Recently, I got a new Microsoft program. Why? Because yours truly must write. & nothing is forever & always. Subscriptions must be renewed. & as much as I would like to, I can’t just write on paper & then upload it to the internet. Or maybe I can…? Hmmm… & since everything is downloadable via the internet now, those days of printing, pictures more notably, but even things on paper, too, & using CDs, has nearly become obsolete, the program’s key-code was printed on a paper card. One might say even that’s a little ironic. The problem? The sticker that covered the key-code wasn’t user friendly. It was hard to come off & when it did, it peeled off the damn code! & whatever didn’t peel off was rubbed off! WTF?!? I was like, great! & since, now, a lot of “Customer Service” is via some stupid chatroom or a list of links that eventually only ask you, was that helpful? NO! They never are! Those stupid chatrooms are no help either. A lot are not good at communicating, let alone via typed words. I was like, great! I’m screwed! & then, of course, we know how some major AMERICAN corporations do, they outsource everything to some foreign country where the language barrier is worse than the chatrooms that are probably outsourced, too! & us American consumers who support these AMERICAN products know we’re going to face a challenge calling these “Customer Service” numbers not only because of the language barrier but because of the stupid, horrendous automated system that refuses to connect you to someone live, foreign or not! & half the time the automated system can’t recognize your voice! OH, & don’t get me started when it is so quick to just hang up on you after being on the phone for over 20 minutes!

So, I call, after digging & digging for an actual number to dial. Yes, on a phone to use that thing called a voice, to hopefully speak with a live person to get to the point and not have to interact with some distant relative of Suri or Alexa, or my current roommate, Google home. I was eventually connected to someone, go figure, overseas. The experience went rather well. I didn’t/ don’t want to be biased, or for God’s sake, seen as racist, because you can’t do a Goddamn thing now without being perceived as a racist. BUILD A BRIDGE & GET THE FUCK OVER IT! As harsh as it may sound, it’s NOT all about you. It’s about ME! LOL. Stop being like the stereotype, then people won’t discriminate you. The guy & I chatted for a bit, a 2-hour bit. I’d about say we’re new BFFs now and when, not if, I go to the Philippines I have a tour guide and somewhere to stay. I talked to him more than I do with some of my acquaintances. Hell, even some of my family members! Because now-a-days no one talks, they fucking text! & no one knows how to use a fucking period. They just know how to act like they’re on one! & that they do really good. When I read people’s emails & texts & posts, I’m like, WTF are you saying?!? It looks like one long ass sentence. & mind you, I’m not a scholar, it’s just so damn obvious. & everyone relies off of spill check! LOL. Maybe it’s just the English in me.

Anyhow, we got to talking & we started talking about work & how it is for them over there & how their hours accommodate Americans and yadayadayada. Everyone accommodates Americans, except for the Americans, because, again, it’s all about us. 😉 They basically work graveyard all the time. Then, we started talking about wages. I didn’t want to get too personal because that’s personal. But we all know why American companies outsource in the first place. I know they get pennies to our great American dollar. Then, we started talking about the exchange rate. I know the Philippines is cheap, but I learned more from the conversation. Then, I got to really thinking. I thought, these fucking American companies! They charge an arm & a leg for products, expect Americans to pay it, which they do! & then pay these people pennies to the dollars & on top of that, refuse to give Americans those jobs to invest into their own country. But isn’t that how it all works? Greed. Meanwhile, these CEOs, American fucks with their own ego, probably larger than the size of their gut that they rest their clasped hands on, are raking in fat paychecks, stealing from the company, causing the economy to go down & then expect to get bailed out by the Government, when needed. It’s all a vicious cycle, that’s the “American” way, & in a sense, it’s something to do. Anyhow, that’s nothing we all haven’t already known, yes? BUT at the same time, on the contrary, America is helping these people be exposed to a life they would have never experienced, talking and meeting interesting & celebrity-like people like me. We’re giving them their American dream, kind of. It’s just very, very distant. I mean, with the rise of virtual reality, it’s basically like they’re here, so maybe THEY are having their cake & eating it, too?

