General Info

[Fredje1961]

Where do you suppose they learned that?

My point is that it's not an accident that the one country in the Pacific rim that continues to fall behind all the others economically is the one that considers itself a Christian nation.

I fully agree.

[Soapy Smith]

"God will take care of us" is what they say.Fredje

Where do you suppose they learned that?

One of my most eye-opening experiences in the Phils was when I was invited to the home of a well to do older man, very politically connected, for a rosary celebrating his 78th birthday. This was in one of the gated communities in San Juan where the wealthy families wall themselves off from the masses. I thought I'd been invited to dinner, only to find the house and attached garden packed with people and a priest carrying on in front of them. The priest was fairly young and going on in English, so I pretty quickly figured out what the occasion was. He built his sermon around some biblical passage that says it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to pass into Heaven. Clearly the audience was full of rich people, so the priest was telling them that the passage didn't literally mean that rich people couldn't get into Heaven. What he told them instead was that he was sure it meant that it matters what rich people do with their money on earth. That is, as long as they treat other people nicely, surely they too can get into Heaven. I can sometimes be a boor, so I had to fight down my impulse to laugh aloud. It's just that it struck me as very disingenuous for a Catholic priest to try to curry favor with the rich and powerful by giving them twisted biblical interpretation just to please them. But since I'm pretty much a sinner myself, I didn't mind digging into the great spread of food they served after the rosary.

My point is that it's not an accident that the one country in the Pacific rim that continues to fall behind all the others economically is the one that considers itself a Christian nation.

[Cunning Stunt]

Considering its the LA cafe, HRM probably refers to 'ho resource management' given the hundreds of young flipas willing to put out for cash that are there at any hour of day or night.

Or Helper for Randy Mongers ... lol::).

Did you get a little chuckle over the bit about Honesty and Integrity. I did. More that once I have had a waitress bring me back change for P500 when I gave P1000 and then try to brazen it out. I know this has happened to other guys as well.

Funny how the waitresses are rapidly corrupted after working there for a little while. I think it is more by the girls than by the male customers, although I know its most guys ambition to bed one of the cuter ones. Twice I have managed it but only after they have finished their contract (6 months, I think) and come over to the other side of the bar, as it were. Many obviously quickly realize that the grass is greener and the picking much healthier as a 'working' girl than as an abysmally poorly paid, overworked waitress.

Never met anyone who has managed to trap one whilst in post, although no doubt this often happens. Would be nice as their kit is cute and I have been recently outed as a uniform fetishist :D.

[Dashing Don]

Considering its the LA cafe, HRM probably refers to 'ho resource management' given the hundreds of young flipas willing to put out for cash that are there at any hour of day or night.

[Finrod]

But each time she talks about her ideas with local people, they treat her as "ambitious" and that is seen as very negative. According to local customs & values, Philippinos should not be ambitious, should not try to improve the quality of their lives, and should not try to set a goal and work hard to reach it. I think this is also a part of the reasons why they remain in poverty. "God will take care of us" is what they say.

Fredje

The locals use crabs as a metaphor to describe this mindset: when one crab tries to get out of the pot, the others pull it back in. Which is often how it is in real life: when a filipino (or filipina) tries to do better, that person gets deluged with negativity, and then if they're actually successful, they get deluged with requests for money. Those are the kind of people who, if they get out of the country, will not want to return.

[Fredje1961]

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

Hi SK,

Working with people in Phils, I basically agree with your opinion, but I would like to add some food for thought:

I have a "chat friend" in Samar (Phils) who has started a sari-sari store, and at least once a week she comes up with a new idea for business (buy a trike and offer taxi services, buy table & chairs and rent party equipment, buy a fridge and sell meat and fish.).

Basically she has good ideas very often, but not the money she needs to realize them. I'm teaching her financial management, how to save money, how to use money for investments, make the distinction between investment expenses and operational expenses etc and basically she's smart enough to understand things and she learns fast.

But each time she talks about her ideas with local people, they treat her as "ambitious" and that is seen as very negative. According to local customs & values, Philippinos should not be ambitious, should not try to improve the quality of their lives, and should not try to set a goal and work hard to reach it. I think this is also a part of the reasons why they remain in poverty. "God will take care of us" is what they say.

Fredje

[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