Paid Christmas Caroling

[jimeve]

30 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Funny how all the babies they carry are still newborns though

Rent a baby. 

[GeoffH]

5 hours ago, JDDavao said:

The other day, there was a kid at a stoplight who came to stare into the back of the taxi at us and knock on the window. He didn't get anything.

That one always annoys me.  SWMBO sometimes accuses me of giving too much to beggers but I will happily ignore people knocking on my car window (for some reason that just really annoys me).  Most times SWMBO will end up giving them a small coin to make them go away (assuming we're stuck in a traffic jam which happens).

Outside a Jollibee is fine, on the street is fine, outside a church is fine... just don't bang on my car (it's the only thing I find more annoying than getting kicked in the back of a seat on a long plane trip by an uncontrolled kid).

[Gary D]

28 minutes ago, jimeve said:

Rent a baby. 

Nar, the way they knock them out the next one will be on the way by March ready for next Christmas.

[JDDavao II]

2 hours ago, Arizona Kid said:

Karma will get you if you act like a scrooge.

I suppose so. Especially since the ones begging are usually indigenous people coming down from the mountains to beg at Christmas. I gather it's one of only a few sources of outside income for many of them. It's actually like a seasonal job for them. 

It's just that Davao has had a semi-campaign against these kids out in traffic at high volume times due to the the danger of it. (I say semi-campaign because we all know the effort doesn't last.)

[JDDavao II]

12 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

SWMBO sometimes accuses me of giving too much to beggers

I get yelled at, too. I try to keep it to P5 coins for kids but she doesn't like that, either, because it encourages them.

[Marvin Boggs]

14 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I was in BI Dumaguete yesterday when some kid with a musical stick stuck his head and hand in the door to beg.  The security guy actually gave him a few coins to go away.  None of the foreigners there even looked at the kid, me included.  The beggars are all over during this season and I recognize them as the same beggars hanging out throughout the year, its just that they are all here at the same time now.  Funny how all the babies they carry are still newborns though.

I had a rather disturbing one a few days ago.  This beggar was a traffic enforcer....he kind of approached me while I was parked in front of a shop, removing something from the back of the van.  I think he wanted me to move, but then he's pointing at his open mouth and holding out his hand.  There was a smell of alcohol, so I'm assuming he would not have done that otherwise. 

[Tukaram (Tim)]

Luckily Iloilo is pretty good at not having many beggars (not sure why we don't, but I am glad).

Our "street" is more of a goat path, with rice fields on 3 sides of us.  Everyone that lives on the path is some form of relation - I do not try to keep up with all of that. When the cousins/nephews come caroling I will give like p20 to each of them.  We get a couple groups of strangers, but no one gives much, and they tend to skip our area. Last night some kids were coming down the path and my wife came inside and shut the door.  She is not giving to strangers either.  I would have given a little, since they were the only group to come by so far, but she had already turned off the porch light ha ha 

[Tommy T.]

10 hours ago, Marvin Boggs said:

I had a rather disturbing one a few days ago.  This beggar was a traffic enforcer....he kind of approached me while I was parked in front of a shop, removing something from the back of the van.  I think he wanted me to move, but then he's pointing at his open mouth and holding out his hand.  There was a smell of alcohol, so I'm assuming he would not have done that otherwise. 

Sorry... this may seem terribly off topic, but I think it relates to the Christmas giving?

You might check an old post by me last year, but I will paraphrase it here:

A couple years ago we were driving in Davao City here and took a left turn at an intersection that had an absurdly short left turn light. It was near Christmas time. There was a handful of CTTMO boys there and one of them flagged me when I started the turn during the green, which then turned quickly yellow then suddenly red. After asking for my driver's license, he said, "I am going to charge you with reckless driving... how do you feel about that?" Shit... I thought... then said, "Well, so you will do what you need to do..."Then he repeated..., "I am going to charge you with reckless driving... how do you feel about that???" (yeah... through a green/yellow/red super fast light????)

So I told him that I understood that he would do what he should but that I was very unhappy about it but would accept it... And so he repeated it again!!! L told me later that she could tell he was drunk...

So I just said that I was soooo sorry and would not repeat the offense (the bullshit offense, I was thinking) and he actually let me go...

Another time I was standing (not parked, but waiting with the engine running and "hazard" lights flashing, in front of a location in Davao that normally has jeepneys stacked three deep... Oh no... here comes a Davao Police and stops and writes me a ticket for "obstruction"... I couldn't believe it!... After seeing so many jeepneys and taxis and private cars blocking virtually roadway in the city, I was virtually gobsmacked! Anyway... I went and paid their silly 100 peso fine and was okay...

Merry Christmas to all and may all avoid tickets or citations!!!

Edited December 19, 2019 by Tommy T.

[bastonjock]

On 12/18/2019 at 11:37 AM, JDDavao said:

I suppose so. Especially since the ones begging are usually indigenous people coming down from the mountains to beg at Christmas. I gather it's one of only a few sources of outside income for many of them. It's actually like a seasonal job for them. 

It's just that Davao has had a semi-campaign against these kids out in traffic at high volume times due to the the danger of it. (I say semi-campaign because we all know the effort doesn't last.)

The indigenous people receive payment from Davao water ,to keep an eye on the water supply up the mountain  probably to stop them peeing in it 

[JDDavao II]

On 12/19/2019 at 6:54 PM, Tommy T. said:

Sorry... this may seem terribly off topic, but I think it relates to the Christmas giving?

You might check an old post by me last year, but I will paraphrase it here:

A couple years ago we were driving in Davao City here and took a left turn at an intersection that had an absurdly short left turn light. It was near Christmas time. There was a handful of CTTMO boys there and one of them flagged me when I started the turn during the green, which then turned quickly yellow then suddenly red. After asking for my driver's license, he said, "I am going to charge you with reckless driving... how do you feel about that?" Shit... I thought... then said, "Well, so you will do what you need to do..."Then he repeated..., "I am going to charge you with reckless driving... how do you feel about that???" (yeah... through a green/yellow/red super fast light????)

So I told him that I understood that he would do what he should but that I was very unhappy about it but would accept it... And so he repeated it again!!! L told me later that she could tell he was drunk...

So I just said that I was soooo sorry and would not repeat the offense (the bullshit offense, I was thinking) and he actually let me go...

Another time I was standing (not parked, but waiting with the engine running and "hazard" lights flashing, in front of a location in Davao that normally has jeepneys stacked three deep... Oh no... here comes a Davao Police and stops and writes me a ticket for "obstruction"... I couldn't believe it!... After seeing so many jeepneys and taxis and private cars blocking virtually roadway in the city, I was virtually gobsmacked! Anyway... I went and paid their silly 100 peso fine and was okay...

Merry Christmas to all and may all avoid tickets or citations!!!

The CTTMO is a joke. I see these guys from the back seat of taxis every time we go out (looking out the window is one of my few joys). You know it's a just an organization to keep cousins and nephews employed when you see these guys all sitting at tables outside of convenience stores or on straightaways, waving the traffic through.

Wow. Continue in the direction we're going? That really helps fight traffic jams.

They never have these guys at the intersections of side roads and national highways where drivers from the side streets/roads have to force themselves out into traffic because there's no traffic control devices.

Edited December 20, 2019 by JDDavao