An Act of Kindness

I just read a blog made by one of Our HN dealers and It makes me proud that a lot of dealers are patronizing Human Nature and its advocacy. Little did they know that these positive feedbacks are read and dwelled on by people behind thier emails and phone calls.

I applied in Human Nature as part of the Sales Team. Later on, I was delegated to be a Customer Service Officer, together with another collegue and soon after, the Customer Service Department was born. Being in front of the computer all day may seem a routinary job but what makes this job so special is the variety of people and situations we deal with every single day.

Being in the Customer Service Department is not a slice of heaven. We suffer the first strike of anger and irate-ness of customers via email, phone call or worst, face to face. We have to provide answers to questions and solve problems through thorough investigation and coordination with other departments. It's always been stressful and I go home everyday feeling drained and consumed.

I am not complaining nor whining. Fact is, I love what I am doing. Despite the regular stressors we face everyday, We, in the customer service department, go through it with a smile and unlimited patience.

The other day, one from our sales team passed me a phone call of an irate customer. She is upset about the dealer terms we currently have, which they are required to make a minimum purchase every month to keep their dealer discount. Her complaints branched out from discounts, to minimum purchases, to dealer terms then to product prices. She's saying things like, "Ang gusto nyo lang e kayo ang kikita." or "gusto nyo lang e pasok ng pasok ang kita sa inyo.". I have encountered much worst attacks and trouble from customers but what pains me with this particular customer is her inability to see the bigger picture behind Human Nature.

Human Nature was born out of love by its founders. The lack of natural skin care products that are affordable and readily available in the country has been their initial drive. We provide opportunity for people, not only to the wealthy ones, to live a healthier lifestyle. Next to it is the genuine care of the founders to our country and our fellow Filipinos by providing opportunities to poor farmers so they can also live a better life. We source our ingredients from these local farmers and buy it at fair market prices. Marketing is through networking so others may earn extra income by selling our products. You see, in every single thing we do, we make sure it has an impact to our society and in line with our advocacy. The founders of the company does not live a grand life. In fact, they do not wear flashy clothes, do not own fancy cars and practice an open door policy with their employees. More importantly, they work harder than most of us in the company. On holidays, when we are required to report to work, they're also there. They come to work earlier than we all do and leave when most of us have left. Of course, things like these are something we don't usually say to our customers. Human Nature is not ripping money off our customer's pockets nor beg for it. Most of our profits goes to our Gawad Kalinga Partner Communities.

Human Nature makes sure that every department are doing their best to provide the best quality service and products that our dealers and customers deserves. We want to give value for their money by continuously improving and making sure that every single customer are given our utmost attention.

Human Nature also care for its people. I must admit, I feel very lucky to be a part of this company. They give salary at above industry standards and ramp it up yearly or bi-yearly. So us, here in Human Nature, are always looking forward to our appraisals (hehe)! We also have employees that are from Gawad Kalinga, our partner, and other poor communities. They also hire the best people for every department to ensure that tasks are done efficiently. So if you ask me how I feel about being with Human Nature, I would say that it's a blessing and an answered prayer. :)

I just hope and wish that our customers would understand the heart and the effort we put into our work so we can give them all the good things they deserve. We are not asking for too much. A simple thank you and gratitude is something that means a lot to us. Having known that we are successful in making our customers happy is enough to keep us going.

So to those who are grateful and make an effort to share their happy thoughys about us and our products, a big thanks! You don't know how much your positive feedback means a lot to us. :)

Condiments

I will be putting up my own condiments company. That's a promise!

Ang Hilot

Kastiel is suffering from coughing since before New year. Its already a month now pero di pa rin nawawala ang ubo. He wakes up in the middle of the night na inuubo then vomits the phlegm. His Lola wants to bring a "manghihilot" to check him kasi baka daw may Pilay pero I refused. Instead, I brought him to the doctor. 3 times na nga now since he got sick pero all the medications didn't work. Will just lessen then babalik na naman. Then his Tita Sheryl tried checking kung may Pilay siya by doing some weird ritual and she said meron daw. I gave in and asked our neighborhood hilot to check him. She confirmed na may pilay siya sa bandang rib cage daw. She did a quick hilot and left. Surprisingly, that night, hindi gumising si Kastiel na inuubo. Medyo maganda yata tulog niya. Maniniwala na siguro ako if tonight, and tomorrow night e ganun pa rin. I don't care whatever kind of doctor ang mag-check kay Kastiel now. All I want is for him to get well!

