Security everywhere and employee overload.
Posted on October 17, 2010 by Pastor Tom
Well, it’s day 2 in the Philippines. Impression #1 – Security. Everywhere. There are security guards on street corners, outside hotels with dogs; at the entrance way to malls and in almost every store in the mall. There are no garbage cans in public places in the malls so bombs can’t be placed there. Even at church this morning, there were separate male and female entrances with guards to examine your bags. On one hand, it’s reassuring to see a lot of security. On another hand, it’s sad. But it’s reality here. And these security guards have guns!
Impression #2 – Employee overload. It’s not unusual to go into a store and be outnumbered 4 or 6 to 1 by employees. Often there are four or five clerks at each store often doing nothing. Some restaurant have girls stand out in front to bring you a menu or hand out flyers or call you in. Does this mean there is an abundance of employment? Yes and No. There is an abundance of minimum wage workers. The minimum wage is 385 Philippine pesos/day – That’s just under $10 for 8 hours or 12 in some cases. (The security guard at our hotel works 7 AM to 7 PM). So these workers come into the city 1 to 2 hours commute to do their shift and head back out again 6 days a week.
It puts into perspective how much we have to be thankful for in North America, even for garbage cans!
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