Things I Have Learned in Macau.

[tyggerjai]

If you are moving, and have 22 or so boxes, a couple of cabinets, a king size bed, a whole apartment of STUFF you have somehow accumulated in 2 years, you really want a small army of old wizened Chinese guys to come and make it disappear, including wrapping the shelves and bed and stuff. But for *real* customer service, you want them to have a Filipino boss.

I am going to miss the Filipinos. They make terrible coffee, but everything else they do brilliantly, with a smile, and I can't get them not to call me Sir. I cannot imagine what their country must have been through to push them to the point of actual armed rebellion.

[ETA: I am ignorant! Wikipedia describes the events of February 1986 as "A peaceful civilian-military uprising". So you can't even get them to revolt against a despot without being nice about it. They probably said "Excuse me, Sir, do you mind if we have a new president now, if that's ok?"]

Comments

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

There was some kind of rough-housing for independence after WW2, yeh?

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

Not according to Wikipedia. But they've had their fair share of wars against various people. It's just so hard to reconcile with a people who, in my experience, are universally pleasant and respectful. And ok, the Filipinos I meet are in service roles, generally menial ones, so that's kinda their job. But the Chinese are vastly less pleasant, and there are so many Filipinos in such roles, you'd think one would meet *some* grumpy ones. But not so.

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

They're probably hanging out somewhere with all the sane Finns.

BTW - did I mention I'm gonna be on Red Faces?

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

With or without boot polish?

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

With! We're dressing up as a bunch of medical practitioners.