I can be tough customer. My sister I am a very demanding costumer and I am not denying that. I do not like it when sales ladies follows and breathes down on my neck as I am looking around any stores. Sometimes before entering the store, I like telling the sales lady to quit following me around of I am off their store.

I have read enough stories from Consumerist that made me raving envious about how posting their rants at their site help dissatisfied customers. Consider this story about Sam who got a new MacBook Pro after the Apple Customer Care erased his hard drive without his permission when this guy brought his Mac in and Apple found some ladybugs inside his laptop. Sam seeked the help of Consumerist and got a replacement in order for him to “restore faith in the company.” Or about J. Money who blogs at Budgets are Sexy thought he did everything to get the photographer who skipped town without handing out his wedding photos. He threatened to sue, without avail and when he finally thought to create a blog about the wedding fiasco. He named names and even included dates, and viola! Two days and 300 hits after, the photos were all emailed to him and two weeks after that, the photos were in his hands. According to J., “so for a measly $9.99 (for the domain name) and a few hours of hard work, Operation Wedding Pictures was a success!”

At any rate, it does pay to blog about bad customer services– in the US, I am afraid. I have read enough bitching in the local blogs here but there really isn’t any clue if Customer Service in our country is topnotch or at least has improved.

I took the children to the beach last Saturday. The day was special because it was a surprise… I cooked it up the other day after the local electric company announced that there will be a 4 hour brownout on Saturday. So rather than kill myself in a house devoid of the fan and other entertainment, I planned to take the kids out to the local beach.

Nothing fancy really… just plain, gray, sandy beach.

This is probably the simplest year for us ever! Apart from the Santa decoration on our main door, I decided not to buy any plastic tree here. For one, unlike in Manila, the beautiful and durable trees were quite expensive. However, from experience, the best time to bye Christmas trees is weeks AFTER Christmas, but that is for my frugal tips, this is my personal site, and I am here to tell you guys how the absence of decorations did not really affect any one of us.

Perhaps the fact that because of the economic difficulties and not alot of houses here have Christmas lights. I noticed a few houses with plastic trees and decoration, but it is obvious that these decorations were old and were bought years ago. I noticed ragged tassels and tarnished Christmas balls.

Like most people, we have skipped gift giving and decided to prepare another simpler Christmas dinner. The children has helped me with the menu because I thought that it would be best since Christmas is generally very important to children and it fosters the value of sharing, and family-giving. There is so much I was thankful for and I surmised that this is also the best time to celebrate that thankfulness.

I am thankful for a number of things this year.

I am thankful that all my children are healthy. Though we had our numerous bouts of asthma attacks, nothing serious had happened. I have been very vigilant about our health and I am happy that we are all doing great, heath-wise. I am thankful that my youngest Ia, is strong and has grown so fast. She can now walk and talk. Apart from that, she continues to thrive beautifully.

I am thankful for my children, especially my oldest, who has helped me through tough times. She has been my friend when I needed one the most. She has been the most understanding and thoughtful. I am thankful that my daughters are doing well in school. My eldest is challenged everyday with her Filipino subject, but surprisingly, she is thriving and absorbing a new language and even speaking it.

I am thankful for my relatives here in rural Mindanao. My aunt and uncle has given me the opportunity to start anew here and they have provided initially for our move and now we are doing well on our own. I am thankful for their generosity, understanding and love.

I am thankful to my neighbors, who welcomed me and watches over our rented home, including my children whenever they are outside of the house. I am thankful for their willingness to help all the time. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness.

I am thankful for my only sister Amy for all the help and although we have not spend long hours in the phone like we used to, I can feel her support and willingness to help despite the distance. I love you Che.

I am thankful for my friends, Cherryl and Karen. They have been me when I needed someone to lean to. Thank you for carrying me through those really tough times. Thank you for loving my children and helping me through all these years. I love you both always.

I am thankful for my brothers who has helped me with their presence. I am amazed on how much your mere presence helped me through our transition here in rural Mindanao. Thank you for your honesty, loyalty and comfort.

I am thankful to my sister in laws who unselfishly help me whenever I needed help with shopping, watching over the children, etc. Thank you to Luchie for giving us her time and driving me and my children around the city.

Thank you to my husband who has allowed us peace (because we have not heard from him) and though he has not given us any financial support, I am thankful that he seem to have moved on and let us go. I am thankful that I am finally beginning to heal inside out and beginning to forgive myself for letting go of a 7 year marriage.

I am thankful that I have been blessed with a strong will and body and I am able to move on alone and managed to bring our lives together here in rural Mindanao. The Greater Force has certainly taken care of us…

I am thankful for the strength that I manage to renew and recharge each night when I go to sleep. I am thankful that as I fall asleep, I am recharged anew and ready to tackle each task with a gusto. I am happy to have such lovely children who smiles at me every time they come home from school. I am happy to be here with them, and knowing that everything that I do, I do it for them.

What else are you thankful for?

I seeked the help of the BPI Family Savings Manager and told her my BDO story. She said if I had checked the money while on the counter and thought that the money was suspected as fake, then the bank will have no reason but to replace it. But since I have already taken it out of the bank, and used it to pay for other transactions, and the money was later found to be fake, the bank hold no liability or obligation to replace the said money.

Huh?

This means one thing, I was robbed of my One Thousand Bill. This day has just turned crappier. Paging, Warrior Lawyer, help, if you can!!

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For those who has no idea what I was talking about, the previous post can be found here:

Beware of Fake Currency

Whose to Say if it was a Fake?