The Philippine Obsession With Written Records

When I worked at Radio Shack to earn extra money so I could buy Jason Christmas presents, I had to ask every customer for their phone number because the company customer database was keyed off telephone numbers. Many privacy conscious people objected, and I lost more than one sale as soon as I asked for the phone number. Well, record keeping is an obsession in the Philippines, and it isn't just putting a phone number into a computer, in most stores, it MUST be hand written. This makes the process of purchasing something difficult and terribly time consuming. In addition, employers have ZERO trust in their employees, so a minimum of two people have to sign off on everything. For example, one employee gets the item from the stock room and makes out a hand written paper ticket. You accompany him to the check out person who verifies that the box has the correct product number on it. In some cases, they will open the box to make sure it really contains, for example, a desk chair, and you aren't using the box to smuggle out a flat screen TV. You pay for the item, sometimes a manager has to sign off on the transaction, then a security guard escorts you to the door, where you have to sign, acknowledging that you have indeed received the item. This is all done with multiple carbon paper copies. However, no one has ever told me to "press hard" as the U.S. cashiers used to do when you had to sign NCR forms in triplicate.  I don't think signing for Top Secret documents was ever that time consuming when I was in the Air Force! I saw a security guard escorting a janitorial employee to the shredder truck the other day with a bag of what looked like carbon paper and receipts, I'm sure to verify that the paper wasn't stolen or sold for potential credit card information or signatures. EVERY security guard carries around a cloth bound record book and at frequent intervals, makes what appear to be detailed notes. I'm not sure what they are supposed to record, or if anyone ever reads it, but I think it is an attempt to show they are working and justify their employment. The major department stores and the super markets, fortunately, use bar code scanners, but still, standing in line for an hour to pay for your groceries is not that unusual. We have learned that there are some days and times to avoid stores at all costs because the lines will test both my back and Grace's patience.  I have said before that I enjoy the fact that there are always store employees ready and willing to help you find things, but many times there are not enough cashiers to check out the long lines of customers, and I think there should be a higher ratio of cashiers to sales associates to speed things up. Still, it beats searching for half an hour for an orange apron or an hour for a blue jacket or apron when you can't find something at Home Depot or WalMart. Stores don't trust customers either. Every store requires you to check packages before they will let you go into the store. Once we were at the super market just before closing time, and the left overs from our dinner got left in the package check because it was closed when we got through the check out line. We decided against reclaiming the bag the next day because the shrimp would have only been good for catfish bait, and I don't think they have catfish here. If they do, the streams are so polluted, I wouldn't want to fish in them anyway.