Monday 29 October 2007

Monday 7pm

Today went well most went through to the next round tomorrow.

I've booked a nice Italian restaurant for my birthday bash tomorrow night, chose the menu now just have to buy some decent wine.

I only brought 1 good pair of trousers with me and I just realised that the clip is broken !!!!! had to pop into the tailors for a repair..... 3 days he says... yea right I need them for tomorrow so how about express service... OK tomorrow but cost 125 pesos (£1.30) ok I can handle that.... good deal in my opinion.
Service over here can be a bit of a pain most of the time. I lost my Internet service for 7 days, considering that the company insist that you will have a technician within 24 hours that's not very good. Whenever I phone up to complain, I get " we are very sorry sir, I will make sure that it is done today" and that's what I heard every day for 7 days. When you ask "why wasn't it done yesterday as promised".......... the reply will totally ignore that question and just say " sorry about that sir, I will make sure personally that it gets done today" and so the circle continues.

You really need to have the patience of a saint over here sometimes, luckily I was forewarned about this so haven't been taken by surprise. If I lived here I would have to really learn to be even more laid back regarding ever getting anything done, you have to learn to request something and then simply wait until someone eventually gets round to doing whatever it is you asked. The only other way is to get stressed out by trying to get them to do things your way which simply will not happen, some can be very thick skinned, when I have spoken to someone that has promised to do something and haven't, I ask them why and they will simply lie to your face no matter what evidence you have to the contrary.... it's to do with losing face and to avoid confrontations of any kind. Filipinos just absolutely hate confrontation !!!! It's easier just to lie.

Yet the opposite is true in the big department stores, there are staff everywhere you just wouldn't believe it, as labour is so cheap there is a salesgirl for every little aisle and I mean little, you could have one employee looking after 1 small row of handbags 4 yds long, if you dare go near them... straight away it's.............. hi Sir would you.......... I'm 5 yards away before the sentence finishes. It's annoying sometimes when you just want to browse, I was looking at some sports shirts the other day, the girl gives me the usual...Hi sir........ I say I just want to browse..... OK sir she says then she proceeds to follow right behind you wherever you go in her area, I mean directly behind you, anything you may show the slightest interest in she's there... would sir like to... Oh just forget it and I walk away. An amusing poster on a Filipino site that I visit suggests to get rid of them you should say something rude, like... how would you like to go into the fitting room and make mad passionate love with me. If you did I'm sure they would reply with....thank you sir but that's against company policy.... would you be interested in this shirt/pants/shoes or whatever !!

The UK is now 8 hours behind Manila.

Hope you have stressful free day wherever you are.................

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Evening Gerry, it's Paul W here - likr the comment about the food - nice plate of roast beef etc today for lunch, yummy! Happy Birthday for tomorrow from all at St Andrew's, we can't forget it .... you made sure of that. Back to school today after a nice half term break, everyone ready (ish) for work. Paul started tackling the leaves today, sure you're missing it already. Enjoy your birthday meal and make sure you choose that decent wine.

Anonymous said...

Hi Gerard,

First of all "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU" hope you have a great meal with your friends at the italian restaurant.

You'll have to get into a different frame of mind over the next 6 months when someone says they'll do something they really mean they might, when they are ready.......

I have sent a big brown envelope with my birthday card and all your post to you, hope you receive it soon, please let me know if and when.

We're off to Paphos, Cyprus on Sat so you will not hear from me for about a week, hope you don't miss me too much, have asked Mary to fill in while I'm away.

Take care and enjoy your birthday and the rest of your trip.

LOL

Anne xxxxxxx

gerry said...

Hi Paul, Thanks for visiting, yes Paul I wonder how many will realise the date and code similarities.
Yes I really miss the leaves so very much !!!!!
I've got Australian wine lined up to buy today, it's even more expensive here !!
Pop back soon with some info of St. Andys and give Kate and Rachael a slap on the back of the head as they haven't visited yet !

Hi Anne, Thanks I'm sure I will have a great evening.
I do hope I get the envelope, hope you remembered to mark it "Documents,no financial value".
Is there no internet cafes in Cyprus ??? No excuses for time off I'm afraid !!

Anonymous said...

{{{HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR GERARD, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU}}}} thats my best singing voice..hope you get this on your birthday, Im not sure of the time difference we are 5 hours behind the U.K and the U.K is 8 hours behind you, I will leave you to work that one out, our clocks dont go back till next week. So have a good one Gerard, cheers! Mary!

gerry said...

Hi Mary, thanks for the birthday song. At a guess then I think you are probably 13 hours behind Manila or at least you will be when your clocks go back. At the moment you are 12 hours behind... that's official.