1. I just picked-up my daughter when she was then in High School in Alabang ( south of Manila) and while waiting for the traffic light to change, I heard a tap-tapping on my car window.
I saw a small girl not more than 7 years old with her palm opened to me. I asked her why is she begging? She replied if she did not meet her day's quota, she will be chased out of the house of the man who maintains them (meaning more little boys and girls).
2. As my car approached the corner of Katipunan Ave and Santolan Road (East of Manila), I saw from afar a teenaged girl who noticed my car slowing down for the intersection. She then lifted a tiny girl (more like a baby) sitting too on the sidewalk and then, shockingly, dropped the baby on the pavement to make her cry. She then picked-up again the baby girl and approached my window to beg, telling me "it is for the baby girl who was crying in hunger". I WAS SHOCKED!!!!
3. Lenlen is a skinny girl (age 7 according to her but she looked too small for 7) and she would offer me sampaguita flowers as I gas-up at the Petron Gas Station in Don Antonio, Quezon City (north of Manila) at about 11:30pm.
She relates that she is part of a family of 8 kids ages 2 to 12. There father abandoned them and her mother is too sick to work. So, it is up to the kids to feed the family.
4. It was late at night and it was also raining very hard as I waited for the green light at the corner of Gil Puyat and Makati Avenues in Makati. Again I heard that familiar tap-tapping on my car window. I rolled it down a little as it was still raining so hard.
I nearly could not see her as the girl was so short. Her lips were white from the cold cold rain as she tried raising her trembling hand offering me flowers. She could hardly speak (more like mumble) from all that shaking from the cold.
5. In any traffic intersection, you will see so many beggars supposedly scurrying around stopped or slowly moving vehicles.
I was told by one beggar that the scurrying is organized and there is a hierarchy of begging. Example, by agreement, the beggars keep to their lane. There is sometimes a Big Boss which is usually the oldest among the beggars and he lords it over everyone.
The Management of Begging?
Showing posts with label Spiritual Self. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spiritual Self. Show all posts
Monday, July 5, 2010
How Not to Do Business: The Business of Begging
1. I just picked-up my daughter when she was then in High School in Alabang ( south of Manila) and while waiting for the traffic light to change, I heard a tap-tapping on my car window.
I saw a small girl not more than 7 years old with her palm opened to me. I asked her why is she begging? She replied if she did not meet her day's quota, she will be chased out of the house of the man who maintains them (meaning more little boys and girls).
2. As my car approached the corner of Katipunan Ave and Santolan Road (East of Manila), I saw from afar a teenaged girl who noticed my car slowing down for the intersection. She then lifted a tiny girl (more like a baby) sitting too on the sidewalk and then, shockingly, dropped the baby on the pavement to make her cry. She then picked-up again the baby girl and approached my window to beg, telling me "it is for the baby girl who was crying in hunger". I WAS SHOCKED!!!!
3. Lenlen is a skinny girl (age 7 according to her but she looked too small for 7) and she would offer me sampaguita flowers as I gas-up at the Petron Gas Station in Don Antonio, Quezon City (north of Manila) at about 11:30pm.
She relates that she is part of a family of 8 kids ages 2 to 12. There father abandoned them and her mother is too sick to work. So, it is up to the kids to feed the family.
4. It was late at night and it was also raining very hard as I waited for the green light at the corner of Gil Puyat and Makati Avenues in Makati. Again I heard that familiar tap-tapping on my car window. I rolled it down a little as it was still raining so hard.
I nearly could not see her as the girl was so short. Her lips were white from the cold cold rain as she tried raising her trembling hand offering me flowers. She could hardly speak (more like mumble) from all that shaking from the cold.
5. In any traffic intersection, you will see so many beggars supposedly scurrying around stopped or slowly moving vehicles.
