General Info

[Soapy Smith]

Did you buy the book in PI?

Amazon. They will ship to Phils at international shipping rates and prompt delivery that will make you long for the Pony Express. The book is published by W.W. Norton, a reputable New York and London publisher, so you might get National BookStore or Mirandas Books to order it for you.

[Soapy Smith]

You are correct, HRM is Hotel Restaurant Management. Very popular major in PI for those who plan to work overseas.

Or maybe hospitality and restaurant management?

On the surface it almost seems like either the system of stated qualifications is inflated beyond belief or that they're looking for overqualified employees. After all, what kind of "management" skills are needed to be able to: a) carry a pad of paper on which you write down either SM, SM light, coke, or iced tea and the price (ah yes, different prices at different times of day), then tear it off and stick it in each customer's little wooden block; b) deliver drinks back to the people who ordered them; c) collect from customers before they leave; and, d) carry the change back to paying customers. At least downstairs at LA the actual money calculations are done by a cashier back in the little window under the stairs (perhaps because they don't trust the barmaids to run their own tabs?), so it's not like they need high-powered math skills. There may be a few customers who try to cut out without paying, but it's usually the freelancer who has just struck a deal for ST or LT who tracks down the barmaid to collect on the tab -- because she wants to get the hell out of the smoky bar, get on with the main event, and collect her own money. So it's not like the barmaids need major law enforcement skills or much understanding of human psychology.

Okay, so maybe it comes down to a little quirk in Filipino culture. I have a friend in one of the resort provinces who runs a school that trains Filipinos/Filipinas for the service industry jobs that are in demand for Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) -- basic computer and secretarial skills, hospitality workers, maids and housecleaners, and so on. He gets very frustrated with them because, as he puts it, "they all have the mentality that they're going to be 'employees' for the rest of their lives, always taking orders from other people who do the thinking." None of them have any sense of entrepreneurship or the initiative to think for themselves and learn how to take charge. Given this sort of mentality, perhaps the meaning of "management" as used in "HRM" and other kinds of vocational training really means obedient "followership" without a shred of leadership skills or real management implied.

So in a global economy that turns on brain power rather than muscle power, many Filipinos are destined to live in poverty for ever. At the same time, I've also interacted with some shrewd young Filipinos -- college educated, of course -- who have good heads for business. The problem, I think, is that there's too few of the latter, and their innovative capabilities can't do enough for the country as a whole, since all the systems are bogged down in entrenched expectations for bribery and sustaining the wealth and positions of the 40 (or 50 or 60) ruling families.

How's that for optimism? Just my $.03.

Skip

[Sleepy Floyd]

Ever wondered what the requirement is for a waitress job at LA Cafe? Came across this online job ad.

http://ph.jobstreet.com/jobs/2008/9/...69096.htm?fr=J

HRM = Hotel Restaurant Management? Anyone know?

In any case, WTF? GH

You are correct, HRM is Hotel Restaurant Management. Very popular major in PI for those who plan to work overseas.

[Ekspat]

HRM =

Human Resource Management?

[Tony Hoeprano]

I'm surprised they want college educated gal to work as a waitress!!! wtf?

However, I do like the 'must be pretty' on line 4. That sure wouldn't fly here in the USA, lol.

[Columpuss]

Shit! those are the exact requirements for a US congressman

[Cunning Stunt]

Ever wondered what the requirement is for a waitress job at LA Cafe? Came across this online job ad.

http://ph.jobstreet.com/jobs/2008/9/...69096.htm?fr=J

HRM = Hotel Restaurant Management? Anyone know?

In any case, WTF? GH

[Cansx]

I posted this a few minutes ago in the general ISG forum about AIDS, but I thought folks here might also be interested.

I've nearly completed reading a great book on HIV and AIDS. The book, entitled **The Wisdom of *****s: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS**, came out about six months ago. It is written by Elizabeth Pisani, a Ph.D. epidemiologist trained in Great Britain. Although the implications of the book are global in scope, most of the details are drawn from illustrations in the Third World. It was written to be accessible by most anyone rather than in stuffy academic language. Pisani has extensive experience studying HIV/AIDS in the field in Southeast Asia and Africa. The upshot, hinted at in the title, is that we can learn most about how the disease is transmitted by talking to people in settings where it gets transmitted, i.e., from prostitutes and those who inject drugs. It's very down to earth and avoids condemning either prostitutes or their clients for their behavior. She explodes numerous myths and takes careful aim at American policy under George Bush that tied HIV/AIDS funding to abstinence only programs and discouraged distribution and active education about condom use. She also sheds skepticism on the recent outpouring of reports about the international transportation of sex slaves, arguing that most of the Third World prostitutes she has studied had entered the business willingly because it paid much better than factory work or department store retail sales.

Although Pisani anchors her claims in a mountain of existing research, the book is actually kind of a page-turner because it tells the nitty gritty of what happens out on the streets of the developing world. I learned a lot about the real details of HIV transmission simply because Pisani explains things in street language rather than in the muted political correctness that’s usually found on government information websites. Although much of her most active field work was done in Indonesia, she offers up lots of examples from Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines. I highly recommend this book.

Skip

Did you buy the book in PI?

[Soapy Smith]

I posted this a few minutes ago in the general ISG forum about AIDS, but I thought folks here might also be interested.

