What the heck is a “bote boy”? Well only those who haven’t lived in the Philippines will be asking that question. From the very north of the country up around Batanes and Loag to way down in the southland where this online magazine is based the tradition of the “bote boy” is common. “Bote” (bot-ay) is a Spanish word for bottle and every day of the week you’ll hear their call as they go up and down the street crying out “Bote” or sometimes “Bakal,” the Tagalog word for iron or metal in general.
Trash has value, the country is poor and I really marvel at how much less actual trash my wife and I throw away here compared to our life of excess in the US. Every old newspaper, tin can, glass bottle, plastic bottle, scrap of wire, rusty nail; or “busted” household gadget is “wanted” here in the Philippines. Usually we just give stuff to these guys, although they are actually small businessmen and are prepared to pay something for what they collect, especially in large quantities. I gave one guy about 20 pounds of newspaper one day, handed it to him and walked away. I looked back and he had his battered change purse in this hand, looking at me in disbelief because I wasn’t going to collect the few centavos this little treasure trove was worth to him.
So why did I chose to write this today? Well, I’ve kind of been shell shocked a bit by just how bad things are going back in the US. (no politics allowed here, it’s the doing of both parties) the idea of dumping billions of dollars into the open sewer of a bank that has been ruined by crooks doesn’t seem to be helping the people who work and earn a living to support their families and by extension the whole country. I don’t see much improvement any time soon.
It’s not looking all that good here in the Philippines either. Some of the major “flagship” employers such as Hewlett Packard and Intel have closed operations or are closing … in Intel’s case, for good. Intel is consolidating operations from at least six other Asian countries to Vietnam. The much vaunted Call Center and Business Processing industry here is doing ok, but it grew by being cheaper than India and is in grave danger of losing business to even more cheaper counties like Vietnam or China. OFW jobs have slipped already and will slip farther I’m sure. So things are bleak all over.
But take heart, no matter if you’re one of my “western” readers (isn’t Australia south of here?) or by valued Filipino constituents. We got through worse than this and we will get through whatever 2009 throws our way and come out the other side all the better for it. Trust me. I know. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
When I was about 12 years old. in about 1957, our family, mom, dad and a younger brother and sister lived on a mini-farm property in what was then rural new Jersey. My dad had a job as a maintenance man (mainly plumbing modification work) at a large chemical company. His salary was OK but we had very little money left over every month. Then one day, “bang”, dad came home with a termination notice and his final pay envelope. No more work. All the company’s operations were being sent overseas for cheaper labor (and because their processes were environmentally disastrous and very dangerous … why do things safely and “environmentally friendly when you can get some Japanese to take the risk and poison “their” environment rather than yours). Except for the names of countries with cheap labor, this story doesn’t sound so far much different than stories of 2008, does it?
So what did we do? Well one of dad’s visions in the past had been to build himself a welding machine. He had acquired a gigantic DC electric motor, half the size of a car which occupied the shack that we called our “garage”. That motor had more than a thousand pounds of cast iron (worth then a penny a pound) and at least 500 pounds of copper wire and bus bars. (in the neighborhood of 50 cents a pound at the time, a veritable fortune). We took it apart, segregated all the different metals and hauled it (in a battered old Ford station wagon) to a scrap yard, bit by bit.
In less than a week we had cleared more money than dad would have taken home that month had he still had his chemical job.
Out behind our circa 1790 farm house there were a couple abandoned cars in the woods. With dad’s help I learned how to turn them on their side with a steel cable and a fence stretcher and take the engines and transmissions out and strip them into their components. Steel (barely worth the hauling), cast iron, a little copper here and there and cast aluminum … forget the price now but well worth the work to get it out and haul, even in those days.
From the scrap dealer we located a guy who wanted the rest of the car, bodies and frames and were happy to let him haul them away for free … might as well clean up our junky property, right?
After that we started on neighbors and then folks in other town … any junk car, truck or tractor (mmm lots of cast iron in them) was fair game. Instead of hauling to the junk yard whole, we’d drag them home, strip and segregate, sell off all the valuable stiff and then let the guy who wanted them have the nearly worthless residue.
This went on for about six months until dad finally got picked up for a better job. We made significantly more than dad’s salary would have been in that time, cleaned up a lot of unsightly messes and I learned a ton of things about mechanics, metallurgy, business, safety, bruised knuckles and finger nail dirt … and most valuable to me, hours and hours working side by side with my dad … a luxury I never had before or since.
To my American friends … I hope it doesn’t come to the point of stripping old cars for you, but remember, the US was built from nothing by people just like you, and if things get tough, you don’t have to sit and cower in the corner, you too can do what it takes.
