#the mom i work for gave me a 50$ gift card and said congratulations on getting rid of him tho

[teshis]

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

[fuck-customers]

I honestly had to try to remember these instances because I think my mind tried to block out the memories of my first job. Granted I’m only on my second job right now, but hooooo boy. Here we go..

I worked at a local business. It’s pretty weird: one side is a huuuge gift shop (at least, for gift shop standards), while the other is a toy store with an outdoor dinosaur attraction.

Some highlights:

*People going through the wrong fucking door. Okay, so how it works is that you go into the gift shop. All the way down to the left end of the store is the entrance to the toy shop, and in the toy shop is another door to go to the outdoor park. In order to exit there’s ANOTHER door, but there’s a railing seperating the toy shop from it, so you have to exit the toy shop and go back around to the entrance in order to shop in there after going to the park. The amount of people who, after we POINT and TELL them WHICH DOOR TO GO, go through the exit anyways is astounding. There are also FLASHING LIGHTS. OVER THE ENTRANCE. AND A GIANT SIGN THAT SAYS “ENTRANCE TO TOY SHOP”. THE OTHER DOOR HAS ANOTHER SIGN THAT SAYS “EXIT DO NOT ENTER!”. It blows my mind.

*We had to check any bill that’s $20 or more with a pen. The jokes…..they aren’t funny. Stop. I heard them 20 times a day.

*A dude and his wife came in. I tell them hello ask them how they are. The dude just…held up two fingers, with the smuggest ass grin on his face. Like what am I supposed to take that as???? You’re an asshole??

*PARENTS👏TAKE👏CARE👏OF👏YOUR👏KIDS👏 I’ve cleaned up shit from the floor, followed the kids around as they made messes so that I could clean them up (if I don’t manager gets pissed), all while you’re aaaalll the way on the other side of the store in the gift shop. Please. I’m begging.

*A little boy wanted a blue bird purse to keep his money and stuff inside. His mom told him no and that little boys like trucks not purses and led him away.

*The store only had 2 registers. Only 3 people were scheduled at a time: the manager and two cashiers. Every hour we would switch registers, so the person who was at the front would come back while the manager stayed there, check bathrooms, and then we’d switch. But the thing was that these people literally ALWAYS. TALK. ALWAYS. AND THEN THEY���RE LATE I WANNA TAKE MY *ONLY* 30 MINUTE BREAK IN MY 8 HOUR SHIFT TO HAVE LUNCH HURRY UP.

*Speaking of talking, I had 2 managers. Only time they are both there are Wednesdays, when one would act as a cashier. One was okay, but really, really condescending. All of my coworkers were older white women aged 55 and over. And I was a 16 year old latinx person. She either treated me like a kid and tried to teach me “"life lessons”“ or tried to belittle me. The other manager talked shit about customers WHEN THEY WERE STILL IN THE STORE. FIVE FEET IN FRONT OF THEM. AND THEN TRIED TO ROPE ME INTO IT. I hated Wednesdays.

*they thought every person with an accent was latinx. No matter the accent. A guy was talking a language that I’m 90% sure was from the Middle East on the phone and my manager asked why I wouldn’t talk to him in spanish.

*A guy with his wife and grandson wanted to go into the park. We let people go in and out as many times as they want as long as they don’t leave the parking lot. The woman had a nail appointment but wanted to come back after. I told them that they’d have to pay again if they left. The man is outraged that we wouldn’t let them back in after they left, even with a receipt, and yells at me "Why would you do that?!” He was easily over 6 feet tall while I’m around 5'5, at my first job, and already dealing with high levels of anxiety, so sure enough I was pretty scared. Like??? I don’t make the rules???? They decide to still go inside, and I shakily go through the rest of the transaction. By the time they come back in I guess he realized he scared the shit out of me and was unreasonable and began to be super nice to me, and congratulated me on landing my first job. I don’t pin him as an asshole, he genuinely did try to make me feel better (he even gave me a fistbump).

*My mom is….not the most responsible person? And was often late or forgot to pick me up from my job. And apparently the managers felt it their DUTY to stay with me until my mom got there because “a child like you shouldn’t be alone” like, I’m not 12, there’s a 7-11 right next door and it’s literally not your problem. At first it wasn’t a big deal and I thought it was a nice gesture until my boss gave me a letter to give to my mom. She basically reprimanded her and told her how to parent, and that her employees have to get home after a long day at work and didn’t have to be responsible for me. So they complained to the boss about waiting with me even though they LEGIT DIDN’T HAVE TO. AT ALL. AND THEN MY BOSS HAS THE GALL TO TELL MY MOM OFF LMAO LIKE I’M OFF THE CLOCK AND IT’S LITERALLY NOT YOUR PROBLEM. My mom was pretty fucking pissed which only improved my home situation so thanks :))))

*Our credit card machines ran on dial-up. We couldn’t run both at the same time because they were on the same line. The cash registers didn’t have scanners and we had to input the prices by hand. I once charged a lady $50,000 by accident. You wouldn’t believe how often this happens to everyone in there.