The rep basically told me they earn $7 USD a day, which can be “decent” for them. $7 USD?!? WTF?!? I was like, OMFGG! Is any minimum wage in the U.S. even $7.00, per hour? $7 USD can only get you so far at the Dollar Tree/ 99 cents store & the dollar menu — at certain fast food restaurants! In American eyes, they must save for months to actually do something risky, if they can, because most of them believe in getting married and having children at a young age. HA! Makes me wonder, are there foreign millennials? I think not. They still have values & morals, so no. I took away so much from that convo, that short 2-hour convo that probably could’ve jeopardized his job. Sorry fella! They, I believe, truly appreciate their job, unlike most Americans. No American in their right mind would work for $7 a day, not even under the table! Most would barely work for that triple an hour. It’s just not possible. & I think almost anything is possible. 😉 This isn’t 1934. According to Americans, they don’t make enough as it is. They, we, never do, which is true because of the greedy American companies that are here, & then you have to think about living expenses, because everyone is entitled to a little fun. All work & no play?!? Get real! & then there’s Tio Sam, as I call him. That fucker comes first, literally. I guess it is a “man’s world” because there isn’t a Tia Samantha. But in time there probably will be, especially with all these movements. & everyone’s always complaining about housing being sooooo expensive, too! Then, I laugh, hard –er! & these American companies expect you to just take it & swallow it. It’s worse for the locations, in America, where there really isn’t much to offer & these people HAVE to take it — & swallow it.

Here I am getting a program to write stories, more notably about the workplace, the American workplace, as scandalous as can possibly be; a story/ triology 😉 that brings to light allllll the things we shouldn’t be doing during work hours, but we do, well most, because I still believe, not necessarily so naively, that there are Americans that actually care for their job, that are still here, & don’t just IM or surf the internet or gossip all day, or falsify documents just so they don’t have to actually work or call in sick from being tooooo hung over, or call in late to go on a job interview to contribute to the bad habits of the next workplace where they hope they’ll get even more money, or are scoping out their next colleague they want to shag or ruin! & this affects EVERYONE, even the scared little chicken shits that pretend like they don’t want to be involved but do, because the only thing worse about being noticed is not being noticed, & those chicken shits gossip when no one is around, or at least think no one is around. Plus, someone WILL sell your bitchass out. Nice people are nice, but essentially, they have no backbone & are just as guilty as anyone else. Believe me, I wanted to ask the rep that soooo bad if all that occurs, but I know the business. Of course, it probably does!

It’s a game for the corporate American foreigners, too, because in their eyes, they have a “good job,” but because there’s so much Goddamn outsourcing, they’ll just bounce to the next American company that’s over there. I also started to think, does “The Cubicle Diaries” really occur there? [I’ve pretty much answered my own questions!] Hell yes! Stupid question(s) to myself! No one likes their boss! The cutthroat aspect of it, yes! There’s probably a lot of pressure on them to keep us Americans happy, because at the end of the day that is all that matters…, so their contract doesn’t get pulled and sourced to another 3rd world country. I’m sure a lot of mixing business with pleasure goes on there, too. Put a bunch of people, attractive or not, in a confined space, & someone is bound to hook-up. We all have needs, literally! The guy is married —- to his coworker. They met there. Go figure. But do they have scandal and drama? Yes! I’m sure the ones who actually deal directly with the corporate Americans, that gave them their job, the foreign “higher ups,” are probably just as cocky as the next American, or probably are American themselves housed there. Do these corporate American companies that are currently being foreign treat their employees the way a lot of corporate American companies on American soil treat their employees like here & try & instill in their mind that this is the only & best job you’ll ever have, & that the grass isn’t greener on the other side, & good luck finding a new job because when they call for a reference, you won’t get one, a good one? Yes! The rules may be different, but the game is all the same. Is there a legal system there, employment wise, like there’s one here? I’m not sure. Because we all know, aside from being “great,” how shady & scandalous, & entitled & pompous –OK, I’m stopping, Americans can be & some will go to any extreme to blackball you, especially when it comes to your income. All it takes is a few words… Plus, given my exchange with many foreigners, the men are EXTREMELY cocky, & I’m just like, kick it, fool! What do you REALLY have to offer? I’ve experience that in America, imagine non-domestically, & not to sound racist, here we go again… disclaimer needed, this isn’t your hometown/ country. It’s a privilege for you to be here, so don’t try acting like a dictator in a free country – yes, this is still a free country! There’s a reason why your family left where it’s from. Don’t get ahead of the game. It annoys me when foreign people come here & begin to bad mouth America & begin to feel entitled. I’m just like, shouldn’t you be thankful you’re here?!? Who in the hell do you think you are?!? It’s so annoying when they get mad they can’t take advantage, yes, advantage because they do, & even natural born citizens are worse! of Government benefits & not have to work. Be like everyone else & get yourself a fucking job!

Then I thought, if it wasn’t for work, socially, would we be the people we are? Work life is very crucial to us. For some, it’s all they have. Some, or most, dread it. & then there’s the ones, the few, who literally have never worked a day in their life. No happy hour after work for you! It’s happy hour every hour. I wanted to ask, do you get free health insurance, but I didn’t want to go there, because I pretty much know the answer. I also wanted to ask about PTO & OT, but we were on the phone for too long already. & then I thought, sadly, no wonder these places outsource… I also couldn’t help but think, do they feel like an American working for an American company dealing with American people? They are people, too. All it really is, is corporate America, foreign.