Just a Coincidence or it's like that (Just wondering)

hi azi.... i so understand what you are saying...i get that almost all the time.

im always mistaken as another nationality... especially that i talk english often. even in my first day at work where there are around 40 filipinos in the office, they didnt talk to me at first. it was annoying :P i got that....ay pilipino ka pala?!  i do love it when they are nice to you when you are also filipino...but it shouldnt be just like that.

i like the filipino crew in hardees and mcdonalds at airport road, in asia live... salsa...fishmarket...fridays vilagio...many places...very nice people :)

in terms of service...yes i get lots of things like that. looking asian but not filipino...some filipino crews tend to ignore you. just some. im not generalizing. filipinos tend to serve and be nicer only to fellow filipinos.

there are also those who arent nice because you are also filipino! ^^,

some dont want to serve you and mock you cos u speak english etc. hehe. i think its about serving ur own kind :P crab mentality also. but like what i said earlier....not all. just some. i got bad treatment from a salon from pinays. interrogating me, asking me personal sH** and stuff. and i wouldnt get that in manila. cos in manila, whether you are at toni&guy, david's, fix or reyes haircutters...you get the same respect you deserve - as the customer. i also got bad treatment from JG Sandwich Cellar and fastfood chains. i can name a lot. even dining in hotels u get that.  i have a long list.

sometimes,  i get better treatment from being mistaken as another nationality! which is cool cos i believe in a lil bit of privacy. it doesnt mean you're both filipino they can ask even personal details about you (and get snappy when u dont want to talk - and even give ur number!)

as you see i dont like using the word kabayan. cos my first wkend in doha, i got stalked by a group of 6 filipino decently dressed men in carrefour following me around saying kabayan kabayan kabayan. and wanting my name my number my work my home add etc. i just kept walking away without saying a word. i cried when i got home :P

in the airport waiting for a flight, a group of filipinos sat near me. they said kabayan and i didnt nudge. i just looked. then smiled back. so they thought i wasnt. and they just talked about me the whole time in tagalog!

so when i am in the shops or airport or wherever, i just look and pretend i didnt know what kabayan meant :P

i think its the place....being in Qatar changed a lot of attitudes. cos you dont get that back at home...well you do...but not all the time :)

That you must give every person the "Benefit of the doubt" Here in overseas there are so many things that bug us and drive us crazy like, Homesickness, low salary, sick family members back home, etc, etc. These things affect our well being  here and believe it or not  may cloud your judgement as well. These people in service industry are also not spared. Even though there's this office rule that "You must leave all your problems at home. We cannot avoid it because were only human that are entitled to human emotions. These emotions can cloud persons judgement and attention. Eight hours  ka ba namang nakatayo sa likod ng counter meeting different people with different concerns and sometimes nabubulyawan pa ng kostumer dahil di nya masyadong narinig yung order nila, My God!, I Thank HIM at wala ako sa ganoong sitwasyon. The least we can  do with them is to give  symphaty, emphaty and understanding. Speaking for myself, in my experience i will first call the attention of the service crew pag napansin kong masayado na syang tuliro sa kanyang ginagawa or pagkuha ng order. Minsan kasi namimisinterpret natin na tinatarayan tayo pag hindi pinapansin yung pagorder natin were i fact ay baka di lang talaga tayo narinig sa dami ng kanyang ginagawa juggling all the work behind the counter. After getting the attention i will now order. People are like books, In ordering, mababasa ko na agad kung may emotional baggage na dala sa trabaho dahil minsan ay very grouchy na sa pagkuha ng order mo or pagseserve sayo. Then i will emphatize, telling him/ her na it must be very hard dealing with so many customers a day and i bet that they are not receiving a good compensation for the kind of work they are doing. Sa lahat ng naeencounter ko na kinakausap ko ng ganito, yung iba nagoopen up and nagluloosen sa kanilang pagiging masungit. Yung iba naman eh nagsusungit pa rin. Well,  i cannot blame them. I just give them the "Benefit of the doubt" telling myself na mabait siguro itong taong ito kung sa ibang pagkakataon ko nameet na hindi stressful ang environment nya and maybe we could have been  the best  of friends. 

"Thy will be done!" 

now, nm, I  agree with you 100%..

i understand your point. but from my experiences....they were just plain rude :P

i work 9-10 hours per day. and even if im stressed out cos of work....i get stressed out cos of missing home and personal issues........but it doesnt give me the right to be rude to others.

let's not miss the point here. we're not launching a smear campaign here. in this day & age of a damaged filipino culture, it's time we stack up our idealism with realism! we must face the truth that many of us no longer believe in work values & professionalism our elementary teachers have taught us... 

yes we are not generlizing but we cannot deny the fact that the professionalism & competetiveness of pinoys is declining to the point of intellectual bankruptcy! serving customers properly is only a matter of common sense & i can't understand why it's so difficult for them.

normanila, we should swallow the bitter pill rather than justifying what is wrong... let us face the truth! then teach them what is right... by telling the whole world what is wrong with them...

on the contrary of what i have experienced there azzy, a crew came to me and asked if theres anything i want and he would serve it....i asked what he would suggest and he brought me some fruit salad.  Even my drinks he would come and ask if i want another glass.  

