Due to the recent pen-napping that is currently happening at the Front desk, a BSBA graduate decided to engineer this :
Recent update as of July 8,2022: Nawala na yan lahat dai HAHAHAHAHA grabe, their pen game is so strong kahit nakatali na nga, nawala pa rin. Hustisya naman para sa mga ballpen😭😭
Another lost-in-translation moment with a client, she had me in the first half, not gonna lie😂.
She was speaking Tagalog and in the middle of it, she spoke straight Tausug, I lost track of what she was saying, Sheena and Ate Trisha saw it in my face that I was clueless that's why the two started laughing and Sheena said "Ma'am mag Tagalog po tayo kasi di ka na naiintindihan nang isa😂" . I was actually trying to understand a bit of what she was saying, but all I got from it was "Qatar" and all I can say at that moment was "Ano po?😧 (an almost accurate look I had after the dialect barrier) Hanggang Qatar lang ako nakasabay sayo Ma'am😂." The client started laughing and apologized, she repeated everything that she said but this time in Tagalog. I teased Ate Trisha about it, I said "Ate naintindihan mo lang si Ma'am kanina? Kay Tausug naman boyfriend mo 😂" she responded saying "Sinubukan ko baya siya intindihin kanina, kaso konti lang nagets ko 😂"
To the client that got mad at the GIPs because of not having a receipt for her Php 10 Appointment print, "Sana okay ka lang.🙂". But even though there will always be moments where we get to encounter angry clients, the majority of them will always be the wholesome ones, as some clients would really thank you like Salamat Kuya Will feels 😂 but yep, cuties.
Got nothing, so here's a cat pic my cousin sent me that day. Meet Rhiya Martin HAHAHA
The last day feels was almost okay, but well some characters at POEA just want to ruin a bit of it. Kuya Rhogie who is the POEAs security got actually creepy on the last day, he extended his hand to me saying "last day na diay ninyo nu?" the way he extended his hand was kinda holding hands way like this and I think this is how he wanted our hands to be
I'm not comfortable doing that to him so I gave him a fist bump instead 😂😅. He was an okay guy until he started saying things he never said to the previous (WMSU) interns, saying things like "Matagal na baya ako single, grabe 28 na ako wala pa rin girlfriend" (di naman siguro requirement sa POEA na taken ka sir diba?😂 HAHAHAHA jokes) I felt off around him when I heard him say "hindi ko baya yan magawa sa mga taga WMSU dati kasi may mga boyfriend sila." Uhm ?? I let that slip as long as he wasn't being touchy to each one of us.
Then there was this moment, while I was handling a client, he wanted me to handle another client, I was very hands-on with my client since she was a Domestic helper and a senior citizen. I wasn't able to hear him talking, but then suddenly I saw his index finger about to poke my nose, I actually have a defense mechanism whenever someone especially one I don't know and feel uncomfy with surprisingly does that, I catch their finger/arm/hand and twist it with force, which leads them to twist their arms as well, which is like a sign for me to let go. I didn't want that to happen since there were clients, hence I just avoided his finger by almost bowing my head to my client and just asking "ano-ano ba yung dala mong requirements ulit Ma'am?"😅. Ate Trisha saw what was about to happen so she scolded Kuya Rhogie saying "Kuya, magtawag ka daw maayos sa sususnod".
And lastly, before the day ended, our dictator strikes again😩. It was always a routine to let our "Sir" have his lunch first, I thought he'd already stop controlling our stomachs, but of course, the saga continues🙃. Before he left he told us "Sabihan ko kayo kung magkain na kayo", I don't mean to be rude, but he's lucky he left after that because if he didn't, I would have responded "Ano ka, lord?", I guess it's just me being fed up with these type of people😅.
But to wrap it up, despite the highs and lows with clients and every duty that we had, add it up with some stressful workmates and their needs, still, I had a blast being an Intern at POEA. All the insights you can get from the OFWs' struggles until the office stress, they were all worth it and somehow became a door for me to be more understanding and sociable (but I guess exclude that since my desire to be alone still yearns for me😂), and really always treat people with kindness, pero wag rin sobra kasi hindi sila Rebisco lagi, di sila lagi special HAHAHAHA.
