July 13, 2007. in connection with "Ironic"...

PLDT at Cyberzone-SM City North EDSA was the next destination. i met up with my brother there. he came from school. after inquiring about a new telephone line for my shop, i wanted to eat a brownie. on the way to Brownies, i was halted by a woman named Michelle. she asked me if i had a credit card, i didn't answer. she told me she was not gonna offer me one, it was just a requirement for me to win free movie passes. so then i was interested. she asked me to fill up the form and asked a few questions. she was talkative and loud, but it was okay. part of her job description, i guess. hmm...

before i knew it, i was pulled to a one-on-one presentation (according to Michelle it would only take approximately 45mins., 5:30pm pa lang non so pumayag ako) with Marvin. we talked and talked as i occasionally looked at his watch. medyo naaliw ako, tapos pagtingin ko sa relos niya, "waah! isang oras na?" then kala ko malapit na matapos, so hinayaan ko lang for awhile. i noticed it was taking so long. i was cold and shakey. Marvin noticed i kept on looking at his watch, he tried to hide it by using his sleeve. nasira tuloy button ng sleeve niya. but i was able to take another look and i said "8:00 na?!" he then said, "hindi. 7:30 lang yan. advanced yan para di ako ma-late."

by this time, he was rushing and went straight to the point. he told me about their savings plan, using words to make me want to avail of their service. i could pay in cash, using a credit card, check book, or atm. i said no, but this other guy sat on our table and was convicing me to use my credit card (wherein i was only a supplementary card holder), said he was so sure that my mom won't be angry if i swiped the card to open up a Trust Fund. so i answered, "personally, i do not want to use the credit card, because you know what a credit card is, right? you borrow money from the bank. i don't wanna use my mother's card to borrow money from the bank to open up a trust fund. i mean, it's MY trust fund. i would want to use MY money from MY savings to open up MY trust fund." he stopped trying to convice me and asked about other things in my Personal Information Form.

yeah, he was buying time. he started convincing again, i refused and told him that i really have to go. he said "sige may inaantay lang tayo." an applause was heard, someone signed a contract with them. the other guy sat with us again and tried to convince me again to use my mother's credit card. i refused again. it's not that their program is not worth it, i just didn't have P8,000 with me at the moment. too bad their offer was only for that day. it's like "take it or leave it." Marvin just wouldn't let me go. i told him repeatedly that i have to go, asked him what is it that we were waiting for, he came up with a different excuse everytime. he was stalling. i could here him sometimes saying "whoo! natatalo ako!"

finally, he just did a survey about what i liked about their program. i told him there was nothing wrong about their program since they are offering to open a trust fund for their client at the amount that the client can afford. it could be as low as P6,000+, and pay P1,000+ a month for either 5 or 7 years. it's okay to miss paying monthly as long as you make up for the missed payment. if ever you weren't able to pay for two years, you can move the date na titigil ka na magbayad. so let's say, tapos na yung 7 years... you then have to wait 8 years before you can get your money. 15 years yung plan nila. and since malaki ang interest ng trust fund (9% to 15% per annum), malaki din pera mo at the end of 15 years. owell... it just wasn't for me. Berkley Internation, Inc. that's what they're called. Marvin told me they weren't Family First, Inc., but according to facts, Danvil Holdings, Inc. (their head company) bought the management of FFI as well as other companies under Berkley.

grabe! i was there for more than two hours. two hours of waiting for my Honey and my brother, and two hours of coldness for me inside the presentation area. poor us.