Live in the Philippines

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In the Philippines, the interaction between people is probably different than it is back at home, wherever you are from.

Don't cause the loss of face!
Don’t cause the loss of face!

In the Philippines specifically, and generally throughout Asia, it is important to treat people with respect.  “Face” is an important concept in Asia, and you have to treat people in a way that they will not lose “face”.  This is very important in your dealings with business people here.  If you start building a good relationship with a businessman, and then later you blow up, treat them poorly, or simply make them lose face, they may never want to deal with you again.

Causing someone to lose face will only end up causing you trouble in the long run, so be respectful when dealing with people.

For many of us westerners, if things do not go as we hope or plan, we can tend to lose our cool and explode.  We might yell at somebody, or even worse.  Remember, if you are dealing with clerks in a store, even a manager, that person may not have the authority to do things differently to help you.  It is often the owner of the business who is the only person who has the ability to “break the rules” and do things in the way that you want.  Even though it is against our western upbringing, if you blow up and treat a person rudely, they may not want your business anymore.

So, just remember, working with a businessman here is different than it is back home.  If you remain patient and respectful you will likely be able to build up a real bond between yourself and the people that you are dealing with.

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Comments

  1. T’is true, Bob.

    Something I learned early on in life;
    If you can’t get satisfaction from a sales person, don’t scream and shout, ask to speak to the manager.
    If you can’t get satisfaction from the manager, don’t scream and shout, find out who the CEO is and write him a letter.
    I’ve personally written a few complaint letters to CEO’s in the past, and providing your complaint is genuine, you will be surprised how quick things happen as he/she kicks butt all the way down the line. 🙂

    • That is not so common these days. 20 or 30 years ago it could be, but I don’t consider it a big worry now. I have close friends who are also business competitors.

    • I will be kind to everyone I meet Bob & look forward to forging some good relationships there. I just want to fit in & enjoy life in the Philippines…I will adhere to the advice you gave me when I first contacted you too…You told me “Come with an open mind”

    • You also told me to try & not come with great expectations that everything there is like here in the states….You told me if I do come with great expectations,then I will be disappointed & pack my bags & come back here….Not gonna happen. I just turned 63yrs old & I’m not looking to change the world…Just fit in there.

    • I sure am brother!! I wanna enjoy it there, I’m even studying up on my Tagalog which a couple of my friends speak where I will be living in Imus Cavite. They are encouraging me to learn their language…it is the polite thing to do too.

    • Learning the language is a huge step forward, Michael. If you can do it, go for it! When I learned how to speak Bisaya, it greatly improved my life here!

    • The best way to learn a language is not to learn and memorize sentences or phrases, but to learn words and grammar, then you can form any sentence that you want to say! 🙂 But, do what is best for you, and keep it up! You are on the right track!

  5. This goes along with developing suki relationships. It’s a great advantage to your own business to cultivate business relationships with others, especially with honest competitors. We see these kinds of relationships often in public markets. One member of a husband wife team getting sick and unable to work, competitors step in to help the healthy member set up and take down their stall. Competitors may fight tooth and nail to capture new customers, but who often exchange small change to be able to make change with their customers. Sometimes you see customers looking for a specific product being lead from stall to stall by the first vendor who didn’t have that product in stock. Many examples of this behavior.

    Causing someone to lose face could be fatal, even in this day and age. It sometimes happens when alcohol is flowing…

    • Hi Ron – You are so right! Developing good interpersonal relationships is the key to a good life. Knowing your competitors is a great thing to do, and be friendly! A helping hand will always be coming your way if you are friendly with competitors and other business people!

  7. I have had several bad dealings with Philippine businesses.

    Cebu Pacific: I don’t want to get into a lot of detail because it would take too long to explain the specifics. I was told to ‘Go sit down’ like I was a dog by a Cebu Pacific employee in Singapore. I will tell you I rocked their world. I shook the foundation of Changi Airport. I did use their service again after my complaint to Cebu Pacific and the service was about as perfect as it could ever be. I was very patient and tried to be nice but the service just would not help me as it should over the several hours I waited for my plane. When is was almost time to start boarding and they still didn’t have my boarding pass, I got very mad. The rest is history. I didn’t make a scene but I chewed some butt and opened some eyes including the security. In fact security ended up doing Cebu Pacific’s job. I did nothing illegal or threatening.

