Four of Spades

Have anyone seen the Jollibee commercial of Chicken Barbecue? Everybody could say that the new product is so juicy and oh so yummy. I am one of them. I am a huge Jollibee fan. When my friends and I went to their store, I saw the so called juicylicious chicken barbecue in their warmer as a small, dry textured product. I didn't even bother to order it due to it's appearance but my friend does. Like what I have suspected, it is not like what the commercial says. We really are disappointed. It is actually the opposite of what was being advertised. So everytime someone asked me what can I say about the Jollibee Chicken Barbecue, knowing that I am well-verse with their products, I will honestly not recommend it. Anyways, it seems that some people liked it but I can fearlessly say that majority aren't.

There's this one humble carinderia that specializes with lugaw (congee). The store is not really a flashy one but their food is way more delicious than of those classy competitions. They charge cheap or reasonable (tubong lugaw) but the taste is something you could remember and even savor even days after consuming their product. Their store never runs out of customers. And people from distant places didn't mind long drives just to experience and taste their cuisine. They didn't have any TV or radio advertisement. But customers keep on coming and their volume gets bigger and bigger.

yes, there is always a need to market and promote one's product. It is a way of expressing your product to the market. But what is more important than those costly advertising and promotional gimmicks is the quality of the product. It tells a lot not only about the product but most specially about the company also. Poor product grade means improper company function and system. The product is most likely the face of the company. People will like the advertisement for some time, but the product is something from the company that becomes a part of the customer's lives. Quality assurance is an attitude that boost a normal person or company into a winning force. GIVE THEM QUALITY, THAT'S THE BEST ADVERTISING.

The Ace of Spades

What is QUALITY? A certain dictionary defines quality as: high grade; superiority; excellence. If that's the meaning of quality, how can it be achieved? Why does every people expect quality in their products and even in their lives? If all of us seek for these quality living, why does only few people attain such way of life?

I used to work for an international bank. These said firm has a long tradition of quality and excellence with it. But it doesn't mean that people inside their offices experiences a happy professional life. Some of them sees themselves as a robot who executes the same processes in a day to day basis. They may be promoted but still they are stuck with their routine, like a hamster running on it's play wheel. They know they're bored but what can they do? Employment is very hard to find nowadays. They find themselves trapped. That is a problem.

I also have peers that have grown with me in our barangay. Most of them are undergraduate which makes proper employment hard for them. If I asked them if they are contented with the way they are living, they usually answer "what can I do? I didn't finished college. So I have to be contented with the way things are happening." Worst thing is that they even made themselves more binded in living a poor life because of an unplanned marriage. Unplanned in a sense that the girl got pregnant so they were forced to live together, with another baby suffering a fate worst than his/her parents have experienced. There is only few people in this situation that have achieved, let's say 60:1.

Whatever shit dumps into our lives, whatever trials and challenges meet us in our way, there is always a better way on doing things. A routinely job can be much enjoyable if you try to offer extra effort and take extra responsibilities for you to learn more and excel . It is really hard but if you think it is not really the stuff for you, go find what you think suit you most. There is always a better thing to do to have a better life. If you are unable to graduate, there is always an option to work while studying. If studying is a far option, try to do some extra jobs to have extra income. Again, there is always a better way to have a better life. The point is QUALITY ONLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU CARE ENOUGH TO DO YOUR BEST. You have the freedom to choose. Nobody is liable in your own life but you.

Seventh Card: Seven of Flowers

The lesson that I would like to impart with you is usually the typical scenario in an office. Let's just say there is a land developer company that focuses on housing projects. Since it is a full grown company, it definitely has different subdivisions. In this particular office, the marketing division usually prepares different events for their different subdivisions. The marketing officers plans, conceptualizes, and handles them almost in a weekly basis. Definitely, since almost every week they have an event, some of them usually recycles the program and concepts. Some copies from what they have seen or heard. You may think of other activities that they have done but definitely, only one will stand out. All of them are conceptualizing, planning, coordinating and implementing. But only a few takes their guts, pushes their limits, and even doing it ahead of time. Only the person who create an event that was so different and yet becomes so profitable, leave a mark on that specific division, in the company, and maybe in the whole industry. All men are normal. What makes them human is their ability to rise from any occasion. What makes it a divine inspired work is when they make it on a daily basis. The lesson that I learned from the seven of lowers is "people forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you did it." There is always time for everything. Give things their respective times and extended efforts so they can certainly flourish and be the best that it could ever be. What we do in our lifetime echoes in the pages of history.

The Third Card: Three of Flowers

The three of flowers states that: QUALITY IS THE SEARCH FOR EXCELLENCE. The sentence explains itself. I remember when I was working at Jollibee as a Service Crew. For the first time I have seen managers so angry with so little things. These same managers are the people whom I can say I enjoy the company with. They really are nice but when it comes to procedures and products, it is a must for them that you act, you work, you do, and even just for that moment, you live in excellence. And for the first time in the store's history, they passed the quality examination, silver at standard at that time. At that working-for-the-dream moment, we feel tense because of the pressure that these bosses gave us. Even the closest one suddenly became strict while working. We better ourselves, better the products, better the service every moment. That same period of time, I became a Crew Trainer. See, Excellence has a price. It is to take some parts of your attitudes away and replacing them with something better. It is making yourself better. Yes it is so hard to take away and reject the old habits but if excellence has a price, it also comes with greater rewards. Not just material gains but most of all, your personal reward. Since you give your best, you better yourself every time. So thus the product or service you give.Up until now, I have carried this habit of being a rational perfectionist. Excellence is learning. Continuous learning makes yourself adoptable to change, standards and quality also rise up as well. It is not just for the customer or any material rewards, it is most importantly for you.

Second Card: Two of Flower

"One good product or service can support you in style for the rest of your life." What you do reflects on you, simple. Same goes with the product. A High level company will not be on that rank if he has poor products. Satisfaction of self first then satisfaction of the masses. Let's take a smaller example. A person who present himself bes, as he works his best in his employment or any bother career, he might get what's best for him. I used the term "might" because he may not have a good income but he will game most based on the experience. There is always something to gain, especially if you give the best, your quality self. A person is known by what he has done, it actually became a tag for him. Here in our area, Mang Eddie sells lugaw for many years until now. He is known not Eddie but Eddieng Lugaw. Same goes with Sarao, Colgate, and so on. It is you who establish your own standards and people are the one who branded you. True that we should not let people's criticism ruin your work, your goal. But it doesn't always apply. Criticisms are for you to judge and if justifiable, it is a portion of you that you need to grow. Whatever you do, it always has some thing to do with you. Be the very best that yourself can be, because that is who you really are. Whatever we did on will resound in the echo of history.