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Monday surge last July 4 was really the heavy surge out of all the Monday surges we have experienced. The OFWs were so packed, that it was like they all planned to go on Ma'am Helen's birthday😂.
We were complete at that time but really had a hard time calming the storm, but went at ease again by 2.
So for Tuesday, we got Sir Kinnymar, what a great way to greet Ma'am Helen by sending her a Facebook rant by an OFW rather than greeting her Happy Birthday last Monday😂. We were in full-on detective mode for that, Ma'am Helen told us to find the person behind the Facebook rant about the cost of printed OECs and Appointments, (on a side note though, the payments are actually not that heavy, and unlucky for her, she still has to get her OEC since she has no new record yet, post pa more Ma'am Ministry Of Health under Saudi. Nadadamay ang mga kawawang OFWs dahil sayo) we found her and those other people who supported her in the comment section, listed their names, and gave them to Ma'am. Sadly the system changed after that post, we felt bad for the seniors and other people who have a hard time with technology, I instead taught them how to print the OEC and Appointment by demonstrating it to them.
Then while the rain was angrily pouring outside in the afternoon, so were my co-interns? except they weren't rain 😂. I mean who said being dictated was fun? In a way where even our stomachs are somehow being controlled? I don’t think so. We were welcomed with his hatred as He got mad at us because we did not tell him that we left before he even came back, Ma’am Helen told us to leave before he returned because she knew SM is and will always be filled with people, especially Watsons as she gave us errands there. He even added that he got mad because we came back late and an OFW was sassy with him and well, one was fed up with it. I mean it is never our fault as to why Watsons is always filled with people, to be honest😅.
Wednesday turned out to be the calm, just encountering OFWs with funny reasons for tickets, like one client changing her first name because she encoded first name followed by her name. Another client I encountered was her starting date at work being earlier than her birth year, she’s a 1976 but her starting date at work was 1918, wow bago ka pinanganak OFW ka na pala HAHAHA kidding aside.
It was my first time having a half day as it was my mother's birthday! And it was also our house blessing. So I rarely got any client interactions today HAHAHA, it's just the gang teasing me that Ma'am Helen has been looking for me even if I already asked permission from her that I'll go to POEA in the afternoon because of our house blessing😭. It was actually fun to go in the afternoon because I didn't have to wake up early 😂.
Due to the lack of manpower today, Sheena and Kuya Nadz not feeling well, Bruno was with Ma'am Marietta on a family outing, and Josh was busy with his finals, my patience got tested. The clients were okay, as it was more stressful on the crew behind the front desk particularly, my male co-intern. I guess so as the line goes "mabait akong tao, pero napupuno rin ako."
I was just observing him when I saw how he acted while I was handling a client, I noticed that whenever I have cute clients, like small and pretty ones, he would stand next to them, and watch over them like when I encountered a client from Thailand, her mother approached me and told me to help her daughter cancel the appointment, he saw my client and then swept her personal space. Ma'am Thailand was startled when he came, because of the distance that faded between them, so I stood up and went next to her subtly showing her the other requirements needed. She left for a while to comply them, and she came back and actually waited for me to finish assisting another client so that I would end up handling her queries again, even if the other guy was not handling anyone at the moment, she felt uncomfy with him I suppose.
And now for the highlight of the day when quarter to 2 and 2 O'Clock came, a swarm of clients immediately filled the front desk, it was rare to encounter that on a Friday afternoon, expect the unexpected I guess? AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENED AGAIN??? HE VANISHED HAHAHAHA if we were put on war, he already left me and Ate Trisha on the battlefield, as he quickly retreats back to the headquarters. We were handling 3 to 4 clients already, but luckily they were all considerate as they only saw 2 people at the front desk, one would patiently wait after the other. Ate Trisha even said "Sana all pa encode -encode lang", I got to turn around while my three clients were still filling out their profiles, and then I saw him.
