Presence of Mind

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Presence of mind. Being there in the moment. Awareness.

I kinda lost it a bit this afternoon. No, nothing serious or extremely embarrassing. Not a big deal really, if you think about it.

On my way out from of the office, I decided to withdraw money from the ATM machine right outside the pantry. I owed Mom for our Duty Free shopping spree last month and her card’s due for payment today. I had to withdraw a significant sum so I placed my paper bag of gifts (from my two bosses and a colleague) on top of the machine, and I was obviously guarded and in a bit of a hurry. There was a dude right behind me who didn’t bother moving to the side of the machine to wait so I felt rushed.

To cut straight to the end of the story, I forgot to reach for my bag of gifts as I left the machine. From there I stepped out onto the sunshine, crossed the road to SM and checked the line at the bank. Seeing quite a long queue, I decided to go to the BDO branch I opened an account with instead thinking they’d be more accommodating of my request to change a huge amount to smaller bills (we need hundred peso bills for the overtime incentive on Monday and Tuesday). That branch is along E.Rod, near home, so I hopped on a cab (after waiting on queue – this was past 1PM in Cubao so there’s already stiff competition for cabs). I realized something was missing just before I had to get off the cab.

I thought about going back, but I tried to think of who may still be in the office instead. In the process, I hassled quite a few people 🙂 It wasn’t for naught because one of them was able to check on the bag for me, and reported back that it was already in the security office and I could claim it tonight. Thank goodness whoever found it turned it in. They could have so easily taken it home and I’d have no one to blame but myself. To think I waited a few seconds at the ATM machine for a receipt that wasn’t printed, I didn’t notice my bag staring me right smack on the face! Complete lack of awareness. I’m surprised I didn’t lose anything else today.

Perhaps I still have angels watching over me. 🙂

This reminds me how sometimes, customer DSAT is driven by a rep’s lack of awareness.