Another Customer Experience

I have heard and read here on LIP many stories of poor customer service experiences and negative about store personnel so when I had a recent experience with store personnel and customer service from a major store chain here I just had to share my story.

As most of you are aware, I have a mobility impairment that precludes me from ascending stairs and steep ramps for that matter, but doesn’t deter me from traveling and improvising when and where needed.

On a trip out and about I needed something from the drug store and I was downtown in Tagum City so I thought I would stop on the way home at one of the three branches of Mercury Drug here and browse and pick up what I needed.

Well on my arrival at the location nearest to my home, I encountered the standard, motorcycle parked on the ramp leading to the store doors, so with some local assistance we moved the bike and I proceeded to the front entrance.

To my dismay, they had a ramp to the walk but a foot high step in the front door ! So I went to an alternate drug store that has narrow aisles but at least I can let the store employees know what it is I need and they happily assist me, and they charge enough at that store to have happy helpers too !

So I make it back home, go on the Mercury Drug website and see a customer service feedback link, and I proceed to ask why that location is not wheelchair accessible.

To my utter surprise not two hours go by and I get a phone call from someone in Manila from Mercury drugs headquarters saying that they will investigate and remedy the problem as they value their customers.

Without thinking but surprised I got a response at all I went about my business not expecting anything to happen and my expectations were correct nothing did happen.

You see I was in customer relations on a senior level for many years for a major Japanese manufacturing company and never would I even consider to do what happened when I asked a second time about the accessibility issue at this store.

Again I e-mailed the customer service link asking if they were going to follow up or what their findings were and a few hours later i get a call and the representative asked what my address was, thinking this was strange and maybe they were going to put a hit out on me (remember I am from Chicago), I reluctantly gave them my address, and then went and laid down for a nap.

An hour later our house help knocked  0n my door saying I had a visitor in fact I had two visitors. I jumped out of bed scratching my head and yes you guessed it – two employees from Mercury Drug were sitting in my living room, one was the branch manager for Tagum and the other the store manager.

We had a wonderful conversation and they asked how they could help, me being a disability advocate in the US and familiar with architectural barrier construction, I explained how they could remedy the situation.

They both agreed that the plan presented was in fact attainable and it would be presented to their manager in Manila so the necessary paperwork could be started to get the repair started.

Never in a hundred years would I ever expect a company rep to come to my home from any major company in the US, so with this I was surprised, also I would never think a problem could be remedied with such little hassle.

The reps explained to me, that for the most part, their customer base is rather reluctant to voice their concerns as most are shy and do not expect any result.

I really feel that this is not the case here with Mercury Drug and have every expectation that they will follow through as the store manager has agreed to personally deliver any drugs i need until the access problem is fixed!

Now how is that for customer service – kudos to Mercury drug!

Trick or Treat

Common phrase that you will hear this time of year in the US, but I was surprised to learn that Halloween is celebrated in another way here in the Philippines. There is no getting dressed up in store bought costumes and planning a route for taking the kids going door to door saying “trick or treat” here. I found myself going to the local mall to do a little shopping for foods, ummm a mistake.

There must have been twenty thousand people there! For one it was the deadline to register to vote here in the Philippines and two Halloween here is celebrated in grand fashion at the mall! That’s right the tradition as I learned was to create, not buy, but make yourself a costume and depending on your age enter a costume judging contest or enjoy many festivities that includes a marching band, the local “jollibee” parading through the grocery store and all of the department stores on all the other levels of the mall.

And let me tell you I was so impressed at the talent and thought in making these costumes. It kind of makes sense to me that unlike the US, they do not go door to door here, I mean the difference you will find in just about any neighborhood here is one house will have crystal chandeliers and the next door home have woven palm frawns for a front door, so it makes sense to celebrate Halloween either privately with a home party or at the local mall. The local paper here has a front page story in it that quotes the Catholic church as saying that Halloween is becoming a commercial holiday, made me think that as long as I can remember, I can never remember thinking that Halloween as a religious holiday, but it is, it All Hallows Day, but more holidayesqe here and celebrated by more here is the following days November 1 and November 2, November 1 being All Saints Day and November 2 being All Souls Day, at this time the departed are remembered and even as I shopped in the grocery store I was surprised to find there was no chicken for sale, see it was already sold to people making the pilgrimage to the cemetery to make a offering to the departed and actually have a picnic at the cemetery!

This has its deepest roots in the traditions of the Catholic religion of which I am a member but never did I celebrate this holy tradition in my home country, that’s why I had to kind of chuckle when reading about how the Church was angry about the holiday being commercialized. In my opinion Christmas takes that top honor all over the world.

