My Basic Experience Of Living In The Phil's

[wombatphil]

Me being a nosey bugger i asked one of the checkout girls how much she was paid ,her reply was 210 pesos daily .so its hardly surprising the caliber of emplyees they have at the tills .now i worked her salarly out for the benifit of our fellow brits that is 3 pounds and 18p A DAY .that would,nt even buy a big mac meal in the uk .the thing is philippino,s do not complain anything like in the west about services its just the way they are it,ll never change .

Yes mate, and given that the minimum daily wage here is mandated at P305 per 8 hour day, some newbies might be a little more forgiving towards a lot of ordinary employees in their jobs. They're working for $5 a day at Tigers found figure and out of that they have to pay for transport to work, often around P40 a day, if they're lucky, pay for their P30 lunch, pay their makeup, shoes, cleaning of uniforms etc and if they have much more than a P110 a day left they are doing well... But there are squillions in this country working for P50 to P100 per day, for a 14 or more, hour day, 7 days a week. This might include one or two meals of dried fish and white rice... So, please be not too upset at the foibles presented to us who are not accustomed to shoddy management and service.

My wife pays, in her cafe in Abuno, Lapu, the hourly salary worked out on the P305 daily, plus 30% penalties for overtime and holidays... The staff are appreciative as they see the cafe has been losing (propped up by me) but there is no suggestion of putting any off work or reducing salaries. This results in a happy staff who are certainly more caring in their work and loyal. They are also happy in their job coz I, the uncouth Aussie, keep taking the Mickey out of them and teasing them something terrible... They get a good laugh often... They all seem to be very honest (surprised the hell outa me with past experiences with others) and hand in anything, including 2 wallets full of money and a handbag, left behind. The customers were very grateful to get all back intact, something that is often likely not to happen here.

So, deal with ignorant and uncaring staff here, with a little touch of understanding, coz while they might truly be a bit of a lazy bast---, many of them are underpaid and uncaring a little because of it.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Dave Hounddriver

[Jake]

Excellent post starter Wombat!

And the responses were also valuable information. I especially like Bundy's comment about:

.......i got nuthin else to do so why get uptight? To be followed by Adventurer's kick back life

style: so we turned a negative into a positive and we had a great day.

Those comments among many others should be a golden rule among us expats. We worked

so hard to get a lousy pension, get laid off or fired a few times, married and divorced a few

times. And now we are at our golden years. What bother stressing the small chit? Or some-

thing that will never improve within our lifetime. Go with the flow.......

Here I sit with my companion by my side.....watching the sunset as well as the sunrise

[Jake]

Yeah Phil i hear ya. Let me relate my situation to you. We were married some 9 years ago and Mrs Bundy came to Australia.We have spent time here every year since but the bulk of our time has been in Australia working.We are living here now.

Mrs Bundy has become used to the service and pace of life in Oz and it's her and not me that has all the problems here!

I'm pretty laid back and it doesn't really bother me if i have to wait for things............i got nuthin else to do so why get uptight? Now the missus on the other hand is having trouble "slowing down" again.Just the other day in Gaisano we're standing in a line at the checkouts while the girl on the register seemed to be in some kinda trance "daydreaming"..............well the missus goes straight up to her and says "Excuse me, do you work here?" :hystery: :hystery: :hystery:

Fairdinkum mate, sometimes i gotta run and hide before she gets me in trouble!

About the visa and residence thing, we are on Balikbayan stamp status and as far as we are aware we can remain in the country for up to 12 months and do not need to get an I-Card. We intend making a short trip somewhere every year.

Well said Bundy,

To have a Filipina wife on a rampage is a walking ground zero. We need to keep our distance.

The blast radius is much bigger if the Filipina wife is a Balikbayan......he, he. I admire your wife

for showing her Australian ways of life!

Good boy ako -- Jake

Edited August 28, 2012 by Jake

[Okieboy]

I can be as lazy as any Filipino heheheheh

[Jack Peterson]

I can be as lazy as any Filipino heheheheh

:hystery: I am just lazy! Well! up till 10 mins before she is due home :unsure: if she has had a bad day OH! OH! we all watch out!

:tiphat:

[wombatphil]

I can be as lazy as any Filipino heheheheh

Me and you both mate... Well, bugger, look what I'm doing right now!

Edited September 5, 2012 by Dave Hounddriver

[piglett]

I can be as lazy as any Filipino heheheheh

Me and you both mate... Well, bugger, look what I'm doing right now!

well if she wanted some young buck who was going to run around like a wildman day & night she wouldn't have married one of us ....would she?

what i do is i try to never tell my wife how long any job takes

so she might think it takes 4 hours to change the oil in the car (i never asked her)

that way if i get 2 or even 3 things done while she is out i look like a hero :)

piglett

PS:Filiponos are not lazy they are just really good at pacing themselves

Edited September 3, 2012 by piglett

[i am bob]

PS:Filiponos are not lazy they are just really good at pacing themselves

I can see that I am going to fit right in!!!

:mocking:

[Thomas]

Long lines where it is not unusual but fairly normal, to wait 15 or more minutes to be next in line. Banks can be 30 minutes at times, and some ATM'S. Supermarkets etc the same. If a Govt. Department, stand by to wait several hours waiting for your turn, true...

Perhaps it can be a good business idea to import/produce combined bags and portable chairs :)

(Private I don't bother much, but I get annoyed when bad handling efftects my business, specialy if it effects any of my customers.)

Me being a nosey bugger i asked one of the checkout girls how much she was paid ,her reply was 210 pesos daily .so its hardly surprising the caliber of emplyees they have at the tills .now i worked her salarly out for the benifit of our fellow brits that is 3 pounds and 18p A DAY .that would,nt even buy a big mac meal in the uk .the thing is philippino,s do not complain anything like in the west about services its just the way they are it,ll never change .

Yes, very low salaries in the Philippines. A Filipina nanny working in HongKong earns similar to a doctor in the Philippines!!!

But it's still more than the hords without work gets, so odd when some employed don't bother.

But not odd they got tired with such many work hours and litle fun relax time. (I work over 100 hours sometimes as in startups, but it's often more stimulating and I have weeks of relaxing too.)

what i do is i try to never tell my wife how long any job takes

so she might think it takes 4 hours to change the oil in the car (i never asked her)

that way if i get 2 or even 3 things done while she is out i look like a hero :)

piglett

PS:Filiponos are not lazy they are just really good at pacing themselves

I'm lucky, parts of my jobs is thinking, looking for solution ideas. Much of it I can do with closed eyes in a sun chair, so it's hard for others to see when I'm working or not :) (Actualy for most people, some types of thinking is much more effective when being very relaxed e g as just before falling asleep. That's why it's good to "sleep on it" before taking biger decisions, although the best thinking is BEFORE falling asleep.)