    Local Post Office: These guys know me by name here locally. The clerk stole P500 plus from me. No that it is a large amount. It is simply the fact they stole it. When I was trying to pay for the postage the amount kept changing so you know something isn’t right. When I get home I was able to check online and find I was ripped off. I got in touch with the Post Master General and I was refunded my money. Last time I had mail come in, they knew my name.

    Lazada: You may notice their shipping is changing. That is probably because of me. Hope it works out. They ruined a little boy’s Christmas from me by lying to me. And I have been crucifying them for it. They told me ‘Rest assured’ that his Christmas gift would be there by Dec 30. That was OK. But it simply didn’t make it and he went back home which was in no mans land. So he didn’t get any gift before he left and I am sure he was miserable. I ordered a 6 seat table and they say your shipping is charged by weight. They was over-charging me for this item. Then they tell me that they also charge by size. Funny you can’t find that anywhere on their website at that time. Like I said this is now changing.

    Right now I am dealing with Leyeco V: They have a ring of guys running around cutting peoples power and taking money to turn it back on. I think extortion is the best word to use. These guys are really pi??ing me off. I am probably going to get an attorney. Leyeco says they are not their employees. They subcontract them… hahaha! That’s going to fly like a roasted turkey in the oven. These guys do NO FAVORS to anybody and just pocket cash from very poor people. That is what gets me the most about these types of people. Have very the poor being extorted by gangs of guys that actually have a job; money. Very disturbing that a company like Leyeco will employ gangs. This is on-going as they seem to think they are above the law I guess.

    • For the most part, the things I wrote were for dealing with smaller businesses where you can have personal contact with the business owner, and less applicable to large businesses like you are talking about.

      Cebu Pacific is known for very poor customer service, and what you write (although it is fairly cryptic, and hard to know exactly what happened) is not a big surprise.

      The post office… hopefully under the new administration, corruption will be curbed greatly, we’ll have to see.

      Lazada. I have had many dealings with Lazada and they have always done right by me. In fact, I would classify them as excellent in customer service in the dealings that I have had with them.

      • For the most part, Lazada is a good business. But you have to be very careful because since it is many businesses all in one package, there tends to be some that are not so honest. Watch the comments. Look for comments that have ‘verified buyer’ and notice that some very good comments will be from a ‘registered user.’ This is a big problem.

        Here is an example:
        http://www.lazada.com.ph/dampd-fast-inflate-air-bed-lazy-sleeping-bed-folding-sofachairred-4681977.html

        And what got me started on them was their customer ‘care’ representative flat out lied to me and ruined a little boys Christmas from me. And the more I looked into this the more I found. Shipping is a big deal. And the way they explained it and what they was charging was another lie. They have changed their website so I can’t give you any example anymore. But it used to be they would have something that was light weight ( shipping, it said I would have to pay P650 for the weight of the table which is also listed on the ad. I ended up paying P800 so to me somebody is pocketing P150.

        http://www.lazada.com.ph/hapihomes-starter-6-seater-dining-set-wenge-626731.html

        I have been hammering them on shipping and they are changing it. I will not ever give up on it until they address the lies made to me. The shipping was easy to prove as they had all the evidence on their website. The lies are a bit harder to prove but prove it I can without any doubt by the emails I have with customer service telling me ‘rest assured’ that it would be here and I can show the date when it actually got here.

        I get a little check every month from Social Security and I am able to budget my money well. But that gave Lazada no right to tie up my money as they did. They did mess with the wrong person. Lazada is a very good place to get items that are hard to find. But now I will help our local economy by buying at home first. Word is Ormoc will be getting a new Robinsons mall in the next few years. Gaisano has a mall but one time we went shopping there and had our items boxed up and they would not let us take it out. My girl friend went ape bananas on them, not me. Point is there isn’t much here right now.

        I know Cebu Pacific story is hard to understand. The deal is my ankle was shattered about 20 years ago. So getting through an airport is very hard for me to do. Cebu Pacific wasn’t helping me with much of any service at all. You can request help which I did and i do when I travel by air. This is the absolute worse experience I ever had.

        When I arrived at the ticket booth to get my boarding pass, I was told it would be some time before they opened. The guy said when it opens just go to the counter and tell them that you need assistance. That was fine. No problem. Well as soon as the employees started showing up, I did as I was told. That is when I was told to ‘go sit down’ and I did. Wasn’t a very good start. But each and every communication I had with them, and it was several, I was the one to have to go and start the conversation. Not one time did they ever come to me. I had to go and sit in a chair. I couldn’t wait in line. I was the first one there because I had to wait a few hours before the flight left back to Cebu.

