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Is It Really More Fun in the Philippines?

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Is It Really More Fun in the Philippines?

(Last updated 18 March 2017)

I guess the answer to that question revolves a lot around your conception of just what ‘fun’ really is.

Recently I was emailing a friend regarding some of the trial and tribulations another online friend had been going through as he tried to get settled in after his recent move to the Philippines.

Paradise This Is Not

My newly arrived friend has had a lot of irritations, false starts and annoyances to deal with.  many (he admits) are self-induced because, in his own words, he expects a 15 minute job to actually take 15 minutes.

Well if you are in a similar frame of mind, you better think twice about moving to the Philippines … because that just is not like to happen very often.

If You Are Uptight About Service, Stay Home

I am fortunate that I don’t suffer from hypertension

(actually I do now, a little bit.  Fortunately it’s easily controlled with a daily maintenance drug, which costs one fifth the price drug stores charge in the USA),

ulcers and many of the typical ‘type A’ disease issues that many guys my age do … but I certainly can be impatient enough to make things annoying on a regular basis.

Yes indeed adjustment can be a big problem.

Hell I still suffer adjustment difficulties from time to time.  Don’t think I wasn’t tempted to say “I’m moving back to the States” when I was ‘adrift” (on my own without wifely supervision) in Colorado for three weeks.

In The USA, Generally, Things Work.  In the Philippines?  Not So Much.

You know what I thought was ‘coolest’ on this trip?

The almost ubiquitous use of ATM machines that give cash back, especially self checkout lanes, with just the push of a button,  ‘whoosh’ cash pops out along with your receipt.

Cash back. Wonderful convenience. I and I’m talking paying with my own debit card here, it was all my money, not cfedit card debt.  The idea that I should be able to put my hands on my own money without travelling to the bank, waiting in line and suffering the Spanish Inquisition … it’s quite a concept … access to your own money.

As Yakov Smirnoff is fond fo saying, “What a Country!”

You would have laughed when Ian and I went to one of the many clean, spacious, well equipped post offices to get envelopes and boxes to mail some family stuff that I had taken in my luggage to mail for my dear wife.

Noe of course, those of you who are actually following along here will probably wonder about somehting.  Why wouldn’t I just mail them here in the Philippines?

Ah, well that would be another post of a different color.  I’ve written before about how insanely lucky Americans are to have the good old USPS (The Post Office).

Thankful For The Post Office?

I know, I know, people whine and bitch about costs to mail a letter, lines at the post office counter, late mail delivery, being forced to tie up their dog … you name it and people will find a way to bitch about it in connection with the post office.

But seriously, you who still live under the umbrella of the USPS are so, so lucky.

Here in the Philippines we have “PhilPost”.  It’s a sad imitation, believe me.

In fact you will see your local PhilPost delivery person very rarely, because the mail is so unreliable that businesses won’t use it to send their bills, as just one example.

How do business’s send out their bills then?  Well there are thousands of “bill rendering” services (yeah, me too, I think of smelly factories boiling beef fat when I hear “rendering”, but if you look it up, one of the legitimate definitions is “to present for consideration, approval, payment, action, etc“ and that’s what these “rendering” companies do, they hire guys on motorcycles to cover whole cities at a time stuffing bills into people’s mailboxes to notify them of payment due.

Now it’s pretty interesting (or is it tragic) that private companies can be set up and operate fleets of motorcycle dispatch riders to deliver bills (and obviously, make a profit) while the government corporation charged with delivering the mail just sits around, covered with dust, getting weaker by the years that go by.

Is It Really More Fun in the Philippines

Main Post Office Manila

It Wasn’t Always That Way

The sad part of the story is not that the “Philippines is a poor country” and never had a chance to build an infrastructure.

That’s a totally bogus excuse.  back in the “bad old days” when the Philippines was a commonwealth of the USA, we built an amazing postal service, along with a lot of other infrastructure.

