John Grant

CUSTOMER SERVICE WHAT A SHOCK TO MY SYSTEM

Hi John from UK here,

Having spent most of my life in the retail game in the UK from Saturday boy right up to senior management, I must admit it still comes as a shock to experience the Customer service within the Mindanao area.

I always feel great when I see smiling faces and what is a culture of enjoyment amongst my Pinoy hosts.

However I get a little puzzled and even confused, and YES sometimes annoyed at the lack of what I would call customer service, and its down in my opinion to the lack of training that exists in this great culture.

We shop at many supermarkets in and around Mindanao and went getting to the checkout area I am so pleased to see smiling packers eager to assist you, what a pleasure that is until they pack all the heavy items in one bag!! Results apart from broken back trying to carry it, is split bags and a crooked spine.

So being a nice guy I now ask for the bags to be of about equal weight and explain why, sometimes I will even get my pinoy friends to explain this.. and the result is to pack as they want..no luck there.

My next approach was the direct approach get in quick pack it myself, surly that will work…….WRONG.

This only ends up in a group of packers rushing to my assistance thinking that I am angry so they pack fast and with all their might. yes you guessed it. as much in one bag as possible.

Don’t get me wrong this is just something that with a two minute training session can be sorted out and every customer and even every packer will benefit from it, my open question is why does it not happen what am I missing?

I would be grateful to be educated on this or even to offer my training service, you never know?

As you may tell from some upcoming blogs that the customer service and training is something that i love to stay involved with and am already doing some seminars and other activities here in the Philipines to keep my hand in. Anybody wants to comment on similar, come on get it off your chest.

Regards JOHN

I think this country is fantastic.

Afew days ago Bob wrote an article about going to Feymas old family home in Patag near GENSAN.

This was the first time he had been to the family farm and it was like a trip back in time for me, as it appeared to be the 18th century UK WITHOUT THE COCONUTS.

http://liveinthephilippines.com/bobm/2008/06/04/my-first-visit-to-patag/

I was very lucky to be invited to take the trip too and the experince was made even better by the warm welcome the local villagers gave to us and the break down of Bobs vehicle in the mountains on a huge gradiant. Life is an adventurre for sure.

I have footage below that gives you a taste of the journey and watch the villagers they are just fantastic.

If you look close you will see me at a Xmas party having a drink!!!

Many times over the last year I get asked what do I do for medical insurance or medical help. To be honest, and I know its not an excuse, I have good health so I rarely have to go to a doctor for help, but as the years roll by , I know this will have to change.

Recently I had suffered for many weeks with a parasite infection that I had felt had spread to my lungs, and naturally I began to panic and cough!! and cough!! Lucky it was not serious and seems now to be under control.

I was lucky as a fellow expat had found an excellent doctor here in Davao, who although young was switched on and thorough and above all courteous too. I asked so many questions waiting for her to show here ignorance, but she came back every-time and proved her knowledge and ability to deal with demanding ex pats.

Now this being the Philippines my 10am appointment was moved to 11am as the doctor was not present, but she did a thorough investigation it cost me p200 and I will recommend her to anyone who needs assistance here in Davao City.

Now that compares bad with an experience last year when i picked up a rash that would not go and many visits to a hospital specialise I finally figured out from the Internet the medication and treatment I was getting made no sense, she was prescribing medication to make money and had no interest in my welfare. In short I was an ATM to her,and that is their of having treatment here.

I am lucky as Davao has many good hospitals and other private medical institutions, so my choice is good, however when you are in more remote areas you really are forced to be treated by people who may not know what they are doing and who want cash.

I came across this website that seems to have a comprehensive list that have been sanctioned by TRICARE.

KEEP IT SAFE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MAY NEED IT.

http://tpaoweb.oki.med.navy.mil/TGRO/providers/Provider_Directory.htm

Bob and Migs have articles in depth on this journey so I show just an overview here.

Last week I told you about day one of our trip around Mindanao and now the story continues.

Day two we left Ipil and travelled on to Dipolog a very friendly place on the coast it looked like Southern England holiday town and although we did not stay too long we ALL agreed it looked so good we are going to come back and spend a day or two to learn more and enjoy more.

SEE THE MAP BELOW

With only minutes to spare we sped on to Ozamiz where we had an excellent Chow King meal and managed to buy a new charger for my phone and I so wish we could buy a battery for my video camera that refused to charge, hence my video diary is very small and is enclosed at the bottom of the article.

We then entered the ferry port which was very frustrating as for over an hour we never moved where everybody else seemed too. As our tempers increased and our boredom became total we finally understood the system. Our tyres were secretly marked with a number and trucks and other big vehicles took priority then wherever your car was in the four lanes you were put on the ferry when your number came up. Thank goodness it was not rush hour if there is such a thing in Ozamiz.

