Chapter I: Would you like Fries with that?
June 30, 2008It was another day at the grind. I glance with pride at the wall to my left. The wall reads, employee of the month. Underneath that sign is my face, my name and the month. There are 12 pictures on the wall, one for each month and each picture is mine.
It’s a lazy 230pm at the McDonald’s that i work for, but it doesn’t get my spirits down. I buzz up and down the counter taking orders, greeting my customers with a smile and a “Good afternoon Welcome to McDonald’s”
My mind is empty. Not a numb, mechanical emptiness but a peace, a sense of oneness with the metal counter, the stainless industrial kitchen equipment. The heat and smell and I we are one.
A man stands in front of me cheerfully I greet him. He orders McNuggets with a Coke. And I ask
“Would you like fries with that?”
This is funny
I usually view a lot of stuff on explosm.net
I like viewing it because I find the humor on the comic strip very weird, at times even inappropriate. I really, really like sick jokes. I don’t know why. In any case read, peruse it but don’t hate me for it. I just find it funny. I can’t seem to reconstruct the McDonald’s story just yet.
McDonald’s Story Explanatory Note
I wrote this story while I was in first year college for my literature class. I am in no way connected to McDonald’s Corporation or any of its subsidiaries. I do not intend to injure the reputation of McDonald’s, its employees or any person or entity related to it. This was written as a short story meant to entertain people. The story is in no way an attack on McDonald’s, McDonald’s is in this story but a humorous counterpoint to Jollibee, a local food chain in the Philippines.
McDonald’s story
June 28, 2008I will try to recreate a post a story I made in 1st year college for my English class. It was about McDonald’s and the mistake of one employee. I say recreate because either I failed to receive my notebook or my teacher didn’t return it to us.
My trips in the Philippines, or a lack thereof
The routine of Manila living strips the experience of any gloss. I wonder at times why I just don’t go to the old Manila places like Carriedo or the interiors of Intramuros. I have to wake up, bathe, go to Makati, study, go home, for 5 days. That’s why I’m amazed at the effort of some people such as the lakwatsero(s) of lakwatsero.com. (more…)
MoA Freeze
My friend gave me a link to this site and this is one video that I found.
This is the link to the video and the “mission report”
Profit and Salvation in Greentech
June 25, 2008
Four Lessons that John Doerr learned
1. Companies are really powerful
2. Individuals matter and they matter enormously
3. Policy is important, policy is paramount
4. Potential of Radical Innovation
These four (4) lessons Doerr identified as key lessons that he learned during his attempts at changing the way we live for a greener consumption pattern and a greener way of doing business.
I think these four lessons are true. Individuals may matter but they are not the sole weapon that must be brought to bear against pollution and wasteful consumption. Individuals should be seen as a means to drive demand into green alternatives or green products. The Wal-Mart example also showed how a large firm can drive demand by altering its own consumption patterns and the products it sells.
The Keynesian laden lessons show a lot of common sense behind them. If you want to really do something you better do it in a big manner by involving national policy (examples in Brazil) and involving big business.The markets must not be left to the whims of the invisible hand. Consumer behavior can be modified and can be altered. By reducing the choices of consumers through policy one can drive demand for another better alternative. By flooding the markets with better products and services at a lower price (cheaper, smaller cars, more ethanol pumps,more renewable energy) the market will move to snap these up.
I believe that this formula can be replicated in any country in the world. What would differ is the will to implement the formula.
Kenya’s children
I read a post in Yahoo! News about what is happening in Kenya and, more importantly, to Kenya’s children.
Apparently Kenya is being torn apart with violence. Current Kenyan violence has recently been contributed to land disputes. The militias have forced the children to collaborate, pay up or watch as their entire family is killed. Some of the children have already been tortured by the militias. The Kenyan government responded to militia disturbances with a crackdown. When the military was able to take over they then proceeded to torture the children as individuals assisting the militias, according to the news report.
