Thursday, November 29, 2007 Letter to the Editor: Disgust By Ms. Jasper R. Parcon
Good day.
I am one of the Sun.Star readers residing in Bacolod City. I never pictured myself writing to a newspaper but necessity and urgency pushed me to do so.
Last November 21, 2007, Wednesday, at around 3 in the morning, my cousin Gee, was held up by two unidentified men in front of Jollibee La Salle while waiting for the company bus to pick her up for work.
To check the veracity of my story, you may inquire with the Villamonte Police Station where she (my cousin) made a blotter report that same morning. My cousin works at one of the call centers here in Bacolod City, hence, the strange working hours.
Gee did not readily give in to the order of one of the perpetrators to give them her bag. She kicked and probably punched the very perpetrator who was trying to pull away her bag from her.
Because of this, the guy punched her on her face and other parts of her body several times. During the struggle, Gee shouted and screamed for help. There were tricycles parked across the street but not one of the tricycle drivers helped her.
The security guard of Jollibee was only a few meters away, but how could he offer his help when he was fast asleep?
To make matters worse, the company she was working for did not offer her any help. She reported for work the next day and everything was normal, as if nothing bad happened to her. She could not focus on her work because the incident keeps on flashing in her mind. She was still physically exhausted as well as emotionally, mentally, and psychologically bruised.
I was expecting that the company was going to give her a break from work but it never did. I was expecting that the company will advise her to visit a counselor since she was still in trauma, but it never did.
The company is deeply engrossed in its moneymaking activities that it never paused to check on how my cousin was doing after what happened to her. After all, it was because of her work that she was there in front of Jollibee La Salle at that time of the day.
One might say that it was part of her job to run into this risk. Assuming, without admitting, that this argument is correct, is it also part of this risk to work for a totally heartless employer?
The person reading this might think that I am overreacting over a minute matter. Well, to give you a point of comparison, one of officemates was also robbed more than a year ago. The event was more or less similar to what happened to my cousin.
After the incident, my employer (I am working for a small law firm) offered a day off to my officemate (but my officemate refused), and then my boss gave her financial assistance due to the losses that she suffered.
If the office I am working for (small law firm) can show heart to my officemate, why can't a big call center company do the same for my cousin?
At this point, I don't know who I should be disgusted with the most: the tricycle drivers and the security guard of Jollibee who were unable to help my cousin or the heartless call center company that she works for.
I hope you can inform the public about this. Thank you for your attention.