And the Philippine connection? Wow. I’ve told this story to a number of my relatives and to folks like a maid who worked for us, trying to inspire her to get an education and make more of her life than her parents had. The dropped jaws, huge eyes and head shaking has been an education to me. There is no lack of opportunity in the Philippines, but there is almost a concrete wall at times that brands people and teaches them from infancy that you ‘are what you are”. A maid will always be a maid. A scruffy bote boy with a sack of bottle will always be a bote boy.
It’s a very “foreign” outlook to a foreigner. There’s a lot more to culture shock than embryo duck eggs, believe me.
hear-hear – excellent story!! Some of my buds who've been RIF'd are wonderin if they can continue their TV/I-net, etc connections – when I was young my Mom (single Mom) collected bottles to make ends-meet. Ultimately, through hard work and chutzpah she was able to build a career.
I know there are folks who are struggling, but American expectations have been shifted up the Y-axis. For the most part the S isn't even close to the fan – of course I hope it stays far away.
One of the things I love about the Philippines is that people are resourceful – just like Americans were 50+ years ago. My grandparents' stories of the '30s were of hardship, but also kinship.
Totally agree w/ you on this. & this comes from a Filipino who's now here in the US.
@ Gary === Thanks for reading and for your comments. You know I actaully was nervous about sending this post forward for publication. I was afraid people might think I was making light of their situation odr something … I don't know for sure. Bob told me privately it was fine and he was glad to run it but it wasn't 'til the first "real" comments came through that my butterflys left.
Part of it is no doubt a factor of age. Although I ddin't go through the Great depression it was a very vivid memory to all in my devloping years and I never heard any of my adult freinds and relatives talk about the tough times then as I hear people tlaking now.
As Americans we somehow seem to have shifted our priorities so far toward "safety" that we have lost sight of some of the other goods things in life.
I certainly wish "hard times" on no one, and nothing would make me happier than seeing things turn around RSN (Real Soon Now), but even if they get worse we have the capacity to do what needs doing … as long as we remember who we are and act accordingly.
@ == Roy, Thanks for your comments, my friend, they mean a lot to me. That may be one of the hidden benfits of the OFW career model. It gets many Filipinos out of that 'rut' that some seem to feel they are born into. The truth is not 'tou are what you are' but rather that you are able to 'become what you are willing to become'. Best of luck to you, Roy, either in the US or wherever else you may be in the future.
Hi, Dave. My first time on this site although many Pinoy friends have either joined or read things on this site. My question is, why do many Americans prefer to live in the provinces or in rural areas, when there are many many places like Makati, Fort Bonifacio, Tagaytay corridor, Eastwood City etc which are extremely advanced, worldclass, First World in many cases? Why do they opt to live in poorer provinces? Is it because the Americans who choose to live in rural areas or provincial cities are poor themselves? If they want comfortable lives, then they can choose to live in many many posh areas/villages that dot northern Luzon. I am Filipino and I live in Salcedo Village—I love every minute of it.
Americans or other foreigners will have no problems with worldclass amenities in the Philippines if they opt to live in places I just mentioned. Thank you. Jaime
Hi Dave, Thanks for sharing your so personal story with everyone. In spite of what you're family went through, it sounds like it's a sweet memory you keep about spending time with your father., and what he taught you. Especially in the US we're we've been such a "Throwaway"
society for so long, we'll all have to re-think a lot of our ways. I have faith that we'll use our inginuity like your father and others did to stay afloat in these troubled times. This is something that Filipinos have learned to do out of necessity, and they're so clever at doing it.
Well Philippines is not the only place were people recyle!
Right here in San Diego, CA. we have plenty of recyle engineers.
With Cans and bottles having a value of .05 cents apeice it is not a bad gig.
If these people stayed away from Booze and Cigs they would have a good income.
Dave,
Now that is an article! You brought me some laughter and some sad memories with it.
I have been there done that as well. Although, not nearly as desperate as your situation. Cleaned up a lot of old vehicles, houses (even got to keep everything I found inside them), barns, etc… This even paid for 2 vehicles. Sold a lot of antiques and kept a few to pass on.
As for setting the cars on their sides. My cousin (I will call him Joe) suffered a severely broken leg from a car that he was cutting up tipping over, he jumped off to avoid serious injury and ended up having a lota surgery (Now that's irony, jump off to save yourself and still be severely injured). Glad you mentioned this, I completely forgot about it. I haven't checked back to see how he is doing. Wow now that I think about it. I really should call home more often, as this was a good 6 months ago or more.
