# Philippine thinking explained



## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

I had a little occurrence that explains the Philippine mentality in a nutshell.

I was cooking and spilled a little on the burner. It smoked a bit but nothing serious.

This while not setting off the alarm in my unit did send a signal to the security desk. A few minutes later a security guard and a maintenance person showed up at my door asking if everything was OK.

So far so good, nice to know that they were monitoring for potential alarms and taking action.

However they asked if they could come in, the maintenance worker proceeded to put tape over the smoke detector so that it would not alarm again.

They were not at all concerned about the need for the detector, for my welfare or safety of the people in the block. All they cared about was that they would not be inconvenienced again by a nuisance alarm on the smoke detector.

I had the tape off before they were in the elevator.


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## Zep (Jun 8, 2017)

Just think about all the taped up detectors in your complex. Yours might be the only one working.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Smoker detectors, must have been a young green architect showing off on his first commission.


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## esv1226 (Mar 13, 2014)

at least they did not take the batteries out


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

They couldn't because it was a hard wired unit to communicate with the central panel.


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

So typical.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

So the alarm doesn't work in a brownout. Mains powered alarms normally have a backup battery.


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## MikenKeira (Jul 3, 2017)

This made me smile and reminded me of my little incident a few months back in my office in Cavite.

Arrived in the office one morning and there was a beep (cheep) noise coming from the ceiling and knowing that this was the smoke detector advising the battery was almost dead told my manager. He said no this was to show that it was working and it has always done this.

I kept quite and a few days later several beeps were coming from several more SD's in the main office area. Again I advised the manager the battery's were dying and they were all doing this at this time because they were all installed probably around the same time. Nope he insisted we have had this beeping all the time.

Eventually....because it was doing my head in.....I took out the battery in my office and ordered them to get me a new battery, which we duly replaced and of course the beeping stopped. I subsequently told him to replace all of the other batteries, which he did and now we again have an office with no beeping.

However I now have a manager mumbling away and now saying the foreigner has placed all their lives at risk if we have a fire.....!!!


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

If he was my manager he would be looking for a new job.

Chuck


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

Gary D said:


> So the alarm doesn't work in a brownout. Mains powered alarms normally have a backup battery.


Battery backups for centrally monitored systems are on the main panel, not in the individual unit .

This is needed because the systems are monitored for faults and line breaks.

I are a engineer. I have installed several fire and alarm systems on my building projects.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

MikenKeira said:


> However I now have a manager mumbling away and now saying the foreigner has placed all their lives at risk if we have a fire.....!!!


You fail to realize that their 4th grade attainment level of mental ability/maturity is far superior to any knowledge that a foreigner may have. LOL. Trying to explain anything is an exercise in futility. It is a lot easier on ones stress level to just go with the flow and try to cover your *ss when necessary in order to protect oneself.

The Asawa's 3rd Son died about a week ago so the funeral was planned for yesterday (Thurs) in Culasi which is on the opposite side of Panay Island from Iloilo where we live. Drove over there on Monday. While planning the trip, I noticed there was a bypass around San Jose de Buenavista so when we got to that point, I took it so not to have to deal with all the city traffic and she screamed the whole way that I was lost until we got back on the national road northbound from the city. She had only made that trip before riding the Ceres Bus. This morning coming back, I was somewhat curious, so elected to go through the city. Of course, it took somewhat longer time to come on through, but I was 'reminded' about how much easier it was to drive directly to the heart of the city and then out the other direction. As I said, sometimes it is easier on ones stress level to just "go with the flow". 

Fred

ps. I have been to several wakes & funerals since moving here in 2014, but this is the first time that I have followed this process on through. Quite an education to this western world mind of all the process & drama the people of this country put to the process of death and all the involvement attached to internment and all the ongoing involvement going into the coming years. To my mind, they are utterly fascinated and totally immersed in death & dead relatives.


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## esv1226 (Mar 13, 2014)

fmartin_gila said:


> . I said, sometimes it is easier on ones stress level to just "go with the flow".
> 
> _or is the wife always right?
> 
> ...


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

fmartin_gila said:


> ...... To my mind, they are utterly fascinated and totally immersed in death & dead relatives.


Along these lines, I am on several dating sites. I have had a couple of women, after making first contact and asking if she wants to meet, tell me that they have to go to their province for a funeral.

They always send me coffin pictures of the dead relative.

Lots of homes have coffin pictures of Granny on the wall in a place of honour.


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

There is a lot of death here and they need a way to reconcile/deal with it. The heavy Catholicism not only has a fatalistic element, but also gives them the process with which to work through the grieving process when the inevitable happens. I think it was Elizabeth Kubler-Ross who wrote about the stages of grief. Anyway, I have seen it up close as the asawa lost two brothers to cancer within the past 18 months. One 46 and one 49, sadly way too young. They go through the rituals and work through it and seem to come out of it okay. But yeah, it's a big part of life here.


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

All cultures have their death rituals. The ones here are a little morbid to my westernized tastes and experiences. I don't have any coffin pictures of anyone. To send one to a relative stranger is out there a little bit

But if it works for them.....

Another example.

I am searching for an apartment now. I found one that had a price for a 6 month and a 1 year lease. Naturally the one year was a little less than the 6 month one. The terms on both were monthly payments.

I asked what the discount would be for annual payments, other places had offered me a nice discount. This owner was angry that I would expect a further discount because I was already getting one for a 1 year lease, he simply could not understand the difference between monthly and one annual payment.


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## MikenKeira (Jul 3, 2017)

I had a similar experience on the rentals.

We renewed our lease for a further 12 months just recently and the owner expected another 
security deposit and advance rent! 

It took a while to explain that it was an extension/renewal and that they already had a security deposit!


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

MikenKeira said:


> I had a similar experience on the rentals.
> 
> We renewed our lease for a further 12 months just recently and the owner expected another security deposit and advance rent !
> 
> It took a while to explain that it was an extension/renewal and that they already had a security deposit !.


It truly-truly makes you wonder sometimes :crazy::doh::tape:


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

MikenKeira said:


> I had a similar experience on the rentals.
> 
> We renewed our lease for a further 12 months just recently and the owner expected another
> security deposit and advance rent!
> ...


Just demand that he return the old security deposit before signing a new lease. Then he has to come up with the cash (which he most likely has already spent on Red Horse lol). Then hand it right back to him as the second term deposit.

I have been waiting 2 months to get my deposit back on a 6 month rental. I got half of it but am getting excuses on the rest, many of which are mutually exclusive. I am not too worried because I always consider a security deposit a write off when given. 

On my last Canadian apartment, I hired the cleaning company that the block recommended and was still charged over $CDN 200 for not fully cleaning it. (The place was 100% ***** and span and literally shone.)


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

MikenKeira said:


> I had a similar experience on the rentals.
> 
> We renewed our lease for a further 12 months just recently and the owner expected another
> security deposit and advance rent!
> ...


I have had the EXACT same thing happen. Hard to believe but true.


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