Hello and goodbye?

TOKYO, Japan — After a two-part 20-hour land trip from Manila to Isabela to Manila where I helped conduct a BMeg backyard hog raising seminar, I will find myself going from sweltering humidity to “freezing” weather in Tokyo. This trip with representatives of Mitsubishi Motors is a welcome break and always a pleasure to be part of because it’s a chance to get to know the people you work with better and in a more personal level.

As a motoring journalist I realize the sad fact that we regularly see each other at functions and parties hosted by various automotive companies, but this does not translate to being at a level where we can actually name the wife, children or talk about the concerns of fellow journalists or our counterparts in the automotive industry. It’s ironic that the better writers and journalists can dish out all the technical features and stats on sports cars and utility vehicles but would fail miserably if asked for the birth dates of their officemates. God help us if we were in an emergency and the only person to ask for our medical history and blood types is a sloshed associate who’s more interested in how old his single malt is!

This of course is not confined to the automotive field but crosses over business in general. Unless you’re willing to make the extra time and sacrifice to “Go out with the boys” for an all-niter of drinking and merry-making, there are very few chances for fellowship or building up real and long-lasting relationships. Executives and professionals find it more practical to just “round em up,” feed ’em, give them the speech, provide the media kit and watch everybody head out for the nearest exit to go to next round up.

We have become practical in our laziness to invest in real relationships, yet who among us can deny the many occasions when we find ourselves alone and wondering what activity can be had, and who would be interesting and enjoyable company aside from the usual suspects of beer guzzlers? 

Aside from realizing such social vacuum from time to time, I recently realized the truth behind the phrase “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Being familiar does not necessarily mean we know a person nor do we know his or her circumstance yet, our human failing leads us to judge or make assumptions that are faulty to say the least.

As far as trips go, another type of “familiarity” that breeds contempt would be the one where you get to be invited to a foreign destination so many times, you actually turn it down, even if it’s part of the job. Among motoring journalists that destination would be Thailand. Many veterans are likely to turn down or pass off a trip to Thailand because it has become so common due to the fact that the production and events hub of the automotive industry for the region is Thailand. 

I confess that I was once infected by that bug of ungratefulness after the trips to Bangkok in one year, until one of my non-media friends posted on Facebook the message: “Hello Bangkok! It’s been 25 years!” That message was like a cold hard slap aimed at my cynicism and ungratefulness. It was not long ago when I aspired for trips near or far. There was a time when I could not even imagine myself visiting such exotic places much less for free. To top it all, those travels were work related and as professionals what right do we have to be picky or to say: “Been there, Done that”?

What happens when you suddenly find yourself prevented or unable to go there and do it? At the moment my saddest situation would have to be the fact that my spinal compression has prevented me from going on long or even short walks, something that I truly, truly enjoyed especially in cold countries. Unless I strap on my back brace and tank-up on pain killers any walk beyond 5 minutes will be a dance with pain. Age, injury or financial limitation can get in the way. Imagine yourself sitting alone, old, injured just thinking about the days and the places you USED to go with the people you USED to know.  It’s a common sight. So while you still can get out there, get to know people really well, build relationships with them and build the memories because ultimately that’s all we have and that’s what we leave.

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Whenever I teach at the Development Academy of the Philippines on media, communications and brand management, I always make it a point to emphasize that corporations and executives must make sure they have a good “product” because no amount of media and communications PR can make up for a faulty product.

Take for instance PAL and Cebu Pacific. PAL apparently has been having maintenance issues causing them to have less than the needed aircraft to service the turbo-prop market (four out of nine planes down) while Cebu Pacific has reportedly been excessively overbooking passengers and practically boarding passengers on a first-come first-served basis. All my information comes from personal experience and from employees of the two airlines on the ground and up.

The fact of the matter is flight schedules, services, and bookings can be monitored, regulated and scheduled. Planes are serviced based on flying time as well as breakdowns. If there are no planes there should be no flights sold. If the bookings are full, no additional bookings should be taken in and people should certainly not be checked-in then bumped off at the gate. Unfortunately, the airlines are being allowed by the CAAP and the DOTC to do as they please instead of checking on these problems daily.

So what happens is passengers are victimized, employees on the ground take the hit and the spit from passengers, the corporate Comms people plead with media to reduce their venom and the greedy airline officers planning flights carry on along with the greedy sales people! With Christmas and New Year coming, we’ll surely be shooting at these turkeys soon!

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