When Philippine independence came along, it is as if the Philippines threw the baby out with the bath water, in their urge to eliminate all traces of the US occupation, most of what the USA built was just left to rust, rot and ruin.

Everything Can’t Just Be Focused On “Fun”

It’s pretty hopeless, actually … it’s not going to change … hence my overstuffed bags carried to the USA to use a ‘real’ post office.

Our Trips To The Pueblo, Colorado Post Office

is it really more fun in the Philippines?

All This To Serve Little Old Me?

Anyway my son and I walked into one of the many post office branches in Pueblo

(OBTW, did I mention there is a huge parking lot right at the door?  Amazing)

where I selected several mailing envelopes, a small Overseas priority mail box from the self-service racks and then started out the door.

My son thought I was drunk or spaced out I guess, he said, “Dad, where are you going, you haven’t paid for that stuff”.

“Pay? I responded, “Aren’t you a taxpayer?   This is provided for us through the generosity of Uncle Sam.”

A few days later we went back to the post office to have the completed packages weighed and mailed.

After the very courteous and help fully counter clerk lady

(she must have spent 10 minutes explaining to me my different options and costs in sending one of the packages to Australia),

a total postage due amount was reached and I swiped my ATM card in the reader.

But the familiar “Cash back” buttons didn’t appear on the screen. The clerk saw my look of puzzlement and said, “The USPS doesn’t give cash back on ATM cards, sorry”.

“What”? “You mean as an American taxpayer I can’t come to the post office and get paid cash to mail letters”?

OMG we all had a good laugh.

Actually, getting those packages mailed really was fun.

You know I think I laughed more and had more fun with people in stores and such in those three weeks in Colorado than I do in a year here in the Philippines. Frankly, it’s much more fun in the USA 😉

It’s Not Infrastructure That’s Lacking, It’s The “Give a Shit” Factor

People whose job it is to render service and whose income often depends upon making the sale just seem to prefer “not” making the sale and sending you on your way.

When I bought my car in the Philippines, my wife wanted me to buy some add-on running boards.

The car is an AUV (Asian Utility Vehicle) and it sits a bit high … which is a great advantage in driving through floods .. a very frequent occurrence here, but a real nuisance, especially for older folks to climb into.

So Does My Car Have Running Boards Now?

Well it’s been more than 10 years now and the running boards never got purchased for one reason or another.

The dealer will be happy to sell me a pair ‘all in’ (tax and installation included) for P15,000, but I am sure I can do better.  And besides, he doesn’t keep them in stock anyway, and can’t be bothered to tell me when they might come in if I order them.  “Out of stock, sir” is the standard, “get rid of the pesky customer” response.

Never mind that the business certainly could make a nice little profit on selling and installing the little aluminum steps, it’s “More Fun” just to say, “Out Of Stock” and send me on my way, P15,000 richer.

How About Small, Independent Businessmen Then?

Yesterday the car had a minor issue to deal with so I sent our driver/assistant to a local repair shop we have used of then get the little rattle fixed.

Since he was going to the shop I instructed the driver to ask the mechanic to give me a price for ordering in a set of running boards and installing them.

The mechanic does relatively cheap work and has been fair with us in his dealings so I figured he might as well have a decent big-ticket item to make a little profit on before Christmas.  And I also know he’s a very hard-working, 7 day a week local businessman, so why not give him some profitable work?

I Bet You Know What the Answer Was

“Oh I don’t sell them, tell your boss to go find them on his own.”

As my old fiend Mr. Spock has been known to say from time to time, “Does not compute, Jim.”

Here’s a local guy, independent businessman, wife and family to feed, gets a request to make up a price for something definitely “high ticket” in today’s market, and he knows the car belongs to a “rich kano”, and he can’t even be bothered to find a set of factory-style running boards for me and charge me for the service.  I just don’t see the “fun” in that.

Happens all the time, folks, all the time.

A couple of years back I had the car in a local body shop and asked them to price me a set of running boards, installed.

