Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Perfect Cup of Coffee]

[bejarano-korea]

[ajgeddes]

[traxxe]

The guy claims to be a security personnel at my hotel. I asked him the name of the hotel and he provided it. i was about a mile away from the hotel. He mentioned he was in charge of the safe check in and sign out. i had a very expensive ring in the safe and I had my laptop and other valuables upstairs in my room.

Since the guy could tell me the exact hotel i was staying I wasn't going to take a chance. It was worth 200 pesos (A little over 4 dollars for me) to make sure the ring was safe. I snapped a picture of him when he was leaving. Then caught a cab and checked out after grabbing my valuables.

The guy obviously followed me from my hotel to try the scam. The staff said he didn't work there but when they offered to call me down if they saw him again and beat him I didn't think that was exactly the place for me.

In the Philippines there are many scammers in Manila. It's desperately poor there and minimum wage is 9 dollars a day but no one gets that. It's a place of bribes, etc. I wasn't happy with the hotel. The lady at the airport told me it was in Makati, the brochure said Makati. It was in Ermita. Not my kind of place.

Oh, as a note. The first weekend I was there I went to the baywalk and loved it. Live music everywhere, great fun. They stopped selling liquor though. The next week I came back and everything was bulldozed and torn down, no more music or vendors. No crowds. The new Mayor wanted it all gone.

[traxxe]

And it's not fear tax. I'm in a foreign country. I could probably beat the crap out of most non-mma trained people in a random street fight and I can be pretty intimidating. If the guy started shit with me on the street under a scam that didn't jeopordize potentially important things to me I would tell him to F-off. I told many scammers to go F off. I told a couple of cab drivers that tried to charge me more than the meter to F off. They threatened the cops and I said invite them over, I started on my way to get them and they would change their minds of course.

And I can more than adequately handle myself if I'm attacked. I'm not bullet or knife proof though. That and my fiance isn't so skilled and I don't need to wave my *beep* around to prove to her I'm a man. I'd rather not fight and I'd rather live peacefully amongst everyone.

[ajgeddes]

[bejarano-korea]

[traxxe]

The man came up to me in the mall. Tried to shake my hand but I wouldn't shake his hand. He then apologizes. saying. "I work security in the hotel you are staying in. I'm in charge of safe check-in and check-outs and general security matters for rooms." He then proceeded to ask for a few pesos as a 'tip' so he could buy the boy with him some ice cream. He mentioned a couple of more times his security role. Identified my hotel.

His scam was this. "Pay me, I might work at your hotel and you might lose some of your valuables or might not be very safe. And here is the sympathetic (kid) reason you should give me money too." I didn't want to risk that he did work there. Etc.

[Matman]

You seem to be suggesting if the same thing happened again, you'd do the same thing "just to be safe" rather than admit that you fell for one of the lamest scams ever. Hotel security personnel don't behave in the way this man was behaving so there's no way he was what he said he was.

As for throwing "a quid" at people just to get rid of them, a quid is a hell of a lot of money in the Philippines - you run the risk of getting mobbed by beggars in some places. Also a lot of the beggars are controlled by criminals so you're not really helping the kids at all. If you want to help there are better ways of doing it like donating to a local charity.

Why is it so difficult to just ignore the scammers and beggars and get on with your holilday? You don't have to get in a fight just ignore them.

[ajgeddes]

[traxxe]

I mentioned he wanted to get his boy some ice cream in my first post. I should have mentioned the kid was there with him.

And to respond that I would do it again. Probably, yes. I knew it was most likely a scam. I just didn't want to take the chance it wasn't. The hotel I was staying in was willing to lie about the city / section of Manila they were in. I was not dealing with the most reputable hotel. This wasn't the Hilton. It was a more shoddy place in Ermita I didn't plan on staying at more than a night after I got there.

Security personel do in fact work like this at times. Bribes are common in Manila. If you stay past your visa allotment and are trying to get out of the airport, just 'tip' the guy questioning you for his service. See how he ignores your penalties and fines.

In the Philippines there is a 10 day waiting period for marriage license issuance. Go to any government building. Tip 10,000 pesos and you won't wait more than an hour of that ten days required by law to get married.

Furthermore, cops are big on bribes too. Get in trouble, throw them some money. Even if you didn't do anything innoncence means very little. You have to pay.

Or ride Trikes. You are only supposed to pay 8 pesos in city/short rides. They charge foreigners more, it's against the law. Trikes don't run on meters though. It's iffy if the cop backs them or you.

Outside of Manila, honestly... Life in the Philippines is friendly and great. I'm not a fan of Manila, probably because I'm not interested in the night life there.

[endo]

Manila is a shadey azz city.

I only drove from the international to the domestic airport, but it still looked pretty rough.

The outdoor urinals were pretty funny though.


If I go back to the Phillipines I definately want to see Manila. However, I won't bring my girlfriend. I'd just be too on edge all the time.



One point of advice about bribing a cop. Don't outright throw money at the guy.

First if possible fine the superior and then offer to make a donation to his police office.

Try to be as calm as possible cause if they smell fear they will try to get more out of you.


I had to bribe some friends out of a jail in Acapulco, Mexico several years back for trying to buy some weed off a taxi driver.

Traveking is so fun eh?

[The Perfect Cup of Coffee]

[endo]

^ Gringo prison break

Well it took a noce watch and about $20.



Lesson of the story, buy your weed on the beach.

[traxxe]

Never ask taxi drivers in mexico for drugs. They take a cut of what the cops get. Dealers never cut them a break. So you can get sold out easy and bribing in Mexico is easy though.

Usually they will leave one person alone to bribe out his friends.