Disparaging Comments & Flat Out Rudeness In Manila

[OnMyWay]

I think the actual issues are best said in simple examples of Asking for a Coke Zero just to be told it is Out Of Stock Sir when you can clearly see them in the case. When asked about this they say that they are Black Cokes.... One might think that the server should be able to put 1+1 to get 2 and see that a Coke Zero and a Black Coke are the same things. Or not......

 

Bruce, actually you reminded of something that tells me this is an "understandable" misunderstanding!

 

When I moved to Germany, I was a big Diet Coke drinker.  I would ask for a diet coke and the rude German waiters would look at me like I was stupid.  Even though most of them knew what I wanted, they would not let on immediately because culturally they expect you to be perfect.  So I learned quickly to ask for "Coke Light"!

[Bruce]

I think the actual issues are best said in simple examples of Asking for a Coke Zero just to be told it is Out Of Stock Sir when you can clearly see them in the case. When asked about this they say that they are Black Cokes.... One might think that the server should be able to put 1+1 to get 2 and see that a Coke Zero and a Black Coke are the same things. Or not......

 

Bruce, actually you reminded of something that tells me this is an "understandable" misunderstanding!

 

When I moved to Germany, I was a big Diet Coke drinker.  I would ask for a diet coke and the rude German waiters would look at me like I was stupid.  Even though most of them knew what I wanted, they would not let on immediately because culturally they expect you to be perfect.  So I learned quickly to ask for "Coke Light"!

 

That is interesting in that in the US, if the server wants to play games, fine... NO TIP. So it is in the server's best interest to figure it out and deliver it asap. The Krauts, (WWII, Heinies (spelling? WWI) er, ah Germans are well known for their precision! :hystery:

 

Oh yes... My grandmother's maiden name was Mullenburg, and my parents back in the 70's became members of the German / American club so I was raised in German slang.... When at German dinner functions and everyone was supposed to shout the German toast, my grandfather, a Englishmen by DNA, would let them finish and then shout and God Save the Queen! :attention:   

[JJReyes]

I'll speculate that what he was trying to say was that one of the attractions for foreigners is that the majority of people are simple and happy. Sometimes the simple part allows cultural flaws and insensitivity to come out in a blunt way.

 

I was asked by a black friend at a party what is the Pilipino attitude towards his race if he were to make a trip to the Philippines. I explained he would be ignored in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. In rural areas, there will be stares and sometimes insenstive questions like, "Why are you so dark?" My advice was to consider such questions are mere curiousity. There is no malice intended.

 

My youngest sister was involved in an exchange program. She spent one year in Dearborn, Michigan. As part of the exchange, my sister's host family in Dearborn sent their daughter to the Philippines for one year. She was blond, blue-eyed and tall. My wife and I would drive to rural areas on weekends to take pictures. She wanted to come along. Many times, women and children would come from behind and begin touching her blond hair or rubbing her arms because the skin was so light. There was a look of fear in her eyes and a signal for me to make them stop. That's when I would say something. My line in Pilipino was, "Her skin and hair are light because she has leprosy." After that line, everyone would continue to stare, but they kept their distance.

[i am bob]

I don't know...  When a person states that he wants to live in a foreign country because the majority of the locals have no brains whatsoever and that is the way he likes it...   I still think it's being rude to all Filipinos with this statement.

 

Bruce...  Aren't you the one who said Filipinos were smart?  When they are working by the day and have a wall to erect, they were smart to take their time so that they could be paid for all the days they worked?  Hmmm...  hehe!

 

OnMyWay - I kind of miss the German people and their ways.  I became friends with one local when we were both at the local Spargelfest...  He had become a little overjoyed while drinking some very potent Spargel Schnapps and took umbrage when I said that I preferred ApfelCorn for a schnapps.  He was so close in my face that I bit his nose.  A mild tussle ensued and afterward he bought me a stein of my favorite Henniger to nurse my bruised knuckles and one for his bruised head.  We ended up friends and would hit a fest together at least once a month after that.  Now as for the Coke Light?  Depending on when you were there, by law they could not call the diet version of Coke they had "Diet" Coke (too many calories) so it was Coke Light.  Coke finally brought out a new version and then there was Coke, Coke Light and Diet Coke all on the market at the same time.  Still, it wasn't long before Coke Light was dropped.  Even after Diet Coke was the only alternative, many people still called the diet version Coke Light. 

