Hi Daniel,

Thank you very much for meeting with us last Wednesday. As per our conversation, please find below my email regarding the incident last Saturday. I hope to hear from you soon.

This is to call attention to an unfortunate incident that occurred in your store last Saturday, 6 June 2009, at which I was an unwitting victim of harassment. Please note:

1. I have been based in Hong Kong for a while doing TV production work and am currently in Singapore working on a project. While on a window-shopping date with my friend, Daphne, a banker holding a respectable position at Standard Chartered bank, we entered COTTON ON which was having an underwear sale. I was already queuing to pay when another item caught my eye, so I asked Daphne to hold my place while I checked it out. Behind me, an Indian lady, who seemed to be upper-class (and cranky) let out a sigh of impatience as I left the line to look at the piece.

2. I returned to my place at the line in front of the Indian customer while Daphne stayed on the line with me, which in good faith, I had not considered to be a problem.

3. Things remained normal, though, and when we finally reached the counter after about 5 minutes, the Malay girl behind the cashier nicely reminded me that Sale items could not be refunded. There were actually no reactions until a new counter opened up and Daphne was invited to pay for her purchases there. This must have really upset the Indian customer because this provoked her to prod the Malay girl with a long tirade obviously directed at my friend in strong words saying: "ASK THAT GIRL TO HURRY UP! FIRST SHE DOESN'T LINE UP AND JUST SQUEEZES IN WITH HER FRIEND. NOW SHE'S TAKING FOREVER TO MAKE A SIMPLE PURCHASE! SHE SHOULD HAVE CHECKED THE STUFF BEFORE PAYING!"

4. This has me in complete shock. Daphne asked me in Tagalog what the Indian girl said and when I told her, my friend proceeds to defend herself. What really upset and agitated me was when the Indian customer blurted out a painful remark that is derogatory to Filipino maids in particular and to Filipino women in general, to wit: "FILIPINOS! NO WONDER THEY'RE JUST MAIDS!"

5. While my friend is a banker she could not of course let this insult on Filipino maids pass. As a matter of principle -- whatever one's position in life -- this woman had no right to talk down on people. A heated exchange naturally ensued.

6. Things took an ugly turn, however, when the Malay girl at the counter, prompted by the Indian customer, snapped and told my friend to take it outside. My friend, who was by then fully worked up, proceeded to leave but angrily started tossing the underwear on display along the way.

7. Even as I stared dumbfounded, thinking that it could not get any worse, the Malay girl at the counter chased after my friend and screamed at us: "BLOODY STUPID FILIPINOS! GET OUT!

In all the time I have spent working abroad, I have never experienced this. Despite the urge to answer back I knew better. Even in my angry state I could not get myself to say anything bad to your counter person. I guess I had no taste for matching the girl's ignorance with equally angry, foul words. I could only shut up and leave.

The incident, however, has continued to bother me to this day and is disturbing not only my concentration but also my sleep. The wound has been inflicted and the pain may not go away unless some rectification is achieved, hopefully at your end so that it will not be necessary to pursue other venues.

Please let me know if any action is forthcoming. Thank you for your attention.

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for your reply and your effort to look into the issue.

However, I think you failed to realize the gravity of the issue. I don’t know if it’s just your choice of words, or if it is your fundamental understanding of the situation that is flawed.

What we told you is not feedback. It was a very strong and indignant complaint on a very unacceptable encounter we had with your staff. It is not about making a future experience better. This is not a normal customer dissatisfaction situation. I was not just ignored when I asked for my size. I was yelled at with very derogatory remarks in the busy alley of Wisma Atria.

This has nothing to do with training. The issue is not just that the staff failed to handle the situation in a better way. If it were just a handling issue, our complaint would have been in the likes of “she didn’t take control of the issue well and allowed the issue to worsen”, for example. If she just didn’t say anything while the heated argument went on I wouldn’t go through this. The issue is deep in her core - she is a person who discriminates and is shamelessly and blatantly doing so. From the start she sided with the Indian girl. The bloody, stupid Filipino comment just sealed the deal. No one in his or her sanity would utter those very hurtful, uneducated, and insulting words if there was no inherent discrimination even before the incident happened. All of us are intelligent beings capable of discernment of the causes and effects of events that happen to us, and someone in your seniority should know better.