Within the same 2 week period of that cousin breaking his leg. My Aunt (Joe's mother) had to go in for double hip replacement. Then came the really bad news. My 26 yr old cousin ( Joe's nephew) drowned in a jet ski accident.
ha-ha guess I am a little off the topic of the Philippines, then again I was sitting in my bamboo rocking chair on the front porch when I got the call about all 3 of them. Yup, that's it I was home in Bohol that's how it ties into LiP…
Dave,
I like hearing these stories from people. I now wish that I did not have to provide everything to my kids because they don't appreciate how lucky they are. As a high school boy and four years after arriving in the US, I got my first job cleaning sewing machines at a small factory for $1.60 an hour. A few months later, I changed jobs and worked for the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco for $3.00 an hr. I gave my paychecks to my parents to help pay for the bills. Instead of having fun in high school, I was working after school and on weekends.
I didn't appreciate it then, but working kept me away from trouble. It also taught me a very valuable lesson in that I had to get an education in order for me to improve my life. While in college a few years later, I desperately needed some money to pay my rent. Out of desperation, I asked my father to see if he could send me a few hundred dollars. An he did. Years later my father told me that he saved some of the money I gave him. Money that I thought was helping the family pay the bills. Like your background Dave, life lessons are the best.
Dave,
Your post is SO encouraging although I was a little surprised that you were anxious about the acceptability of the content.
Adversity is a great teacher about the world and about ourselves.
Unfortunately, there are many, unlike Aldels' Dad, who have not set something aside for a rainy day in the thinking that it would never rain again . They will struggle more than some but the rest of us know that the solutions/opportunities are there if they only focus on the opportunities instead of the problems.
Also, lest we forget, the difference between a depression and a recession. . .a recessions is when you don't have a job, a depression is when I don't. 🙂
Hi Dave, this is a great story. You went through this when you were old enough to understand and help. My son went through it with us when he was very young in the early 1980s. It seems like he was not too young to understand after all because now, at the age of 26, he is the thriftiest person I have ever known, never complains and never asks for material things.
It is good to tell stories like this but those who has never experienced it will take a while to understand. Thanks for sharing.
@ =-=> queeniebee. Thanks for reading and for your comments. I'm gratified by the responses I am getting, happy that many others have similar memories. Somehow we have to get our minds arund the idea that the "good life" is not a direct match with the "plentiful life". Also, I think, we need to modify the idea that "loving our children" equates to "never letting their hands get dirty"
You gave me a good idea for another post here .. today is basura day when I put the bags out for the municipal pickup guys. My wife and I never cease to be amazed at just how little trash we put at the curb here compared with the amount we generated back in the US.
That's one reason our cost of living seems smaller here I think … we live pretty much the same and even eat similarly but we just seem to waste so much less.
@ ==> Thanks for your comment. Part of what I was trying to convey was that "these peop;e" might be "us" one of these days, but if we remember who we are, we'll get through it.
@ ==> Mike K., thanks for reading and for your comments, Mike. Life delivers its bad news no matter where we live, it seems. But maybe some of it is easier to take when we are sitting on the beach, hard to say.
@ ==> Aldel. Thnaks for reading and for your comments. Indeed the lessons we learn from real life are better than even the most presyigious university can teach. I enjoyed what you said about how you feel now regarding what you gave your children, I really think that is sort of a trap we, as loving parents, fall into all too easily.
Teaching them to work, to stand on their own two feet, and to save means so much more than Game Boys, ballet lessons, football shoes, cell phones or all the other "things" we think they need to have to prove out love.
Not long ago I met a guy who, in his own words, really wanted to earn some money. I had some web site related work I really wanted someone to do for me, so it looked like a great match.
He was 28, graduate of a very good school, clean cut, well spoken, looked like someone I would like to do business with. Work history? Well he's been out of school 4 years and had had about 6 jobs but been fires )or asked to resign) from all of them. Why? He could easily do the work, but he couldn't get up in the morning to go to work. Oh well, don't call mer, I'll call you. (and he lived with his mom and dad … couldn't they have thrown a glass of water on him if an alarm clock wouldn't suffice?)
I couldn't help thinking about what will happen to him (and the doting parents) when the parents are no longer earning? Raising your children that way isn't love, it's a form of abuse … like raising baby eagles and refusing to teach them to fly.
Thanks for sharing.
@ R L Graham ==>> Thanks for your comment and the kind words. Indeed personal savings are a big part of the picture. One encouraging sign out of the bleak news from the US lately uis that the personal savings rate is up, sharply. Amen.
