Only funny if you work with Filipinos

[brights the cat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/wo...araoke.html?em

This article, I swear to god, says they kill each other over conflicts on the execution of Karaoke "My Way" renditions.

[MaliceA4thought]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/wo...araoke.html?em

This article, I swear to god, says they kill each other over conflicts on the execution of Karaoke "My Way" renditions.

That's too punny.

I have worked with filipinos and dated filipinas. I love that country and the people. And though I have never seen a fist fight over a karaoke song, I have noticed they have some of the best cover bands ever. I remember sitting in a club in Manila when the band was playing "Summer Breeze" by Seals and Crofts. If you closed your eyes, you would think you were listening to the 1972 record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsW8rXPcnM0

[brights the cat]

My husband works with a Filipina who was young and born in the U.S. She said she got so sick of karaoke, sitting around hearing her relatives sing "Speelings." (Feelings)

I took the article into the breakroom this morning and they knew all about the My Way killings.

[MaliceA4thought]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

My husband works with a Filipina who was young and born in the U.S. She said she got so sick of karaoke, sitting around hearing her relatives sing "Speelings." (Feelings)

I took the article into the breakroom this morning and they knew all about the My Way killings.

I had two buddies who went to the air force academy to become pilots. They were a pair of pliers.

There was a huge Filipino population in NV when I lived there. They sure know how to have fun. We had huge parties with lots of food. Ahhhh. The food! Lumpia - yum. We would dance and just have an awesome time. They just love to have fun.

[brights the cat]

It's okay, that's the most I can say about Filipino culture. It has its good points. I don't know what books say, what studies say, what the truth is, but what I've seen in my experience is that there are some exceptionally fair-minded individuals but whenever there is a group who obtain a majority in the workplace, they begin to corrupt practices to benefit themselves and their leaders. My most ethical friend is a Filipina, and she says this herself. She says it comes from being saturated with pessimism about social justice from a young age because of the rampant political corruption and violent oppression in the Philippines.

[MaliceA4thought]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

It's okay, that's the most I can say about Filipino culture. It has its good points. I don't know what books say, what studies say, what the truth is, but what I've seen in my experience is that there are some exceptionally fair-minded individuals but whenever there is a group who obtain a majority in the workplace, they begin to corrupt practices to benefit themselves and their leaders. My most ethical friend is a Filipina, and she says this herself. She says it comes from being saturated with pessimism about social justice from a young age because of the rampant political corruption and violent oppression in the Philippines.

I think that can be said about a lot of groups. My bro in Europe says the same thing about Norwegians. One on one, great people. But if too many end up at the same company, the tribalism takes over and they will f*** over any non-Norwegians in the most predatory fashion.

I have noticed the same thing about Japanese. I absolutely love the country and the people of Japan, but they really know how to put tribalism above everything else. They will destroy careers, lives, and even the company they work for in order to take control.

It's like watching a shark or a lion. The shark has no feelings for the baby seal it just bit in half. And the lion has no feelings for the baby gazelle when it's clamping down on its neck.

I noticed the same thing about blacks in the workplace. I have always tried to be nice and just get along, but when there is a black majority, they start to get a lot of attitude. Not the men. They try to get along. The women, on the other hand, want r-e-s-p-e-c-t, and you quickly learn they will not do anything they don't have to do. If you get a black female office manager, she will actually refuse to do anything for a white person, even if it is in her job description. She will go on an on about how "you're not the only person that needs something" and you're just going to have to wait. The sad thing is they will systematically destroy any other black woman who works well with whites.

I'm just a bundle of joy today, ain't I?

MA4T

[brights the cat]

Well, today it really helps me to hear that about Norwegians. I never really thought about this being true of about any group--pretty ignorant of me. It helps to look at it that way.

Yesterday was a very dramatic day for this issue. At a site where I work there is a new Filipino boss in his 30s who started in the middle of January and has been putting in 3-4 hour days, calling in sick a lot, and assigning work as if he has a clear cut plan to structure the week so he'll never need to appear for longer periods. This part, I find highly amusing. Certainly, it would be smart for everyone not to get attached to him.

Something happened where 7 patients became ill (but not hospitalized) because of behaviors by some of his tribal peers who cut corners. That was ten days ago. Friday afternoon in a monthly quality meeting, the medical director learned of the incident for the first time because of new boss's incompetence. He should have reported to her immediately. The medical director went ballistic (on a good day she's the biggest bitch you will ever see, but this time she was right). She demanded a full report first thing Monday morning. The biomed guy, the guy who collects stats and knew the facts, sat with a red face while New Boss lied to the medical director about the numbers, the root cause, etc etc.

New boss completed the report to the medical director and delivered it Monday morning (although he didn't arrive at work until 9:40, earlier than usual) without consulting the nurses who understand what happened and cared for the patients affected or the biomed guy--which makes one wonder, what went in the report in place of facts? Then he convened a team meeting Monday and Tuesday to basically tell everyone it is no one's business to go blabbing things to the medical director. Keeping quiet during this frustrated me so much I wanted to cry.

We want to tell the medical director or New Boss's boss but biomed guy insists he'll have trouble and may be fired from the clinic by New Boss because he's seen these things before, had bosses say they don't want him in their clinics because something factual he said to the medical director embarrassed a boss. I figure, who am I to endanger another person's job.