He even dared to take a glimpse of the situation I and Ate were in, it was unfortunate of him to do that while I glared at him too annoyed, so he nervously got back to encoding again. I'm just mad because he's not playing fair😭 what was that for? Whenever you don't feel like handling clients you would just leave us like that? You would encode rather than help us assist clients now that we are incomplete? That is very selfish of you. He came back when there were only a few clients left, he even had the guts to tell me " Rae pa assist daw si ma'am" while I was also handling another client. All of my anger that filled in actually went out in a not-that loud yet raised tone ( it actually just means a tone that didn't make it to the POEA employees😅), I responded with a monotoned "Bakit?" I feel like I looked annoyed because Ate Trisha then decided to take the client he was about to give me and he decided to back away, deserve I guess? May pa pasa-pasa sa cliente ka pang nalalaman ha? And then, there were some clients who got ticketed because of me, since they didn't write their email accounts well, something I should've doubled check. POEA's security even added "murag duha na man imong naticket run " I responded "Na and uban kasi diha kuya, nag encode-encode na tung nidaghan ang mga cliente", and I said that while he was in front of us, understood what we talked about or not, I hope those were clear signs to him that I was mad at what he did. And I bet everyone in my situation would be too.
These are just some frustrations about "Men", but of course not generalizing all of them.
So there's this group of people who we harmlessly and subtly call "Oggy and the cockroaches" since like the cockroaches Oggy has to stress out every day resembles them, they also pester us in every way they can. And currently one of them includes "Bruno" we just call him that, he's a GIP and a Marine Engineering student. He thinks he's funny even if the jokes he tells us are already inappropriate and he continues to pester the two females (he rarely annoys me, maybe because there are times when I unconsciously throw him " my poker face but some people call it annoyed glares" whenever he goes near the printer while I'm also printing😂). And me thinking about this situation makes me a bit mad, like I'm a nice person but when I get fed up on something, well this is war.
I don't know why, but when I woke up I got really mad at Bruno. Well, not my brain replaying things like what Bruno did such as pestering the 2 females at POEA, the inappropriate joke he gave at Sheen, thinking Ate Trish is an easy-to-get girl even if she has a boyfriend, and then the line "Binully lang nga kita" when I once heard him say that to Edward loudly, like proud ka pa mangbully? Feeling cool kid yarn? I just hate that he feels so entitled just because he is close with POEA's OIC which is Ma'am Marietta. I ranted to my cousin about it, and well while I was catching my breath because I arrived at POEA by 8:10, I saw Bruno, he was wearing a ZCMST pe shirt. I told my cousin about it and she said that well there are a few Mar-E students who actually feel entitled just because that is the course known at our university and they literally believe in the " Marine Engineering student is meant for an Education student" even if it doesn't apply to my cousin who is an Education student. My cousin would also say "puryagaba sa Mar-E, mangita nalang kog lain diha😂". My cousin also added "Unsa diay pangalan niya? iingon lang sa akua kay isumbong nako na sa akong classmate nga ga trabaho sa President sa school" but of course threatening purposes only HAHAHHA I never gave her Bruno's name, kay luoy, ayaw namin manira ng pangarap😌.
Then we started our duty, but then guess what? THE SYSTEM CHANGED. From us, the POEA Interns and GIPs usually print the OECs but now Ma'am Lyn doing the job for us, and even not allowing us to place the payments to the coinbox but instead telling us to let the OFWs know that the payment should be given to Ma'am Helen directly. One theory we can all think of at that moment was Bruno keeping the 10 Php (appointment print) and 20 Php (OEC print) payment fees because we rarely see him approach the coinbox to place the said payments, but he also handles clients every day, and it was surprising since the system changed when Bruno came, like you didn't have to do that bro😭, mistake of one will be the mistake of all. But despite the situation, I calmed down a little when I got to scare Bruno a bit because of a pen😅. Ate Trisha told me to get the pen Bruno took from us since we ran out of pens at the front desk again, as parati di nauubusan ng OFW ang POEA pero kapos naman lagi sa ballpen 😭 like do you all eat pens now?? So I got up, approached him as I was also about to print an OEC, and said " Uy Bruno, Saan na daw yung ballpen na blue? Hinahanap na ni Ma'am oh." (Uses the Japanese way of pointing things to my client who was just putting off a poker face after I assisted her in a fun way, now she is just waiting for her OEC that I was about to print and is staring at me as if she's looking for something😂). That actually startled him and he immediately gave the pen to me 😂.