You know for years now the US has been among the worst countries in the world for personal savings. China, Japan, India etc. have often far exceeded the US per capita savings rate. Shameful, and diasterous as we are about to find out.
Funnily enough in between the last comment I answered and this one and email came in notifying me a paym,ent from one of my online venttures had just been direct deposited. I logged on to my bank's web site and moved my stabndard 10% of that payment from the current account to my money market savings account. Other chacks will be depositing on December 1st, so why take the time to do it now? easy, in my mind. It might get forgotten or lost in the shuffle is I wait.
Everyone reading this should be putting a dime in theiur savings account for every dollar that comes in. And if you think you can't afford to, you're wrong, you can't afford _not_ to pay yourself first … it's the real key to getting through this mess I believe.
@ ==>> Ellen. Thnaks for sharing that, Ellen. You make a very impoirtanrt point there that many perhaps are not thinking through during 'hard times'. You cna not isolate children from troubles, no matter how much you want to, they pick up on things very astutely, even from the time theu are still babies in the crib.
And I opine that you don't _want_ to shelter your children, keeping things a secret. Being part of a family and contributing, no matter what your age is important. In my story, what if my dad had gone off collecting scrap on his own … he certainly could have done so, and left me at home playing and making believe everything was ok.
But that would have been a huge disservice to me, I think. Not only did I contribute to the total amount of work that got done, but the time with my dad and the skills I learned were worth far, far more than the money we earned.
Thanks for sharing.
Been there , Done that , but I didn't get a t-shirt Dave ? Phil n Jess
Hello Dave,
Very nice article and I agree entirely about the bailouts.
On another topic, there arent many bote boys down south as bote down south is botilya as in iza ka botilya ng redhouse polihog. LOLOL Bote is Tagalog, not Bisaya so wouldnt expect to fint to many Bote Boys, Botilya Boyz maybe.
Justin
@ ==>> Phil n Jess R. Thanks for reading and for commenting. I believe Bob is going to solve the t-shirt problem very soon 😉
@ ==>> Justin. Thanks for commenting. I checked with along time resident of Davao and was told the "bote" (along with "bakal:" is frequently heard in the streets there, I guess you mean farther south then. Individual calls of street vendors are actually a topic for a whole series of posts, becuase every local language ort dialect has its own accent and many towns have local slang for things. It's actually a fascinating part of living here.
But as far as you 'correction" on the word "bote", since people read this and take what they see as factual (and I do make best effort to get my facts straight before I write here) I have to set the record straight.
"Bote" is not Tagalog or (Bisaya or any other Filipino language). It is the most common Spanish word for:
jar (envase) (tarro); tin, can (lata) (peninsular Spanish); bottle (de champú, pastillas)
and a few other meanings, all of which refer exactly to the items these collector/dealers are seeking. Like other words heard every day, pera, para, banyo, basura, palenque (spelled who knows how many ways), mercado, municipio and even coche, these are all words that came directly from the Spanish and don't "belong" to any Filipino language.
Thanks again, though, I learned a lot while I re-checking my facts on that one, and any day I learn something, in any language, is not wasted 😉
Hi Dave, great article… Congrats… no further comments… just i really enjoy reading it and, YOU ARE SO VERY RIGHT! As Ellen said, 'being old enough and being able to help'. Kudos DAVE!!!
@ ==> Jaime. Thnaks for rading and for your comments. I have to say I was alittle confused though. I'm not sure where I've ever complained about "World Class Amenities". I certainly don't speak for other foreigners (unlike General Ermita they don't all look alike to me.
Most of my fellow expats live wherever they live by personal choice and sometimes family connections, which is why I live way out in the fa, far reaches of Bulacan, more than 2 kms away from the NLEX and the nearest SM mall 😉
I've stayed in Makati often in the past and I could certainly live there right now if I chose to. I don't chose to. I don't like cities in general and the only thing I don't really care for about where I live now is it is still much too urban. My wife owns property in Zambales and it may be we'll make our permanent Philippine home there, but it certainly has nothing to do with my bank account. It has more to do with liking clean air and country people.
Those who enjoy living in Makati are welcome to it, but If Makati or any city like that were my only choice I'd be on the next flight back to the US and I think my wife would be ahead of me going up the air stairs.
Don't know if any of my reasoning helped, but thanks for visiting and don't be a stranger here.
@ ==>> Klaus. Thanks for the kind words Herr Doring, I appreciate it.
Thank you, Dave and Bob, for answering my question.
