The "Pasensya Na" Syndrome

Just to preface this entire rant, no one loves my home country more than I do, and yes I am a proud Filipino. I don't even "claim" I'm half Spanish. You know what I'm talking about. I love everything about the Philippines, the food the culture and the history. I would soooo love to one day finally root for its economic success. But alas, even with this undying love, I cannot overlook certain folly that prevent us from excelling in the economic arena. One aspect is our own incapability to adapt to the western world's standards of business, one that will keep us down forever. This is NOT a blanket statement by any means of my countrymen. This just addresses the many who cling to an archaic way of conducting business. This is why I dread doing business with anyone in the Philippines, and even some legacy Filipino businesses in the US. Nothing personal, I just want things to actually come out the way I paid for in the time it was supposed to be delivered. Call me Americanized that way.

As a culture, or at least a stereotype, we are intelligent, resourceful, educated and diligent but despite this we have a fatal business flaw, our inability to understand what modern society's customers expect. In the Filipino culture, patience, "pasensya" is one of the primary virtues. It is expected that as one matures, so does one's patience. In essence, patience can be seen as a product of wisdom. Wisdom and love of family is why the elderly are held in the highest esteem within the culture. The elderly are the "holders of wisdom." We don't pass our parents around as a burdens when they grow old. In fact, it is an honor for the family to be chosen to take care of an aging parent. All well and good...but I digress.

This in itself is not a hurdle to the country's economic success. The problem is when you as a culture not only EXPECT patience from yourself, but ASSUME it of others...paying customers, even ones not of Filipino decent. "Patience please," or "pasensya na" is a very common saying when conducting business in the Philippines. The expectation that the customer will be patient is so widely assumed that in many instances, the customer may not be receiving the optimal service they paid for because they will "bear with you." In modern society, you cannot assume that your client will bear with you if things don't go according to plan. In fact, it is the diametric opposite of one of capitalism's primary virtue, "the customer is always right." Unfortunately, the pendulum sometimes swings so far that they use the "pasensya na" mentality as an excuse to deliver less than stellar products or services. "The customer will always have to bear with me."

You could be on your way to pick up your wedding dress on the day of your wedding and wait 3 hours for the seamstress to get to the shop because she overslept, caught two masses at church or a myriad of other excuses only to be given no other reasoning but the phrase, "pasensya na." Even in the United States it is not unheard of to go to a Filipino restaurant, order fried chicken and hear the unfortunate phrase, "ay, naubos na," "we ran out," even if the primary motto of the restaurant itself is "the house that chicken built." How could you run out? That's what you do! Was there a chicken epidemic? If I go to any KFC in the US, even one minute before they close, I can expect that they will have chicken. They are called Kentucky FRIED CHICKEN, the option of running out is not even conceivable.

Will I be patient for your incompetence or lack of organization? Maybe, but don't expect it. To be or not be patient is MY right, not yours to enforce. If I'm paying full price, I do not expect half the effort or results. If you, as a business, deliver less than what is expected, then assume that I will ask for compensation other than the excuse "pasensya na." Call me an ass, but I actually want what I paid for in the time I was originally told, not 3 hours after that.

This doesn't only span across business. Unfortunately, this is culture-wide. I have Filipino friends who know that there are people waiting for them, but see no urgency to rush because they expect me to be patient, like I had nothing better to do. I could've had an extra hours' sleep, had a chance to eat dinner, etc. Did that ever cross your mind? Why do I always have to adjust my schedule because you lack the time-management skills?

This can go on forever...