I really love exploring the differences of living here in the Philippines and I hope you do or will too soon!

Mabuhay !

That’s What Friends are For

That’s the words recently sent to me from someone on this web magazine, you see first I have to apologize to the readers of my column here on LIP but last week was a busy one for me and having computer and Internet issues didn’t help.

That’s what brings me to this article this week though, I thought I sent word to the editor of this fine medium, that I had company his week, my mother in law and some family members came from Leyte to stay with us and sell thier farm there in Maragusan. But the message never went out, I don’t know why.

So a week later our Editor sends me a e-mail asking if I am OK, not saying “hey wheres last weeks article” or anything like that but more of a, hey are you OK are you sick ? is there anything I can do for you ? so I thought to myself, yes this group of people that are in a foreign land far from thier original roots do have a genuine concern for one another. The same is to be said for those who are part of this community that are affected by the wrath of mother nature all of us LIP community members have a concern for you and your family and well being.

It really is a warm feeling that although we are not related and really have not spent any considerable time together, we as part of this community that our Editor had knitted together have each others back so to speak. This is just another facet of living here in the Philippines. I participated in many other forums when I lived in the US, mostly race related and not so many social sites but never did I once get a mail saying hey are you OK after not signing on for a week and I just wanted to say in public Thank You Bob and Feyma (the birthday girl) for caring enough to ask about my well being.

It really is wonderful to belong to this community. I will resume my regular articles next week and thanks to all of you for being supportive.

Mabuhay !

Educational Experience

An experience indeed.

.

What I am clamoring about is the educational process as observed by a foreigner here in the Philippines.

You would expect a high school student to be held accountable for their attendance, grades, behavior, and ability to achieve academic excellence by their own actions however I have observed the schooling we have provided for our teens living here in Tagum, and it just drives home the point, we’re not in Kansas!

And in the school system’s defense, not all students have the means and ability to go to their assigned classes and participate due to family hardship etc.  But is that fair to the remaining students that are looking for a quality education.

I have read some articles that Bob wrote about the differences in public and private schools there in Davao and there is a world of difference, organization being a key factor. I have observed for example one of our kids here in our home is a junior in high school, one of the classes she is required is Filipino, which I suppose is no different then English as a required subject in the US, but it seems so fundamental and the quality of their educational process is, well in my opinion, less than adequate.

I am interested in history and subjects like that and do a lot of research on the Internet as well as learn from my peers here in the Philippines about this country and its historical attributes, and when I ask our teen about certain periods of history, she explained that wasn’t taught in public schools. I asked simple questions that was about one of my favorite history subjects WWII  and the Japanese invasion, and about the reclamation of the Republic after the war and how it was reorganized to being a Republic of it’s own sovereignty. Nope, not taught, I would have thought this was an important time in history for the Filipino people.

I tried to persuade our teens here to attend the private school of St. Mary’s but they wanted to go to the public school here that just doesn’t demand very much in the way of responsibility or accountability from their students. There is no attendance record even. Our junior is learning freshman mathematics and I just wonder when the shock will come here to the kids that graduate public schools without being held accountable when it comes time to compete in the real world.

Is an education of any quality only for the more fortunate even if the less fortunate have the desire and aptitude?  Maybe my western culture has demanded I be skeptical.

What is your experience?

I need an education!

More Shopping Adventures

So I left you last in my shopping adventures with me arriving at NCCC mall and discovering my camera missing on my way home, but wait, there’s meat in that sandwich, the actual event of shopping. Trust me it really is nothing like shopping in the US. I recently read an article where someone was writing to complain about a big box store I forget which one, Costco or Sam’s, and they were complaining that they had to wait 15 minutes in line and there were 2 registers that weren’t open, well ma’am, I have news for you!  Ha ha, first off the need here is tremendous for general household goods, this area of Mindanao is way under-served in the way of stores to shop for general household goods and groceries, there is basically two options, NCCC mall or GS Gaisano and the latter is somewhat lax in their hygiene to put it mildly.  So here we are at the NCCC supermarket. We arrive through a turn-style manned by a lady security guard / greeter and she checks purses and bags once again after the security point at the door but in this case redundancy is a good thing, then there are the shopping baskets and shopping carts, but before you notice those items the one thing that stands out are THE CROWDS! Yes folks commerce is alive and well here in Tagum City, there are about as many employees as customers all very busy stocking ringing the registers or packing your goods for the trip home, but more on that later.