As I told you before, I have lived and worked in over 5 countries and have seen the good and bad of building my career and exploring the world as an Asian woman. However, nothing compares to the humiliation and insult I have experienced with your staff. As Jiki mentioned, until this day we still feel the remnants of the shame.

The problem with the situation for you and your staff is the Filipinos she yelled at are not Filipino maids who sadly are used to being maltreated, disparaged, and discriminated. She yelled at two accomplished women who are at the top of their game, who speak their mind, are feisty, and will fight for what they believe in. What I am doing here is not only my right, but the fulfillment of my obligation to Filipinos here and in all parts of the world. It’s an obligation to fight for what we deserve.

You are a Country Manager and have the huge responsibility of handling several countries and perhaps hundreds of staff. You of all people should have understood what the root of the issue is. And as I mentioned, how you deal with this issue will reflect on Cotton On Asia’s culture and you as a Manager.

I understand that your view may be different from ours and I won’t force you to do something you do not comprehend or agree with. Therefore, I would like to ask for the contact details of your line manager in Austrialia and hopefully he/she can recognize the seriousness of the whole situation.

Best regards,
Daphne

Hi Daphne and Jiki



Thank you for taking the time out of your day to communicate your experience at our Cotton On Body Wisma store on Saturday 6th June 2009.



We appreciate any type of feedback as it can help us make future experiences more satisfactory for each and everyone of our customers.



We have passed this information onto our Human Resources department and will take further action with the team member involved.



The team member has offered a formal apology in person for the comments she made and she was told how humiliated that the both of you felt by the incident. The team member is quite upset by the whole situation and understands that her comments were inappropriate. We have organised further training and education for her, so she is aware of how she should approach a situation such as this in the future.



We hope to see you shopping in our stores again. I am happy to offer a voucher the next time you come into our Novena store.



Please ask for Michelle Ellul when you come in to Novena and call her for an appointment for pick-up on PH: 8366 6191.



Thank you





Daniel Accaputo

A couple days left before Halloween. I don't think i'll be doing anything this year. I'm so uninspired. I did my scary shoot and enjoyed that but apart from it, i can't think of anything for Oct 31st. And what a shame, Halloween falls on Friday this year. Sigh, maybe the rest of the year has caught up with me. Aside from my move to the 7th floor, it's been a pretty uneventful year for me so far.

I took photos of my new tiny apartment (yes, life in HK is hard) and my everyday life so you guys can catch up with me since I've been so quiet lately. I wanted to follow Pia's example and post in ADML but lj-cuts don't work on my LJ for some reason, i've tried and tried and tried but to no avail. So I'm just uploading tiny images of my day. This is actually 2 days, since i'm not posting there anymore, i'm free to mess up the sequencing ;p Don't mind the grammar as well. I'm too lazy to check.

EDIT: LJ-cuts are doable now. But i can't be bothered to post in ADML adlts. yawn.

A typical day for me, post-operation, always starts with the struggle to get up. I can never get up at 6am as easily as I used to.



( Welcome to my world )

i skipped hot hour today. whoopie. and i pigged out. aiya, when will i ever take this seriously? tomorrow, i will push myself to go i swear. that aside, i had a pretty good weekend. i'm too lazy to lj-cut so sorry for those who have to bear my photos. i like storing them here and re-reading my entries when i'm bored at work.

This is how we did Saturday, March 1 (incidentally also my brother's bday)

1. Phonograph on TST, a good mix of Freda's old friends and new ones



ze evil twin



ben trying to look like a dork and more than just succeeded.


2. Luke posing at Volume needs to be rotated. sorry. oops




3. Mcdonald's at 4am




4. The Pink Lady in Mcdonald's was fierce, again sorry oops.




5. I don't know what we did to make the Chinese boy mad.





This is how we do Sundays.

