Words Have Power
Many emotions (such as fear, awe, and respect) can be invoked by uttering a single word.
One day, as world domination is finally in my grasp, my name will be the key to the best things in life: free food at restaurants, priority at lines, discount at shops, credit at banks, organized shelves at used bookstores, and the password to porn sites.
Members of my cabal need not carry any form of identifiaction; no more memorizing PIN codes, no more smudged hands for fingerprints, no time wasted searching your wallet for your ID or credit card... all one needs to do is just utter one word to reap the benefits: Charles.
But in the meantime, the only place this has been put to practice is at Ink & Stone, as Vin and Nikki have discovered as they availed of discounts without a discount card! All by uttering a single name which most Filipinos can't pronounce right (Char-les? Carlos? Chaous?).
(Of course the bad thing with this is that since there's a virtual me circulating around now, who needs the real thing?)
Evasion in the 21st Century
Scientists have summarized human behavior into two modes: fight or flight. But here in the Philippines where everyone shrinks from saying "no", a number opt for the latter rather than a direct response. Take for example when one is invited to the prom and you really don't like the guy/girl in question. Here's the typical reply:
Via email: -no reply-
Via text message: -no reply-
via letter: -no reply-
via friend: Sorry, haven't seen him/her
via phone: Sorry, he/she isn't here at the moment
in person: *runs away before you can talk to the person*
when chased: I'm not sure. Will have to ask parents/depends on my schedule/I'll catch up (which is a euphemism for "I don't know how to decline so I'm giving you hope which isn't really hope since you know I'm probably not going but I'll raise your hopes up anyway in the off-chance that I win the sweepstakes").
So yes, in the Philippines, the art of saying no has been perfected and there are probably hundreds of ways of saying it without actually saying it. But one can probably take comfort in the fact that it's often said with a smile.
People Who Hate Me
Which isn't really surprising. I mean how far would you trust a person who claims to be stalker? But over the years, I've accumulated a number of people who are angry at me for the most ridiculous of reasons. For example...
Person #1: Person #1 and I are moderators of a mailing list. Person #1 breaks a rule he/she's supposed to enforce. I reprimand him/her. Debate ensues, and person #1 justifies actions by saying all rules were meant to be broken. This from one moderator to another?
Person #2: Person #2 is a member of my mailing list. Person #2 breaks a rule. I reprimand person #2 publicly by accident. Person #2 freaks out and flames me. I apologize. Person #2 replies with an email saying that he/she doesn't have to read the email I sent and is cutting off further contact with me. Person #2 unsubscribes himself/herself from the mailing list, and then bans me from the mailing lists he/she moderates.
Person #3: I inadvertedly offended person #3's friend. I apologize to person #3's friend. Person #3's friend forgives me. Person #3 does not.
Person #4: Person #4 reads from person #3's blog that I'm a jerk. Person #4 believes person #3. Person #3 has been known to be quick to anger and to be angry at a lot of people. Person #4 stil believes person #3.
Person #5: I offer person #5 a present. Person #5 starts disliking me, but doesn't say so when I'm there.
Person #6: Person #6 is insecure. Person #6 finds out person #5 dislikes me. Person #6 in turn dislikes me to gain person #5's sympathy.
Person #7: Person #7 says I was kind to his/her friend but not to her. I was a salesclerk at a shop during the time. Person #7 was with friends numbering a dozen or so. It is physically impossible for me to entertain a dozen people at any one time.
Person #8: Person #8 hears from person #7 that I'm a jerk because of said incident. Person #8 believes person #7.
Person #9: Person #9 hears secondhand account from person #8. Person #9 believes person #7.
Person #10: I give criticism to person #10's piece of work. Person #10 takes it personally.
Many emotions (such as fear, awe, and respect) can be invoked by uttering a single word.
One day, as world domination is finally in my grasp, my name will be the key to the best things in life: free food at restaurants, priority at lines, discount at shops, credit at banks, organized shelves at used bookstores, and the password to porn sites.
Members of my cabal need not carry any form of identifiaction; no more memorizing PIN codes, no more smudged hands for fingerprints, no time wasted searching your wallet for your ID or credit card... all one needs to do is just utter one word to reap the benefits: Charles.
But in the meantime, the only place this has been put to practice is at Ink & Stone, as Vin and Nikki have discovered as they availed of discounts without a discount card! All by uttering a single name which most Filipinos can't pronounce right (Char-les? Carlos? Chaous?).
(Of course the bad thing with this is that since there's a virtual me circulating around now, who needs the real thing?)
Evasion in the 21st Century
Scientists have summarized human behavior into two modes: fight or flight. But here in the Philippines where everyone shrinks from saying "no", a number opt for the latter rather than a direct response. Take for example when one is invited to the prom and you really don't like the guy/girl in question. Here's the typical reply:
Via email: -no reply-
Via text message: -no reply-
via letter: -no reply-
via friend: Sorry, haven't seen him/her
via phone: Sorry, he/she isn't here at the moment
in person: *runs away before you can talk to the person*
when chased: I'm not sure. Will have to ask parents/depends on my schedule/I'll catch up (which is a euphemism for "I don't know how to decline so I'm giving you hope which isn't really hope since you know I'm probably not going but I'll raise your hopes up anyway in the off-chance that I win the sweepstakes").
So yes, in the Philippines, the art of saying no has been perfected and there are probably hundreds of ways of saying it without actually saying it. But one can probably take comfort in the fact that it's often said with a smile.
People Who Hate Me
Which isn't really surprising. I mean how far would you trust a person who claims to be stalker? But over the years, I've accumulated a number of people who are angry at me for the most ridiculous of reasons. For example...
Person #1: Person #1 and I are moderators of a mailing list. Person #1 breaks a rule he/she's supposed to enforce. I reprimand him/her. Debate ensues, and person #1 justifies actions by saying all rules were meant to be broken. This from one moderator to another?
Person #2: Person #2 is a member of my mailing list. Person #2 breaks a rule. I reprimand person #2 publicly by accident. Person #2 freaks out and flames me. I apologize. Person #2 replies with an email saying that he/she doesn't have to read the email I sent and is cutting off further contact with me. Person #2 unsubscribes himself/herself from the mailing list, and then bans me from the mailing lists he/she moderates.
Person #3: I inadvertedly offended person #3's friend. I apologize to person #3's friend. Person #3's friend forgives me. Person #3 does not.
Person #4: Person #4 reads from person #3's blog that I'm a jerk. Person #4 believes person #3. Person #3 has been known to be quick to anger and to be angry at a lot of people. Person #4 stil believes person #3.
Person #5: I offer person #5 a present. Person #5 starts disliking me, but doesn't say so when I'm there.
Person #6: Person #6 is insecure. Person #6 finds out person #5 dislikes me. Person #6 in turn dislikes me to gain person #5's sympathy.
Person #7: Person #7 says I was kind to his/her friend but not to her. I was a salesclerk at a shop during the time. Person #7 was with friends numbering a dozen or so. It is physically impossible for me to entertain a dozen people at any one time.
Person #8: Person #8 hears from person #7 that I'm a jerk because of said incident. Person #8 believes person #7.
Person #9: Person #9 hears secondhand account from person #8. Person #9 believes person #7.
Person #10: I give criticism to person #10's piece of work. Person #10 takes it personally.
posted by Charles at 4:58 PM
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