 

Anyway, to get back on track here, I don't think the Filipino people are stupid at all.  Many may not be educated but that doesn't mean anything.  And, as for how many treat foreigners?  Think of how we all treated foreigners to our own home towns before we ever thought of leaving our countries.  Sound familiar?  If it does, then does that mean you are a simple minded person too?  Or were you just uneducated at the time? 

[Bigdog]

Stupid NO..massively under educated YES... the school system here is terrible , just asking any deductive reasoning question( or a worded math problem ) will get you that 1000 yard glassy stare from most...My niece that is #1 in her high school class had a very hard time with a simple worded problem. Why? Because its simply not taught here...90% is memorization and repetitive , never the how and why or real world examples... the first thing i did was get my GF's daughter and the niece that lives with us into a private school ..even then it was a struggle to find one that actually encourages the kids to LEARN and not memorize.

[JJReyes]

Stupid NO..massively under educated YES... the school system here is terrible , just asking any deductive reasoning question( or a worded math problem ) will get you that 1000 yard glassy stare from most...My niece that is #1 in her high school class had a very hard time with a simple worded problem. Why? Because its simply not taught here...90% is memorization and repetitive , never the how and why or real world examples... the first thing i did was get my GF's daughter and the niece that lives with us into a private school ..even then it was a struggle to find one that actually encourages the kids to LEARN and not memorize.

 

The Philippine public schools are a knowledge base education system, while many of the Philippine private schools are inquiry. Not too long ago, it was the same in the United States. Even Japan with its highly admired education system made the switch from knowledge to inquiry quite recently. You will be surprised how many educators in the United States at the state level want to return to the knowledge base system. They blame the high number of functional iliterates (4th grade reading level) and near illiterates (6th grade reading level) to the inquiry method of learning.

[Bruce]

JJ, now I am doing my best to be PC here, but the dumbing down of America and the school system(S) steady decline as well as the steady rise in class room disipline issues has been traced back to the _____________ of schools and the stopping of corporal punishment. As a result of a supreme court decision. There were 2 avenues and the courts chose the wrong path, but at that time, it sounded like a solid good plan. If we knew then what we know now, we would have done things differently....

 

I can rell you as an RN that the nursing schools have REPEATEDLY lowered the standards for the student applicants because the applicants were not prepared for nursing school. As a result, the nurse graduate of 'today' is not really anywhere near the quality of the same 30+ years ago. And it is not just in nursing......

[JJReyes]

I can rell you as an RN that the nursing schools have REPEATEDLY lowered the standards for the student applicants because the applicants were not prepared for nursing school. As a result, the nurse graduate of 'today' is not really anywhere near the quality of the same 30+ years ago. And it is not just in nursing......

 

Not just nursing schools. The states are in desperate need for caregivers to provide in-home care for the elderly. The requirements have been relaxed so you no longer need a high school diploma to qualify for an eight weeks training program and certification. Because it is a certification program, a written test is not a requirement. A significant number of these caregivers cannot read or write. Some can't speak English. My question, "How can these caregiver read the labels and instructions for prescription medication and know when to give and in what dosage?" 

 

Not too many Americans are interested in caring for the elderly. So most of the eight weeks training programs are free, paid by grants from federal or state agencies. In addition, the recruits are promised wages of between $10 to $15 an hour once they have a certificate. That is $120 to $180 a day for a twelve hours shift or in Hawaii an average $350 a day, $10,500 a month, $126,000 a year if you need 24/7 caregivers at home.

 

My prices in the Philippines is P1,000 for twelve hours or $25 a shift, $50 a day, $1,500 a month, $18,000 a year for 24/7 care. The caregivers are under board or registered nurses. The numbers come out to $500 a month per employee/nurse. I have been cautioned not to do it because the hospitals and medical clinics only pay $200 to $300 a month. We would make too many enemies. That includes the Philippine Department of Health who supposedly pays rural nurses $200 to $300 a month except from time-to-time, they are out of money.     

Edited January 28, 2013 by JJReyes

[Bruce]

JJ, How true... and here in Florida, every month there are news articles (+ many that do not make the news) about care givers abusing the elderly, stealing their money and cars and draining their bank accounts. If the elderly person has no close family or someone to check on them, and once this is known to his new generation of care givers (Mostly Haitian here in South Florida) it is like a down hill ride to bankruptcy.

[Bigdog]

sure just pack your elderly off to a foriegn country with NO infrastructer for the handicapped , which if they need 24/7 care they probably are, thousands of miles and thousands of travel dollars away from family/friends..away from everything they know ( food , culture, ect) to a place where they have NO rights..what kind of cold heart son of a bitch would do that to thier mothers and fathers?