I was told by one beggar that the scurrying is organized and there is a hierarchy of begging. Example, by agreement, the beggars keep to their lane. There is sometimes a Big Boss which is usually the oldest among the beggars and he lords it over everyone.
The Management of Begging?
I saw a small girl not more than 7 years old with her palm opened to me. I asked her why is she begging? She replied if she did not meet her day's quota, she will be chased out of the house of the man who maintains them (meaning more little boys and girls).
2. As my car approached the corner of Katipunan Ave and Santolan Road (East of Manila), I saw from afar a teenaged girl who noticed my car slowing down for the intersection. She then lifted a tiny girl (more like a baby) sitting too on the sidewalk and then, shockingly, dropped the baby on the pavement to make her cry. She then picked-up again the baby girl and approached my window to beg, telling me "it is for the baby girl who was crying in hunger". I WAS SHOCKED!!!!
3. Lenlen is a skinny girl (age 7 according to her but she looked too small for 7) and she would offer me sampaguita flowers as I gas-up at the Petron Gas Station in Don Antonio, Quezon City (north of Manila) at about 11:30pm.
She relates that she is part of a family of 8 kids ages 2 to 12. There father abandoned them and her mother is too sick to work. So, it is up to the kids to feed the family.
4. It was late at night and it was also raining very hard as I waited for the green light at the corner of Gil Puyat and Makati Avenues in Makati. Again I heard that familiar tap-tapping on my car window. I rolled it down a little as it was still raining so hard.
I nearly could not see her as the girl was so short. Her lips were white from the cold cold rain as she tried raising her trembling hand offering me flowers. She could hardly speak (more like mumble) from all that shaking from the cold.
5. In any traffic intersection, you will see so many beggars supposedly scurrying around stopped or slowly moving vehicles.
I was told by one beggar that the scurrying is organized and there is a hierarchy of begging. Example, by agreement, the beggars keep to their lane. There is sometimes a Big Boss which is usually the oldest among the beggars and he lords it over everyone.
The Management of Begging?
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Scavenging at Lotto Outlet
We need to have HEART in running a business. Let me explain:
There is these two guys, an old man and a not-so-old man, that used to bother me whenever I see them approach my Lotto outlet. You see, they would rummage my trash cans to retrieve lotto tickets and lotto scratch it cards discarded by
my lotto customers. If that were not enough, they sometimes bother my lotto customers still scratching the cards for their scratched cards and this at times irritates my customers.
The reason for scavenging is in the hope of finding lotto tickets and scratch cards that were thrown away as non-winning but in fact won consolation prizes. At times, these two would get P100 for their effort. They would buy their own lotto ticket (P10/20) and encash the balance.
My first reaction was to stop them from bothering my customers. In fact I did get a tiff with one of them as he wanted me to encash a ticket that he scavenged from a rival lotto outlet and I refused.
In the end, I took stock of the situation and said:
1. They are just trying to make a Living;
2. While it is true that they encash it from me, they at times buy a lotto ticket too. That makes them a customers, isn't it?
There is these two guys, an old man and a not-so-old man, that used to bother me whenever I see them approach my Lotto outlet. You see, they would rummage my trash cans to retrieve lotto tickets and lotto scratch it cards discarded by
my lotto customers. If that were not enough, they sometimes bother my lotto customers still scratching the cards for their scratched cards and this at times irritates my customers.The reason for scavenging is in the hope of finding lotto tickets and scratch cards that were thrown away as non-winning but in fact won consolation prizes. At times, these two would get P100 for their effort. They would buy their own lotto ticket (P10/20) and encash the balance.
My first reaction was to stop them from bothering my customers. In fact I did get a tiff with one of them as he wanted me to encash a ticket that he scavenged from a rival lotto outlet and I refused.
In the end, I took stock of the situation and said:
1. They are just trying to make a Living;
2. While it is true that they encash it from me, they at times buy a lotto ticket too. That makes them a customers, isn't it?
