Applying for a job is quite weary. You have to shell out a bit of money to get the documents and clearances employers ask for and I underwent it today for the first time in my life. Today I went to get some of the common documents employers ask from their employees. On my phone interview, I was asked if I currently have (or if I can get) the following documents for submission in case I get accepted:

1. NBI Clearance
2. SSS Number

I know there would still be other requirements since I am still an undergraduate so I will probably be asked to get a copy of my school transcript as well as other common requirements such as an authenticated copy of my birth certificate and maybe a medical certificate from my doctor stating that I am well and able to work . Getting those is easier and less of a hassle because I don’t need other documents to get them. The NBI Clearance and SSS Number, I need a few documents to get them. I decided to go and get these requirements today since I will be having my written exams and another interview this coming Monday.

So off we (my Mom was such a darling to accompany me) went and the following is a shortened version of what we went through today.

11:00am
Went to the Barangay Hall to get a Barangay Clearance from the Barangay Captain. Paid P50.

11:15am
Went to the Municipal Hall to get my sedula (Community Tax Certificate). It cost P23 but I only got P26 change from my P50 because they had no coins left.

11:25am
Got the sedula and barangay clearance photocopied. Paid P5 for two pages. Yikes. P2.50 per page now? Ugh.

11:30am
Went to the Police Station to get my Police Clearance, but was told to go back to the Municipal Office first because I have to pay P20 there for a police clearance receipt, before I can fall in line there at the station to pay another P80 to get my Police Clearance.

11:40am
Went to the cashier in the Municipal Office to pay for the P20 police clearance receipt, but left my sedula (which is needed) so Mom had to follow me there, so we finished there around 11:50am.

11:55am (Yay! I made it before their Lunch Break)
Gave them the photocopy of my Barangay Clearance, showed them my sedula, and paid the P80 to get my application processed. I was then told to go to the “photo booth” made up of a simple plywood as a background then using a webcam they took my mug beautiful shot where I looked like a wilted piece of dried pulp.

12:10pm
The guy behind the picture/claiming window was having trouble fitting my name into the computer because they only register 15 characters for first names and mine is already 17 characters long, not including the space needed to separate it.

12:20pm
Finally got my Police Clearance, so off we went to ride a tricycle to get to the bus/jeepney stop so we can go to Lipa City’s Municipal Hall where I would be getting my NBI Clearance before heading off to the SSS Building to get my SSS number.

12:50pm
I receive a text message. “You left your wallet at the city hall’s treasury. Please come back and retrieve it.” *boink* Mom say’s, “What?”, I frantically open my bag and tada, I did leave it behind. So we tell the jeepney driver that we have to go down, so crossing the street we went back to the municipal hall where the only window open was the one with the kind man was waiting for me to claim my wallet. I was just walking to the window when he immediately put out my wallet and said, “Here.” So I ran back to Mom who was in a tricycle and instead of getting back to the jeepney stop, we decided to head back home to go eat some lunch.

1:30pm
Mom was pestering me to get up from my bed because I got engrossed in watching “The Soup” in Velvet. The topic was “People who won’t go away.” Freaky. So we end up leaving around 1:45pm.

2:15pm
We get to Lipa’s Municipal Hall and we fall in line at the NBI Clearance, Step 1 Window. There was a huge note plastered on the Window that said, “No sando or sleeveless tops allowed.” The woman in front of me was wearing a sleeveless top. When her turn came up, the guy behind the window kept on tapping the sign above to make his point. She then left and he asked me for my documents. I showed a copy of my Postal ID and my Police Clearance. He asks if it was for local or travel, I say local, and he asks if I am married or single, then see’s the single in my postal ID and says ok. I pay him P115. Then he motions me to the next window where the lady behind the glass took my picture before I even had the chance to fix my facial expression. Another mugshot there. I fill up the NBI form and ends up writing wrong information at the wrong lines. I didn’t have a husband yet I had an address for him, and I wrote my Dad’s birthplace as the same place my Mom’s was. Since I don’t carry correction tape around, I just cross it out.

2:30pm
I go line up at Step 4 to get my fingerprints printed onto the form and some guy cuts in. The man who handles the fingerprinting finishes with previous applicant and the “guy” goes in. The man tells him, she got in first, so he puts him in the corner and get my prints first. After everything is done, I pay him P5 for the wet tissue pack that is used to get all of the ink off my hands.

2:45pm
I get called in the last window where the clearances were being given out. I get told I have to go back on August 8th to claim it. I was confused. Mom then asked her again if she had the right person, and the staff said yes. Mom asked why can’t we get my NBI clearance now like the other new applicants? She then says there is a conflict since there was another person with the same name. I was like, “WTF?!?” You see my name is very very weird and sort of unique and my surname is quite rare. Even my middle name is rare. So I am just bothered right now as to why another person was registered in the records with same name as mine.

3:00pm
We get to the SSS building. Asked the guard for information, I was given a small form to fill-up. He told us I needed to submit a photocopy of my authenticated birth certificate (luckily I have one). Got my thumb prints on the form, then off we went to the line. The woman asked for a copy of my authenticated birth certificate, she punched in my name, it got cut-off again because my name was too long and then we paid P45 (I think). That was fast. We only stayed there 10 minutes. Wooohoo!

3:15pm
We arrive at SM Lipa, we look around then we head up to the second floor. I got a diamond face peel (I needed to de-stress) charged it onto Dad’s card (hopefully I get enough funds next month to pay for that one).

5:30pm
Grabbed a Cheeseburger deluxe so Mom would feel nauseaus and I bought her one tablet of SERC at Watsons.

6:30pm
Arrived home safely. Though still worried about my same name situation.

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