Stop Work

[mogo51]

I was having lunch with a few Western expats in Pattaya yesterday.  Amongst other things, the subject of work ethic in Thailand was discussed or should I say lack of it.

I have never been in a country where the Government will call a public holiday at the drop of a hat and think nothing of it.  No thought to productivity, cost to employer etc.  In the main, mostly absurd reasons.  My SO is a teacher and the amount of teacher down time due to cancelling of classes, imposing some other useless task or other mindless pursuit, is just not considered.

I made a mental Note (no smart comments) to ask what is the position in Philippines.  Is this the case there or are they somewhat rigorous in work ethic and the need for productivity.  

It is interesting to note that in the past 2 or so years, Thailand has lost nearly 80% of its overseas investment and large businesses are pulling out of here in ever increasing numbers.. I think Phils is already starting to reap the benefits of such ongoing Thai stupidity from what I read.

Interested in your feedback.

[scott h]

30 minutes ago, mogo51 said:

Government will call a public holiday at the drop of a hat and think nothing of it.

Wait until you make the move Mogo, you will be surprised. Declared holidays are a constant here also. Election day was a holiday, city day, the Popes visit was a holiday............just you wait

[Sander Martin]

40 minutes ago, scott h said:

Wait until you make the move Mogo, you will be surprised. Declared holidays are a constant here also. Election day was a holiday, city day, the Popes visit was a holiday............just you wait

And the "work ethic" is lacking at best even without the holidays. I think the official work moto here is "work as slow as possible to make sure theres some more work left for next year".

[Mike J]

1 hour ago, mogo51 said:

I have never been in a country where the Government will call a public holiday at the drop of a hat and think nothing of it.  No thought to productivity, cost to employer etc.  In the main, mostly absurd reasons.  My SO is a teacher and the amount of teacher down time due to cancelling of classes, imposing some other useless task or other mindless pursuit, is just not considered.

How about the Philippines you ask.  I thought that was a description of the Philippines.  

[mogo51]

Thank you all for the update, so more of the same will be the call of the day!  Sadly, I am not surprised, but all Filipinos are not like that.  My SO is a real toiler and I have met many of her former work collegues from there and they are very work conscious.  

So again it seems there is a bipolar attitude in Pils as well.

As my friend Jack would say, I will have a Pils and give some more consideration (but not too much).

[frosty (chris)]

On 16/05/2016 at 8:00 PM, Sander Martin said:

And the "work ethic" is lacking at best even without the holidays. I think the official work moto here is "work as slow as possible to make sure theres some more work left for next year".

Funny thing happened to me last week. The car had a leaky radiator hose, so trundled off to the local mechanic to have it fixed, he looked at it, no problems he says, I tell him not to bugger about trying to fix it, just replace it and gave him 300 pesos for the hose. Go back later that day, all fixed he tells me, so I take it for a drive, fair enough still leaking but not as bad, go back and see him and then have a look and they didn't replace the hose at all, asked him how long he worked on it for, he said about an hour (It's a multi cab and the bottom hose is under the back seat and hard to get too.). I left it there with instructions to buy and fit a new hose that I gave him the money for. Anyway they fitted a new hose and all ok, when I pointed this out to him, like he would have saved time and money and a client he just shrugged his shoulders and told me that's how they do things here. I just went home and beat a hole in the wall with my head

[frosty (chris)]

3 hours ago, mogo51 said:

Thank you all for the update, so more of the same will be the call of the day!  Sadly, I am not surprised, but all Filipinos are not like that.  My SO is a real toiler and I have met many of her former work collegues from there and they are very work conscious.  

So again it seems there is a bipolar attitude in Pils as well.

As my friend Jack would say, I will have a Pils and give some more consideration (but not too much).

Yeah mines the same, she worked a call centre for awhile, lousy hours, lousy pay, obnoxious clients but she stuck at it till she got what she wanted, funny the female of the species here seem to be hard workers not like some of the work shy males I see around.

[Sander Martin]

36 minutes ago, frosty (chris) said:

Funny thing happened to me last week. The car had a leaky radiator hose, so trundled off to the local mechanic to have it fixed, he looked at it, no problems he says, I tell him not to bugger about trying to fix it, just replace it and gave him 300 pesos for the hose. Go back later that day, all fixed he tells me, so I take it for a drive, fair enough still leaking but not as bad, go back and see him and then have a look and they didn't replace the hose at all, asked him how long he worked on it for, he said about an hour (It's a multi cab and the bottom hose is under the back seat and hard to get too.). I left it there with instructions to buy and fit a new hose that I gave him the money for. Anyway they fitted a new hose and all ok, when I pointed this out to him, like he would have saved time and money and a client he just shrugged his shoulders and told me that's how they do things here. I just went home and beat a hole in the wall with my head

????.

I have a funny story aswell. Anne used to live and work in Cebu IT Park. Last year i was there with her for two months. They were demolishing a building next door... About 10 guys with a chisel and hammer. I walked and had a giggle everytime i walked past. In 1 month the 10man team managed to demolish as much as it would have taken me 2-3days ALONE with a proper heavy duty "demolition hammer" (whatever they are called). Only one conclusion here - man hours are cheap ?.

[Sander Martin]

46 minutes ago, frosty (chris) said:

Yeah mines the same, she worked a call centre for awhile, lousy hours, lousy pay, obnoxious clients but she stuck at it till she got what she wanted, funny the female of the species here seem to be hard workers not like some of the work shy males I see around.

You are right. The women and shemales here are really hard workers.... While the men..... Not so. I live across a Sari Sari and there's plenty of guys drinking their red horses 10am onwards. Rarely domi ever see s female there drinking...

Edited May 17, 2016 by Sander Martin