When I say moments, I really mean moments😂 just gonna share some things I did while I'm an Intern at POEA.
It was just another Monday, having an online flag ceremony with other branches of POEA in the Philippines until it took time to start! Then we could not understand anything from the host in Manila, he seems to be eating his words. I could not understand anything, I suddenly burst into laughter, which was quite loud that Sheena and Ate Trisha had to smack me😂. But my laughter made some employees at POEA laugh too, I mean I could not blame them, our flag ceremony was online, and we could not understand a thing the host in Manila was saying, he was like eating his words and sounded drunk😂, some of my Sirs there even said: "parang NagChichinese na yung host, wala pa talaga subtitle😂".
The flag ceremony took longer than we expected, OFWs were already piling up behind us, it was almost like zombies waiting for us😂, and the longer the ceremony was, the more we kept laughing because we were lost in translation with POEA Manila. Other regions were also asking through the chatbox (Sir Kinnymar read some chats from the monitor) if the host from Manila was inaudible too, so while we were all struggling to understand the host, Sir Kinn started making fun of the other regions, like POEA-Bacolod not checking their cam properly, they are headless on our screen😂😭. Sir Kinn told us to already duty by 8:30 since we cannot make the OFWs wait longer, he sacrificed himself to finish the inaudible meeting.
After a "lost in translation" Monday, I encountered cutie clients, cutie because there are some clients who were panicking that they would end up giving me the wrong requirements😂. I encountered one client who I asked about her birthday, and she gave me her contract, I asked her again "Ma'am, yung birthday niyo po?😅" she again gave me her contract, and then I said “birthday po Ma’am”, she laughed at her mistake of giving me her working contract twice, and I can’t help but laugh as well 😂.
Asides from the lost client moments, I have also done something that made me think “I’m turning as POEA’s clown 😂” because... I FORGOT TO DO MY MORNING RITUAL AHAHAHHAA I guess it was a bit TMI? 😂 but yep, for me, it’s really a hindrance if I don’t get to have my morning ritual before starting my day. I again asked them if I can go out for a while because the office got colder than usual HAHAHAHA, I told them "withdraw" instead of "deposit", it was funnier when Ma'am Helen and Sir Kinnymar understood it immediately😂 then they let me go. But of course, when I finally came back, both of them asked me " success? Naka deposit ka na?😂".
In the afternoon, there was this supervisor who I think is from OWWA who always assists OFW nurses that are from wealthy families, I call her “creepy na ma’am” because I get intimidating auras from her because she goes near me with her fan and uses it like a terror teacher and whenever I assist her nurses she takes my personal space and literally shoots daggers at me while I’m assisting them, it’s like helping her nurses are a death threat to me 😭, I can’t do anything since I’m the sacrificial penguin Ma’am Helen and Sir Kinnymar offers whenever Ma’am creepy brings nurses to POEA.
Making a sum out of the first 3 days because what we do at POEA has been a routine, and will just share a few random moments.
Monday morning was surprising since after I went inside the office, Ma'am Helen immediately told me "Punta ka Astoria, bantay ka registration doon." I was about to catch my breath when Ma'am even added "Sabay ka na kay Kinnymar, punta na kayo habang maaga pa.". And so, I went to Astoria with Sir Kinnymar. Both of them told me to message Sheena and Ate Trisha, whoever replies first will be my partner at Astoria, but of course, life really likes to tease me because the two responded at the same time 😂 and I really believe in the quote "the more, the merrier" hence, I invited the two at the event HAHAHAHA. They both had doubts since I just said "partner", but I didn't feel like leaving one of them alone since some interns back at POEA make them uncomfortable.