I've nearly completed reading a great book on HIV and AIDS. The book, entitled **The Wisdom of *****s: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS**, came out about six months ago. It is written by Elizabeth Pisani, a Ph.D. epidemiologist trained in Great Britain. Although the implications of the book are global in scope, most of the details are drawn from illustrations in the Third World. It was written to be accessible by most anyone rather than in stuffy academic language. Pisani has extensive experience studying HIV/AIDS in the field in Southeast Asia and Africa. The upshot, hinted at in the title, is that we can learn most about how the disease is transmitted by talking to people in settings where it gets transmitted, i.e., from prostitutes and those who inject drugs. It's very down to earth and avoids condemning either prostitutes or their clients for their behavior. She explodes numerous myths and takes careful aim at American policy under George Bush that tied HIV/AIDS funding to abstinence only programs and discouraged distribution and active education about condom use. She also sheds skepticism on the recent outpouring of reports about the international transportation of sex slaves, arguing that most of the Third World prostitutes she has studied had entered the business willingly because it paid much better than factory work or department store retail sales.

Although Pisani anchors her claims in a mountain of existing research, the book is actually kind of a page-turner because it tells the nitty gritty of what happens out on the streets of the developing world. I learned a lot about the real details of HIV transmission simply because Pisani explains things in street language rather than in the muted political correctness that’s usually found on government information websites. Although much of her most active field work was done in Indonesia, she offers up lots of examples from Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines. I highly recommend this book.

Skip

[Soapy Smith]

I've been here a year (japan that is) and just never took to the women. I've tried, but the interest isn't there. But I really enjoyed the PI.

My apologies if I am indeed posting on the wrong site. I have found the people on this site to be far more honest than others, and less judgmental. I didn't realize that a non sex based question would be put of line. Again, my apologies.

No need to apologize, it's just that most of the participants here are not interested in Filipinas in the way you are. I have known a few Filipinas as good friends, including several whom I found very attractive, but mostly I have made acquaintance with Filipinas by grinding my loins into theirs in exchange for money. But I can imagine that if I had first visited the Phils as a younger and unmarried man, I might have followed an inclination like the one you describe.

Three suggestions: 1. Check into forums and theads about online dating contacts; 2. Do some background reading in the thread here labeled: "Filipinas: Advice and Opinions"; 3. Try to figure out some way to develop some friendships in the Phils so that you can get those friends to introduce you to eligible Filipinas who might be long-term relationship material.

Good luck. Skip

[FreebieFan]

I love New Year in the Philippines but does anyone else get tired of the sheer number and volume of fucking fireworks that are set off in the days (starting about mid-December) leading up to New Year and lasting until now (I've just shit myself yet again as yet another delayed bomb went off outside my house gates).

No wonder the Philippines are so poor - I reckon about half their GNP goes up in smoke each year but no doubt the health services people laugh all the way to the bank as a long procession of freshly limbless and third degree burns cases stagger to their doors.

So this year, for a change, I played the miserable, tight fisted old bastard and was the only household down our road not to buy and use munitions and contribute to the stinking, smoke filled war zone that the place becomes between 1130pm - 0030am each New Year. I just took a glass of fine cognac, put Auld Lang Syne on repeat, and took a seat in the front garden and watched all my Pinoy and Korean neighbors try to blow their families and themselves to kingdom come! A

it.

Loved this. Its all so true. I remember one New Years Eve staying in top floor of Renaissance hotel. Must be 30th floor. Looking down all I could see was thick smoke. That went up to the 25th floor. Could see the glow of rockets being fired from San Lorenzo behind the hotel, but the rockets barely made it thru the smoky murk. God knows what people were passively inhaling that night. Ah the joys of New Year in Bedlam.

[X Man]

Excellent advice. Of course one major attraction is that Filipinos often speak English. Even a high school dropout speaks better English than most Japanese.

I agree with Q, I get the good stuff in Japan, and play in the Philippines. I haven't ruled out a serious partner from the Philippines, but increasingly see the advantages of sticking with what I got.

X

If you have "yellow fever " and live in Japan, why don't you find some wife material in Japan? You can come to Phils to enjoy the local delights without the strings attached. Just curious.

[Cunning Stunt]

I love New Year in the Philippines but does anyone else get tired of the sheer number and volume of fucking fireworks that are set off in the days (starting about mid-December) leading up to New Year and lasting until now (I've just shit myself yet again as yet another delayed bomb went off outside my house gates). Plus, I was nearly blown up by an artillery shell size firework whilst out on New Years Eve.

No wonder the Philippines are so poor - I reckon about half their GNP goes up in smoke each year but no doubt the health services people laugh all the way to the bank as a long procession of freshly limbless and third degree burns cases stagger to their doors.

So this year, for a change, I played the miserable, tight fisted old bastard and was the only household down our road not to buy and use munitions and contribute to the stinking, smoke filled war zone that the place becomes between 1130pm - 0030am each New Year. I just took a glass of fine cognac, put Auld Lang Syne on repeat, and took a seat in the front garden and watched all my Pinoy and Korean neighbors try to blow their families and themselves to kingdom come! A salutatory experience and much less hassle than joining the melee.

WINGE OVER :D

P.S - Sorry guys - I maybe should have put this in the 'Living in the Phippines' thread. Apologies but I cannot be arsed to figure out how to shift it.

[James In Japan]

I've been here a year (japan that is) and just never took to the women. I've tried, but the interest isn't there. But I really enjoyed the PI.

My apologies if I am indeed posting on the wrong site. I have found the people on this site to be far more honest than others, and less judgmental. I didn't realize that a non sex based question would be put of line. Again, my apologies.

[Amavida]

I don't think she can tell. The sheet that is produced does not have my address on it only my name, etc.

Its not whats on the paper, its what's the computer. if she ask's they will tell her. I know this from field experience. Trust me I have the scars to prove it! hehehehehehe ;)
AV