Observations About Philippine Dining

[JJReyes]

My wife writes a daily blog about our travels. She made an interesting observation about Philippine dining that is worth sharing in this forum. The Philippines is doing something right that the rest of the world should imitate.

Whenever you order from a menu at a restaurant, the wait staff writes it down. Then it is read back to you to confirm the order. This avoids misunderstanding like the portion size, "full chicken" or "half chicken" only.  When the bill is presented and the money handed over, the waitress said, "Sir, I received 1,000. I will come back with your change."

Wish they did something similar in other countries.

[virginprune]

I have had my order read back to me in many countries, it is usual practice. However, the recitation when paying that is something I find quite unique to here.

Edited February 24, 2017 by virginprune

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, JJReyes said:

The Philippines is doing something right that the rest of the world should imitate.

What you are saying is correct.  They do read the order back to you.  And yet still bring something you did not order a large percentage of times.  I think they do it because they are instructed to do so but don't really listen or remember your answers.  Such is my opinion.

One of the things your wife may want to mention in her blog is how many restaurants put the most recent order on the top of the queue (easier than putting it at the back?)  Here are two negative results of that.  When sitting at a large table, the one who orders first often gets served last as his order is constantly covered by the newer, incoming orders.  It means when you order a steak the waitress says "no problem" because she knows there is one in the kitchen, but since all the new orders go on top then 45 minutes later she comes back and says "sorry sir, the steak is no longer available, (because someone else's order got put ahead of yours and they got the last steak), would you like to order something else?"

[scott h]

32 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

not order a large percentage of times

Dave, I have only had that happen once, but as always in the Philippines, mileage varies widely here

2 hours ago, JJReyes said:

The Philippines is doing something right that the rest of the world should imitate.

JJ, I have a slightly different take on this. I noticed, the order being read back, the "I received xx amount" phenomena. Through my observation, this type of "service" is pervasive here. I don't think it is really customer service so much as the lack of trust through out the society.

Notice: No were else have I bought a light bulb, and have the clerk take it out of the box and test it. At first I thought it was so if it was bad it would save the customer a trip back through traffic. Turns out it is so the customer does not go home, replace the bulb and return to the store to get a refund for a defective bulb. Additionally no where else in the world that I have been have I seen such a preponderance of "count your change, before leaving counter" signs as I have here. I believe the server announces the amount received to preclude being accused of pocketing a bill or two.

Lets face it unless a Filipino is related by blood, or has gone to school or worked with someone for years the society here operates on President Reagans motto "trust, but verify"

A slightly dark view of the interpersonal relations of how society works here? Yes, probably, and I sincerely wished I could be proved wrong. 

[sonjack2847]

3 hours ago, scott h said:

Dave, I have only had that happen once, but as always in the Philippines, mileage varies widely here

JJ, I have a slightly different take on this. I noticed, the order being read back, the "I received xx amount" phenomena. Through my observation, this type of "service" is pervasive here. I don't think it is really customer service so much as the lack of trust through out the society.

Notice: No were else have I bought a light bulb, and have the clerk take it out of the box and test it. At first I thought it was so if it was bad it would save the customer a trip back through traffic. Turns out it is so the customer does not go home, replace the bulb and return to the store to get a refund for a defective bulb. Additionally no where else in the world that I have been have I seen such a preponderance of "count your change, before leaving counter" signs as I have here. I believe the server announces the amount received to preclude being accused of pocketing a bill or two.

Lets face it unless a Filipino is related by blood, or has gone to school or worked with someone for years the society here operates on President Reagans motto "trust, but verify"

A slightly dark view of the interpersonal relations of how society works here? Yes, probably, and I sincerely wished I could be proved wrong. 

I have ordered in Fast food restaurants and have them bring something completely different.I never knew that about the light bulbs though I did think it was just so you didn`t have to come back well you live and learn.As for verifying the amount you give that covers both parties so it is a good thing.

[jpbago]

7 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

 I think they do it because they are instructed to do so but don't really listen or remember your answers.

Listening is a rare thing here, that is listening to someone else besides themselves.

[JJReyes]

5 hours ago, scott h said:

No were else have I bought a light bulb, and have the clerk take it out of the box and test it. At first I thought it was so if it was bad it would save the customer a trip back through traffic. Turns out it is so the customer does not go home, replace the bulb and return to the store to get a refund for a defective bulb.

Interesting observation.

We brought our favorite ground coffee and several boxes of Carnation liquid coffeemate. No coffeemaker at our condo.  A quick trip to Anson across the street from Ayala Museum to resolve the problem. The clerk opened the box containing a six cups coffeemaker; plugged it in a socket; and quickly touched the heating pad to show it was working. He insisted I do the same to prove the unit was working. I refused. The smell of burned fingers is awful.

Then the inefficiencies of Philippine retail business reared its ugly head. He tried repacking and finally had to smack the top to get all the stuffing materials to settle. My wife asked, "How do we know whether or not there is new damage?" The opening, testing and repacking procedure was repeated. The clerk delivered the purchase to the counter where he wrote the receipt. A second clerk verified his scribbles were in order. Another clerk presented the receipt to me for funding. I then paid the cashier.

No package. It had been given to two security guards at the entrance for me to claim, but we couldn't exit until another clerk showed up to collect the 2nd copy of our receipt. My wife commented, "They are worse than Italians!"

Ah... The smell of brewed coffee in the morning.

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 hours ago, JJReyes said:

He insisted I do the same to prove the unit was working.

I think he was insisting you touch it to prove you would not get a shock.  Most cheap electrical appliances i have bought here will give a shock as they are not grounded. I prefer not to use any cheap electric appliances here.

[SNAFU]

I realize we are now off-topic, but one of the few exceptions to the "test/count/verify" retail routines before leaving a store with your purchase that we have experienced have been for ceramic tiles. When we tiled our new home we invariably ended up finding some broken/fractured/chipped tiles as we unpackaged them during the jobs. Not enough defective tiles to prevent us from finishing the jobs, but enough in total to equal several full packages. Asawa says no problem, we'll just take our receipts and exchange them for good tiles next time we're at Citi or Houston's, and I thought yeah right, that'll never happen! Incredibly enough, both stores replaced them with no hassles. I think it also helps that my wife customarily forges a personable, "by name" relationship with one or two salespeople/managers at most businesses we frequent often. As always, YRMV. 

[mogo51]

Globe testing done in Thai stores also, a good idea IMO.