What a bunch of cheapskates

truth

New member
Aug 14, 2008
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Nothing surprises me after living here for 8 years, but this took my breath away. While checking out at Pola yesterday I noticed a flyer announcing that for 325RD you could buy a school kit for some poor kid. I figured that I would do it. I told the cashier that I wanted to donate the money, and showed her the flyer. She had no idea what to do. She called a supervisor, who also had no idea, and he in turn started calling people on his walkie talkie. Ten minutes after paying for my groceries I was still waiting and every time I asked the supervisor how much longer, he was impatient WITH ME. Finally after waiting 20 minutes after the completion of my checkout, I told him to forget it and that I would do it the next time. As we were leaving, my wife greeted the GM. I went into his office and told him what happened. He said that I should wait another minute and he would have someone take care of this for me. He called his assistant and told him to help me. After watching this guy search his computer for the email that he had obviously received a while ago I realized that he had no clue either. Ten minutes later, after wasting 1/2 hour trying to do something nice, I left the store really ****ed. It was after I left that I realized that the real shame was not that they didn't know how to make the transaction, but rather that NO ONE HAD EVER TRIED TO MAKE A DONATION BEFORE, and that is why they had never had to look for the information before. Very generous people here.
 

rio2003

Bronze
Aug 16, 2006
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Perhaps it is because people would rather see that the intention is carried out and that if they want to donate anything it is better done on a personal level.
I am sure that those of us who do help out with Dominican friends have our own contacts and ways of helping and are happier keeping it on that level.
The very fact that they had no idea what you are talking about (at management level) suggests to me that it is very possible your donation would not have got very far.....
IMHO

Rio
 

Berzin

Banned
Nov 17, 2004
5,898
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There are many people who give of their time and money in the DR. You presume that people are just cheapskates, which is incorrect and quite frankly needlessly judgmental. Not the best way to come across in a first post.

Anyone who knows anything about the DR will tell you giving is always best done directly unless you are dealing with a charity(and there are many) that has a sterling reputation.

But you need to do your research first to find out which charities are legit or not.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
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dr1.com
Based on my personal experiences, "organized" philanthropy is not big in the DR.

Yes, friends and neighbors help each other out, but when you talk about events, fund raisers etc, that's a different story.
 

whirleybird

Silver
Feb 27, 2006
3,264
322
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Nothing surprises me after living here for 8 years, but this took my breath away. While checking out at Pola yesterday I noticed a flyer announcing that for 325RD you could buy a school kit for some poor kid. I figured that I would do it. I told the cashier that I wanted to donate the money, and showed her the flyer. She had no idea what to do. She called a supervisor, who also had no idea, and he in turn started calling people on his walkie talkie. Ten minutes after paying for my groceries I was still waiting and every time I asked the supervisor how much longer, he was impatient WITH ME. Finally after waiting 20 minutes after the completion of my checkout, I told him to forget it and that I would do it the next time. As we were leaving, my wife greeted the GM. I went into his office and told him what happened. He said that I should wait another minute and he would have someone take care of this for me. He called his assistant and told him to help me. After watching this guy search his computer for the email that he had obviously received a while ago I realized that he had no clue either. Ten minutes later, after wasting 1/2 hour trying to do something nice, I left the store really ****ed. It was after I left that I realized that the real shame was not that they didn't know how to make the transaction, but rather that NO ONE HAD EVER TRIED TO MAKE A DONATION BEFORE, and that is why they had never had to look for the information before. Very generous people here.

Perhaps you should think again and read a few more threads/ posts before you condemn people with the sarcastic comment "very generous people here".

I am sure that you were frustrated at trying to make a donation, only to find that the management did not have a clue, whereby you assumed that others had not previously volunteered a donation at this particular outlet and you were probably correct.

I agree with Berzin that it is sad that you felt the need to make your first post on DR1 such a negative one but I would question how much donating you have done, of any kind, since your arrival 8 years ago?
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
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Based on my personal experiences, "organized" philanthropy is not big in the DR.

Yes, friends and neighbors help each other out, but when you talk about events, fund raisers etc, that's a different story.
Maybe.

I know that Fundacion Bealrminio Ramirez has done a huge amount of teach-a-man-to-fish philanthropy in the Jarabacoa area.
 

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
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www.rockysbar.com
I'm having trouble believing this 1st time poster.
sock_puppet-1.jpg
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
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www.ginniebedggood.com
I'm having trouble believing this 1st time poster.

I had some doubts, too. The handle for starters. But most of all, after 8 years here I personally knew more families whose kids needed a school kit than I could personally organise. So I have to ask, why doesn't truth know who are needy & attend to it personally? After all, that's what the rest of us do. Quietly & behind the scenes. Yes?
 

Grandma Jen

New member
Jan 16, 2008
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Cheapskates?

Truth
Please give me the money - I will use it at the school I volunteer at and supply a receipt for goods purchased!
PM me for further info
 

Celt202

Gold
May 22, 2004
9,099
944
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I had some doubts, too. The handle for starters. But most of all, after 8 years here I personally knew more families whose kids needed a school kit than I could personally organise. So I have to ask, why doesn't truth know who are needy & attend to it personally? After all, that's what the rest of us do. Quietly & behind the scenes. Yes?

I think he simply misspelled his handle. He meant to call himself struth.

:cross-eye
 
Sep 19, 2005
4,632
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actually the fact that no one in that chain of command PRETENDED to know about the program tells me they are honest.

but to me it points out a huge issue with the DR in general.....bureaucracy!!

NO ONE wants to make a commitment.. they are all affraid!!!

no employee will take anything upon themselves , they are deathly affraid to make a decision.

so you go and down the chain of command...looking for someone to make the decision.

if it is a clean transaction, they go by the book and are happy,

if not panic sets in.....

it is as if they think the boss will fire them if they blink wrong.

I waited 30 minutes for a guy to get change for my $20 bill because I owed $2 more on my auto rental for THE WEEK( maybe $500)...he couldnt let me slide for the 66 pesos..............NO WAY...he walked all around the airport looking for change...



BUT back to subject at hand.....while i agree with the numbness of people who work places in the DR and the system they have ingrained in most....

I dissagree on the comment that the country is cheap

poor is better and indifferent is the answer for the ones who are not..

and who knows how long the sign was up..... and it is likely that the one guy who knew anything about the sign, wasnt working that day...

bad bob
 
May 31, 2005
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My grandparents are paying for the education of the chico de los mandados. He is not even a part of the family. He is just from a very poor family in another neighborhood nearby and my grandparents give him a daily meal and pay for the school. That is generous of them. I cannot count on two hands the many times that my two aunts that are doctors have made free house calls to nearby neighbors that need their help. These are just two of the things that I can think of right now (there are more). There are generous people in the Dominican Republic. You just don't know them.
 

british bulldog

New member
Jan 21, 2006
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It is because nobody trust the money,or goods would go to the intended,lack of trust due to the corruption here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
 

sylindr

New member
Nov 29, 2007
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It is because nobody trust the money,or goods would go to the intended,lack of trust due to the corruption here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Exactly!!!!!! and those employees were honest or they would have taken that money and helped out their own charity
 

More Truth

New member
Aug 16, 2008
1
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My grandparents are paying for the education of the chico de los mandados. He is not even a part of the family. He is just from a very poor family in another neighborhood nearby and my grandparents give him a daily meal and pay for the school. That is generous of them. I cannot count on two hands the many times that my two aunts that are doctors have made free house calls to nearby neighbors that need their help. These are just two of the things that I can think of right now (there are more). There are generous people in the Dominican Republic. You just don't know them.

That is very nice of them!