1. Brunch at Cafe Eos lots of hiding the taba with a pillow.





Happy even when i look like crap.. oh and that's not coffee ha, i miss coffee sooo


2. The Delay No Mall AKA My new favorite place on the island.

i was supposed to buy those shoes but they ran out of the ladies version and the smallest ones for guys were too big for me so bushy stole them. grrrr


i bought one of those neon undies hehehe



3. Finding a funky new wallet to match my current favorite bag. This wallet's creator and i have something in common: we're both impoverished. or to choose a more secret-friendly word, on a tight budget. The design's by Kate Bingaman she's been drawing all her purchases and credit card statements and will keep doing so until they are paid off. im too lazy to draw so il just photograph mine.




4. Random shots with a paper-mache that looks like our friend Eureka





5. Cupcake and Pizza for Movie Night






Veggie one for me!



Not as good as the Serendra ones but it'll do



disturbing john waters film



And now i have to go back to work. sigh.

i had 2 weird dreams last night. i woke up from the first one and got right into the next one.

dream number one: i don't know where we were, seemed like a garden or something with holes between the planks of wood that served as the floor. at first we didn't know how but people were just disappearing. then someone noticed neanderthals coming from below and dragging people down. so someone told me (i can't remember who) to sit far away from the planks. but the next round there were 6 big ones who came out. they started grabbing people and the person next to me told me to act like i wasn't afraid and that i had the option whether or not to come with them. so i did and i was spared. for some reason we all knew that coming back with them would mean starting from scratch. i some people actually wanted to go but i was scared shitless. why did i dream this??


dream number 2: i went to confession. confessed everything and the priest didn't seem like a Catholic priest at all. in fact, he was a bit obnoxious. but after i confessed, i felt wonderful. great. is this a sign? hmm.

p.s. it's interesting to note that cupcakes were a pseudo part of this dream (the confession one, i mean)

i'm sleepy again. i've been told 3x in the past 2 weeks that i've been looking like crap of late. not a good thing.

versions 1, 2, 3:

"you sick? you look tired."

"wow, tough night?"

and there's the direct approach,

"man, you look rough..."

i think youtube, facebook and sidereel.com are the devil. i get home resolving to sleep at 10pm but i always stay up 'til 3am. really. this must be remedied. i need to get home and go straight to bed. wake up feeling energized. dare i say it, should i, err.. exercise or something? yuck. yoga, perhaps? nay. so not me. i remember i got into Fitness First with Gel and Pia once in my life...I dug the Body Balance. Did the Cardio Funk thing and even dabbled in Jazz. I look now at that point in my life as temporary insanity. I needed something to occupy my time in between jobs. Seriously, i am so not the gym-ing type. I paid one full year of California Fitness last year only to use the shower once. Really.. why am i even considering this? Oh, yeah. Because i look rough.

Happy New Year! Better late than never. Technically, since i live in Hong Kong, it's not really the New Year yet. Yeah, lame. But hey, Chinese New Year is all i live for these days. I cannot wait to go on another break. It's been ages since i last posted an entry mainly because i've been too lazy to put my thoughts into writing. A shame, really, since the past month has been pretty eventful and intense. And i don't want to forget all that's happened.

So here's my last-minute end of the year recap.

DECEMBER 7
My parents flew into town and in the morning i attended the IAM LEGEND Press Conference where i got to meet Will Smith and ask him a few questions.




I managed to get 3 stupid questions in. I'm not really much of a Will Smith fan but i have to admit, the guy has charisma. I was more interested in what Akiva Goldsmith had to say but given only a few minutes, i was worried the CHinese interpreter guy would take forever translating his answers (for the Chinese press) so I stuck to witty Will. Managed to get a handshake and a "call me" hand gesture off him. Pretty cool way to start the day. Would have squeezed in another question but my phone kept ringing and i knew my parents were waiting for me at the Airport express.

So off i went to meet my folks. They were only here for 3 days but it felt like longer.



Dad paying homage to Jackie Chan




obviously, i took them to around to places i frequent.



