Blame It On Miscommunication

String of bad lucks happened to me recently. One thing lead to another. In the end, I had no work today. Blame it all on miscommunication.

Yesterday, 20 June, monday was a public holiday. On a regular day, I was supposed to be at Del Monte Philippines Inc. as their company physician (by third-party outsourcing). But last monday, June 13, the HR manager and I have agreed that I will hold my clinic with them on a wednesday. It's like having a make-up duty. I informed my company (Health Delivery Systems Inc. or HDSI for short) immediately of my plans. The response of HR to me was "Ok po." I thought everything was settled. I wasn't aware that the HR manager from both companies discussed amongst themselves to hold a clinic on a tuesday and will look for my "reliever" instead. I felt that they "by-passed" me.

At home, our two helpers resigned. With my grandmother handicapped and a parish fiesta looming, everyone was uber busy. Last thursday, my parents talked to me about filing for an "undertime" at work today supposedly. There are many parish fiesta activities that they had to go to, no one will look after our grandma from 6pm onwards. I said I'll try.

Last saturday afternoon, I asked permission from the clinic manager of Tokyo HealthLink Makati (where I work T-Th, 8am to 8pm) if I could go on "undertime" just for today. She said it was against company rules to go home earlier, since we're being paid on an hourly basis. Instead, they'll find a reliever for me. Since family comes first for me, I decided not to hold clinic, have another colleague take my place instead.

Afterwards, my mom called to tell me that there's no need anymore for me to go on undertime at work today. They've asked one of our relatives to go to Manila and look after grandma & be one of our helpers temporarily while looking for replacements.

Since I was available, I called up the HR manager of HDSI to tell her that I'll have my clinic 1 day earlier than planned. Then, she dropped the bomb on me. I was surprised! I became mad because they've made their decision without informing me, or consulting me first since I'm the company doctor; and if I haven't called her, I would've also gone to DMPI as I've planned, thus making it two doctors visiting the company in one week alone. The reliever has already committed to it, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I went back to Tokyo Health Link. Unfortunately, they've already called up a colleague and she has already agreed in relieving my post today.  

I tried to look for other work as reliever. Too bad, there was none.

Ako ang nawalan.

Net Book Or Smart Phone?

Just a few weeks ago, I've posted something about my laptop being fixed and how I almost bought a new laptop. Even if it's fixed now, my perennial problem is still there - it takes approximately 30 minutes to start up the system, and running some programs take time. Like for example when I open Adobe Lightroom, other programs hang, it will take 10 minutes before the window of Adobe Lightroom pops up and I can resume my activities. It's "turtle-like" actions has been my complain for several years, and people have been telling me to buy a new one. It crashed for three times already and I'm getting dissatisfied more and more. I thought maybe because of the operating system (Windows Vista Home). But if I'm going to buy another license to change into Windows 7, heck! I'll just buy a new one instead. Perhaps a net book.

On the other hand, I just got a new mobile phone unit (white Nokia X3-02 Touch & Type) at the start of the year because of plan rebate and upgrade of postpaid plan. For basic necessities like SMS, calls, FM/AM radio and camera functions, it's ok. The downside is when you surf the internet. The screen is very small and I'm confused with its buttons/controls even if I've read the user manual many times. The OS of the phone is Symbian, not Android. Probably perhaps it's not quiped for frequent 'net users like me. For months, I've been studying/looking into Android phones. Not primarily because it's the trend but the necessity of installing applications into mobile phones for quick reference, specifically medical ones. I have an iTouch but having too much gadgets is confusing & heavy on my pockets. I barely use it nowadays, strange as it may sound. 

Both gadgets (the model units I'm targetting at least) are priced almost Php25K. I want 'em both but I have to choose only one and prioritise which I need more - the new netbook or an Android phone? I'm starting to weigh the pros and cons of each one.