Dave,
Bote is most certainly Tagalog for Bottle, the Bisaya word would be Botilya, you say you have basic understanding of Tagalog but by your lack of knowledge of this sumple word Id say your understanding is nill.
You say people take what they read as factual, I say just because they presume it to be factual doesnt in anyway make it factual but rather makes them guilty of expecting a writer to put at least a little research into their work which it is common you do not. This makes you guilty of spreading non-factual information but doe not make the miss-information you are spreading factual by any meens.
You say that you consulted with people in Mindanao who told your their street kids collect Bote and run through streets calling this word. I say BS unless of course they have a Tagalog bottle collector in their neighborhood as Bote is Tagalog and Botilya is bisaya for the same.
Should a kid in Mindanao use this wors Bote, truth is he would be ridiculed by his barakada and his own parents would ask if hes the son of Tagalogs. Also, He would at best have limited success in his business of collecting Botilya because there is a descrimination in the south amongst same Bisaya speakers towards Tagalogs and this extends to point that it is fact a Drug Rep ccan not hardly meet quota in Cebu without speaking Cebuano because the Cebuanos will refuse to do business with them otherwise.
I once again ask you to do your research and post factual articles rather than spreading mis-information as even a newbie expat would know Bote is tagalog term.
Justin
Dave,
Pointing out that Bote is Spanish word is at best silly because fact is many words of Bisaya and Tagalog are taking from the Spanish language and no other purely Filipino word is generally available for use. Ie a Table is a Mesa in Spanish and Bisaya, Shoe is a Zapato in Spanish and very simulair in Bisaya (sapatos), this list could go on for ever with simulair and like words in Spanish to Bisaya and Tagalog even but my point is poven and please rest assured that Bote is Tagalog for bottle and Botilya is Bisaya for same.
Justin
Bob,
I did enjoy Daves article as the message behind it was great and I did enjoy hearing of his youth and his familys ability to improvise in earning a living, was truly touching and I thank Dave for sharing it as it was very relavent for many in this time of worsening world wide recession.
Also, Id like to appologize to Dave for debating the point that Bote is a Tagalog, it is Tagalog not Bisaya, and as you state the word itself has no true bearing on the articles content. I had originally just wanted to point it out to Dave but guess I got irritated by his response and for that I extent my appology.
Sincerely,
Justin
Kamusta ka Dave,
I see no reason to have not written this article, to me it is a article about hard work, and doing whatever necessary(legally) to earn money for your family.
I think all generations have experienced this at one time or another. My father went through these things when he first got out of the US Airforce. After getting married to my mother in 1956, my father went to work as an aircraft mechanic for one of the major airlines at the time in Washington, DC. After six months, he was laid off and and many of his co-workers were too. Although, he was lucky and landed a job working for the US Airforce again at Bolling AFB in DC.
Then in the 1970's a lot of people were losing there jobs, and some of us remember the gas lines we all waited in every other day.
I guess it was back in 1979 or 1980, Andrews AFB decided they needed all new lighting in its aircraft hangars, they were made of aluminum and were very heavy. My father inquired about hauling away the old lights, so the government wouldn't have to contract a trash company to throw them away. So for the next few weeks…we were hauling these huge lights away, and bringing them back to our house to take apart, keep the good parts..and trash the rest. After taking about a month to tear apart, and then take the "good" metal to the local metal shop, my father earned about $15,000 dollars from that scrap metal….so was well worth it…and that was only two hangers….we had many more to go. Of course he gave us a little bit for helping him….I can't remember what that was ..but we were happy.
Ok..good article…
Danny
@ Danny ==>> Thanks for readinga nd for your comment. That's an excellent story and proof positive what I tried to convey … we Americans are no way as weak and helpless as the news media tries to portray us. Some people are indeed suffering right now, Others are worried as the dicklnes that they are going to suffer soon.
But those of us who were lucky enough to be around our country 40 years os so ago will know that we don't need government handouts and bailouts to fix things … we only need to roll up our sleeves, opportunity is everywhere.
Now there is a row of 5 or 6 hanagrs on peterson AFB in Colorado Springs that were built in WWII, and they have these huge wooden trusses supporting the roofs and the roof sheathing boards are wonderful first generation #1 Douflas fir boards, 1 x 12 bt 14 footers. Millions odf board feet of wood you just can't buy anywhere today for any price … if they were going to demolish those buildingd I'd be back in the Springs with my tools in a heart beat … and Norm Abrams would probably fly out with his tools to help me tear them down …. 😉
Great article, Dave.
Oh, and bote is short for the Spanish word "botella" meaning botte.