Emptiness

Ang hirap magsulat ng walang audience.

Post Check-Up

Took me two weeks to see a doctor. I had my initial check-up before new year and it was only yesterday that I was able to schedule an appointment with a Cardiologist (to read my lab results) and a Transvaginal ultrasound with an OB-Sonologist. Feels good that I  finished all that yesterday despite the long wait in line.

The cardiologist found no high risk test result among the lab tests done to me except for my triglyceride which is higher than normal, about .01 in scores. My Hemoglobin count dropped but this is due to the endless menstruation period I had for the past months. I was advised to diet and minimize smoking.

The Ultrasound, on the other hand, found a cystic mass on my right ovary. About 2cm in size. The remarks seems non-cancerous. It is called Unilocular Cyst and it's benign (thank God!). What's not good about it is if it's filled with fluid, it can grow bigger and may cause twisting of the ovary and rupture which is very painful. I have yet to see a Gynecologist to further read my test result and provide me with medications (if necessary). :)

Testing Link to Facebook

Am I connected now?

Dealing with Health

My 1 week off from work last Christmas was supposedly spent vacationing to some fancy beach resort or somewhere cold like Baguio or Tagaytay. I imagined myself standing by the porch or a veranda of a nice comfty hotel room looking over the foggy sight of nature. I had my winter clothes ready. I could have been dining at a specialty restaurant, sipping a bowl of hot soup (best match for a cold weather) and drinking wine by the fireplace. It could have been my piece of heaven here on Earth! However, my plans for a vacation ended up going to the doctor and going through a series of Laboratory tests. I sure did maximized my HMO card. So, thanks to Maxicare for the free medical assistance hence i'll be spending over P10,000 just for the laboratory test itself!

I would always like to think that I am immortal but I am a real human being too who deals with health issues like everyone else. So what triggered me to exchange my good vacation over the doctor's clinic? Here are the factors:

1. Since my Ilocos trip, Early November of 2011, I've been bleeding like a faucet. My menstruation period started off like the rest of my period. Very normal and tolerable but thing is, it didn't end. It went from spotting to moderate to heavy flow then it slowly died down to spotting again then afterwards, it became moderate to heavy again with bright red discharges then went back to spotting. It went crazy and on and on until I decided to take some pills. I've been nauseating badly perhaps due to blood loss so I thought of taking pills to regulate it. It eventually did! But since I am not very good at appointments and schedules, I missed 3 days of my pills. I was confident my menstruation had regularized but to my dismay, it came back with a vengeance. I menstruated after 3 days of missing my pill and it was very heavy. Heavy like 1 pad per hour. Same thing, my discharges were bright red. An indication that my egg cells were popping prematurely.

2. In the night of Christmas, me, my family and our relatives had a party here at home. We drank hard liquor and ate chicharon as pulutan. We played Pinoy Henyo and retired at 4:00am in the morning. Bad thing is, we have a scheduled appointment to the doctor the next day at around 8:00. I am taking a relative to an eye doctor for a checkup. So despite being groggy and all that, I got up at around 7:30am, didn't bother to take a shower and went straight to the Doctor. While I wait for the check-up to finish, I decided to have my BP checked and to my surprise, it shoot up to 120/100. Above normal, I know, but still alarming. The factors I have mentioned above triggered me to visit a Cardiologist and an OB-Gynecologist.

Despite missing the vacation I've been dreaming about, the feeling of being checked in the hospital gave me some sort of comfort just knowing that I will finally end the questions in my head and possibly prevent me from dying too soon (lol!). The OB-Gyne initially prescribed Hemostan to stop the bleeding and after 3 days of taking it, my bleeding stopped and as I write this post, I am free from menstruating.

I am scheduled later today to see a doctor for my lab test readings. My ECG shows a defect so I expect a word from the doctor. I am also scheduled for a Intravaginal Ultrasound with an OB Sonologist later to check my Uterus and my Ovaries. I have had a Dermoid Cyst removed last 2010 from my left ovary and I'm keeping my hopes up that it won't grow again.

I just wish that my poor eating habits are just the cause of the abnormalities I've been experiencing for the past days and not some serious condition. I will write a post about the results of the test soon!