United Colors of Thelma

"Puerto Ricena?" The guest smiled at me as I waved hello.

"No", I smiled back as I continued walking. "Filipina!"

I get this a lot. The choices are always that I'm from: Puerto Rico, Panama, Thailand or China, or a mixture of any of the above, but never the Philippines. Unless it's a fellow Filipino asking me where I'm from. Even then, there is always doubt in the asking.

I often make the same mistake. My heart skips a beat as I tentatively ask, "Are you from the Philippines?..."

"No," came the reply one day from the pretty girl with brown skin and long black hair. "Indonesia." She smiled.

But the one thing that I am never wrong about is detecting a Filipino accent. My years in broadcasting trained my ears to discern my fellow comrades in radio and TV commercials. "That's Rey." I would declare at my car radio while stuck in traffic on EDSA as the Mitsubishi ad came on. "May has yet another ad I didn't get hired for…" I would continue when the latest PLDT commercial played. "And this one went to Lily…" I would announce as a Pamper's commercial aired. It's a gift I have not been able to use since arriving in the US last September. This knowing-who-it-is-who-did-the-ad trick of mine.

What I do get to use this skill for is in knowing when I'm speaking to a Filipino either in person or over the phone when I call Dell, or Capital One, or the Orlando Sentinel, or Sprint… The first thing I ask is – "Pinoy (or Pinay) ka?" After which, I proudly launch into my second tongue and conduct my side of the customer care call 95% in Tagalog. Depending on the company, the poor rep is sometimes not allowed to speak in our shared tongue, so they politely tell me so, to which I say, "Okay lang! (That's fine!) Ako na lang ang mag-Ta-Tagalog para sa atin dalawa. (I'll speak Tagalog for the both of us.)" They always laugh. Having once been a Training Manager for Customer Contact Centers in the Philippines, I know how tough their jobs can get so now that I'm on the other end of the phone, I figured the least I could do is let them hear a kindred language.

The Voice Talent in me has nearly mastered a New York accent courtesy of one of my colleagues who was born and raised in the Bronx. When I'm on a roll, Edwin tells me I sound pretty good. I don't know if I could keep it up consistently in Manhattan though should I decide to pass myself off as a local when or if I get to visit. I am absolutely sure though that I can say "cawfee" just like Fran Drescher.

The hotel is the perfect place to hear accents and to learn the most basic greetings in at least four languages – Creole, Spanish, Russian and English. What amazes me is how similar Tagalog and Spanish are. Words that I never realized found their origins in Spanish now play in my ears in a new way.

"Como esta?" is merely the longer version of the Filipino "Kumusta?" The phrases go on. We greet each other in the hallways in each others' languages. "Kumusta ka?" comes at me from an African American face. Or I'll smile a reply to my Latino friends' greetings, "Muy bien!" Or "Todo bien!" in Portuguese.

It's all good. Soon, I will learn more than just hi's and hello's. You never know where life can take you. Another language or two can always come in handy whether in person or on the phone back home with a customer service rep who just might find it amusing to hear a caller half way around the world speak his native tongue.

A Day @ The Lounge

Everyday is about restocking, refilling, replenishing all food and beverages. And washing dishes.

Hmmm.

Oh. And making sure guests are happy.






Carrying cases of water and sodas and gallons of coffee are giving me strong biceps.

Seriously.

Sneaking in Another Quickie

I'm alone in the lounge as I type this. I wouldn't be able to do this otherwise. Today, I worked my usual opening shift but since I managed to get extra hours at the pool, I'll be working another eight hours handing out towels.

It's been a tiring week so far but I had to take advantage of the rare chance to do overtime.

Six Months and Counting

I missed my six months of being back in the US mark . It came and went uneventfully last week on March 19. I celebrated it sans blog and nose to the grind at the new job. Yes. The new job that has been keeping me from blogging. New job that has me on my feet for seven and a half hours straight and teen-age daughter, that is. Teenage daughter who has our laptop perennially attached to her hands to be exact.

So today, as said daughter was in the middle of reviewing for her college placing exam, while I checked my e-mail, I sneaked in this blog. I don't know what has been tiring me more. The having to stand on my feet all day long, the constant refilling, re-stocking and replenishing of food and beverages where I work, or the thirty minute break for lunch that never seems to be long enough?

I have so much more to say than the nothing I have been saying since my last post but let's keep this one short and sweet... and painless, and limit my thoughts to a simple "Thank you for cheering me on while I looked high and low for a job."

Now that I have one, the question now is whether or not I should find another one to bring more money in. Or another job altogether. Or be still and keep this one and see what happens.

The nametag? I decided to use my old radio name. It makes for an interesting conversation when guests ask if my real name is Josephine. I get to tell them that I used to have a morning show... in the Philippines. No one seems to be shocked that nowadays, I make coffee and clean tables at a lounge. If anything, they are amused at my sense of humor and enjoy that I keep the coffee and pastries coming.

Call it a captive audience. Only this time, I don't have a microphone but I have lots of food.

Dear Blog Reader

It's been exactly 62 days since I last posted an entry. Assuming you have been dropping by periodically to see what's been going on and whether I finally got a job, I have good news and good reason to explain my absence. I did get a job!

I am not at liberty to divulge the specifics of where it is that I work (pending further research into the organization's blogging policy) but I can say that I am at an important hotel here in Orlando and that I am a Concierge. I am having a blast putting all of my past experience to good use in this my first Hospitality/ Hotel position.

While I have much to say on how I'm transitioning into this new role, I'll save this for another blog for when I have more time to write and when I'm not rushing an entry. Like now.

The biggest challenge of not being my usual cyber-addicted self is having to share a laptop with an eighteen year-old. We need another computer! This, and the tired that hits me after work and the need to make dinner or wash dishes clamor for my time. This concept was alien to me in the Philippines. More on this in yet another future blog.

(Notes to self to blog about: working in operations, the "luxury" of live-in help, credit or debit, joining the diaspora.)

So that's where I disappeared to. Thank you for your visits!

As ever,
Thelma

Kyera Cover

She's the token Asian face on the cover of the multicultural brochure we hand out at Orlando World Outreach Center.

People say we look like sisters but a very small handful, including myself, see how much she looks like her father. Well, I do have taste, you know. I can only take credit for half her genes. The other half belongs to my ex-husband.

A Page from the Nanny Diary

As I wrestle with thoughts on moving yet again, I took on a babysitting gig yesterday. Out of the forty-something job applications I have submitted, ranging in varying levels of... experience, I finally found something that hired me on the spot - nanny for a day.

My body still aches from the exertion of helping a mom take care of twin toddlers but it's a good ache. Not just from an exercise standpoint but from the perspective of forcing myself to re-evaluate why I'm hitting walls with my applications.

Forty-five and counting?

Communications Manager, Training Manager, Morning Show Host, and now - Babysitter.

I think it's time to move... Maybe.

The One Thing

The most prominent thing on my Wish List for 2008 is:

To work at a job I will love at a place that has great benefits.

I'll think about the other stuff like going back to school, or learning CSS, HTML, XHTML and Adobe InDesign, later.

Excuse me, while I re-strategize my job hunting...