What's Da Buzz?

Nearly all Filipinos and most Americans with some common sense know how this works. But the wisdom of a few lines needs to be shared. The lines are…

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “Who pays your bills?”

Sa Pilipinas or Philippines, you learn very quickly to work hard and work smart if you don’t want to be starving and sleeping on a cardboard box in some alley. The options you have are to be a self-sufficient farmer, own your own business, or work for somebody else. That pretty much holds true for here in the USA too. Either you own your own business, have a job, or become Amish. True some try to live off of the handouts of the government but handouts never get you out of poverty or the USA’s equivalent of a cardboard box. Only working hard and working smart does.

So back to the question “Who pays your bills?” You might answer, I do of course. If you have a job, you don’t. Your bills are paid by your employer. Those who give you money expect you to perform a task in exchange. (Syempre noh!) A value is set on that task and from there you get your wage. The employer has control of you and you must play by their rules if you want to be paid or you are out of the door walang sweldo!

If you have a loan o utang whether it is a credit card, personal loan, mortgage or car loan, the banks also have control over you and how you live. In the USA, a person can choose to not pay their debts. Doing so causes a lot of stress as debt collectors will hunt you, your house can be foreclosed, car repossessed and developing a horrible credit rating.

A lousy credit rating will mean you have to pay cash for cars ready to break down and finding a decent place to live will be tough. The quality places to live make decisions based on your credit score. Debt to a bank means you have surrendered control of your life to them. You don’t own your house or car if there is a loan on it. The bank owns it. With the changes in the bankruptcy laws, they now own you too.

The exchange of services to a friend or family member also belongs in this category. If you have them do some work for you, you are now obligated to help them when the time comes. This is the basic social rule of give and take. (Siguro naman it’s everywhere.) They help you move, you might be helping to pour their concrete driveway next year.

To expect others to work for you for nothing will quickly make you a social outcast (excluded ka sa society!) or the term is an ingrate or a person who knows no respect at all. Combine this with the deep Filipino respect for their parents, being an ingrate to your parents will get you run out of the city or most of your family remember can’t stand you.

Who pays your bills? If your bills are paid by the bank, your employer, a relative or friend, you have to give proper respect to them. If not, then the other phrase kicks in.

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

Why? The cash flow will stop. This may mean you get fired, your house is foreclosed on, your car repossessed, or you are kicked out on your own with no further help coming.

If you own your own business, remain debt free and live within your means, then you have the right to say….

“I don’t care what you think because you don’t pay my bills. Get lost.”

Granted, you can’t say that to your customers as they are paying your bills.

Salamat po,

Anah