Philippines - Sept 13 -17
On Monday Grace (plnt mgr), Marilyn(SC mgr) & Engeleen(quality mgr) were supposed to meet us in the hotel lobby before heading into the office. When I came down from my room the ladies were waiting for us. It turned out Guido was already sitting in the lobby waiting but they assumed it was not him because he looked to be too young to be in this type of job. I tried to up Guido’s status by mentioning that he might be young but he has a doctorate degree, so he’s Dr. Guido! We had a good laugh about it but I could tell they were impressed.
For the opening meeting we met at the main office in Makati Manila which is about 1 ½ hour north of the plant. Grace introduced us to Lito who will be our driver for the week and we were on our way. Driving to the office was quite an experience. For those who have been to Vietnam the scene is very similar. In sections of the city the traffic was horrendous. No lane rules, terrible fumes from the cars, mopeds, and jeepneys. People in the jeepneys were wearing surgical masks or holding a hankerchief over their mouth and nose as to not breath in the fumes. Even though Lito was a good driver there were times when I was so sure we were going to hit something. New York cab drivers are wimps compared to these drivers. Talk about aggressive driving! There were moments when I had to close my eyes. As the week progressed I learned to just work on my laptop and not pay too much attention to the traffic around me.
The traffic in the city is so bad I don’t know how people can stand it. I was told that the 40 minute drive to the office is usually around 2 hours during rush hour which during most of the day! The government actually tried to alleviate this by placing a restriction on people so that there is one day per week when you are not allowed to drive during rush hour. This is done by the tag on their license plate.
It’s humid here but not so hot. I wore a suit (even though it’s short sleeved) since it’s the opening meeting but later regretted it when we did the plant walk around.
After the meeting we drove to the plant in Cabuyao which is the focus point of our assignment. It was a much nicer drive with the lush and green countryside. The plant was located in what they call an industrial park. This is a secure place where are multiple plants from multiple companies. There’s a guard at the entrance of the park and another guard at the entrance of our plant. It’s a small plant and Grace (the plnt mgr) had told me it would only take an hour to go through it. Well, being good auditors, we took over 3 hours. Guido looked in every nook and cranny because that’s where you find things. It was warm and humid and I was sweating like a pig. In a part of the plant they had a big fan going so I would find excuses to pass it!
Thoughout the week interviewees were very nice and treated us very well. Early on we had a conversation about strange foods and Guido had to brag that he ate monkey meat when he was on an assignment in china. The girls found out Guido never had chicken feet. Unfortunately I piped in that I would NOT eat chicken feet. After that it was Marilyn’s mission to take us to eat chicken feet. On top of that she was going to make us eat “ballot” which is an egg with a semi developed fetus of a chicken! YUCK! The fetus of the chick is a delicacy. In Vietnam we have the same thing but it’s duck egg. Just the thought of it was disgusting! You are eating a fetus that already has hair and a shape! The next day when we said that we could not afford to go out to lunch because of our work schedule, they brought in a whole spread of Filipino food. It was so delicious. Crispy roast pork, sautéed squid, beef soup, stir fry, pancit. Marilyn made a big production out of a special order of chicken feet for us. Since Guido readily agreed to try it I had to do the same! I can’t let a white guy show me up! I had to admit the flavor of the sauce was really good but you just can’t deny the fact that you are chewing on a bony chicken toe! What can I say, it tasted like feet even though Marilyn assured me that the feet are washed before cooking! Ha ha
One frustration during our time at the plant was that it was not very high tech. No wireless and even with the manual connection I could not get network access most of the time. My blackberry had no network either so I was totally disconnected from everything. All I could do was to do everything on local drive. On top of that the plant had no air conditioning, except in our conference room which was very loud. Still, we managed to get the work done.
Over the week I have observed that it is the nature of Filipinos are quick to agree and do not want to argue with you. They look to us as authority and do not want to offend. This is not necessarily a good thing and you have to get good at interpreting if they are really understanding what needs to be done and will do it. Or they might have a good reason but just want to agree.
On Tuesday night the team took us to dinner. It was a fun time and I got to get to know the group a little bit more. Again they order a crap load of food. Crispy whole fish, sizzling beef, noodles, roast pork, and crispy chicken skin which you dip in a vinegar base sauce. Ofcourse we ate everything! Also, I had the best mango shake EVER! The mangos here are the yummy small yellow mangos which are more flavorful. They also had a sour mango shake which I tried later in the week.
All this week I’ve been up until 2am only to get up again at 6am. Not to waste a minute Guido & I are working on the laptop during the drive to and from the plant. I can’t wait to get good at the report writing. The process is so stringent it’s insane. There are so many rules on format and wording and it goes through so many reviews. I’m not as fast so I have to spend more time at it. I have had much sleep all week but strangely I was feeling ok. I think it’s the adrenaline and it’s going to hit me hard at some point.
On the way home on Wednesday night I made an executive decision to work the rest of the week at the Alabang office. I was getting frustrated with lack of network connection and it was slowing me down. I was sure the office would be a little more hi tech. In the end I think it was a good move. We had a little stress the night before the closing meeting based on the reaction of the president of the company when we shared our findings. We had to scramble to get as much info from germany as possible in order to be prepared for our arguments if it came to it. For 4 hours on Friday morning Guido & I laid out our gameplan and prepared for the worse which means that there are no consensus and our report is incomplete. This could be a bad thing and not what I need on my first assignment! Anyway, we laid out all scenarios and went through the strategy for each. In the end the meeting went fine and I was so relieved. I came to realize how draining this job could be. But it is so interesting the stress is worth it. Boy, all this week when the stress level was high I was so needing a hug from Gary. We were chatting online every night (or morning for him) through gmail but it’s still not the same. He is so good at providing comfort when I need it and times like this I really miss him being with me L
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