*Confederate and Trump memorabilia everywhere. Right next to little vintage statues of Black people and “"Native American”“ merchandise.

*That girl with the "Redneck lives matter” shirt

*We clean the floor every morning. With a Dusty broom/mop that probably hadn’t been cleaned in 20 years. And no cleaning solution. Just the dry dusty ass mop. There’s always dust and bugs everywhere.

*the owner’s daughter came to visit once and said that half of the shit in the store has been there since she was 12. She’s in her 50s now.

*The airforce soldier who came in and showed me pictures of his plane and literally got how dead inside I felt in that place and so tried to make me feel better, THANK YOU. You are my hero and I give you a million thanks for your service.

*The only reason the business is still here is because of the park. Sooo many people come for nostalgia or a way to kill time. There was once a wedding in there.

I finally found my escape when my mom got a job at MalWart and couldn’t take me to work anymore. My boss literally could not have cared less, and I just feel bad for my other three coworkers that are left without another cashier. But, fuck the rest of em. I start my first day of my new job Saturday (today is 1/11) so wish me luck. $8 an hour was never worth that bullshit.

[marsdelapaz-blog]

Looking Back

Note: This post may be filled with Engineering-related stuff

Since many of my friends are asking about how I reviewed for ECE board exams, here goes my post on what happened during the past few months (and maybe some tips that I hope would help):

Becoming a licensed Electronics Engineer is quite hard. It seems true that the exams for this field are really difficult. Talk about studying a very wide scope of subjects from Mathematics, General Engineering and Applied Sciences, Electronics, and Electronic Systems and Technologies... nakakabaliw!

The decision of taking the boards was just sudden. I was supposed to start working already but Mom told me to review first. Luckily, I was a scholar because the team I was part of won during a regional quiz bee back in college. I enrolled in Excel due to tons of free books as perks of being a quizzer.

I can still remember my first day in review center. There was a long queue of students outside the office. It was almost time for the lesson to begin that I and some of the guys I chatted with decided to head first to our classrooms. My section was C4. The room was quiet. I sat in front because of my blurred vision. It was then I met my first set of friends Phoebe and Kuya Anthony. People seemed to be in groups since most of them were from same schools. Fortunately, those two were from different universities too.

During the first few weeks, our classes were only during MWF. After some time, we had a lot of makeup and remedial classes. Since my weekly allowance was not enough, I asked one of the teachers there if I could just sit-in on different sections to catch up with the lessons. It was really tiring to have weekday classes plus exams every Saturday. Talk about commuting, battling the traffic in Dela Rosa and the long lines in bus terminals just to go home transformed me into this everyday haggard look. Also, I was not able to have lunch with that sched that I only brought bread with me as my baon. No wonder I got a lot thinner those days.

I remember my birthday last year, there was no celebration at all. I just went to Greenbelt after my class to go to the chapel. Along my travel from Morayta, I suddenly saw a “pass” writing on one of the UVs. Afterwards, the girl beside me was looking at her license. I hoped that they were God’s signs for me. I told Him that the greatest gift He could give to me is passing the board exams... that all of our sacrifices would be worth it.

Since going to RC was so exhausting, I decided to transfer to section F which is dedicated for those who are working. I didn’t find any difficulties adjusting. My new section is filled with various types of people and with a wider range of ages. At first, I was really nervous on going home since class ends at 9pm every Saturday. I thought it was dangerous and would be hard to find a ride going back to Buendia but it wasn’t actually. I usually arrived at home around 12 midnight. During Sunday, my sched went from 8am until 7pm. So yeah, I only slept for 4 hours or less every Sat back then.

I enjoyed being part of F. I made good friends with people from different parts of the country. They are Dave, Xy, Bob, Arianne, James, Lea, Harold and Orville. One thing we all have in common is that we love eating! We even munched some chips while we sat in front during classes lol. Also, we shared extra infos with what we reviewed. During vacant time, we usually went to Mini Stop to chat about random stuff and to buy more food! We are a happy group that we find a way to laugh no matter how stressful the process went on. We also had a short bond outside Excel and that was after our mock board. As usual, we just had meryenda together. We also attended Victory together. I actually enjoyed worshipping and listening to their preachings (I hope I’m saying the right terms).

