spent for the tickets, not even for the return ticket that we purchased on that very day which was really absurd. I know there are policies and all that but at least they should have done something about it. It was not that we didn't check-in on time or didn't adhere to the immigration policy of purchasing a return ticket, we did all that. They should have at least have a little courtesy of waiting for their customers who trusted them with their time, money and effort for a Holiday Vacation.

I understand that things happen for a reason, but things like these could have been avoided if we'll only be extra careful and focus with what we do. Especially if it involves time and family. My sister cried the whole day when we reached home, she came to Manila from Zamboanga to join me in visiting our sister and brother in Malaysia during the Muslim Holiday, Eid'l Fitri, and I took my 10-day Vacation Leave from work for it, that's how important the trip was. It was not just like any adventure or any trips, and because of what happened it all just went to waste.

It's SITEL...

Finally it's monday tomorrow, I've been waiting for this day since the day before yesterday. All my life I've never been this excited. What made me so excited? Well, it's because tomorrow would be a start of my new job. After a week of job-seeking here in Metro Manila, I finnally got hired as Technical Support Representative in Business Process-Outsourcing world in short Call Center Company. SITEL Philippines opened an opportunity last Friday to me, and I'm so happy that they just gave me the chance.

Honestly, I thought it was really easy to apply in a call center company, I was wrong, it's actually easier (joke!hehe) No! it was really really difficult. First, there are a lot of applicants and most of them are former agents already, the competition is really tough. And second they are very much strict with the accent, inunciation and pronunciation, which I am not good at. I could still remember when one company asked me if I know how to read 'phonetic', "what the hell is phonetic " I said to my self, to cover the embarassment, I simply said "Computer Engineering students don't actually learn them, so I don't have any idea at all " so after that final interview I didn't anymore expect to be considered by that company, so I attractted it and it happened.

The next day, I applied in a company located on a 34th Floor of a building, in an elevator I waited like overnight to reach the floor, it was like a long trip. I handed my resume to the guard, he noticed me trembling and I felt like wanted to vanish that building, I started to feel dizzy and almost fainted. "Relax, wait lang po, nahilo ata ako sa elevator nyo" I told the guard when he was about to ask me to log-in. I sat down on a chair reserved for applicants and after a few minutes I went to the guard again and logged my name in a visitor's sheet, when I was about to pull the knob of the door, the guard called me again "Sandali lang po sir, alcohol po muna". "Sosyal naman ang company na 'to, d pwedeng mag-open ng door nang walang alcohol" I told my self while laughing about it. I noticed that they did it to every person who came from outside of the building. After waiting for almost an hour for the interview, I still couldn't contain my head, I wanted to vomit, I held on to it and my name was called for initial interview, I couldn't almost understand the questions and I answered the interviewer like a fastball "slow down, some of your words are hard to understand" she told me. With that, again I did'nt expect anymore, so I went out of the office. "Eto na naman, elevator ulit!" I almost fell asleep in the elevator, and finally, I reached the ground floor, and headed outside hurriedly.

It was really a funny experience, atleast I tried and I took my chances, I stayed home in taguig after that 34th floor experience, and went on applying again after three days. As intructed by a friend, my feet led me to Ortigas, at the back of SM Megamall and I found the Recruitment Center of SITEL Philippines at around 4pm. After 25 minutes I was interviewed and given a topic to talk about. My topic was Space Exploration, "OMG, what is this? a punishment?". I didn't know about the topic, so I just talked about Niel Armstrong, the Mars as the next potential earth and etc. I passed the initial interview and took several examinations, I finished around 11pm and requested to go to other sites of SITEL also in Ortigas the next day by 8 am for the Final Interview. After a long process, it ended by a hand-shake with the boss, Mr. Apple "Congratulations, you are hired!". Finally, after two months of being jobless, I'm back to work again.

Goodluck to me!