Philippine OFW

[mogo51]

We all know that OFWs bring a lot of money to Philppines, it is the 2nd biggest earner for the country I beieve?

They have a rather difficult time in many places like here in Thailand, my SO teaches Maths/English to Thais - not easy. She does this with little support or kind from School Administration.  Poor equipment and salary added.  She never complains, other than to come home many times exhausted.

Yesterday, I was shopping around for car insurance, as my renewal was not acceptable, as it had risen i price and no claim.  I spoke to a sales lady with an Insurance Broker and found her very helpful, with quite good English.  When she said to me, 'I like trying to help farangs' I nearly fell over, as this is mostly not the case here.  Then she called me 'Sir Ron' and I realised this Thai salesperson was in fact Filipino and she confirmed this.

This woman was fantastic, quite prompt service, had me send all the docs she needed and sorted it quickly and efficiently (which here is very difficult).  I am now insured with Bangkok Insurance co. but the best part is I just saved 5000bht.

I sent an email to her boss praising her and hope she gets some mileage out of it. 

I often read posts where Filipinos are given bad reports there, but have you had the same experience and only picking the bad ones, or was I just lucky???

 

[not so old china hand]

1 hour ago, mogo51 said:

I often read posts where Filipinos are given bad reports there, but have you had the same experience and only picking the bad ones, or was I just lucky???

 

I would say your experience is the norm. Most OFWs I have met pull more than their weight and do it cheerfully for less pay than their workmates. This makes them a pleasure to deal with.

There was a BBC article last year on the rebuilding of Christchurch "Rebuilding a city brick by brick" 12 August 2015 which gave a very upbeat view of OFWs.

Of course overseas workers tend to be those with the energy to get off their arses and go and look for opportunities. Come to think of it I'm one myself....

[scott h]

1 hour ago, mogo51 said:

but have you had the same experience

With out OFW's from the Philippines (and Pakistan) the US Army in Iraq would have ground to a halt. They manned all the exchanges, all the dining facilities, did all our laundry, you name it they did it. Naturally most of the girls ended up marrying soldiers, but that's a whole different story.

[mogo51]

23 minutes ago, not so old china hand said:

I would say your experience is the norm. Most OFWs I have met pull more than their weight and do it cheerfully for less pay than their workmates. This makes them a pleasure to deal with.

There was a BBC article last year on the rebuilding of Christchurch "Rebuilding a city brick by brick" 12 August 2015 which gave a very upbeat view of OFWs.

Of course overseas workers tend to be those with the energy to get off their arses and go and look for opportunities. Come to think of it I'm one myself....

 

My experience is that the OFWs here are indeed good workers, who get a rough deal, but just keep walking up to the plate.

[chris49]

15 hours ago, mogo51 said:

 

My experience is that the OFWs here are indeed good workers, who get a rough deal, but just keep walking up to the plate.

The Filipino/Filipina has a better grasp of English and can enunciate clearly with no accent, no difficulty. And throughout Asia they do very well in service industries like hotels, restaurants etc. Plus the Filipino values his/her job and keeping that in mind, they do give excellent service.

Yes, Filipino or in general ex pat salary scales can be a bit low, I agree. But the Filipino copes with that also.

[Crocodile]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

With out OFW's from the Philippines (and Pakistan) the US Army in Iraq would have ground to a halt. They manned all the exchanges, all the dining facilities, did all our laundry, you name it they did it. Naturally most of the girls ended up marrying soldiers, but that's a whole different story.

First time I have heard about this.  Very interesting - Thanks for sharing!

[Gratefuled]

We all know that OFWs bring a lot of money to Philppines, it is the 2nd biggest earner for the country I believe?

Actually, OFWs contribute around 10% of the revenue for the country. The country would be hurting, more if they did not get this 10%. There are not enough jobs in the country for the OFWs. The OFWs sacrifice a lot to support their family back home. Often, the money is not spent wisely. Some of their children just buy expensive cell phones, or  other non essential things. Some husbands drink and smoke it up and some times get a gf to spend time with. There have been articles written about this and I do believe some but not all are like this.

[mogo51]

11 hours ago, chris49 said:

The Filipino/Filipina has a better grasp of English and can enunciate clearly with no accent, no difficulty. And throughout Asia they do very well in service industries like hotels, restaurants etc. Plus the Filipino values his/her job and keeping that in mind, they do give excellent service.

Yes, Filipino or in general ex pat salary scales can be a bit low, I agree. But the Filipino copes with that also.

Yes Chris, absolutely correct and well said.  I learned that very quickly when I met my SO.