Excuse Me

[mogo51]

Last week I read about a Thai restaurant where food was good - and it is, but that is where it stops.

I am an explorer when it comes to trying different restaurants and follow recommendations often. Mostly they turn out positive.

Last week s.o and I went to this restaurant and the food was very good. Same cannot be said for the service, staff and atmosphere in the restaurant.

One side line, is that it is full of old Thai and mainly US souvenirs and I would say the owner is very eccentric, but that was OK.

The staff are old worn out 'ladyboys', that in itself is not a problem, but they were rude to the extreme.

I have never experienced this in Philippines in my 7 visits over the years.

I got the real feeling that we were not welcome (we were the only westerners), the first time, one other.

For the price, the meal was very good but last week better than yesterday.  But it will be a long time beFore I GO BACK.

Thais do not get it I am afraid and there is little likelihood that they ever will.  'This is Thailand' and 'you are not Thai' is spat at you often - as a result they are slipping down the popularity scale as a tourist destination.  Long term expats are heading to Phil and Vietnam, even Cambodia for much the same reaoons.  

I am locked in for awhile here yet, but we will be Phils bound as soon as we can.

 

 

My whinge for the day.

[chris49]

Ron. I took my mates into a bar in Vigan. A rare night out, 2 Aussies and a Frenchman. We did not click immediately that all the waiters were male. And we were sitting in the middle of a gay/lesbian bar.

 

As far as service, they basically froze us out, wrong place and wrong time I guess. We were quick enough to leave, our mistake I would guess. The place was busy and our custom was not important to them (it seemed)

 

Was that your problem there? How was the interaction with the other customers?

 

Philippines service can be quite good to ordinary. At the lower level, the staff might struggle with English creating a barrier. At the middle to higher level, usually excellent, with such jobs at a premium.

[Jack Peterson]

At the lower level, the staff might struggle with English creating a barrier. At the middle to higher level, usually excellent, with such jobs at a premium.

 

 Isn't odd how things can Differ through the Regions, here in Dumaguete, from my Experience, we get not a total, but somewhat reversed situation.

The Upper class Place ( for want of a better expression) seem to not want to go out of there way, to serve or talk but the places I and friends visit are in the main really good at what they do and their English is sometimes better than ours.

One Bar in Particular will Remember who we are and in many cases when we were last there. Conversation with these Ladies ( as we don't get many men serving here) is Pleasant and I will say enjoyable, bad manners is as bad as a bad service to me, When you get this type of thing happen Customer retention is the result.

Of course we have the sort of Experience you both talk about but only the once. 

 Not sure Chris if I would Recognize the other type of Bar you mention until too late as I guess this is what happened?  there are many bars and Resto's that are as talked about here but in the main, things seem a lot better than other places. So we can choose our Time out, with these things in mind.

 

That's just me though and MHO

 

Jack :thumbsup:

[chris49]

The Upper class Place ( for want of a better expression) seem to not want to go out of there way, to serve or talk but the places I and friends visit are in the main really good at what they do and their English is sometimes better than ours.

 

We do not have such a wide choice here, at the higher level. As Ron will attest there is really no gourmet a la carte dining here. A few mid range places where some of the staff appear to be college level, and some more local with less command of English. The English speaking staff are assigned to your table, it would seem.

 

I do wonder about the guidelines for such employees? Given the tendency of Filipino's at any level to enjoy interacting with foreigners, are they discouraged from doing so in these places? My parallel is always SM where the sales girls will greet you, but will not engage you in conversation unless it has to do with the merchandise.

[Jack Peterson]

 

The Upper class Place ( for want of a better expression) seem to not want to go out of there way, to serve or talk but the places I and friends visit are in the main really good at what they do and their English is sometimes better than ours.

 

We do not have such a wide choice here, at the higher level. As Ron will attest there is really no gourmet a la carte dining here. A few mid range places where some of the staff appear to be college level, and some more local with less command of English. The English speaking staff are assigned to your table, it would seem.

 

I do wonder about the guidelines for such employees? Given the tendency of Filipino's at any level to enjoy interacting with foreigners, are they discouraged from doing so in these places? My parallel is always SM where the sales girls will greet you, but will not engage you in conversation unless it has to do with the merchandise.

 

Now here again we can have a Difference, English is a must for Job Applications, not sure how they Grade it but to work on the sales floor they must be able to hold some sort of Conversation or they are  destined for the Warehouse and/or janitorial, then having said that I have yet to hear anyone on the Shop floors that do not speak English. I am now beginning to Wonder if schooling plays a big Part in this. TM (our Monster) was saying not long ago that they have now segregated some of the Students who are just not making it with the English. But extra on Tagalog. Of course we are a City of  only 120.000+ and we don't seem to have many Imports for work here, So I wonder if the DepEd have sort of got the English thing fairly sorted. That is to say, Want to stay working in Dumaguete, Learn your English. TM does not get taught Tagalog at all now so the emphasis is on English. 

