So after trying to hire assistants & translators in Panama for over 2 years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that workers in Panama control employers:
- Companies have absolutely NO CONTROL over their employees. This is why you will see them all socializing with their friends at work instead of actually working.
- These workers talk to me as if they are superior to me. They are rude, disrespectful & can’t handle being told they are wrong. That makes sense though because I have mentioned many times that Panamanians are VERY immature. Immature people will never admit they are wrong. They are like little babies. This is very difficult for me to deal with.
- Panamanians will just disappear without a word whether I’m talking to them in in an e-mail, on the phone or even standing right in front of them. I once was in the middle of talking to a new assistant & he just hung up the phone on me. Can you believe this??? LOL
- They decide if they want to work for you, very rarely have I come across a worker who REALLY wants the job & will do anything to get it.
- The minute they get a better job, they will ditch you with almost no notice (some do tell me they are looking for another job, but they won’t ever continue to work for me even if the hours are minimal.)
- I even had one come back to me months after I had hired him & he did work & then left for his full time job. Get a load of this… He told me in an e-mail that he wanted to have sex with me LMAO
If this is how the men try & woo women here, no wonder so many women RUN to the nearest ancient 60-70 year old Gringo who comes to Panama to retire. I thought it was the funniest thing that he propositioned me & I wasn’t even attracted to him at all.
- Even after saying they will work for me they will disappear.
- They have a hard time listening & following instructions (that’s the lack of any brain cells.)
- They run from any kind of difficulty. If I have an issue with a landlord, they can’t handle it even though it’s not THEIR problem & they are just translating. I almost had one run out of the small claims office when she realized how serious my situation was.
This explains why they run away from pretty much life & drink & blast their music non-stop. They just can’t handle any kind of resistance, conflict, etc. They would rather run away then fight for what is right. And I’m not even talking about fighting, I’m talking about just going to court to protect myself.
Of course it’s easy for them to run away, because they have family here, so if they have a problem with a landlord, they can turn to family. I can’t.
- They are NOW having the nerve to tell me they want HUGE amounts of money per hour. I just had someone tell me they wanted $25/hour, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????
That’s way more money than I make per hour & I have YEARS of work & business experience, am very intelligent, mature & reliable.
Generally now they are asking me for $10-15 for simple assistant translation work.
This is more than a lot of Americans are making now & Americans are much more intelligent, mature & reliable than Panamanians.
So I didn’t think I was ever going to hire someone from Panama because I didn’t want to start a business down here, but having to hire someone to be my assistant & translator has taught me that EVEN hiring cleaning ladies, cooks & assistants is the MOST frustrating things EVER. The amount of time I’ve wasted is terrible.
It’s almost like I have to beg them to work for me & I have to step on egg shells in order to not spook them.
Michelle