The answer?  The same. “Go find them yourself”.  Grrrr.

And Why Not Just Give In And Find Them Myself?

Aha, no, not biting on that bait ay more.  This happened to me way too many times my first few years here.

If you, the customer, go to a supplier and buy a product for a tradesman to use it’s virtually a guarantee that when you bring it back to the job, it will be wrong … wrong length, brackets won’t fit, needed to be stranded wire if it is solid wire or else needed to be solid wire if it’s stranded … on and on and on.  (and did you realize it’s virtually impossible to get a refund if you accidentally purchase the wrong thing?  Many stores are strictly “all sales are final”.

Been there, done that, wanted to buy the T-shirt but it was out of stock.

So,  Is It More Fun In The Philippines?

The Philippines can be a very hard place to spend your money.  Frustrating at times.  If spending money is fun, it is surely not “more fun in the Philippines”.  Are you sure you are up to it?

Your thoughts on Is It Really More Fun in the Philippines?

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Comments

  1. Dave:

    A lot of the disillusionment from expats is, quite frankly, a lack of realistic expectations.

    So many people end up here blinded by love from someone they met online, or they come here on vacation and see only the “Land of Smiles” or “Everything is so cheap” part of the picture.

    Real life has a way of intruding into these situations. Regardless of where you live, you still need to eat, sleep, take a crap… and deal with bureaucracy.

    Regardless of the shiny facades in Makati and at MOA, this is still a developing country. Some expats seem to be blind to the poverty and misery experienced by a substantial part of the population, focusing instead on their own pensions and “how much money we spend here”. As you and I both know, that is 100% bullshit, but it is easy to see how people can come here and get disillusioned.

    You are on holiday. You are staying in a 4* hotel that costs the same as a budget hotel anywhere else in the developed world. You are drinking beer at half the price, eating restaurant meals at half the price, smoking cigarettes at a fraction of the cost, being amazed at how everybody has maids, drivers, and yayas, and listening to expat bullshit about living like a king at $1,000 per month.

    Or, you meet some lady online, and you visit. Everyone is putting their best foot forward for the Kano boyfriend who generously pays for everything. Certainly, everybody is smiling.You marvel at the “self-sufficiency” and how your soon-to-be-significant-other is so “well-connected” with the local bigshots (EVERYBODY in the Philippines is “well-connected”).

    This bubble soon bursts. Rose colored glasses do not stay that way very long.

    One of the reasons that I stopped writing online was that so many of the questions were wrapped in flowery, syrupy language, and were not legitimate questions, for the most part. People believed what they wanted to believe and usually did not like the answers I gave.

    The upshot: if you learn to deal with real life, you can be happy here. It is very seldom that I let any of that stuff bother me any more. “Out of stock”? OK, what is in stock? Getting angry helps nothing, and will not change anything anyway. All it does is add to the pile of stuff that will make you go back to wherever it is you came from.

    • @ John,

      Thanks for sharing, John, and indeed some very cogent advice there. Appreciated.

  2. I don’t think the definition of ‘Fun’ is the same as ‘Convenient’. Keep in mind that USA is a first world country and Philippines is not, so it’s not really as fair for the Philippines to be compared with USA. The phrase ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines’ is mostly used to attract foreigners to come and see the wonders of the Philippines like Boracay, Palawan, and such, which is meant to improve our traditional economy because if there is a lot of tourists means locals can improve their businesses and show the wonders of it. The phrase is not meant to say ‘ hey! its more fun in the Philippines, we’re not gonna give you the best customer service we have’ or ‘hey! Its more in the Philippines, you deliveries wont be delivered.’
    Yes, it may not be as convenient as living in the US or any fist world country but for people living in the Philippines, this type of things doesn’t bother them as much because a bad customer service or a delayed mail is not as a huge problem than what they’re already dealing with.