There are the usual items there that you can find in almost any western style supermarket plus the things only available here in the Philippines, jiff peanut butter, Oreo cookies, frosties (frosted flakes complete with tony the tiger) but when selecting your goods you really have to have a sharp eye. You see pirated and blatant outright copy goods are so flagrant here, you remember Ritz crackers, well here they have Fitz crackers, by Rebisco! Ha ha, I give them a ZERO for originality, but a 10 in recreating the product and making it affordable! The one thing that bothers me is the meats section, it is open to the public to pick their own and touch and inspect any of the selection which ranges from goat heads to prime rib, a fish section and prepared foods. The open meats are semi refrigerated and open to flies and other insects so a careful home cleaning is required.

Other then a few select goods, mainly dairy products, the selection is outstanding and constantly being restocked. Navigating the store in a motorized scooted is a bit of a challenge and some patients is definitely required. But people are friendly but I have learned there is a general unwritten decorum and that is no loud talking and no yelling across the store for your partner not to forget popcorn heh. The vegetable aisle is a bit foreign to me as the goods there seem on the smallish size wise to me, peppers, potatoes, onions etc. but the root crops, like carrots are huge.

NCCC mall has four floors and the second is paper and school supplies and clothing, the third is housewares, perfumes toiletries and sports and music equipment. The fourth is yet to be explored so let me get back to you on that. The one thing aside from the mass crowds that you most notice is the amount and packaging of the groceries being sold, it seems most, not all but most, are shopping like its a Sam’s or Costco store and stocking thier stores. Almost everybody is a small business owner and they supply the rest of the neighborhoods with thier shopping needs for a small profit, these people are by no means getting rich doing this but are supplementing thier families with an extra income and assortment of groceries.

The one thing that amazes me the most at the supermarket is the employee’s, they are all so well trained, almost all speak fluent English and create a pleasant atmosphere. there are Catholic prayers every few hours where everybody stops their work and shopping to pray the rosary that is broadcast on the P.A.  system, and then there is the employee exercise regimen that takes place.

The next most amazing feat of these well trained employees is the checkout counters, there are maybe 50 individual checkouts and all are always completely packed with customers ( do you hear this SM mall owners? ) your wait in line can be as little as a half hour but usual is about one to one and a half hours wait to get completely checked out and God forbid should the BPI credit card authorization lines go down … but when you get your goods finally rung up and paid for the bag boys as we called them back in the US go into action, but these are no ordinary bag boy’s, they are probably way underpaid for what they do but they are in every sense of the meaning professional packers, they package every customers goods with precise handling and wrapping, boxing, and re-wrapping goods to make the trip home, these are so well packed I wouldn’t be afraid to send these packages across seas with eggs and glass in them. That is a service you just don’t get back in the States, and that’s just another reason why life is good in Live In The Philippine.

Freedoms Lost

Most of you, like anyone, I am sure, Cherish’s his or her freedom and rights that we enjoy as citizens, and the law’s that are designed to protect us right ?

I got to thinking the other day as i was out tooling around, how much more i enjoy my life as a result of moving here to the Philippines.

I recently saw where the police in California, made a young girl of,  I forget maybe 7 or 8 years old, close down her lemonade stand for not having, get this, a business license, and a tax statement for earned income.

What I mean is, here I feel free to do the things I want without someone holding out his hand for some sort of permit or license.

What they are calling that I think is big government. I know there are lots of laws that protect us from one thing or another and laws that protect us from other laws and therein lies the problem in my opinion, there are just too many laws back in the US.

Here although there are laws to protect life and property it seems to me I feel free pretty much to do anything I want as long as I don’t hurt or bother anyone else.

It seems the RP has thier priorities in order and the US can learn from them, yes there is the corruption issue but for the most part the police here tend to major crimes like robbery, rape, murder and the more important issues instead of going to tell someone thier music is too loud or you can’t ride your scooter on the highway !

I know it seems simple but its the nuances that makes life enjoyable here in the Philippines and one of them to me is the freedom to make your own judgements.

What do you think ?

Waste not Want not

OK so that was a popular saying that has little to do with this story but I liked it for a title. The reality is this article is much more dirty then that! What I am talking about is where does it go?  You know, when we use the CR and dump a pail of water in the toilet to flush the waste, where does it go? Here in Tagum City we have a sewer system that, well to me is just a little bit different.

You see right out in front of our house is a drainage system that is nothing more then a concrete ditch that lines both sides of the street, and if you wondered, yea it stinks, but I guess that is part of the Philippines.