Read the entire post here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_re_af/kenya_children_in_crossfire;_ylt=Aniu5zCPiYkicuHh_4NHJTZvaA8F
Oil talk on ted.com
June 23, 2008
Amory Lovins talks about oil on ted.com. He makes a good point concerning climate protection. Its always cheaper to save fuel than to buy fuel. Its actually a common sense approach to the problem.
DISASTER!
Disaster seems to have struck in Iloilo.
Iloilo City and neighboring towns have had their properties destroyed! I do hope that the people there are alright and that they find ways to recover their business interests. The losses to the Iloilo people is certain to be substantial. Most of those in the neighboring towns rely on agriculture and the flooding and rains caused by Frank are sure to hurt them. Arable lands have become inundate, houses swept away.
I assume relief efforts will be hampered by the extensive damage to infrastructure in the city and in the other areas.
Reflections of a Picky Eater
My last semester in college taught me a lot about business. I was part of a group that was destined for greatness.
That last semester required us to run a business for 5 months. A business that we had planned for 5 months before.
During the planning phase we pulled out numbers, competitors, strengths and weaknesses from out of thin air. If our teacher or panel asked us for references we would have cited “thin air”. We were weak in our numbers department but we were really strong in our ability to talk to people. We had confidence in our product. Hubris even.
Our market research was the basis of our confidence. We knew that there could be no competitor in our University. We envisioned our project to be a high-end burger joint that we had yet to name, tentatively we named it CHOMP. We would produce huge burgers at low cost and sell at a high price. The killer combo for profitability, monopoly, low cost and high price. The future was ours for the taking!
Sadly, confident as we were that we could blast the competition out of the picture our panelists thought otherwise. They did ask how we got our numbers and we, through our acts, cited thin air as our source of market information. The panelists gave us a grade they thought we deserved. An almost “D” in our final defense.
Defeated during the first semester we were badly shaken and morale was low at the time. (more…)
Oil, what’s it to you?
June 22, 2008Oil is at a record high at around 140USD a barrel. There is ample enough supply say several oil ministers. The probem lies with the traders and speculators the world over. The price of oil can be artificially increased via the markets. I still don’t know how they do it but they are able to do it. Add to that the political instability that some of the world’s suppliers of oil are undergoing. The traders get nervous when bombs near pipes and wells go off.
This is all well and good in a macroeconomic sense. The rules of supply and demand are still at play with a little interference from speculators.
But what does oil mean to the average individual on the street? (more…)
Typhoon batters Philippines
It seems that you really won’t know what you have until it’s gone.
For a few hours I was dispossessed of my electricity. Feeling ill as I was reduced to how my ancestors were, I sought the refuge of the nearest mall. The controlled climate, the bright lights, the seats, these were things that I missed during those few hours of darkness. My electric eclipse passed at the end of the day at around 7pm.
I find that the typhoon that is tearing through Manila is a tad weaker than what hit us a few years ago. This time around I already had electricity as the sun set and the entire city wasn’t paralyzed. This is in NCR the teeming capital region of the Philippines. Other regions have not been as fortunate.
Outside of the NCR in Sibuyan a ferry carrying 700 people ran aground and proceeded to sink. There is still no certainty as to the number of casualties. On a computer screen or as heard across the room from the television set this number seems paltry. 700 people stuck on a boat that cannot be approached by the intrepid Philippine Coast Guard.
From a distance the number seems paltry. Yes, 700 is a drop in the bucket for a nation nearing 90 million people. However, that drop in the bucket is 700 lives, 700 friends, 700 fathers or mothers, 700 sons or daughters, 700 brothers or sisters. It is incorrect to overly simplify the death toll of an event to numbers. Viewed from a webpage, heard from the radio this loss is sad but not tragic. But one death out of the 700 seen from the relatives of the deceased is cataclysmic. I pray that few will perish during this storm.
The damage done by the typhoon to businesses in other regions is likewise tremendous. The flooding caused by the typhoon has closed many shops for the day and probably for the next few days.
I hope that the Philippines will recover from this typhoon as soon as possible.
