Taking The Credit

Guys we are talking about the same person here in two different situations.

When the RESULT is GOOD ... this guy takes all the credit.  When the RESULT is BAD ... this guy blame others.

Give Credit To Where Credit Is Due

Reading the above, I am a poster boy of someone who was not given credit where credit is due. Owning a restaurant has given me the opportunity to be always ignored, overlooked, and taken no notice of.

Being the owner, I should know the ins and outs of the business and I should know at least how to cook, use Youtube, follow the recipe, and be willing to experiment with what kind of food sells and what kind of ingredients are needed to entice customers and compete in the jungle called food business.

My idea of fried chicken for instance is being able to jockey for a position in a world dominated by Jollibee or Chowking. Maybe just a little tad below them would be enough for me ... and selling fried chicken that borders on the run-of-the-mill type, the ordinary, the inferior, the so-so, the insignificant was not what I envisioned.

So it was a painful six months for us (together with an old reliable kin (who specializes the lutong bahay types of food) our partnership experimented with a tedious process of different kinds of fried chicken using different kinds of spices, food liquor, condiments, and breading mix.   There was no letup in our quest to find what ticks and what succeeds - just to satisfy the fussy, discerning, and finicky palates of the consuming public.

I trained this reliable kin up to the wee hours of the morning, we watched youtube together like clockwork and our faces bedaub with flour and oil (the silent witness of how hungry and thirsty we are to get the magic formula). And after more than ten attempts of arduous fried chicken pursuit, we perfected the recipe, earning us our tagline: The FRIED (pride) of Iloilo.

When we served the product for the first time, there were a lot of positive comments that lifted our spirits and warm the cockles of our hearts. And as days go on the rose-colored comments centered and solely directed to our reliable kin about how good she was - in the cooking department.

If it is only once or twice I don't mind.  After working in America, I have been self-assured and confident that I can deliver. There is no question in my mind that I can make it in any jungle of the world. 

But hearing these comments all the time, there is something like a pinch that I felt.  Somebody is TAKING A CREDIT FOR MY HARD WORK. This menu is my brainchild and somebody is stealing the thunder right under my nose.  Although it was not her fault and it was not intentional ... it still pains me to see my hard work being plundered away from me.  But being generous that I am ... I allowed it to happen.

What more can I ask? I have been more blessed than I could imagine. And for crying out loud somebody who has not received any recognition in her lifetime ...  LET HER ENJOY THE LIMELIGHT! 

And as a little consolation, the plaudits and the rave reviews she is getting are my success too ... but nobody can fault me for feeling shortchanged, ripped-off, scammed, and duped.

Celebrating Birthdays

Thirty and above children still celebrating birthdays? Bakit?Just like a son who told his Dad: "Dad i-celebrate naman natin ang birthday ko.  Gusto ko lang maka-AVAIL to whatever money na meron ka habang may pagkataon.

Muntik akong nahulog sa silya sa tinuran niya. Ang sarap sagotin ng "what is there to celebrate sa klase ng buhay mo? The numbing part ng sinabi niya if you are going to analyze it is: para bang sinabi niya "ang pera mo ... pera namin.  Ang pera ko ... akin lang? Pag birthday ko dapat icelebrate natin ... pag birthday mo bahala ka sa sarili mo."