 You know Chris when the Time and Money is right for you, a few days down here might help you to understand what we from The region write here. Seems to me that Living in Metro Manila or Cebu puts a totally different perspective on how we all see things.

As we know we can only talk about our own experiences based on the Area we are living and I am only now ( After all these years)  beginning to Realize that the Kids in the Provincial Cities actually do/may have a better chance of moving on.

A report not long ago and I was trying to find it, gave some information that the OFW system is not as prevalent in this Area as it would seem, mainly Men going off now. the Ladies are Actually getting Work, (call centres and Such)  Banks on every Corner, all Demanding English Speakers, so as I sit and write this I think, What a different world we members can live in all in the same Country.

 

Jack. :lol:

Sorry Mogo. Hope we haven't Muddied the Topic at all.

 

Edit to apologize.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2015 by Jack Peterson

[mogo51]

Not at all Jack/Chris, I am always interested in getting views from other members about what is prevalent in their area.  I spent a bit of time up in Chris' neck of the woods and there was certainly evidence of lack of English there.

I felt the level of communication in the hospitality scene was below par and indeed that continued as s.o and I continued down from North Luzon to eventually Angeles, where it was best.

But I never really encountered an arrogance, rudeness, such as I did yesterday and indeed, the week before at the same place.  I will not go back, no matter what the food is like.  It just seemed obvious to me that we were not really welcome and the place was nearly empty!

So much for the intelligence of the so called business people in Pattaya. This is not the first time I have encountered this in Thailand.

I am looking forward to seeing  what things are like in Dumaguete, in the main I have found service and courtesy to be of a high level in Phils.

So far as English education here it is a total joke.  The who Education system here is broken and will be very hard to fix.  With the current regime, I doubt that it will.

S.O advises she will not be able to teach when we come back to Phils, due to age (50), is it the same in all other areas of employment.  She has good English, with degrees in both English/Maths.  She likes to work (probably to get away from me during the day?).  Any knowledge in that area Jack???

Edited December 21, 2015 by mogo51

[Jack Peterson]

S.O advises she will not be able to teach when we come back to Phils, due to age (50), is it the same in all other areas of employment.  She has good English, with degrees in both English/Maths.  She likes to work (probably to get away from me during the day?).  Any knowledge in that area Jack???

 

 Unfortunately  she may be right in the mainstream as we have some 350 Out of Work teachers, under 40 ( according to my SIL a teacher) but and here is a big encouraging But, they are crying out for English teachers in the private Sector with Maths as well ( and this is an Area of Concern to all parents.) I would think that she may well obtain a position. Teaching English, I will have a Word with my SIL and see what she can find Out.

having said that, would she cope with College kids?

 

Jack :unsure:

[jpbago]

 You know Chris when the Time and Money is right for you, a few days down here might help you to understand what we from The region write here. Seems to me that Living in Metro Manila or Cebu puts a totally different perspective on how we all see things.

 I spent a bit of time up in Chris' neck of the woods and there was certainly evidence of lack of English there.

   

   Before I came here, I was told that most speak English in the Philippines and that they are shy polite people......and then I came here and it seems that I am in a different country altogether. 

 

the other jp

[chris49]

 Before I came here, I was told that most speak English in the Philippines and that they are shy polite people......and then I came here and it seems that I am in a different country altogether.   

 

Jack, Jrbago, Mogo.

 

I want to clarify what I wrote yesterday. The main staff in all such establishments (restaurants, cafes, hotels etc) do have that good level of English usually associated with a college level education. The secondary staff like the servers, doormen, security guards, and those not expected to deal directly with the customer have English comprehension, but typically struggle with spoken English.

 

My Compare Mang Oren is about 52 years old, graduated from a top school in Baguio, more than 30 years ago. He's a well to do businessman and farmer, but I'm sure he has never or rarely had to use spoken English. As such he understands me very well but has major difficulty replying in fluent English.

 

Gina worked 4 years in Manila. He English is good, with some minor corrections from me, she speaks and comprehends fluently. Others who are college level are less fluent, but will pick up very quickly given the opportunity.

 

So what I'm saying is the comprehension is fairly high, but the speaking ability lags behind.

[Jack Peterson]

So what I'm saying is the comprehension is fairly high, but the speaking ability lags behind.

 Totally agree with many things you say on this But.. to stop lagging behind and better their English to progress, (as with any Other Language Learners,) they must use it