"Pleasure To Meet You Mr. Ambassador"

Today was one of those days where to say to yourself, "Wow, that was something I wouldn't have done if I was still living in Canada." And it's true, I did two things today that were completely outside the realm of normal day-to-day life if I was still back in Vancouver. The first thing, which happened in the morning involved taking a course. Now, as you know, going to school for a course is a pretty normal and average thing to do. Courses are something I've taken in Vancouver. But it's not the idea of going to school that's the unique part, it's the course itself. Today I went to a course called, 'Managing Your Household Staff.' Having a maid or a driver in Canada is a pretty luxurious thing. Only the richest of the rich can afford live-in maids, personal security guards, and drivers that drive you around all day, everyday. But here in the Philippines having household staff is pretty commonplace, even for the middle class. Now I'm not saying I took this course because I need to know how to manage my own personal body guard. I don't have a guard and I never plan to get one. I don't even like the idea of a live-in maid. I actually find it weird waking up every morning and seeing several maids running around cleaning things. The house we live in currently has several maids and drivers; and although I've gotten used to it as time went by I still like having a bit more privacy. So once Aimee and I decide to move we're not having live-in maids; especially in an apartment. Call me old fashion but I like walking around in my underwear if the desire hits me and with live-in maids I feel like I have to dress up somewhat respectively just to leave my room. Your home is your castle so it's all about what do you prefer: a clean house and no personal privacy or a semi-dirty house with hours of pleasurable underwear dancing. We may have one maid - a part-time maid - so I guess taking this course is somewhat relevant if I need to know how to manage her. I won't bore you with the details but let's just say the course taught me how to locate possible staff, how to interview them, how to manage them once they're hired, how to keep them happy, and how to punish them (non-violently obviously) if you caught them stealing or such. The course also went briefly into cultural differences between us western types and the Filipinos. Some Filipinos are very superstitious about certain things so our instructor said it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the customs just in case you find yourself in a situation where the maid refuses to wash dishes on a Friday because evil spirits will possess her through the sink drain (I made this one up but some of the superstitions are actually quite close on the silly meter). When the course ended I found myself walking away with new and exciting knowledge on how to be a boss. I also found myself thinking about the bosses I've had over the years and how they should be taking the course I just finished. Most of my ex-bosses had no idea on how to deal with employees and I think this course - although talking about Filipinos - would be a good and positive educational experience for them. Maybe I should fax my course booklet to my old places of employment?

Did you know that the stanard wage for a live-in maid in the Metro Manila area is only 3000 to 4000 peso per month? That's - only - $69.10 to 92.14 CDN. You're probably sitting there thinking to yourself, 'Holy crap, I would feel guilty paying someone only $69.10 a month.' and you wouldn't be alone. Most of the expat families here thought the same thing and started paying their employees on a pay scale closer to the one a North American would earn. So imagine being a Filipino, getting hired by an expat family and finding your wage going from 3000 peso per month to, say, 2000 peso per week or more. Needless to say this discrepancy in wages has caused a bit of an issue in the household staff labour force. Any maid that has had an expat employer in the past now expects a rate much higher that the labour code suggests. I wonder if the non-expat families - the Filipino families - are annoyed at the expats for paying their staff so high?

The course ended, I had lunch, headed home and got ready for my evening out. My evening consisted of attending a general meeting for the Canadian Club of the Philippines. We're a group of Canadians who get together on both a social level and a charitable level. The Canadian Club raise funds for local Filipino charities and try to help out the poor as much as possible. The general meeting, this time, was held at the house of the Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines. I've met the Ambassador before, during Christmas time but I wasn't 100% satisfied with our meeting. You see, when I first heard I was going to meet a real Ambassador my mind started to fill with scenes from movies - usually James Bond-type movies - and how meeting an Ambassador is such a big deal. I thought to myself how I need to do this properly; I need to greet him in the most respectable way possible. I had my greeting practiced and ready to go. I would say, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ambassador," smile, and shake his hand. It didn't actually go that way. When Aimee and I arrived at the Ambassador's house we were greeted by two people at the entrance. A woman, and a man. I shook the woman's hand and then moved over to the man's hand. He didn't announce himself as being the Ambassador so I didn't immediately think to blurt of my, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ambassador," line. We finished the hand shaking and just as I was about to ask him if he's the Ambassador a waiter comes up and offers me a glass to wine. I grab the wine and turn back only to see a new guest shaking his hand and saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ambassador." What??? Are you kidding me? That was MY line! I missed my chance and sadly at the end of the evening I also missed my chance to say, "It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ambassador." So Christmas with the Ambassador was a complete write off. No dramatic James Bond styled secret agent scenes for me. I was just another face in the crowd for the Ambassador. So imagine my pleasure when I heard the next Canadian Club meeting was going to be at the Ambassador's house! "It's a pleasure to meet you again Mr. Ambassador." I can do this! We arrived at his house and went though the entrance. There were two ladies greeting us at the door: the Ambassador's wife and a member from the Canadian Club. Where is the Ambassador? How am I suppose to wow him with my rehearsed greeting if he's not even here? I grabbed a glass of wine and started to mingle. An hour went by and I still didn't see the Ambassador. Finally the meeting started and out popped the Ambassador. He said a few words and disappeared again. I didn't see him for the rest of the evening. Second chance: failed! I hope I don't have to wait until the next Christmas party to say my amusing and cunning greeting. Knowing my luck I'll finally get the chance and accidentally blurt out something like, "Pleasure to eat you Mr. Assador." Oh, the horror ... I shiver in fear at the likely possibly of that happening.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ambassador ... one day, soon, in the future, when ever you have time, let's have coffee ... and some maple syrup eh!"