As for my study habits, I was able to have more time to read and practice solving because I only had weekend classes. I had longer hours to read pdfs, lecture notes and books. I made my own schedule in which I alternated MATH-ELEX with GEAS-EST combination. I woke up as early as 5:30 or 6 in the morning then I slept at around 12 midnight. I dominated my review with concepts that I made sure to feed my brain with tons of infos everyday. I practiced solving especially in Math cause I felt some trouble in answering complex questions. I also had some 20-30 minutes power naps when it felt like 2 cups of coffee, sweets and spicy chips (especially Ding Dong sweet and spicy... my fave!) can’t help me for the day.

During the review, I became really depressed when I found out my scores during the mock board exam were really low. That was when I told myself to push harder. There were days that I can’t help but breakdown. I am really thankful to have my friends whom I can vent and cry out all my frustrations. When I feel really tired and can’t tolerate headache, I took some time to rest. I watched some Just For Laughs videos on Youtube and read some motivation quotes on Twitter. Afterwards, I resume studying.

As days before boards got nearer, I had less time to relax. I told myself that all these sacrifices would pay off soon. I put my faith in God that He’ll give what’s best for me. I was not able to attend mass every Sunday but I made sure to pray everyday. Some examinees had rituals before boards but I actually didn’t have any (though it seemed like I didn’t cut my hair cause it was said having a haircut would remove good luck but I actually didn’t have time to go to salon lol).

The day before boards, I went to Landayan to pray then afterwards rushed going home to pack my things. Mom let me stay in a transient house near UE (board exams venue) with my Excel classmate Remy who also lives in Laguna. I just scanned my index cards in bed then attempted to sleep at 1am though I had insomnia. Also, our roomie (ugh) had some issues on keeping the lights on that she and my friend almost had a fight.

First day: Remy and I had a short review of notes at 3am then prepared for our exams. I bought breakfast then went to UE. I didn’t bring a jacket and the ac was focused towards my seat that I went to the washroom several times before starting.  Math gave me a headache due to too much symbols. 15 minutes left and I still had some blanks. I just had the shotgun and intelligent guess methods. We were asked to get back to the room early that I ate for less than 30 minutes only. ELEX was okay. Most of the questions were from Gibilisco and luckily, I was able to read the whole file. When I went back to where we were staying. I was super sleepy that I didn’t read my notes much even if I had coffee at night.

Second day: I felt really tired that I wanted to sleep more. Fortunately, Remy woke me up. I spilled coffee on my blouse that I covered it with my jacket. GEAS exam was mostly about Mechanics. I didn’t practice much on that subject but it was my fave when I was in APC back then that I was able to recall how to solve the questions. I wasn’t able to memorize the RA 9292 so I guessed those ECE Laws questions. Those from Engineering Economy were sort of basic. For lunch, I met my mom then she handed me snacks so that I can eat whenever I feel hungry while answering. I felt gg with  EST. I wasn’t able to memorize the formulas especially for Microwave Comms. I just tried answering them based on how I understood the concepts with all the books I read. There was also a time I felt really dizzy that I ate Mcdo flavored fries which really smelled in the whole room btw. Haha! I didn’t consume the whole time for exam that I passed my paper around 4pm. I can still remember my embarrassing moment when I slipped upon going down the stairs and the PRC staff saw me. Grabe. I just told myself that even if such things happened, I’ll still become an engineer.

Third day: Our venue for ECT exam was held in St. Jude. We rode a cab going there as a birthday treat from Xy. The exam had 50 items with some Math and ELEX questions sort of recycled from the ECE boards. I finished around 10:30am. Mom fetched me and we had lunch there with my Dave and Xy from Excel. We went to Recto after for our last bond.

Upon going home after the tiring exams, I felt off when the transient house admin forgot to return my Excel id. I wanted it as a remembrance. I kept on ranting and hoping that it was a sign that I passed. I also deactivated my FB account so that people won’t ask me anything and not to think much about boards.

Days after, our school’s dean invited my thesis mates to participate in a national contest. I then went back to Perps and saw my friends from lower batch. While chatting with some of them, I heard congratulations from those far from me. They were saying that I passed the board exams. At first I thought it was the results for ECT but then I saw with my own eyes that my name was listed on ECE board passers. I was shouting and really happy. My phone and FB were flooded with all the greetings. Our thesis also won 3rd place. It was a super blessed day indeed.

So how did I make it? I just kept on reading and practicing. I gave my best effort no matter how tiring the process was. I maintained being happy even if I was super stressed. During the boards, I imagined myself as just taking a simple test during college. I tried to avoid being nervous. Also, I did not give up in order to fulfill my goal of passing.

Some resources I used:

Math: Gillesania 1 & 2, Excel books, lecture notes

ELEX: Gibilisco, Floyd, Excel books especially Industrial Electronics, lecture notes

GEAS: Excel books, Youtube, IECEP questions, lecture notes

EST: Frenzel, MCQs, Excel books, lecture notes

For the files of those I mentioned (plus those I wished I studied if I had more time), click here.