Best Posts in Thread: Stupid is as stupid does

Stupid is as......

This week I ran into a "problem" that takes the cake.
My wife wanted to book 3 rooms for two days at a resort in Camotes. The resort insists that the money be deposited into their account at BPI. I could have done that online from my Metrobank account. NO the cash had to be deposited at a BPI branch. The resort did not want to loss the 250 PHP cost of getting an incoming wire transfer.

My wife doesn't feel like driving to town and spending 2 hours at BPI neither do I.

The resort can forget the 17,000 pesos for rooms and whatever else our friends and I would have spent on food and drinks at their resort.

 

This "lack of common sense" is a common trait across many Asian countries. It's certainly not exclusive to The Philippines.
I have encountered the same problems living, working, and running a business in China and Cambodia.
One must understand though, that a lot of it comes down to their education. In Western countries we are taught to question things, use our imagination, have our own point of view, and "think outside the box". In Asian countries they are taught to copy and remember what they are told and then regurgitate it come exam time. Try asking a typical Chinese teenager to use their imagination and you'll understand what I mean.
There's no point in letting it get to you or trying to change the system, it ain't gonna work. Just pick the bloody olives or mushrooms off the pizza when it arrives if that's what it takes.

Having said that, I've met a huge number of expats who are also pretty bloody stupid too

 

wearing sandals with white socks, walking in the sun half naked, eating bread for breakfast instead of rice, drinking beer in the morning, building a huge house for only 2 people, not learning/understanding the local language, arrogant white pride attitude, complaining about food / service etc ... just to mention a few more or less important issues.

 

What is intelligence?

To me, it's the ability to survive. Stupid is catastrophic failure. Anything beyond the ability to survive is just virtue signalling. It's boasting about how great you are. The sad truth is that a feeling of greatness is why a lot of foreigners are here. A crap pension in the U.S. with no love can become a dramatic boost in the Philippines. Your Philippines starter kit when you arrive is an upgrade in economic status and a girlfriend. Foreigners may not feel as privileged in Dumaguete as they once did, but they're still in a sort of alternate status reality where they aren't subject to the same rules. You get a hat tip and an exception from being dog**** as is typical of immigrants. If you came to the Philippines to get more bang for your buck, then why rub it in? Just chill and enjoy your blessings.

Stupid is the brilliant mathematicians, coders and wall street traders who blew up the economy in 2008. Smart is the Filipino polymath who can survive under the roughest conditions. Throw a super computer into the woods and it will immediately die. A stupid wild animal with no frontal lobes is an expert in survival.

Philippines society serves the Philippines just fine. The businesses which operate here serve to the locals. Foreigners do bring in money, but mostly to a tourist industry. The Philippines will change as the people here demand it. Foreigners won't move the needle on this. So then, we just b*tch and make foreigners look bad.

 

"Stupid is as Stupid does" aptly describes this thread!

Is a thread ever retired or does it remain for ever in Dumaguete Info. Forum? ....ready to be brought to life again <groan> by someone new complaining about living here.

Adjust to the culture and lets move on.

 

I think Pompolino is right about the cause of most of the problems. It is simply bureaucratic behavior, you see it everywhere when dealing with government. You see something that doesn't make sense and ask the person to change it, but the default answer is always no. You don't get fired or get in trouble in a bureaucracy for saying no, you don't get more work that doesn't benefit you in any way for saying no and what doesn't make sense right now might have made sense at one time, but it can't be changed without authorization.

Staff is seldom given any leeway in the PI, that isn't how management thinks or is trained, they themselves probably have little leeway, so it all rolls downhill. The good news is, that like most things, things are getting better, although slowly. Probably the best thing to do is support those little islands of hope that you find and hope that others follow.

 

All generalisations are wrong.