DECEMBER 11
Interview with prospective new boss. His office is just downstairs from mine. Background story: After doing a year and 2 months with On-Air promotions, i've come to realize that although cutting promos are fun, it's not for me. I simply am not interested. All the B-movies in the world cannot entice me. Upon learning of a new production department, i did what any ladder-climbing ambitious producer would do, I introduced myself to the regional producer and presented my reel. She got me a one-on-one with the big boss and on the 11th of December, i had my interview. It was an easy process, almost effortless. I presented my CV and was offered a position on the spot. The only issue was how my present boss would feel about the situation. How he reacted merits an entry in itself and is basically the story of my life right now. But let's not get into that yet. We're still recounting HAPPY memories.


DECEMBER 14-16 Party Weekend. 3 Birthday parties in a row. Including mine. Not restful at all.

Whisky's Bday
I don't remember anything about this night except that it was the same time as the office Christmas party and by the time i got to her party, i was already drunk. And had funky eye-makeup.

This is Whisky. I envy her gift.





Bonita's Party

Me and my evil twin, Freda











The best part of the night was when the cops came to check our Hong Kong IDs. They stopped the music and turned the lights on. All very Infernal Affairs.



DECEMBER 16, MY BDAY BRUNCH at the rooftop of Red.
We toasted to Champagne and Mimosa instead of having a bday cake. Not a bad way to celebrate. Obviously, red was the motif.

I don't even want to remember what they gave me for my bday.














I do love the Hong Kong Family.





Dec 17, my actual birthday, had the day off. Spent the day alone preparing for my trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Things in my office were already very unsettled. With my actual boss leaving and people quitting left and right, i could not wait to go on holiday.

.... The rest of my December, to be cont. Not it matters to anyone, documenting it more for myself.

EDIT - 2010 now and I have yet to update this entry to finish it. tsk, tsk.

If i haven't said it enough, i love Hong Kong. Yesterday I had one of my best days here so far. Work was loaded but the mood in the office was really light because none of the big bosses were around. For lunch the entire office ordered rice burger because Mos Burger just opened in HK (although it's been open in Sing and of course, Japan for some time now). Although lunch came really late, it was fun to watch my local colleagues cheer as the appointed lunch-buyer came back from picking up the take out. My shrimp burger was yummy.

With none of the bosses around, i felt free to snap up a storm. Here's my everyday routine in pictures:

Getting to work usually starts with a bus ride to the ferry. The ferry ride is very short but the wait for the hunghom ferry can be annoying if you miss the first one.

this girl knows what i mean...



finally, after 10 long minutes, it arrives..





most people eat their breakfast on board although a stereo recording is repeatedly played claiming eating and drinking is not allowed. hmm.. feels like home..



i really enjoy the ferry ride. it's the best part of my morning..




i especially love it when we pull away from Hong Kong island and meet fishermen towards Kowloon..









Then we reach the office... I think they chose this location just for the view. The view of the ferry dock from inside the suites is magnificent.



Then it's off to another day in the office. I usually start my day bugging Agnes, whom i love the most. She sits in front of me and she's a P.A. In the beginning we hardly spoke because i didn't know she understood English but then I noticed she'd laugh whenever I would make a sarcastic comment. Then one day i left my keys behind and had to go back to the office and she was the only one around. She made fun of how i spent so much on a cab ride back to Kowloon and showed me how to get back to HK island with my last remaining dollars. Since then we've been getting along really well. she's been trying to teach me Cantonese. Everyday, she gives me a new word to learn.




yesterday's word was, "I don't know"...






my desk is still awfully bare (if you don't count the paperwork!)




the rest of the gals are just as great. i wouldn't have survived without them!


Angela's only been here for a month or so and already she's a pro whereas I still need someone to take me to 6th floor edit suites or else i'll get lost...Angela's been such a trooper walking me through every step even when she's busy. Sobrang bait!



she looks like an asian telenovela contrabida but she's actually super nice..





here's angela with happy. happy's like our mommy. she's always scolding me instant dinners and scolding everyone else for not loading my computer with the right programs. she's the best!



here's the view of the channel v and star movies floor it's filled with producers... tatasky, star world and xing kong are all on my side.



my friend mandy's on the other side.. the quiet side (because the boss sits right next to them)..



and finally, here's where we log footage...