Drunk Caretaker

Our caretaker called tonight and told me “Mam, lasing ho ako pasensya na, hindi ko lang matanggap na nagta-trabaho ako ng walang sweldo at pambili ng bigas”.

The source of his hinampo was his claim that he didn’t receive his salaries my staff sent to him thru Palawan Express Padala.

In November, I advanced to him his sahod until December 2017 because I knew I would be out of the country. I gave instructions to my staff to send the caretaker his salary thru LBC or Palawan. It was actually the caretaker’s request to send his money thru Palawan.

When I went to the farm last week, he claimed he hasn’t received any salary for the months of January and February. I gave him 3,000 pesos just to be sure he has some money.

I relayed to my staff what the caretaker was claiming. She sent me the two Palawan receipts dated December 12 and January 12. This means that our caretaker had been sufficiently paid his salaries for the months of January and February.

He told me that he lost his cellphone in December but he never informed us.
My staff sent messages to his cellphone about the remittances and Palawan also confirmed that he indeed received the two remittances. The amount in December also included money for one sack of rice, chicken feeds and petrol for cutting the grass.

Last week I showed to him copies of the remittances but he said he couldn’t remember receiving the money. He also clarified that he was only asking if he received his salary. Medyo malabo.

He requested to advance his salary for March which I refused. Normally I never say no but this time I thought it would be better to just pay his salary as they fall due and not to send them in advance or else, malimutan na naman nya. Also when I gave him the money for bigas, tila nagagastos rin nila for other things, instead of using the money to buy rice. It’s better to give him the rice instead of cash.

Tonight, he was drunk and told me that he would just leave our employ. I wanted to speak to his wife but he told me he was drinking near the barangay hall. I advised him to go to Palawan tomorrow to verify about the remittances. He again apologized to me “mam hindi kayo ang sinisisi ko, nawala ang aking celphone baka yun ang kumuha ng pera ko”.

He was not blaming me daw, aba eh dapat lang kasi I paid his sahod religiously. Bakit ko naman hindi sya suswelduhan, what will I get out of it? Our goal is to be able to help others even in small ways.

I don’t know how those LBC / Palawan remittances work but Oyen said they send a code to the phone. So maybe if he indeed lost his cellphone baka the guy who got it claimed his money by producing a fake identification card.

He sent me a text saying he’ll leave end of this month. Oh well, we can’t force him to stay with us if he thinks he has no salary but that is contrary to the truth. Ang problema baka Palawan mistakenly gave the money to someone else we won’t be able to recover na the money. Tapos eto na naman tayong maawain, bibigyan ko uli sya ng sweldo for two months, hayyy lugi na naman ako. It’s hard to explain to him because of his limited understanding. Masyado rin syang matampuhin.