Post New Year's celebration

It is already the third day of the year. How was your first 2 days of 2022? What have you been up to the past couple of days?

My January 1st may not be how we used to celebrate it like before but I am happy that we have already started a new chapter. Another year that will be full of experiences and learning. Another year to set a new goal. Another year to be better, wiser and stronger.

We used to celebrate January 1 by having lunch here at home with my dad's late brother and family. It changed not only because he died but also because my godmother moved to the province wirh her siblings and her daughters are now living abroad. We still get to see each other before the pandemic especially when my cousins would visit the Philippines. Sometimes my cousin would really schedule her vacation during the holidays. I was happy when we celebrated post Christmas and pre New Year a few years back. It was the first holiday celebration that we had after her dad died. She said that she really wanted to continue the tradition that we had before and I know soon we willbe able to celebrate it like how we used to before.

This year was just like any other day. We ate the foods from my dad's friend again who owns a restaurant. He sent us Chinese kikiam, lumpiang shanghai just like last Christmas but he also sent us beef curry and bistek tagalog (beef/pork steak simmered in soy sauce) and it was already our brunch. For snack, we just ate the left over lasagna and desserts. I didn't not had dinner because I was already full.

Instead of sleeping, I used that day to be more active though not physically but virtually. I read more than 10 articles that day. I also cooked another batch of lasagna sauces because the one that I cooked during December 30 would not be able to make a lot for our snack on January 2. We found out during the first day of the year that they would visit us. Aside from reading and cooking, I also walked around 3,000 steps that day. A good start of the year don't you think?

Come January 2, my brother's family visited us for a post new year's celebration. They brought samgyupsal sets from their store and we served our helper's beef caldereta and the lumpiang shanghai that I made. After my parents and I had breakfast, I was surprised that my dad took a bath. I thought that it was because of my brother's arrival but because he was going out. I did not know about it as I have only found out about it through our helper. She said that my dad kept on telling her the night before that he was going lut the following. I guess he just wanted to go out because it was still alert level 2.

We were all wearing green except for my dad. We had our photos taken again but I feel like my face was so sore. Plus, I was not able to cover my side belge when we were seated at the couch. LOL. After we had lunch, my dad left. I thought that he will cancel his plans but I was wrong.

We were not able to bond that much with my brother's family because after lunch, I started assembling the lasagna with the help of my mom. While were at the kitchen, my godson went back and forth to the kitchen and living room. He is now tall that he kept on adjusting the refrigerator's temperature. He also helped me in stirring the white sauce that I reheated.

From the kitchen, I can see that my brother and sister-in-law was busy. My brother was watching Netflix while my sister-in-law was in front of the laptop. I knew right away that she was working on something for their store.

When I was about to bake the lasagna, my brother order pizza from Pizza Hut. However, when it arrived, he noticed that the other box was not what he ordered. He was so dismayed that he immediately called the hotline and told them about it.  The agent said that they will call us in 15 minutes so we waited for 30 minutes. I was telling my brother that maybe the other box was also wrong and that he should have checked the crust but he didn't. We gor to eat our snack for early dinner. We waited long enough and did not got any feedback so we started digging. Then my guess was right. The crust of the other pizza was also wrong.

After an hour and a half, we got a call back and asked for my cellphone number as the branch will call me. After a few minutes, I got a text from the manager telling me that they were already preparing the pizza. I also told them that the other box of pizza was wrong. The manager asked for our exact address. We ordered it from Grab so I think they did not have access to our contact details unlike when you order directly from their hotline.

We actually wanted to let it slide but it had already happened once before. I think it was in 2020. That time we ordered through their hotline. We did not bother complaining because it was already past dinner time as the delivery took a long time to arrive.

After 20 minutes, our pizzas arrived. I asked the delivery rider if he wanted to check for the wrong order of pizzas but he said that he need not to. I even asked the rider if it was already the correct order with a smile on my face even when I was wearing a mask and he also answered yes with a big smile on his face. I trust that the store did not do anything with our food. I have worked a long time in food industry and I together with my past workmates never did anything gross to a food.

I texted the manager that we already got the right orders and thanked them for reaching out to us and for carrying out the problem smoothly. The manager told me that the cashier made a mistake in punching the orders that is why all our orders were wrong. Honestly, we do feel bad for the cashier because I know that he/she will be charged for the wrong orders but it is a way for them to be cautious and to always, always check the orders. I also did had my fair share of those wrong orders and I just charge it to experience. An experience that I needed to pay with my own salary in order to learn from my mistakes. Not only did I feel bad for the cashier because of his/her charge but also because the manager put all the blame on the cashier. Yes the cashier is the one at fault because he or she was the one who punched the orders. But there is a process. Yes he or she punched it and the one that will be seen on the order slip is the one that they have punched but do they not check the items before they serve it? In a normal restaurant set up, the staff will take the order then the cashier will punch it before the kitchen cooks it. After that the dispatcher will check the orders versus the order slip before they will pass it to the server. And the server will then check the orders if it is right and complete. From there, you would have already checked the orders so you still have time to correcr the mistake. Different restaurants, different processes, different management and I know that. But for me, one mistake is the mistake of everyone not unless it was the one receiving the order was really at fault. For example, there was an order of pineapple juice yet you wrote down mango juice. From the start the problem was with you and you are solely responsible for the wrong order. This is why repeating a customer's orders is important.

Anyway, after we got the pizzas, my brother and his family went home and they are so lucky to take home those 2 hot boxes of pizzas plus the lasagna that I baked while we were left with a few slices of pizzas that was left from the wrong orders. I do not know when they will visit us again but now that we are already in alert level 3, have 20+ thousands of positive COVID cases and our subdivision will not allow any visitor to come inside, I felt really sad. It will be our dad's birthday next month and I want us to have another beautiful family portrait again.

New year just started and we got an increase in COVID cases already. I really hope that there will be an end to this pandemic.

January 03, 2022

P.S. lead image is our family photo from yesterday.