Want to point out being cynical isn’t a full-time occupation but a state of mind that justifies a lot of the things that go on in a humorous manner. It is for me anyway.
Generally there are so much things going on in the Philippines that would get someone jailed in other countries that is seen as “normal”. Doesn’t even mean the people are wrong as simply corruption and odd things are so built into society that it has become a normal way of life.
The expectations become lower as “in a while” is a term often used to give no real time frame whatsoever of completion of a task. An example of that is my Canon 400D which still sits with Canon in Cebu awaiting parts. The extra week of time because of the engineer enjoying a break for Sinulog is already in month two! There is no stress or frustration that people haven’t delivered even the most basic of services but instead an acceptance that tomorrow will be fine for everything (cynical).
An American friend of mine said when I asked about how he was getting on living in the Philippines he said “Once you realise everyone is lying to you its no problem”. Which some many find an offensive comment but its correct! Because to a foreigner it is lying, an example of that is the LTO who had messed up my driving license but instead of admitting it and apologising you end up with multiple stories on how people have to do things twice one for cars and one for motorbikes. Complete lie and even when your saying you just want to know as a matter of process and asking multiple people the Pinocchio lies just continue with the spinning of yarns. Its not for the foreigners benefit as the same issues happen to locals and often I hear locals quote that a process is one way when in fact its another. In reality they have had the same thing told one thing that is completely different to the legal processing of documents etc..
Why? because nobody wants to admit they are wrong, nobody wants to take responsibility, nobody wants to tell the truth in case the person in front of them gets angry with them. Customer first becomes customer last as they become mushrooms kept in the dark and fed on manure.
Am I being harsh? I don’t think so as I said at the beginning its a humorous approach. The expectation is they won’t deliver and aren’t telling the truth so you double check and expect things to be late or take as long as they take. In fact your doing exactly what Filipino’s do lower you expectations of delivery and instead working with what you have. Being cynical removes anger, frustration and annoyance and instead replaces it with it will happen when it happens.
Not defeatism but complaining and getting annoyed actually makes no difference whatsoever so why bother? Be polite, get it processed and enjoy the afternoon in a nice cafe is much better than getting wound up over something that won’t change and the person your arguing with can’t.
You’re on the ball on that Matt!
After I spent 5 weeks in various towns in PI, I realised the above. Some things do get done slowly. Just be happy you have the choice of say, a Canon repair, in PI, and it makes it easier. Personaly I find the disfunction in PI, the disgraceful traffic management and lack of diesel emmission controls a big pain. Again, the communication problem arises when resident staff take no regard for your money. At home, and in Thailand, people stick to a price agreement more. At least Cebu has more honest taxi drivers.
A very informative observation Matt. You really drive the true character and culture of the Filipinos.