Best Posts in Forum: Expat Section

And persons are inquiring about starting a business here.......Foreigners, keep your heads down, and just enjoy what is good here. Avoid rubbing locals up the wrong way. it's not like "Home".

 

I've spent 25+ years out of my 49 years living/working overseas; I honestly can't figure out why an expat would be overly concerned about things that you have no control over as it would relate to politics or any officials. It has always been my thing to never talk politics or religion, I do have my opinions and some are strong but for the most part I keep them to myself and don't put them out on a forum.

Obviously we can complain on a forum about things being out of stock or the frustrations with getting things accomplished. Sometimes it sucks but I've been in places that are much more difficult to deal with.

I've been a member of this forum for a decade now as it is a great format for sharing information and experiences. The expat community seems to be quite diverse and I think that really adds to things. Not to leave out locals as I believe there are quite a few that are part of the forum and their input on discussions is very important.

Shawn

 

For this particular product some additional info.
When you have a look upon your receipt, you will read the wedge is being sold by a weight of 230 gram.
Looking @the backside of the product you will read the real weight.............almost always lower than 230 gram sometimes even just a little bit above 200 gram.
I point this out to a supervisor, guess what no comment and a complete silence.
So I took up the matter with Frico customer service in Holland for explanation and clarification.
Their answer the machine that cut the wedge is set on 230 gram with a flexibility in weight it could be less but never more.
However, the shop owner should fix the price in accordance with the real weight and not according to the standard set weight.
Frico said the overall total weight of all wedges is sold by the fixed kilo price.
So @least the importer of this product will not be overcharged not for even one peso.
I have no idea how the importer is billing these wedges to Lee, Hupermarket or Robinson. But do you believe they will except a bill paying more than the actual weight,. So once again the customers pay the bill (of course) but in uncorrect way.
A product like this, for sale in a supermarket in Holland,get a price tag in accordance with the actual weight.
For example here in the PH. The receipt says 211 peso for 230 gram which is 91,7 centavos a gram.
So a wedge with a weight of 210 gram should cost 210 x 91,7 = 192,57 peso.
That 18 peso more it will not make me bankrupt, but it's always very remarkable that the profit of a price round up always is in favour of the shop owner and never of the customer.

 

I moved there (Dumaguete) in 2009 with my Filipino husband not knowing how long I would be there. He was terminally ill and wanted to go home to die, so we uprooted us and our 10 year old daughter and made the leap. It was very hard the first couple of years, I missed Oklahoma and my family terribly. My mother, my older daughter, her husband and my granddaughter were all in Oklahoma. I learned to adapt to the ways and became to love the people, which isn't difficult at all. My daughter and I returned to Oklahoma a year after my husband passed. If I had had a permanent monthly income I probably would have stayed, but I had to come back to go back to work. We have been back 4 years now. I have no regrets at all of moving to the Philippines, I feel very fortunate to have had that experience, and I know that I could live there when I retire, which is something I am seriously considering, but that is several years away. My daughter considers Dumaguete her home, as that is where she spent her most formative years, plus she has many family members and close friends there. She is saving money to make a trip back next year, possibly.
I would say if you are concerned about your health as you age, then your plan is probably a sound one. It is difficult to find medical care there that you find here, especially if you need specialized care. But spending a few years there so that your wife can be with her family and you can experience life there, that would be very rewarding and I am sure you would not regret it. You might even find that you don't wish to return.

 

I first set foot in the PI in Jan. 1967. During the War in Viet Nam.
In 1987 came here to marry a Dumaguete girl almost 30 years ago.
Our first 22 years was in Alaska and we came back to Dumaguete once and some times twice a year during that 22 years. We moved back here to stay in June 2010. For me there are more dangers to living in the US than there are here. Will I ever go back to the US? HELL NO! Wife has orders to scatter my ashes here and I have told my family in the US to not expect me to return, not even for a funeral.
I'm here for the duration.

 

I have had to watch Family members/friends here die from Leukemia (early 20's lady) Liver Failure (toddler) Stroke and Heart Attack (young and elderly) Dengue (child) Childbirth (young Mother and child) etc... After a while you seem to become hardened to it, but it does still affect you somewhat.

One was an 18 month old Baby. When I noticed his yellow eyes and skin I told the mother to take him straight to a Doctor. She said she had already done that, and that the Dr said it was normal. NOT to me! I insisted! Several months later, the baby became ill, and so she took him back to the Medical Centre, who referred her to a Specialist. Liver failure... He died a few months later. We gave money to help but could not afford the life saving operation nor the ongoing medication needed after a Liver replacement...

We gave money to try and help the young woman receive pain medication. We are not flash with cash, so it was too little too late. It is hard. What can you do? Bleed yourself dry?

In all honesty; if I were to fall seriously ill, I could neither afford treatment nor would I expect anyone to help, so I accept if I do fall seriously ill, then come what may. It is what it is here, we cannot live forever nor can we help everyone who does fall ill... This is life here in the Philippines, something that we all need to accept for what it is.

 

Yes I know that this is an old thread. Sense it has been brought back up I thought I should put in my 5 centavos.
First a little back ground on us;
I been married to a Dumaguete lady for 30 years. The first 22 years we lived in Alaska and returned to Dumaguete at least once a year. We retired here in 2010, 8 years now. I do my best to obey all the laws and that includes, "Republic Act # 10361". A couple of years back I down-loaded it and printed it out and filed it for future reference. At that time I was already doing most of what that law required of me as an employer and promptly corrected where I was lacking, mainly the 13th. month pay part.
My handyman, I call him "my man Friday", has been with us for just over 8 years now and I trust him completely. He started out as a temporary/part time laborer at ₱300 a day paid each and every day that he worked.
After my reading of "Republic Act # 10361" I put him under written contract.
Just before Christmas last year I called him into the office and informed him that I was not going to give him the forgone ₱2,000.oo end-of-the-year, Christmas bonus because of "Republic Act # 10361". I was however going to obey "Republic Act # 10361". I than ask him to sign his pay receipt, he did. I than told him to read what he had just signed. He did and a tear appeared in his eye as he realized that it was his law required 13th. month pay/bonus at ₱10,000.oo.
My point here is, I would have went on, in ignorance, giving him the ₱2,000.oo. if I had not read that "Republic Act # 10361".
I like living here in the PI.
Friday is still, this day, working for me.