Customers are always right!

 Customers are demanding by nature. Admit it; blood rushes up your veins when phone line is busy all the time, or when customer service people put you on hold, or when servers in the restaurant ignore your request after waving crazily with both your hands! You hate those front liners for not giving you attention while you are actually giving them business.

Weak customer service can definitely put down the company’s position. Today that we’re bombarded with different ways to speak ourselves,  bad publicity can easily be known on Facebook and Twitter as disgruntled customers talk amongst their friends and family about the experience.  When you’re the customer you like to be treated well and made to feel special. Make it the basis of exemplary customer service. 

Love the phone calls, and always wear your best smile when in front of the people. You show the customers your eagerness to serve when you respond quickly to their inquiries and other requests. It ensures them that any business they may give to the company will be hassle-free and efficiently handled. These are important podiums for generating sales, retaining the customers and creating a positive experience with beneficial publicity. It’s just all about appreciating the customers and honoring the company simultaneously!

The Soul Killer

We are smart, strong, in demand, career-oriented.

We want to do things on our own. We will never admit that we can’t.

We have everything under control. 

Yes, we actually do, because we are superwoman of today’s time. We go through stress, exhaustion and overworking experiences; all the symptoms of a successful woman.  But these make us unwell too. Well, it’s just the Hurried Woman’s Syndrome. There's nothing really life-threatening about it, only life-changing.  

We’re obsessed about living in the age of rage. Women who do too many things at once in roadrunner pace – juggling work with hectic home environment and complicated social life – go through chronic stress, weight gain, sleep problems, weariness, guilt, crankiness. We can still do excellent job, but we probably won’t enjoy it and so are the people around us. We are miserable, burnt out slave to time so we try other coping mechanism like partying, shopping, eating and drinking a lot, taking drugs—anything to anesthetize the pain of stress, and then we will end up tired and strained. 

Poor concentration, high blood pressure and even constant irritability are actually meant to slow us down. Hurried Woman’s Syndrome may not kill us but it can kill our heart and eat at our quality of life. We need a real quiet time. It’s one of the oldest and yet most effective “medicines” in the world: down time. Downshift from a life of hurry to a life of slow. Sit in the quiet of the night – no TV, no Facebook, no cellphone – then drift into the calmest and deepest sleep. Most of the women are suffering from Hurried Woman’s Syndrome, because most of them are too strong to ask for a cure. Take time to breathe and smell the sweetness of life. Relax.

Young OBRAS rock the women's month!

With the out breaking news of OFW being abused or accused of crime they never did, of rural girls being sold in the city to work in the club and sell their bodies, of young women being forced to marriage because of early pregnancy, OBRA Inc. (Organisasyon ng mga Batikan at Respetadong Artista ng Bayan,Ink.)  staging of Filipina…Bakit Ikaw? is nothing but timely. Finished written by OBRA Inc. pool of writers in latter part of 2010, Filipina…Bakit Ikaw? is a more youthful take on presenting women’s concerns without sacrificing the weight of issues and the quality of stage performance. Filipina…Bakit Ikaw? was initially a great hit on its grand launching last March 12 in CAP Auditorium,Makati City with students, teachers, professionals, and representatives from media and arts expressed their positive appraisal  and now – getting more inspired to give the best – is heading on its way to a year round staging to different provinces and schools. OBRA Inc. wanted to bring in something that fit the society’s needs for awareness and information, which are lacking still in many areas of the country today.  

Truth be faced, we are now living in time that line between sexes is going thinner. Women of this society have gone a long way as they are now taking more masculine role, especially the part of shouldering the needs and security of their family. This adds more pressure when unchecked and misguided: it brings an imbalance that could be disadvantageous to the person and to those surrounding her. Filipina…Bakit Ikaw? is a trilogy of the different life stories of Filice, Pinpin and Yna representing the true to life stories of many Filipina who labored for survival but were taken for granted and gotten abused physically, verbally and sexually. 

In these rampant renovating cultures, where just yesterday’s trend are quickly left and replaced, OBRA pool of writers headed by Herna Estillore observed and analyzed the cause and effect of everyday things in able to catch up with the fast-moving lives of the people. Their group of young and carefree minds picked up concerns that were more likely to catch the attention of the generation already exposed to the age of rage and chaos. As they say, story can either make or break a stage play. It takes a certain sense of style to be able to pull off portraying several serious issues all at once and sustain the interest of the audiences as they watch the tale twist and unfold. 

From the progressive story lines to the design elements, Filipina…Bakit Ikaw? under the direction of Jesie Barandino delved into current themes from a distinctly fresh viewpoint. There were none of the dull and dragging scenes – instead this was a performance that was far from our usual idea of brain-cracking, hypothetical representation of women’s issues but for all its distinctions served the same purpose of getting across the substantial message in an inspiring, edgy and contemporary approach. “Since it is a straight play and there are only few characters, it is a challenge for me on how will it be powerful. So I made use of few dance scenes to make it livelier.”  said the young stage play director. Spectators were awed by the remarkable dance choreography of Allan Sandoval and Kristine Tongson in the first act, a break from the customary straight acting play performance. From OFW account of Filice played by Herna Estillore herself, the whole stage transformed into the colorful and whimsy Cabaret set of Pinpin’s story acted out by another OBRA actress, Uel Ceballos. Nash Anggahan, the founder of OBRA Inc., maneuvered the technical wherein he set playful lightings against the moody panels, perfect enough to give the audience the bar scene atmosphere.  Instead of doing the third act as serious and tragic like the first two stories, the love journey of Yna and Hener played by Juvy Dincol and Archipus Perucho cracked the ice as they presented romantic-comedy, but no less high-expressive execution to the husband and wife’s issue. The entire play was an awesome success as the crowd roared in applause at the end of the show. It was an ecstatic feeling for the whole production team led by the production manager Lady Lyn Paras, as they had only less than two months to prepare everything. Jesie, proud and happy for his OBRA team said, “The important in a group is team work. We were able to manage the production and make it as wonderful as it is because we helped each other. We worked hand in hand to complete the play. And I appreciate that everyone is willing to share their time and effort for the production’s sake.

Right now, OBRA Inc. is focusing on the school tour within NCR and provinces to showcase Filipina…Bakit Ikaw?. There are lots to look forward since the group will be starting a new Film project, and at the middle of the year will already create the new Stage play script for the next year production. For more details and information, you can catch OBRA, Inc. in their website www.obra.com. “Filipina…Bakit Ikaw” is brought to you by OBRA Incorporated in partnership with OSRAM Metal-lite, Ital Design, Eclipse, Dunlopillo and NBN’s Sheka program.