    • @ M —

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts. This is proof that whatever you put on line lasts forever, the article you are commenting on is more than four years old. I had to go and read it again myself just to see what I wrote. I think I’m going to rewrite and republish it, there’s a lot that I said there which I feel is still relevant.

      You and I could mince words for days about the meaning of fun, but people need to realize that simple problems with infrastructure and basic customer service are needed, badly. Don’t worry, I’m still living here and I still love Filipinos (heck, I married one), but that doesn’t chnage the need to speak out from time to time about things that need improvement without the common smoke screen of “delicdeza” which so many folks here hide behind.

      If you don’t recognize and work to correct defects they will stay the same forever. Godspeed.

  3. wow, you had it rough there with the AUV nuisance. But see, I was offered by an agent too before with an all-in (I think this was in SM Marilao or North), anyways it wasnt me who bought it by a relative did.

    Well a month or so, the tail light fixture was busted (it was a nissan URVAN) and when they asked the CASA or the repair shop from the dealer for the fix, they were told to actually get the fixture somewhere instead. Anyways, they got it done within 3 days or so I heard.

    See, in the Philippines. Once that car leaves that dealership, it really is at your own risk but if I may suggest, you could just really get CHEAP parts in the Banawe, Manila- that is just the way repair shops are in the Philippines, you get the good 2nd hand stuff from there, BY YOURSELF. lol.

    But I know in the US, even jiffy lube have an inventory of parts, not like so in the PH.

    Sad but true. It is more convenient in the US than PH.

  4. Philly,
    Describe “FUN” is what I initially thought of when I read this posting. But in reality for me, the Philippines is about Zero Stress & Inner Happiness. No Job (Retired X 2). I fully enjoy the weather, the respectfulness and genuine helpfulness of the local people. Stroll down the highway, or walk along the beach. Do whatever, whenever, with the lady I married a long time age. . . . Yeah it is more “FUN” in the Philippines.
    Just don’t tell anyone! Ha Ha Ha

    • I think the biggest part of what our version of “fun” means here is the freedom of worrying about so many people are worrying about, every day in every way back in the USA.

      Here I don’t need to worry about 80% or more of what I worried about back in the USA, I have the flexibility to live my lifestyle in almost any way I want to (down to so cheap most US resident’s eyes would pop, or up to an including pretty darn plush if I care to spend the money.

      And no one is hovering over me telling me what I ‘can’t” do or “shouldn’t” do, making clucking noises and rolling their eyes.I have the freedom to buy what I want, refuse to buy what I don’t, and I essentially have only one boss … my dear asawa … who pretty much loves seeing me do what I want and laughs a lot while watching me having fun.

  5. Just a slight notation, THe USPS is NOT funded by Taxpayer Money. As you may have read lately the USPS ” appears ” to be facing a bit of financial difficulty primarily by the USPS having to fund the U.S. Govt to the point of about 5 Billion Dollars a year for the past few years. Those ” free ” boxes and all other services provided by the USPS are paid for by postal revenue.

  6. Does the APO system still allow shipping of items to other countries? Back in the late 70’s I used to send a lot of items to Singapore and Austrailia from the subic APO. Just wondering.

    Also roger dodger on the whole Auto shop and other so called custom shops in the Philippines. I remember several years ago that I had plans for building a desk that I wanted to gift out to someone. I even converted all the dimensions to Metric, took it off to the “Custom wood shop”. Got the blank stare, then the this is nice sir, but we don’t do custom work. “Never mind that the name of the shop said Custom, the fella said that only meant custom COLORS. Long story short, after asking a lot of shops, I finally found a HOME SHOP where an older….and much wiser Filipino said SURE I CAN DO THAT! but can I keep the plans so I can sell more? So if you happen to see roll top desks made from coco wood it just might be those plans from long ago.

    He got what he wanted, I got a great desk made to MY specs and a good discount for “giving him the plans to keep, even though they were not mine in the first place.

    strange but true, and as you say, this ain’t Kansas bud!