Best Posts in Thread: Service in the Philippines (Split thread)

There's a bit of a customer service mafia here. People pull up with their foreigner dollars, daring to bring the service. And they go guns blazing if the service is bad. It seems like a power play. People who have money feel entitled to good service, maybe because nobody else will treat them well.

I fall into the same trap sometimes, but I try to beat it back when I feel it creeping up. There are resto-bars which have signature dishes I love and I will go back even though the service is terrible. There is a place I went to the other day which has a sign which says "don't complain about the service because there is none". When I asked for a beer he pointed to the fridge and I helped myself. I sat and listened to his stories and he is probably the most interesting person I have met in this region. I will be back.

The Philippines is an adventure, not good service.

It's the job of the top dog (where the buck stops, probably the owner in most cases here) to set the culture and do the hiring which will execute on that vision.

That culture bit is part of the key. A superstar employee isn't going to fix a problem that management should fix. And that light will fade as the this employee grinds against the grain.

Sometimes service just isn't on priority. Imagine walking into a front for an criminal organization and complaining about bad service. You might get laughed out of the building. Many foreigners here throw something up as a hangout for friends and they're happy to break even. Many business owners here don't know what they are doing. Some are retired for ****'s sake.

Employees come and go. They have mood swings. They may be inspired at the start and then lose motivation. Everyone from the highest paid sports stars to the lowest level employees suffer from this. It's the top dog who needs to put a system in place to deal with the ups and downs of employees (fix your problem, maybe take a vacation, or just GTFO).

Yeah, maybe the employees should hustle and earn their pay. But why should they care if the boss doesn't?

 

I don't think anyone complaining about the service here (specifically waitresses) are expecting to be seated, chair pulled out, napkin placed on their lap, and suggestion of entree with wine choice at a bottom of the pay scale eatery.

I also don't think it is too much to ask of those staff to know what menu items are supposed to look like and make eye contact with customers once every 5 minutes so they can motion for assistance if they want/need any and go ask what they need instead of treating their place of employment as their bedroom and customers as unwelcomed inconveniences to their FB updates.

Owners/managers are responsible for staff compliance, lazy staff who ignore customers can only act that way if unsupervised or management doesn't give a hoot either.

 

I used to think most of those who were homeless were due to bad luck and not enough jobs. Then I ended up homeless for a year back in 2002. What I saw firsthand opened my eyes to the reality. While a fair amount have chemical dependency issues and a handful have mental disorders most are their due to straight out laziness. They find it easier to do nothing and have someone else feed them than working and feeding themselves. When I was homeless I started off going door to door at business's looking for work w/o any luck (well who wants to hire on someone without a phone number or permanent address). I started to go to the local day labor place which I walked to but you could take a direct bus to from street that all of the homeless shelters and soup kitchens were on or a block away from. I noticed though that only 2 others from the homeless shelter I stayed at ever went and only 1 of them was daily as I was going. I started to get day jobs semi regularly after I was showing up daily looking for work at 6am when they opened every day and I never left until 11am if I didn't get work and did that for a couple weeks. Eventually I got hired on full-time as a regular employee and went from their. But I saw no one else cared to do that almost and many of them were males and females in the working age range from 20-45 and able bodied.

When I was homeless I also had a week long cash job that was easy as it could be. The company hired 20 guys (5 vans 4 per van) to put flyers on doors and paid $50 cash a day. Two guys would walk one block putting flyers on doors while the other 2 waited until the next block and it was a small couple block area before they drove to the next area usually a 10-20 minute drive. Easy as one could hope for and easy cash. Yet day after day most of the guys never showed back up and ended up being replaced again and again because they took their $50 and ran.

I learned that most who are homeless its become their lifestyle because they don't want to deal with taking care of themselves, having things to manage, having responsibilities, and having expectations put on them. They wanted a carefree life to do whatever they wanted as long as they had someone else to feed them and some clothing handout places that is all that mattered to them.

I no longer give money to homeless or even a sandwich which I tried once offering a fresh "6 Subway sandwich and got cursed at by a homeless beggar because he wanted money, not food.

 

It is unfortunate that this seems to be something that most Filipinos suffer from. My Wife (To my annoyance) will say why should I smile and say hello, I don't know them, My Answer is and you never will but you may need them one day and guess who they will attend to First.
Then they call us strange Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm As I said in another Thread "Civility" cost nothing

 

There are restaurants that cater to foreigners, resorts. Customers at resorts are maybe less price sensitive, but those customers are mostly on vacation and living and eating at a resort in no way reflects everyday living in the PI.
If you want to live a happy life in the PI, accepting things as they are is an important part of being happy.

 

Actually I have found that the Moon's Cafe near the boulevard has probably some of the most attentive service in town, from having a greeter that is responsive to other workers who are responsive to everything else you may need. I noticed there was not one person on the phone.... they were all doing what they were paid to do... no distractions from their jobs or group meeting as the customer needs are ignored. They do a good job there.

(my comments do not reflect on the Moon's Cafe in the mall... I do not go there)

 

Try and sell any products set at a price to afford those double wages in a restaurant. Take a burger at 60p and bump its price to 80-85p to cover doubling the labor costs. How many do you think will want to purchase at the new price just so that worker can make a nice wage? People will stop buying and they don't care about the worker making 450p let alone double minimum wage which is around 315p in the Dumaguete region. Sure, you can get better quality workers who will value their job more and as a result work harder but can they work so hard as to create customers to cover the costs of the labor increase?

I'll also argue that higher wages don't mean your workers will work harder and care more. Plenty of sh*t workers in all fields be it minimum wage or $35 an hour jobs. They do what they have to to keep their jobs and that's it. If an employer paying $20 an hour cracks the whip and fires bad workers the others will make sure they stay ahead of the whip and do enough to keep their job. But for a minimum wage job the same thing applies and they will try and stay ahead of the whip and do enough to keep their jobs. Its an issue with the mentality of workers and some really care but plenty don't care at all no matter how little or how much you pay them. To them its just a paycheck and its all it will ever be.

 

Some of the friendliest locals include early-morning scavengers, street sweepers and security guards, many who will surprise you with their good english. Some of the worst are some local joggers who'll won't give way including that penitente mumbling latin prayers while charging blindly over everyone.

 

At least for me I do get service from all the security guards out there. Its rare that when entering especially at Hypermart, LP, or Robinsons that I don't get a greeting directed at me. My fiancee has complained they always acknowledge me but rarely her. My belief with that is because I'm always greeting back or nodding a nodded greeting at them. I'm not sure how many other foreigners are like I am but I think their must be a decent number of us to create that effect. Of course their are some arrogant sour pusses out their that just scowl and act superior. Yet still I rarely if ever see any Filipino's acknowledge the odd greetings they get who tend to just act like the guard doesn't exist. Its a rough job though standing there all day long bored out of your mind pretending like your checking things but not really because you don't want to offend by being invasive. I'd sure hate to be a security guard doing that job and not even getting a friendly greeting.

 

I think a lot of times they think Oh crap here comes another know it all.
If I want someone I don't know to do something I will ask my wife to explain what they need to do.
Go into a store and say "hey where's the X?"
Go into a store and say "Hi. Can you help me? I am looking for X."
The reaction will be quite different.
People are very, very sensitive to any criticism, real or perceived.
My dos pesos.