What's wrong with this picture? Two masked men come out of a little store and hop on a motorcycle. Innocent enough? Should I talk to the store-owner and find out if anything is missing from her cashbox?Also motorcycle riders rarely wear helmets in the Philippines! I was told that when they do have accidents, it often has tragic consequences-- especially on over-loaded tricycles.
In Dumaguete as in Iloilo, there are tricycles everywhere. We rarely see one in Baguio.
Heide and I finally got an opportunity to ride in a tricycle. When Andy drove us from the airport to his house, his little Kia carried four people and all our luggage over the rough, unfinished road leading to his house. The Kia scraping the ground numerous times on this ride, causing a leak in Andy's gas tank. A few days later, after driving us to his favorite car repair place, he had his driver pick us up in a tricycle. The driver drove us all around Dumaguete making frequent stops so we could do business and eat lunch. The cost for his services? Approximately $3. It also cost $30 to repair Andy's leaking gas tank-- quite a labor intensive task. All the gasoline had to be removed and it filled up with some inert substance before a welding torch could be applied to it. What would this cost in the States?One of the pieces of business we had to take care of was the return of a "Smart Bro" gadget I had purchased the previous day. It plugs into the USB port, finds cell-phone signals, and lets us surf the internet and send emails-- like this one. One of the Nuns back in Mere Monique had lent us a sleek black "Smart Bro" that worked well. You prepay for its use, but it's only about 20 cents an hour. Well, when I went to purchase one in a "Smart Store" in Dumaguete, they sold me an older white "Smart Bro" that didn't work with my MacBook Pro when I got it home. Going back to the store to exchange it, they immediately plugged it into their PC, saw it was not defective on their PC, and refused to (1) exchange it for a newer black one or (2) give me my money back. They said they had no more black ones. I had the Mac with me and showed them that the white one didn't work on the Mac, but they argued that I must hire a technician to reconfigure my Mac so it would work with it. We were at an impasse when Heide and Andy arrived. Heide started talking with the girl about familiar background things and Andy asked for her name so we could file a formal complaint to "Smart". Suddenly, she went to the back room and reappeared with a brand new box containing a black "Smart Bro" that she claimed was her own personal copy. We accepted it and left. Later, in Baguio, I discussed this situation with a friend from America, and he reinforced the idea that a Filipino should make the purchase if you want things to go right. When I purchase by myself, I should expect to be charged "skin tax". My situation was a little more complicated than "skin tax"-- they were dumping old, outdated technology on me-- but I did discover that he was right. Americans can be charged more and still see themselves as "getting a good deal". This was a lesson in "culture shock" and the Filipino trait of "pakikisama", the art of interpersonal relationship, and "hiya", which is "saving face".
Actually, tricycles are used for other things than just moving passengers around.Duane and Heide
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