Some Asian Manners Are Blunt!

I usually have a manicure/pedicure once a month, sometimes it stretches to five weeks. I went in saturday, & it had been longer than five weeks. I only recognized one Vietnamese employee on this day. They were extremely busy, I sign in, & 'pick my polish'..........and wait, and wait. Finally it's my turn. 'You want manicure & pedicure'? 'yes'. 'You pick your polish'? 'yes'. 'Are you new here'?, I ask. 'Yes, I been here two weeks, my name Jolly. 'Jolly'?, 'no, Jolly'...'Oh, Charlie'? 'yes', scrub, scrub, scrub. 'Oh, it been long time since you had pedicure, right'? 'Well, it's been about six weeks', says I. 'Oh, ya, I can tell, your feet very bad......very bad'...issshhh.....scrub, scrub, very bad, he says as he makes a face. I am not offended because I know they are not THAT BAD! I know how some of you Asians are because I lived on Guam amongst you for nearly twelve years. I think the Vietnamese & Koreans are the most aggressive, the Japanese & Chinese, most polite, & the filipinos polite, but forward sometimes. I love the filipinos the most, probably because I understand their culture since I worked with a complete filipino organization for most of my time on Guam. I was the general manager for six d enterprises for several years. I loved my job & the six d family.

Back to manners & forwardness........Mr. del Carmen invited me to his second daughter's wedding. It was held in Manila, in February, early '90's........a grand affair. I was introduced to the infamous vice president Joseph Estrada......he was @Julie's wedding. Mr. del Carmen is a highly respected filipino. I was probably the only (maybe one or two more) Haole's there. It was a five day celebration. Mr del Carmen had a van & driver for some of us with planned outings. One particular morning, the van arrives at our hotel and the driver makes the announcement that we are going to 'Pagsanjan Falls'. What the hell is that? Well, as it turns out, it is one of the locations where 'Apocalypse Now' was filmed in the late 70's. So, off we go on a two hour drive. It is absolutely beautifull. We unload & head for the river. The boatmen are waiting for us........one or two passengers per boat, (they are like a wide flat bottom canoe) Each boat had two boatmen. We are headed for a thrilling four mile boat trip up the rapids to Pagsanjan Falls. I am a lone passenger in my boat. As the boatmen paddle off, they say very loudly....'Oh, you sooooo big!' I thought to myself: you little shitasses are probably only five feet tall & weigh about 95 pounds! They are not built like Americans! And, I was not THAT BIG!