Love and Trust -- Common themes of money transfer services.
All along I thought that use of those money transfer services were limited to OFWs and their families. Or only those breadwinners from the provinces working in Manila to send money to their loved ones back home. Or anyone just needing to send payment for some debt or favor to a trusted friend in another location.
But nope, pera padala (literally, "money send/transfer") works too for gay bar customers and their macho dancer men.
The traditional "which restaurant or mall do we meet so that I can give you the money?" has been replaced by "which branch do you want me to send the money?" Of course, customers would like to personally meet up with their macho dancers, so that aside from giving them the "help", they can also see them in normal clothes under normal daylight or florescent light outside of the bar's premises. But if the macho dancer lives far and needs the money urgently, then the customer has to resort to more modern means of sending help.
The process usually starts from a series of text messages. Let me use an actual example that happened to my friend:
Money delivery services are also not limited to this typical "my relative in the province is sick and can't meet up tonight" example.
It can be a Pinoy customer from abroad who visited the bar once during his/her vacation and got instantly enamored with the macho dancer. Then, upon returning to the US or Australia or Japan or Middle East, the Pinoy customer promised to send monthly allowance to the guy via money transfer. Customer has full faith that the money goes to the guy's real needs.
It can also be the dancer who traveled to his province for a visit (either a fiesta, or a birthday, or a sudden death of a relative) but won't have enough money for a return trip back to Manila. Then the dancer texts his customer for a favor if he or she can send some help via money transfer, with the reason of "kailangan ko na bumalik sa trabaho (need to get back to work soon)." I need to help the guy, the customer thinks, or else I won't see him again in the bar.
Or it can be the dancer needed whatever help (electricity, groceries for family, rent, hospitalization bills, etc), and the customer was just too lazy to arrange a schedule to meet up or drive all the way from Quezon City or Makati all the way to Cavite or Caloocan to hand him the money.
So what does an OFW sending his hard earned money to his family have in common with a customer using a money transfer service to send some help to his macho dancer? Perhaps, it's the insight behind the ads of these services. Money is sent as a form of love (or good heart or kindness), and the service is fully trusted to deliver the money to the receiver, whom the sender also trusts will put it to real good use.
The process usually starts from a series of text messages. Let me use an actual example that happened to my friend:
(after a series of kumustuhan texts)
MD: May sakit nanay ko sa probinsya. Di ko alam saan ako makakakuha ng pera.
GB Customer (after inquiring on the status of the mother): Sige, tulungan kita. Magkano naman kailangan kaya?
MD: Nakakahiya naman. Mga "x amount" yung operasyon kasi.
GB Customer: Ay, mga "x-5 amount" lang ang kaya ko. Paano ko maibibigay sayo?
(They discuss different options. Meet up tonight, but customer can't. Customer can leave money from office or condo lobby guard, but MD doesn't know how to get to that place or too far. But MD needs money quick)
MD: Baka pwede na lang ipadala mo sa _______ (insert Western Union / Cebuana Lhullier / LBC / etc)
GB Customer: Sige, maghahanap ako. Meron ata malapit dito.What I usually notice in the exchange of messages is that seldom will the guy ask the customer directly, out of hiya. Thus, sending money is of the customer's volition, out of his good and loving heart. Hindi naman siya pinipilit. Gusto lang makatulong. Or gusto lang ipaalam sa lalaki na mahal na mahal niya ito.
Money delivery services are also not limited to this typical "my relative in the province is sick and can't meet up tonight" example.
It can be a Pinoy customer from abroad who visited the bar once during his/her vacation and got instantly enamored with the macho dancer. Then, upon returning to the US or Australia or Japan or Middle East, the Pinoy customer promised to send monthly allowance to the guy via money transfer. Customer has full faith that the money goes to the guy's real needs.
It can also be the dancer who traveled to his province for a visit (either a fiesta, or a birthday, or a sudden death of a relative) but won't have enough money for a return trip back to Manila. Then the dancer texts his customer for a favor if he or she can send some help via money transfer, with the reason of "kailangan ko na bumalik sa trabaho (need to get back to work soon)." I need to help the guy, the customer thinks, or else I won't see him again in the bar.
Or it can be the dancer needed whatever help (electricity, groceries for family, rent, hospitalization bills, etc), and the customer was just too lazy to arrange a schedule to meet up or drive all the way from Quezon City or Makati all the way to Cavite or Caloocan to hand him the money.
So what does an OFW sending his hard earned money to his family have in common with a customer using a money transfer service to send some help to his macho dancer? Perhaps, it's the insight behind the ads of these services. Money is sent as a form of love (or good heart or kindness), and the service is fully trusted to deliver the money to the receiver, whom the sender also trusts will put it to real good use.