Just a few blocks away there are huge drainage concrete sewer pipe that is on the side of the road along with what I imagine was a very expensive tractor/grader that seems to have just been abandoned as there are weeds and other plats growing around it and the neighbor kids play on it, no not very safe but when i was a kid I can remember playing on construction equipment as well.

But the real question is where does it go? I often wonder this, then I remember staying at the Waterfront Hotel in Davao and seeing a drainage ditch with raw waste just draining into the open Gulf of Davao and thought to myself “wow what a waste.”

Is it like that everywhere here in the Philippines? Are there any waste treatment facilities?

I have lots of questions but few answers, I will get to the bottom of it though. I wonder why have a sewer system that is for the most part just open and why have it at all if it doesn’t drain into a treatment facility?

Where i came from in Florida I had a septic system at my home as I lived outside of the city so I provided my own type of treatment facility as well as pumped and treated my own water.

I have little to  complain about as far as the water goes here, cause it’s pretty good and potable, when its on. It, for the most part, is not available early in the morning until about 11:00 A.M. or so, I guess this is because the pumping station that is only around the corner from where we live is not able to keep up with demand.

There are more questions then answers in this post, but I will continue my research and I am sure with the quantity and quality of the LIP community I will get my answers. Then we will all be educated as to… where it goes.

The Darker Side

Recently it was mentioned that Bob has not commented or has admonished his writers about negativity and the con’s to living in the Philippines, I for one whole heartedly and totally disagree with this statement and assumption, I say assumption because either you haven’t read a lot of Bob’s own as well as John Grant, even American Lola’s posts or choose to just look beyond them.

Well, unfortunately, I am going to share with you today one of the cons to living here in the Philippines or almost anywhere that’s third world, yes the Philippines is considered third world or it was anyway I think now they prefer, developing country, at any rate the country’s average population is poorer then a lot of other countries, not to say there aren’t rich people here, because there are and quite a few at that, it’s just the “average population” isn’t to median standards.

So on with my saga and disgust, I decided to go to my local shopping area Tagum City’s, NCCC Mall, which is only about 2 kilometers from my house so I take my mobility scooter, I like to do this because for one, I get so much interaction from the local people here, mostly aside from the normal, “hey Joe” that’s mostly the people that know very little English or are too shy to attempt to speak it to you, I get “hey nice car” or “I really like your service.”

On my way to the mall i pass a local elementary school and always around the school’s there are Sari Sari stores that have snacks and such for the kids and I always used to get a “hey Joe” from the attendant’s there so one day I stopped there and asked, “why do you call me Joe? My name  is Tommy.” So guess what, now I hear hello Tommy how are you with a smile, Oh yea i forgot this is supposed to be a darker side, my bad i just can’t help it to tell you about the good here because it so overshadows the darker side.

Well like i said it was a beautiful day in the tropics so I hopped on my scooter, and put my little Sony digital camera in my basket in front of my scooter just in case i see something interesting as I almost always do and off to the store.

I pass the elementary and get the usual hello’s and the wide eyed wonderment from the school kid’s and i reach the mall.

Now Tagum City is the Capitol City of Davao Del Norte and is pretty large, there are allot of people here and Lot’s more come from the provinces to shop  here, so this mall is very very crowded.

There is construction going on right now to open in October a new JS Gaisano mall and a SM Mall is in the planning phase for this area and it is much needed.

So I go in the supermarket to find my item’s and one of the thing’s that bothers me the most here is the way food is handled here, a was brought up in Carlin’s column, it is displayed uncovered,unwrapped in the open with people picking and choosing the cuts they want with flies and and other foreign matter able to come in contact with it.

It is a little better then the public markets where there is NO refrigeration and no attempt to protect the foods from contamination, but in all this improper handling, you know what? I have never gotten ill or had any problems with the foods here hmmmm.

As you can see I am still struggling to find something bad to say about living here and it isn’t cause Bob asked me not to.

So I am on my way back home on my scooter, free from any burden to get my selected groceries home because here unlike back home, or should I say back in the place I come from, it would be a cold day. I could have a “DH” bring my shopping item’s home and put them away washed and ready to consume, and a cold drink waiting for me on my return!

Ahem , yes the dark side, as i said there are poor people here and when I was almost home I saw the cutest little kid’s, walking home from school in their little uniforms (yes here where I live in this bad bad place kid’s can still walk home alone without fear of being kidnapped) so I went to take a picture and discovered my five year old Sony camera was stolen from my basket without me knowing anything.