Ma'am Helen didn't mind me bringing the two as well, the event went smooth but then back at the headquarters (POEA) it wasn't. Chaos as always, but then a bit double since one of the evaluators for Appointment which is Sir Jojie wasn't there, he was with us at the event. But then things were at ease when we came back along with Sir Jojie.
June 20 was the start of us interns being Ma'am Helen's spies since we always print the appointment and OEC privately. It was fun since OFWs knew the assignment too and tagged along with us after we tell them that as of the moment OECs and Appointment papers will be printed hiddenly because of the visitors from POEA Manila and Davao.
Here's how we do it!
We let OFWs write their POEA account on our small piece of paper
I (I don't know about some of them, they'd always throw the "Ikaw na magprint, close naman kayo ni Ma'am Helen card on me) but also sometimes the other Interns, would then go to Ma'am Helen's table and give the small piece of paper to her, but also making sure the visitors are not looking.
After Ma'am Helen prints the OEC or Appointment, we then should fold or strategize as to how we hide the printed OEC, I remember bringing a folder with me just to pretend the things I'm carrying are files😂
They can't call the client's name loudly at that time (luckily, I can remember my clients by the color of their clothes), so they would either just approach the wave of OFWs or base the color of their clothes too.
We then get the payment and place it on Ma'am Helen's coinbox quietly since mostly they pay through coins we do it while still avoiding being caught by the visitors.
These moments for me will always give me "agent undercover" vibes. June 21 was just another day of being the OFW's Robin Hood, day 2 of having visitors. But while being on a mission to print OECs and Appointments, I remember one senior citizen client who was accompanied by an adolescent female in a grey shirt. While I was in the process of accompanying them, a co-intern could not resist but get really near to the senior's companion, breaking the girl's personal space. Hence the girl doing a 90-degree turn to my co-intern, surprised by the space he had occupied😂. I can't help but laugh and feel embarrassed because of what my co-intern did, I turn around to find out that not only I was the one who saw the incident, Ate Trish and Sheena saw it too. Like why dude? That's not being welcoming, that's being creepy.
Anyway, ending a funny moment for June 21, so there was this client who gave Ate Trisha a blue pen that was from abroad, I was in need of a pen at that time to write a client's POEA account for printing, I borrowed the pen, I clicked it at the top, the tip used for writing the pen won't come out, I told Ate Trisha "Ate, sira ata yung ballpen." Of course she was surprised, she took the pen and tried clicking on the top too, but no writing tip came out, so both of us tried finding where we can twist it because maybe it got stuck or something. Sheena saw us being busy with the pen, Ate Trisha told her "Sayang naman yung ballpen na binigay saken nung isang client, minutes palang nasira na, galing pa naman yun abroad", then she clicked the part where we can hang the pen on our clothes, pockets etc, the handle part, THE TIP USED FOR WRITING WENT OUT HAHAHAHAHA me and Ate laughed so hard because we thought the pen was already broken. I even said " sosyal talaga na ballpen, as handle magclick"😂.
After the funny commotion last June 21, I am now a bit tense, because the three of us will be having our group guidance today June 22. I guess the issue of 1 will be an issue of all, the domino effect. I remember Ate Trisha told me that Ma'am Helen asked her "pinagtatawananan niyo ba si Stephen?" to which Ate Trisha strongly disagreed with as she should. She said "Hindi Ma'am, yung katangahan namin yung pinagtatawanan namin, tulad nung sa ballpen kahapon." . But after that, I became the GIPs (Ate Trish and Joshua) photographer, aka their paparazzi 😂, it was just GIP (JYP) things, they needed photos of them working at POEA for their accomplishment report, so every time I'm not handling clients, I'm taking photos of them.
Papasa na bang stalker? HAHAHAA dejoke I don't tolerate that😂, some of the photos that I took for Ate Trisha's Accomplishment Report, but of course I also took some decent ones.
At the event where we were assigned to be at the registration. Coincidently wore black😂
"Picturan mo ba kami Trish, para documentation" - Ma'am Helen. Kunwari hindi scripted yung pag register ulit ni Sir HAHAHAHA