Adjust, Adopt & Overcome

contrary to what mr. alecscotland said, i think we filipinos are hard working and highly qualified individuals. we can not blame our country's progress or lack of it, on a seemingly lack of professionalism and work ethics of "most" service crew you have encountered. i myself, have had bad experience with some filipno service crew here but i experienced the same with other nationalities or even in the philippines. take note also though service crews may represent a large number of OFWs, there are also a lot of professionals (engineers, nurses, doctors, IT specialists etc) who have made our country proud.

i think our country's woes can be attributed both to its leaders, primarily and the people. we can never move on if we can not do away with bad politicking , bad governance, bad leadership. at the moment, i think what we need is a strong leader. Someone in the mold of Lee Kuan Yew or Machiavelli ... someone who is willing to be righteous than popular .. And we as a people, we can not do no less.

Yun lang po :-)

Ummm, what does kabayan mean? I can't understand much of the above conversation without know the meaning-is it a slur? I've googled it but can't find the definition.

went to Giordano outlet in CC ... this filipina shopkeeper following me around. Everytime i touch something ... as soon as i left the spot she quickly re-touch up the place again with her sour face.  It seems like she is not very happy i am walking around in her shop ... What i can translate from her attitude was ... what the heck i am wondering around there ??? 

She changed attitude straight away when i walked to the cashier with QR 700 worth of purchases. Big smile and said 'come again Mam...'. Yeahhhh right  ...

Yes i was wearing my flip flop and my not so nice clothing when i walked into that shop. I guess nowadays people really judging others by its cover

Lol ... Giordano in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia... their staffs will do everything for you. I will just pointing out what i want ... they will grab the bag for you, asking the size you want, colour and they even will bring it to the cashier for you.

Miss shopping in Asia now ...

Yes thats what i have found, most asians lack profesionalism

i have also experienced that kind of  experience u had and mine is for a lot of times ..... and really, it is sad and disappointing to think why our kababayans are treating us like that?? Is that our own mistakes or it is their's? Being so insecure, unprofessional, no GMRC or disappointed because they can't  make any "pa-cute to us anymore - to get extra tip or money)..............or whatever?

one time, when i was paying at the counter of one of the shopping mall here... the cashier or the filipinos there started talking to me in english and really  treated me so special ..... (maybe thinking that i am other nationality) but as a filipino or a kabayan  i smiled at them and answered  back in filipino language in a very nice way, so that they will feel more comfortable (obviously they were so trying hard to speak english). But what i got after that?? These filipinas started saying that " Kabayan you should have told or informed us earlier that u are  a filipina..... we just wasted our vocabulary talking to u plus our extra effort, e pinay ka lang naman pala and so on ...etc!!!

Happy ... i find it when doing the shopping spree in Asia (Singapore, KL, Jakarta or HK ... their staffs are more well trained).

I dont think it is a matter of nationalities ... i would said it is a matter of customer service training.

Singapore work force is very professional. You have go there to see for yourself :)

 I did experienced it several times in that shopping mall.

Another incident that happened not long ago, I was in my faded t-shirt and pants, flip-flops, shiny faced and wearing my eyeglasses. the cashier at the grocery just pushed asided my stuff after scanning it and roughly bagging it. I looked at her and said, "if you're tired and crancky with whatever's bothering you, please don't vent it on my groceries". She stared at me as if I spoke ALIEN so i repeated myself in our mother tongue (tagalog). Only then, she said sorry but her face was scrawny as if she ate a bittergourd.

What to do, yanee...

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleonor Roosevelt

I'm happy that there filipino's doing the jobs that a lof of us would not do. I'm an American living in the country of qatar, and there a lot of different cultures and ethncities living here. I never had any complaints with the services I have recieved from the filipino people in this country.

I have some complaints with the people from eastern european countries. I went to a coffee shop in the mall, and the waitress ignored me on serval occasions. I finally got her attention and I said why are you ignoring me. The women told me she was tired because she is working two jobs. I told her I work to and she should not show her emotions on her to the costomer.

I met some Lebonease people in Doha, they have a great sense of humor, and I do say they are my kind of people that I would hang out with.

I found out the hard way to stay away from Koreans that work with Qatari Airways the koreans do not have any class or feelings. They are very cold and inconsiderate people. The Koreans that live in Qatar are not same in S. Korea.