        Time was started to be a problem and they had my boarding pass. Everybody was just sitting there and talking, laughing and having just a good ol time. My time was up. If I was going to make my flight I needed to be going towards the gate right now as it was looking like I was going to have to get to the gate by myself. If I waited any longer for them I was going to miss my flight because it was going to take me a long time to get to my gate. So while they are just having a party, I walk up to the counter and looked at the biggest guy there, and he was HUGE! I told him to give me my boarding pass. His eyes was like silver dollars because he knew I was mad as hell. I told him some heads will roll over this. He did get my pass in a very short time. I went through the first line of security and he was looking at me funny and I told him that Cebu Pacific wasn’t doing their job and I needed to get on my plane. He did let me through. And it wasn’t long after that that a security officer came and helped me to my gate. On the plane, it was no where near full but I had a lady sit beside me. When they started feeding everybody a stewardess looked at that lady and said ‘Oh! There you are. I will get your dinner.” So I am pretty sure she was security. When I landed at Cebu, the guy who helped me through the airport asked me what the problem was. And lastly, when I started trying to file a complaint, it was very obvious that they was waiting for me there too. It was easy to get in touch with the guy who I needed to talk to.

        I was run over by a truck and my ankle was shattered. Being run over, it is more than just my ankle. Not that I can’t but it is hard to use anything like a cane. It is painful. I do better walking without any assistance. It is very poor and being in a place like an airport with a lot of people buzzing around me, I actually became a liability for Changi and that is why I believe I shook their pillars. I know Changi probably looked at Cebu Pacific in a very bad light. I don’t think many of them employees had a job after that incident.

        I know there was a few lies being told and I was able to partially prove them wrong. One of the biggest was the service. Like I said they never addressed me and it was me who started every conversation. They stated I got something like ‘priority service’ which was one of the biggest lies as I was the first one there but the last to leave. The big problem was lack of communication. I told the the guy at Cebu Pac that there are cameras there, ask to look at the footage and you will see who is telling the truth. I got up several times and walked maybe 20 yards to the desk. I remember one time I was ridiculed about my ticket which added to my frustrations. “Do you have you exit ticket?” I did and I handed them back the same stack of papers that showed my itinerary. They are not an immigration officials and they should not have that type of power. There is a lot of room for abuse there IMO.

  8. My 2013 Mitsubishi Montero and the case of unintended sudden acceleration… my story.
    I almost had an accident because of this problem.
    After being treated as one who doesn’t know where is the location of brake pedal they basically told me to go and take a walk in the park.
    Customer service… zero, for zero respect!
    After selling it with a GREAT LOSS, today I drive an old (2001) clunker and am very happy.
    No unintended accelaration… ASSURED!

  9. Bob;
    My friend Tom ran the most successful restaurant outside of Manila, ten years in a row winning awards from the Travel Magazine (Website) “Lonesome Traveler” Voted the best Philippine, American, and Mexican food on the Island of Luzon. My Friend paid his chef (Roger) more money than a fancy hotel chef made in Manila, when we asked him why, he said because he was saving face for Roger, as Tom would chew his ass if food wasn’t prepared Tom’s way. The other cooks were also well paid, knew that face be damned as they never could have made better money without leaving the country. Let me explain that Tom and Roger were best friends, with Tom putting three of Roger’s children through school. Rogers face was given every week in his paycheck. But they both knew the respect was always between them.
    As for me dealing with business in the area, I vote with my money clip, some one else in town has the same product or provides the same service…But you are right I never raise my voice, I just smile and leave.

    • A good paycheck is certainly one way to “give face” no doubt on that, Paul! 🙂 It seems that it worked out well in that case.

      Yes, I think that smiling and walking away are a very effective way of voting here, without insulting anybody!

    • This article is about doing business with Filipino businesses. It has nothing to do with politics, death or Amnesty International. Please keep on topic. You are way out in the weeds right now.

    • Absolutely no proof to any of those charges, I prefer to give no value to groups like Amnesty International or the UN, which are driven by the ultra liberal left wingers. It’s like believing anything CNN reports. Use that grain of salt. Now if you have proof of death squads please pass that along to the authorities so action can be taken.