Again this City was very friendly and again I will be back.

At the other side we had a 45 min travel to a place that I have been repeatedly warned NEVER to go to Illagan. This place was a very nice clean and well presented City that I so wish I had visited before when I was in that area. It was dark when we arrived and we stayed at a budget accommodation that also had wifi in each room, small but excellent vale at less than p500 a night for the room. In the evening we met Bobs friends for dinner at a small Italian restaurant which I will give details on at another time, but its well worth a visit if you are in the area.

DAY THREE

A two hour journey to get pass the beautiful city of Cayagan De Oro before we had an amazing breakfast of the BIGGEST and TASIEST steak I have ever had in my life. See Bob Martin blog on this subject.

Then with very very full stomachs we passed through many cities on a five hour journey heading back to Davao City and along the way you will see countryside you will never see anywhere else in the world. You will see a people who are probably the best in the world and it totally makes me assured that this beautiful country is where I want to live and die in, yes its that good and that beautiful and that exciting. Yes of course there are areas to be careful in and we’re, but look at some of our cities in the west are far worse and far more dangerous. Come visit and look for yourself just take precautions and most of all take advice from the people that know!!!

Its 4am in DAVAO CITY and the lack of sleep has made me a little grumpy, but today is a special day. Today three members of the Living in the Philippines columnists are setting out on an adventure into the unknown. Well to be honest its unknown to me and the Manila correspondent Migs Bassig, but to Bob Martin its only partially new.

We are setting out on a travel of some of the places in Mindanao that are thought to be places of either danger or places to remote, and certainly my British embassy would be having a heart attack if they knew our plans for the next few days.

We leave Davao City even before the sun rises and speed through to Kidapawan which is assumed to be very safe yet it was much smaller than I expected and although small looked very tranquil in the early sunrise.

Then Kabacan, then Piket which a few years ago was a war zone with government troops and Muslim rebels fighting so hard that the place was frequently bombed from the air and still has a reputation as a dangerous place to live and visit. Again it looked peaceful and rested from its years of troubles,I bet if we had stopped we could have heard many stories from the past.

Then onto North Cobabto and we stopped to share a conversation with the local fruit sellers and soon raised a small smiling crowd before going on to look at the City Hall which looked splendid in its grounds, and we were lucky to be allowed to enter by a bemused security officer who looked shocked at two white guys and Migs driving around in this area. We did not stay anywhere to long as that would cause to much attention to ourselves and as it was a Sunday morning we could drive at a fast rate going through numerous Army check areas which seemed in the most to be unmanned or manned by sleeping soldiers who just never saw us.

Parang was a few km away and this was a sleepy fishing village with views of mountains and sea scape which were utterly delightful and faced the Moro sea. I wish we could have stayed there for hours it was a beautiful landscape, and watching the children swim and bate in the sea, along with other children with hand held fishing lines is an image I will keep in my mind for many years.

After getting lost and driving through an area that seemed to be nothing but Goats sitting in the road we asked a Muslim gentlemen if we were going in the right direction and he assured us we were going the WRONG way, which could have been dangerous if we had not spotted our mistake. Thanks to his help we turned around and retraced our journey and headed for many hours along roads full of scores of wooden houses and native people in very modest dress (some naked) and stopped off at an unknown village where Bob spoke to a Muslim street vendor and purchased from this nice lady a hot sticky substance that smelt as bad as it looked. The best I can say about it is that it was made from Durian fruit a native smelly fruit in Mindanao and other unknown substances that Bob thoroughly enjoyed as he dipped his fingers into this stinky filth and licked his lips and licked his fingers, as myself and Migs looked in horror at this evil substance he was eating. The description we gave it can not be published here, needless to say you would normally flush such a substance away.

We entered Lanao Del Norte and headed for a place called Pagadian where we failed to find a place to eat and passed straight through looking at many mountains and views that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.

IPIL is in Zamboanga Del Norte is a small City where we end our first day, this after Bob drove for over ten hours and we enjoyed friendly banter all the way. We feast at a burger joint before looking for a local hotel to rest and sleep. We stay at the Mandarin hotel for p500 a night. Not the Ritz but adequate and reasonable, although do not be fooled by the hotel menu as almost nothing is available, thats just part of the Philippines experience.

Now tucked up on a hard bed after walking through the central area looking for an ATM that works and failing to find anywhere to sit down for a coffee, I ponder on what was a great day and as usual the day s marked by thousands of smiling faces and meeting people who are the friendliest on planet Earth. Dont be taken in by embassy warning gs they are so OUT OF DATE.