So a slew of posts broke out as expats vented about how Panamanians NEVER call you back
The first set of expats, the ones who ALWAYS stick up for Panama & lie to people researching whether Panama is a good place to live, just chalked it up to Panamanians not wanting to hurt your feelings by telling you they won’t call you back, so they tell you they will while having no intentions of doing so.
Something like this…
“Maybe to first realize that many Panamanians have a strong aversion to displeasing others, saying no, or any kind of confrontation at all. Then to realize you’ve been told, “No”, in a polite and gentle way.”
I bought this load of crap at first really thinking this is how they all are, but trust me, they aren’t. As I’ve mentioned before, Panamanians can be vicious assholes online when you say anything true about them. I’ve encountered their wrath once to a writer who wrote about the food in Panama on a website, & another just recently when I mentioned how I didn’t want to be living like I lived in Panama. I didn’t realize there were Panamanians where I was living, & the next thing I knew, I was being bullied & harassed by 2-3 Panamanians non stop.
This is also a common line these expats who LOVE Panama use which is the same all the time so they must have all gone to the same brainwashing seminar… “This is Panama. We are visitors and it is our job to learn the language and customs, and do it their way.”
I can’t stand that line because when a person goes to live in a country, they are NO LONGER visitors. They are residents & it doesn’t matter what their status is.
If you are there just for a vacation, okay, fine, but if you are there to live, that’s another story altogether & yes you do need to learn the customs, but to say we need to put up with the BS that stresses us out is utter nonsense.
Even Panamanians complain about how horrific their country is. This is usually only the odd one who has a brain (in the almost 3 years I was living there I only met 2), they married an expat/Gringo, or lived in North America & returned.
Here’s a great response from an expat living in Panama to the BS line above…
“I own a home here and live in it year round. Visitors don’t. I own cars here. Visitors don’t.
I have accounts with the electric, water and phone companies here. Visitors don’t.
I have a little plastic card issued by the government that says I’m a legal permanent resident. Visitors don’t.
It’s not my job to learn the language, its my choice.
Its not my job to learn the customs, its my choice.
“Do it their way”.
Why on earth would I want to emulate the daily living and work habits of a people, most of whom are living their lives stuck in an 1800’s Spanish Catholic dominated cultural rut with the NYC public school equivalent of a 5th grade education?
I can like them ( most of them I do) and show them the basic courtesy and respect any person is entitled to, and I try to at all times. But live like them and do things their way?
Nah.
Now’s when you tell me if I don’t love it I should leave it, right?
The locals I provide work for wouldn’t want to see me leave, neither would the government that lives for those $$$$ I import from the US into the local economy.
Believe me, they’re very happy I’m not just visiting.”
Then the expats who TELL THE TRUTH gave REAL examples of how Panamanians never call you back…
“I do not employee any Panamanians I too sink $$$$ into this place and I too feel as a card holding permanent resident my Panamanian wife and children deserve better services, roads, schools ETC, ETC, ETC TRIPLE CAPITALIZED, PERIOD, EXCLAMATION POINT!!! Recently, THREE times a major Appliance Dealership was a no show, with no phone explanation for a pump replacement for my washing machine. We just bought a new bed and bookcase for my daughter and they delivered it with parts missing and promised to return the next day to complete the delivery…That was this past Tuesday the 3rd of May and we still do not have the parts and the women in the office said the invoice was turned in after the delivery but no one mentioned the missing parts. IT WAS WRITTEN ON THE FREAKING INVOICE!!! I bought a new car at the end of February and I am just now getting emails from a few Auto Dealerships inviting me in to discuss a new car, based on requests for Info that I had made back at the end of January when we were just starting to shop!!! MOST people in this country do not have any intention of calling anyone back or following up on anything…EVER and it has got absolutely nothing to do with them not wanting confrontation or just people pleasing. It is because the majority of people here talk out their ass, are just plain lazy or most likely DO NOT GIVE A FLYING FURCK about anyone but themselves. Here is one last example of how ridiculously backwards things are here. I want to rent a self-storage unit because I am sick and tired of giving perfectly good stuff away to people who are about as grateful as a Bum on the street until his bottle runs out. I have a beautiful metal Princess Canopy Twin Bed that my daughter has outgrown (in her mind…lol) that I want to store. My wife called a couple Self-Storage facilities to get the price of a unit. The person on the phone at both places had zero phone skills and I could see my wife’s blood starting to boil as she repeated herself over and over. You would have thought my wife was speaking Greek. BOTH places insisted on getting my wife’s email address so they could send her a quote. A QUOTE??? WTF is that? Just tell us the FREAKING PRICE!!! Well we are still waiting for the email with the price a couple days later from one of the places and the other one sent quotes for climate controlled when we specifically stated NON-CLIMATE CONTROLLED. MY WIFE IS PANAMANIAN AND SPEAKS SPANISH. Don’t tell me she got an English speaking rep on the phone…lol When my wife called back (to the same woman) that woman had no recollection of ever speaking to my wife or sending her a quote and subsequently we are still waiting for the correct info. ”
Here’s a funny but accurate picture of how Panamanians behave & an expats response to the “This is Panama. We are visitors and it is our job to learn the language and customs, and do it their way.”…
“Ok, you sold me…I think I will take your advice and give it a try…
Tommorrow I will go to the grocery store and cut in line. When I walk
out of the grocery I will take a piss in the parking lot. While I am
doing it I will wistle and make gestures to women walking in the store.
I will drive out of the store going the wrong way because its faster and
convienient. I will cut off three people pulling out on the main road
because why wait a few more seconds for them to pass by. I will drink a
few of the beers I bot on the way home and throw the cans out the car
window when I am done. When I get home I will turn on some music with
the hopes people 1k away know its mine, then burn my trash.”
A response to someone who said… “when in Rome…”
“I do whatever I do. Some people like me, others don’t. Gee, isn’t that surprising? I’m reminded of the conversation I’ve had with so many Panamanians over the age of 40 I can’t count the times. They find out I’m a Gringo (most start out asking if I’m Aleman) and start talking about when the Americans were here (before the bases closed) and how much they loved working for the Americans. I was talking to a cab driver yesterday and he told me he learned English from the American couple he did landscaping for. Said, they always paid him well, treated him well, even made him lunch every day. When his kid got sick, they paid for the doctor and never expected to be paid back. When they left he got a job with a Panamanian family and said it was hell. Mistreated, if the shovel broke they took it out of his pay. Never even offered him a glass of water, much less lunch. He told me he saved his money and bought his cab to get away from having to work for Panamanians.
Every one of these people loved working for the Americans and hated working for Panamanians. So, no (name removed for privacy). When in Panama, I’m not gonna do as the Panamanians do. It would require too much unlearning. ”
Enough said
Drama in Panama