OK, so your saying, but i had that happen to me here in California and somebody stole my stuff right out of my car (I had that happen too, more then once I might add).

I have only lived here almost six months now, and if that’s the worse thing that happens to me, it’s no wonder why Bob or any of the other writers find so little bad stuff to write about.

Rant Over 

I’m Trapped

One thing that you will find here in the Philippines and almost every house, apartment and dwelling short of a nipa hut is, it will have burglar bars on the windows sometimes on the doors and almost always a perimeter fence with a steel gate.

When I see this it just makes me shudder. A little history about my family is my oldest brother Richard was what you may call a semi unsung hero, yes he had his accolades and commendations from various Mayors including the late Mayor Richard Daley, Mayor Jane Burne, and again the late Mayor Harold Washington, none of that really mattered to me cause he was just a hero to me, he was a firefighter/paramedic for the City of Chicago he was one of the first paramedics in Chicago and helped form that service to what it is today.

My brother has had many write ups in various magazines and periodicals and even made the cover of one of them holding a baby and bringing it back to life after saving it from a burning building. One of the legislations my brother helped change was a mandate to make burglar bars on windows illegal in Chicago, it is now against city code to have them on all of your windows. The reason is obvious, if there is a fire you can’t get out, and the firefighters that are trying to save you can’t get in. Now it is a well known fact that if a burglar wants to get into your home to steal, locks,bars, and an assortment of other deterrents will not stop them, slow them down maybe but there is always a way.

It is a pet peeve and one that is well instilled by my late hero brother, that, burglar bars are bad, smoke detectors a must. It is an awful thing to burn to death and I have in fact witnessed (by accident) some photographic evidence of people who met thier fate in this manner, while my brother was putting together evidence folders. Late in his career he was an investigator because he was injured from burning chemicals in a building and could no longer fight fires so he took pictures of scenes and even did work on the movie Backdraft that was filmed in Chicago and Los Angeles. Someday when the facts are gathered I think the people of the Philippines will realize that these forms of protection are to serve more harm then good.

It was a lesson learned in Chicago.

Did I come here for my health ?

Well in short I did in fact come to the Philippines for my health. I didn’t realize it at first but I have noticed a substantial improvement in my health. I suffer from a few quite common ailments that I am quite sure a few of you also endure in reading some of the posts here in LIP. I suffer from adult onset diabetes and high cholesterol as well as being overweight and mobility impaired to top it all off. When I left Florida I was taking a tablet twice a day to control my blood sugar and one for my cholesterol and one for acid reflux disease.

It seems this combination of afflictions are in epidemic status in the US and are some of the most common forms of illness being treated by medical community in north America. I really didn’t come here to the Philippines in hopes of being healthier but it is always my goal no matter where I am to live a healthy life. I don’t smoke or drink alcohol and am a fairly active individual but even with that going for me back in the US, it just seemed my health was on the decline. Until I moved here.

I have lived here only a little over three months and in that short amount of time i have managed to lose almost 15 pounds and have reduced my diabetes meds to half of my previous dosage.

If  I were to continue taking my tablets as was prescribed for me before i would suffer from severe sugar lows in the middle of the day so I halved my dosage and still my sugar levels are around 105 – 115, I think that is a significant improvement.

I also have reduced my dependence on anti acid medication as I had to take daily because when I slept, I would have acid reflux so severe I would wake up gasping for breath and a burning throat.

I think my improvements in my health are due in part to the reduction in stress i feel here. I mean I just don’t sweat the petty stuff anymore, maybe it is the attitude of the people here to think that way and I feel I am adopting the attitude as well.

The other part is my wife’s cooking, ha ha no she isn’t’ a bad cook, in fact quite to the contrary she is a wonderful cook and as much as I prod her to go out to dinner or get fast food she almost always prefers to cook for the family or eat at home rather then get a pizza or burger.

We do eat a lot of rice as that is her tradition but I have grown accustomed to that and actually look forward to good rice at our meals.

I still indulge in my morning coffee but I don’t have the need to use Splenda as my sweetener any longer. In general I feel better due to the weight loss but I know I have a ways to go.

I have a set of loft strand crutches that I used to use as my main means of mobility only five years ago. I never took a wheelchair out of the house before, because if I went to the mall or grocery they were always available to use there. But I Was able to visit at anyone’s home without having the access issue to concern me. Now I do have to plan that way but I hope to get where I was and finally now see that if my health keeps improving that can and will be a reality for me.

I believe I do in fact owe it all, or mostly to our decision to live here in the Philippines, just one more reason if this is a contributing factor for you too

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