I am so disgusted. Oh, and new boss is a registered nurse, so of course he knows better, has professional training and ethics, etc. The little fuck.

[MaliceA4thought]

Wow, that's just shitty!

The one thing I try to remember when dealing with Filipinos is that they come from a country where there is extreme poverty and a huge gap between rich and poor. The have been conquered (China, Spain, Japan) and occupied (USA) over and over again over the past few centuries. Not to mention, power is held by a handful of completely corrupt and privileged pepole who are above the law. And as with any country with extreme poverty, young girls are sold in to sexual slavery and boys are put on the street to beg. That's got to f**k with your mind.

So they have what I call the ghetto mentality. "The whole world is out to exploit me, so I'll exploit everybody else first." In some ways, they remind me of inner city blacks, just less 'in your face' attitude. If you feel like the world is an unfair place, you have no problem with behaviors that Americans call unethical or lazy. It has nothing to do with lying or telling the truth. It's about survival. And it's about taking back from the world what has been taken from you and your home for centuries. And if you hurt a few white people along the way, they probably deserved it.

I'm not making excuses for unethical or bad behavior, and I could be wrong, but after working with Filipinos for over 20 years and visiting the Philippines several times, it's the opinion I've formulated.

[brights the cat]

I am so glad I didn't do anything about this situation, because I really wanted to report it and there are a couple of ways I might have tried. But a good reason not to take action in a situation like this is that you may not understand all the facts, even if you have them, since it isn't your field.

And as it happens, everyone including me was wrong about something. New Boss didn't turn in the report to the medical director! This is about as amazing as seeing the sun come Up in the West. The doctor had slammed her palm on the table and shouted, I want a full report first thing Monday morning! No one imagined someone already in deep trouble would not spend the weekend compiling a detailed report.

But Tuesday afternoon, late, in the hallway, my friend saw the medical director walk up to him and say, Where is the report? He said, "We're working on it, I want to get different people to write their parts." She said, When can I expect it? My friend didn't hear the response. But New Boss went home soon after and will not return for a week.

From Wed to next Tuesday, he'll be away at annual meetings.

I am friends with a boss in a different clinic who said that at their group meetings, New Boss is highly adept at kissing up and expressing company core-value poetry.

To ventilate through verbalization, I called my Filipina friend who is a nurse, and she was the most outraged of anyone who's heard about the incident. I knew she would be, of course, because before she stepped down, she had been an excellent boss. It was fun to hear her work up a funnel cloud of indignation over the saga.

[MaliceA4thought]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

New Boss is highly adept at kissing up and expressing company core-value poetry.

Wow, have I seen that played out over and over the past few years, or what? I have a client (big company) that has what I can an internal propaganda officer. His whole job is to find things that the CEO says and apply them whatever theme the management is going to push at the time.

I do have to admit, though. I've become good at that. With my professor job, I keep pounding the "It's all about he students" drum. It has made me this quasi-hero, which I did not want. Sometimes, I actually believe it, but sometimes it's just a good way to get people to start doing their jobs and stop annoying me.

All you have to do is say, "Hey, it's all about the students" and you see 10 people jump to their feet and say, "You're right. I'll get that report for you right now."

I think management loves the company slogan person because they don't really care what he/she is doing. They just want the company slogan person to whip others in to action with mindless slogans. It's a lot like religion. You don't have to believe in heaven or hell, you just have to be able to deliver a line well enough to get others to swing in to action.

Still feeling a big cynical.

MA4T

[brights the cat]

Malice, when I read Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-Sided, she had a chapter about how this crazed mania for motivating the troops with inspiring messages of heroic service rose out of the late eighties to combat poor morale that followed downsizing and has never stopped barreling over the mountains and prairies, in fact gets louder during bad times.

One of the most interesting sentences for me said that corporate chiefs used to rise up through the ranks because of proven competence. Then they became charismatic leaders, intuitive and emotionally connecting, uplifting the nameless hordes.

It tries my soul. It's like the corporation has become like a religious institution with a prophet at the head. People in my company often complain it's like a cult. Ehrenreich's chapter was incredibly helpful in making me see that it's not a cult but a constellation of cults I belong to, that is larger than any one deluded leader and his chanting, arm-waving sea of sycophants.

You do the right thing by spouting slogans. I saw a saying I never heard before (wince--probably common knowledge): The situation dictates the response. I like that. How's that for cynical?

[MaliceA4thought]

There was a Samurai who wanted to conquer the neighboring town, but he had about 1/10 the soldiers the other Samurai had. So he went to a temple to pray for success and inspiration.

When he came out, he told his troops, who were quickly losing morale, that he would flip a coin to decide if they should attack. If it is heads, they will attack and win. If it is tails, they are destined to lose and could go home.

He flipped the coin and it landed on heads. The enthusiasm of his troops went up several notches. They attacked and sacked the town, defeating an army 10x their size.

What was he doing all that time in the temple? He was melting two coins together back to back so both sides would be the head.

[brights the cat]

Amazing parable.

[MaliceA4thought]

Ehrenreich sounds interesting.

Hey, it's all about the students.