By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Last Friday was hell for us. There was no internet service and there was no Smart signal or service. There were important text messages I had sent for some clients and I assumed they went through, only to find out after some hours that the sending failed. “Stupid cellphone. Why did it take hours before the red letters appeared on the screen?”
We should already be placing some articles on the various pages of this paper first hour on Fridays but nothing was coming in last Friday. Our internet service is being provided (or not being provided on that day) by PLDT which is synonymous with Smart. They are sister companies or the same dog with two different collars. And we could not get through our writers, contributors and columnists by cellphone. All our cellphones are Smart. Worse, our publishing customers could not get through us for our land line is also PLDT. Yes, we were helpless. And my blood pressure was starting to rise.
A third Telco player? There should be four.
Later in the day, at around 4:00 p.m., some text messages started getting in. One of these was from Rev. Canon David B. Tabooy asking if we received his column. Like all our other columnists, we are getting good feedbacks on their pieces. When we told him by text that we did not, he came over with his USB saying, “If Muhamad cannot go to the mountain, then the mountain will go to Muhamad.” By the time he reached our office, our internet service was restored.
He said, “I have to make sure my column will come out. Narigat ti ma ongtan.” He was referring to elders in the Church who often would accost him whenever an issue of this paper comes out without his column. That is how loyal his readers or fans are. They would be waiting with bated breath.
Then the Sunday problem. Our delivery boy (he is just 16) would often pass by the Cathedral of the Resurrection very early (before 6:00 a.m.) and often the people selling newspapers there have not yet arrived. So he would leave the wrapped copies of ZigZag Weekly on the spot where they sell. Last Sunday, the copies disappeared and were nowhere to be found when the newspaper sellers arrived.
What? No honesty among the members of the congregation? Sadly, I came to know of the problem Thursday already when one of our loyal readers told me about it.
The arrangement now is for our delivery boy to go to the Cathedral of the Resurrection much later (after delivering the copies for the provinces at the van or bus stations) so the newspaper sellers would be there.
Our problem there had always been our boys arriving too early, no too late.
In sum, last issue was Murphy’s Law at its best hitting us. We only had 2.5 hours to put the issue together—editing, lay-outing, etc. We could not extend the deadline. Otherwise, the production process would go awry and we would not be able to hit the streets on time, at a reasonable cost. What should be comfortable for us is 7 hours to work out an issue.
What is Murphy’s Law again? It is an idiom (Google it for its history), that means if something can go wrong, it will go wrong (at the worst moment, we might add). Having no internet service or cellphone signal would not be a big deal for us if it happens on any weekday, but not on Fridays and weekends. Saturday is our printing day while Sunday is distribution day.
To beat Murphy’s Law, managers, businessmen and leaders would identify the Achilles Heel or weakest points of their operation and have back-up systems for these—in case something happens. So if a business’ main operation is transporting goods, then a spare truck or driver must be ready anytime to take over in case one of the trucks or drivers bog down. Those just starting on their own, take heed.
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