Friday, June 18, 2010
Why Don't We Remember People while They are Still Alive
This morning, I visited my 1974 La Salle Greenhills High School classmate Raymund Ordonez (or Jojo to most of us) during his wake at the St. Jerome Church at the Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa (south of Manila). It is a strange feeling because St Jerome is the same Church where I had my only child Stephanie baptized. One is at the End of Life. And another is at the Start of Life.
While at the wake, mounted were two pictures of Jojo and they seemed to be exactly how I remembered him 30 plus years ago. Jojo was tall and huge and I cannot help say that I felt intimidated by his presence but at the same time he had that wonderfully huge smile across his face.
I told his widowed wife that I wished I had met Jojo again when he was alive. It was while reading our HS Yahoo Group mails that I learned that Jojo worked at Mapfre, an International Non-Life Insurance Company, and wherein the freight forwarding company I once worked with had a lot of dealings. Mapfre insured our cargo of high-value Globe Telecom Prepaid cards and I had frequent dealings with them because we were always getting hijacked (robbed) of the cargo. Who would think that Jojo and I could have met during those times and who knows, could have done business with a fellow-classmate??
It is only when it is too late that we realize WE COULD HAVE. . . .
I told Jojo he is now on a different journey and while he is there, he will be looking after us. . . Am sure of that.
While at the wake, mounted were two pictures of Jojo and they seemed to be exactly how I remembered him 30 plus years ago. Jojo was tall and huge and I cannot help say that I felt intimidated by his presence but at the same time he had that wonderfully huge smile across his face.
I told his widowed wife that I wished I had met Jojo again when he was alive. It was while reading our HS Yahoo Group mails that I learned that Jojo worked at Mapfre, an International Non-Life Insurance Company, and wherein the freight forwarding company I once worked with had a lot of dealings. Mapfre insured our cargo of high-value Globe Telecom Prepaid cards and I had frequent dealings with them because we were always getting hijacked (robbed) of the cargo. Who would think that Jojo and I could have met during those times and who knows, could have done business with a fellow-classmate??
It is only when it is too late that we realize WE COULD HAVE. . . .
I told Jojo he is now on a different journey and while he is there, he will be looking after us. . . Am sure of that.
Friday, June 4, 2010
By Helping My Friend, I am Helping Myself
When we help people, two people feel good: the person to whom help is given and me ( that's us). I do not look at it as a debt that has to be repaid. If I am able to share what I have, it is enough that I helped them with a way to earn.
And when I talk about help, I do not mean a dole-out. I am not blessed with tons of money and in fact, I too have my share of fund shortages from time-to-time just like a number of us.
When I mean I help, I help the person to earn on his/her own-- it may be a selling opportunity or a small business to start. I am a believer of the saying " Give a man fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"".
Yesterday I sat down with a dear friend who I believe needs all the help the world can give just for her to make ends meet and not lose her mind in the process. I offered her options to be my agent or dealer by splitting commissions as I know she is in no position to contribute financially.
The silver lining (Blessing) in what I just did is that I might be more successful in my business as she has a wide network of prospects that are now untapped and the saying that One Plus One Equals Three is definite as on my own, I may not be able to do it without a treasure of prospects.
And when I talk about help, I do not mean a dole-out. I am not blessed with tons of money and in fact, I too have my share of fund shortages from time-to-time just like a number of us.
When I mean I help, I help the person to earn on his/her own-- it may be a selling opportunity or a small business to start. I am a believer of the saying " Give a man fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"".
Yesterday I sat down with a dear friend who I believe needs all the help the world can give just for her to make ends meet and not lose her mind in the process. I offered her options to be my agent or dealer by splitting commissions as I know she is in no position to contribute financially.
The silver lining (Blessing) in what I just did is that I might be more successful in my business as she has a wide network of prospects that are now untapped and the saying that One Plus One Equals Three is definite as on my own, I may not be able to do it without a treasure of prospects.
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