Cat gone!

Yaina (black and white) and Jessica (brown and white) are BFFCs (bestfriend forever cats). They live semi-permanently in our garage. But Yaina went missing a few days ago, after my sister narrowly missed hitting him with the car. But I told my sister that maybe, just maybe, she did hit him--perhaps in the head, giving him amnesia and now he doesn't know how to go back to our house (though maybe he's with the real owner now, our neighbor two houses away. Well, I think they're the real owners). And, so, Jessica remains in our garage, being an orphan now. His mom YogaCat was already taken away by another neighbor who transferred homes early this month. His dad? Who knows who the father is? Heheh. But Jessica (yes, Jessica's a he, so nice name, huh?) maybe won't miss Yaina too much because he joins other cats in our garage who come visiting us from other houses for the free food and water :) I mean, who can resist not feeding a hungry, meowing cat? And, hey, they've become friends with our friendly family poodle. But I'll miss Yaina. As a kitten, I used to carry him in the pocket of my housedress :) A few years ago, I lost another cat named Panching whom I raised after adopting him from SPCA. I trained him to shake hands (or shake cat paw with human hand). He went missing also a few days after we transferred homes. Now, I will miss two cats. And, so, that's my cat story for today :)

My fave gone at Kenny Rogers Roasters...but bad service remains at SM North Edsa branch

One day this week, I hungrily went for lunch at the Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR) branch at a mall, the SM North Edsa, Quezon City, Philippines. I was so sad when I learned from the cashier that KRR had already phased out my favorite Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. Moving on, I just ordered that baby back ribs meal with two side dishes: macaroni salad, and corn-carrot. 

So the waiter delivered to my table my meal, placed my receipt on my table and asked if there was anything else. I said none, as I eyed my food but without looking at my receipt. A bit halfway into my lunch, I felt that something was missing. I looked at my receipt and found out that my corn-carrot side dish wasn't delivered by the waiter. I called out another guy cleaning a table near me. After I had shown him my receipt, he gave me my missing side dish. I told him (he was in a shirt different from the "regular" waiters so I suppose he was an officer of the branch) that the waiters should be careful in delivering the customers' orders because I believed that it was the second time that it has happened to me in the same branch--that is, my food order delivered to my table wasn't complete, as listed in the receipt. He apologized.

I wonder how much training these KRR waiters get in customer service. It's just plain common sense that they should check their customers' receipts when giving them their ordered food because some (like I did) might just forget what they paid for. It's a bit annoying that things like this happen and disrupt someone's meal. And in a restaurant that supposedly has a worldwide chain, too. Maybe I'm a bit more annoyed than usual because I've been getting quite a few instances of bad customer service in various establishments in recent occasions--from coughing food servers and cashiers in food stalls to inattentive sales persons in department stores. Management, it seems, have been of late not paying attention to training their staff on proper customer service.

Summer scene in the countryside

Summer 2012 offers too much heat but also brings picturesque moments especially in the countryside. This sight along a trip to Nueva Vizcaya province in northern Philippines (coming for the country's capital city of Manila) in a recent weekend was a breather for myself and my fellow passengers as we wallowed in slow traffic brought on by road construction in the national highway.