Filipino hospitality is dead… atleast in the metro
Writing this because I couldn’t sleep. I went home to the PH hoping for a nice, relaxing vacation and honestly just craving that “Filipino hospitality” again. I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary, just the familiar smiles and random small conversations I remember before moving abroad. But in one day, I experienced consecutive awful customer service encounters.
Getting a haircut
I went to a well-known salon expecting service that matched the price. The hairdresser kept complaining about how early the first customer was, and the whole time it felt like he didn’t even want to cut my hair. He didn’t detangle or properly wash my hair like how my sister experienced at the same salon, so the whole thing felt so uncomfortable. He kept pointing out how “putol putol” my hair was, but instead of giving advice or suggesting treatments, it just came off judgmental rather than helpful. In my head, I was like duh, that’s why I’m getting a haircut! I even explained it was from a previous layered cut cuz my hair has never been bleached or dyed, so it wasn’t damaged. I honestly felt like getting a cheap haircut from a small salon was better lol
Getting waffles
My nephew stood in front of the counter for over 5 minutes while the employee mixed batter and just completely ignored him. I politely said, “Hi miss” while smiling, just to let her know there was a kid waiting (assuming she didn’t notice) She didn’t respond at all and gave me a fucking side eye as if I said something offensive. Not even a “wait lang po” or “di pa po kami ready.” Mind you, this was at 12 PM. The mall opened at 10 lol.
Getting a mani-pedi
The two employees doing my nails kept talking about how jealous they were of their coworker who got a ₱1k tip from a “foreigner client.” One of them rolled her eyes at me when I said I didn’t want nail polish on my fingernails (which costs extra) and just wanted regular cleaning. It honestly felt like she assumed I wouldn’t tip well.
Picking up my order
I told the cashier I’d come back in a few minutes while they prepared my pizza to-go order. After around 5 minutes, I returned and heard them calling out order numbers after mine, so I assumed mine was ready. There were like five employees behind the counter and it wasn’t even busy, but nobody would make eye contact with me. They all acted busy doing something else while I stood there waiting. I didn’t realize I had to practically fight for someone’s attention just to ask about my order lol. And yes, my pizza was already cold when I got it cuz it’s been sitting there for a while.
These aren’t even all of the bad experiences I had. I try my best to be patient and empathetic because I used to be in the hospitality business before but have hospitality workers become so entitled lately? Is it because they’re underpaid? Overworked? Or is this really the new norm around the metro? (Service seems dependent on how much you tip or how good you look) Definitely not coming back to the PH for vacation again. Maybe just to visit relatives, and that’s it.