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com
twitter: @gbgoer
Photo credits: http://www.facebook.com/cebuanalhullierpawnshop http://www.bizaims.com/articles/business%20economy/a%20brief%20history%20western%20union%20money%20transfer%20services
aray ha..,, masakit. wahahahahahahhahaaha. hmppff..at least wagi ang ateng mo bago humantong sa pera padala. wahahahhaahahahaha
ReplyDeleteOkay ah. hehehe. Cool review.
ReplyDeletetangang bakla madaling mauto
ReplyDeleteyou forgot to include "papa may sakit kasi anak ko sa probinsya... kelangan ko umuwi at ipaconfine sya sa hospital. Wala pa naman akong kinita ngaung linggo. San kaya ako hahanap ng pamasahe at pampagamot??? Ayan papa pinagtatapat ko na sayo na may anak nako, kasi gusto ko maging tapat ako sayo lalo na napamahal ka na sakin".
ReplyDeleteWhen i hear these lines, it really feels like living out a repeating nightmare or a freaky dejavu... ~ donnie
thanks tim!
ReplyDeleteexact same thing just happened to me recently.ahahaha!!!nung una humihingi ng pamasahe ppuntang manila for the new year.mga typical n pasimpleng banat.but since my experience n aq s ganyan,psimple q lng ding winawala ang usapan.2lad ng...
ReplyDelete~~~after kamustahan epek~~~
MD: hnd pla aq n2loy sa manila kahapon.
ME: bkt nmn?
MD: wla aqng pmshe eh.miss ko n pamilya q.gus2 q ng bumaba.
ME: ganun b? kumain k n b?dinner n. (hahaha)
syempe mahabang pa-ikutan yan.waiting ko muna n sya ang mag-ask pra hnd nmn nya isumbat sakin one day n aq mismo nagkusang loob dba? hanggang sa ayun n nga,humingi n.pumyag nmn aq since lalayasan ko nrin nmn sya.what i hated was,sya pa ang naginarte.nung araw n usapan nming pupunta sya s bahay,hnd sya pumunta kesyo malayo daw.gus2 p nyang aq ang pumunta saknya.WAGAS!!!d ko nga nirereplyan!sabi ko busy aq.nung bago mag new yr yun.tpos last night,ngprmdm nnmn sya.nasa manila n daw.tuwa nmn aq n ngtxt! yun pla hihingi nnmn ng pamasahe pabalik d2....padalhan q daw sya....TOGOINKZ!!!xempre dedma lng eksena q!
***what i learned mostly in going to gaybars is to never allow them to take advantage of you....ng wla ka ring napapala....sabi nga nila,utakan lng yan....
GB_Fanatic naku, marami na ako na-experience na ganyan. Hindi lang ako, pati yung mga ibang kaibigan ko rin. Pero meron din naman sa kanila na busilak ang loob, ngunit swertihan lang talga na makahanap ng ganoon... Good luck sa iyo sa paghanap ng ganoon this year!
ReplyDeletethanks!cross fingers!kya nga madalas aqng tambay d2 sa blog mo to learn more about sa mga gaybars dyan s manila eh.ibang-iba kc d2 sa baguio...ilang araw nlng go go n aq dyan.very helpful tlga mga topic mo....lalo n yung blog mong "Hanggang Saan Aabot Ang P2,000 Mo?" love it!!^_^...
ReplyDeleteWag kayong magbibigay ng pera ng walang kapalit!!!
ReplyDeletenangyari na rin sakin yan, nasunog ako ng sobra sobra. Lahat kinuha na sa akin, deposit and advance ng upa (3 beses lumipat tirahan), pagpapagamot ng nanay, pagpapagamot niya, pagpapa-renovate ng bahay sa probinsya, pang-araw araw na gastos, gamit sa apartment, damit, bagong MOTOR, at pang tayo ng kanyang negosyong hindi naman natuloy. Lalamunin ka ng buong buo pag ikaw ay magpapaloko. Sa huli, pag wala kana pera, ikaw na rin mismo ang aayaw, aalis ka na walang napala kundi ang daan-daang libong utang na iiwan niya sayo.
Mga parasite ang mga yan. Nabubuhay sila sa panloloko ng iba. Grabe ang nangyari sakin, masyado ako kinawawa. Masyado ako naging tanga. Daan libo ang nakuha sakin pero wala man lang nangyari, hanggang text-text lang ang ginawa niya sakin. Inabuso ang pagka-bata ko, (lampas 6 years tanda niya sakin).
Hindi mo naman mahabol o mapakulong kasi katakot-takot na hiya aabutin mo. Hahayaan mo nalang, ikaw nalang dumiskarte kung paano ka pa makakatulog sa gabi, o makakatingin sa sarili mo sa salamin sa sobra kahihiyan. Yan ang napala ko, wag niyo ako gayahin.
ingat lang lagi sa mga ganyan. =)
Delete