The two observations that always strike me when I travel in South East Asia are the humidity and the masses of people. Wherever you go, it is hot, humid and hectic. Although this was the first time I had visited, Manila was no different, a sheen of sweat emerging on my forehead the moment I stepped out of the airport arrivals. It would not be the last time I would get a sweat on in the next fortnight, but for different reasons.
I was in the Philippines to help my company launch a number of retail stores, we'd been pretty successful with our model back home, so the next step was to take it to the world. The Philippines was a good place to start, our shareholders already ran call centres there and had good tie ins with local business. We'd struck a joint venture agreement with a local distributor, so we'd need to train their staff on our model. As Head of Operations, I was sent from Sydney for a fortnight to work on the store roll out, finalise staff hiring and run the rule over the local team. I flew into Manila early Sunday evening, excited by what lay ahead.
By late Monday afternoon, my head was spinning and I was wondering if we'd get everything done in time. Thankfully, I was impressed by the local team. The COO, Ken, was a died in the wool retailer from the US, who had lived in Manila for the past fifteen years. His Ops manager, Marygrace, was typical of the Filipino women I'd worked with before, hard-working, dedicated, composed. It didn't hurt that she was pretty, quick to smile and laugh. By seven o'clock we'd had enough. It was just Ken and I left, Marygrace and the rest of the team had finished earlier.
"Hey, Matt, think I need to buy you a beer, mate," said Ken in a pretty awful Australian accent.
"Sure, where's the local hang out?"
"Come on, I'll show you", he said. With that we headed for the lift. The office was located at the edge of Makati, a booming part of the city full of office buildings and shopping malls. The call centres were close by as well. Although there were more Starbucks than bars here, Ken told me there were a few good places to have a drink and a bite to eat, I was in good hands.
Ken and I walked into the bar and headed for the counter. There were a couple of spare stools, so I grabbed them as he ordered two beers. It was hot and humid, I was thankful for the large fan above the bar that blew air over me. Those cold beers were going to taste great.
"Cheers," Ken said as we clinked glasses. "Here's to a busy but productive visit."
"Thanks," I said. We drank, sighing in unison as we put the glasses back down. Looking at each other we laughed, it had been a long day but worth it, now we could relax. I turned to one side to look at the room, my eyes fell on the woman next to me. She had her back turned and was leaning forward, saying something to her companion. What interested me was the purple g-string that was revealed when she had bent over, peeking above the waistline of her dark denim jeans. Her round bottom filled her jeans very nicely, I was always a sucker for a full, round arse. Long, straight raven hair cascaded down her back, covering her white blouse. Nice, I thought, very nice.
The next moment her companion slid off her bar stool and stood up. I was startled - it was Marygrace from the office. She looked at me, it took a moment or two for her to recognise me, but then she gave a little smile. Damn, I'd been sprung looking at her friend, what a great way to start with the local team.
Marygrace gave a little wave and said over her friend's shoulder "Hi, Matt, looks like Ken is showing you the sights already!" I smiled back.
"Yeah, he wanted to show me the local drinking hole, so here I am." Marygrace nodded. She pointed to her friend.
"Matt, please say hello to my sister, Kate."
I gulped. Not friend, sister. Oh boy. Marygrace's sister swivelled on her stool till she faced me. She looked at me in the eyes, which would have been okay if I hadn't looked down again at her gorgeous arse. I quickly looked up when I realised she had moved, but too late. Kate pulled her blouse down over her waist and gave me an apprehensive smile.
"Hello Matt, I'm Kate."
I nodded dumbly. After an embarrassing pause I stammered "nice to meet you, Kate."
I looked at Kate. She looked a few years older than her sister but was recognisably related. Her long, straight raven black hair fell slightly over one eye, which she flicked back over her shoulder, revealing a pair of dark brown almond shaped eyes, a round face and full, luscious lips. She was a bigger woman than her sister, but she held herself very well, her shoulders back, head steady as she watched me. I felt a surge of desire rush through my body, I wanted her.
"What are your first impressions of Manila, do you see anything you like?" she asked, smiling at me, baring stunningly white teeth.
I nearly came on the spot, she was gorgeous. Her smile lit up her face, her eyes twinkled as she let the innuendo sink in. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear this beautiful woman was flirting with me. And I loved it.
"Ah, well, it's only my first day here, but, ah, well from where I'm sitting things are looking up" I managed to say, as coolly as I could. This seemed to amuse Kate very much, and she laughed. Again, those beautiful white teeth shone, her eyes glistened.
Her sister stood up and joined her by her side. I had a sudden thought.
"Kate, have you ever worked as a customer service rep? We could do with someone with your...bubbly personality." Both sisters were amused by my question, with a sidelong glance to each other and a smile.
"Kate already has a job," said Marygrace, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder. Kate nodded.
"I'm a shift worker, on nights. Better pay than daytime work so I think I'll stay where I am. Thanks for asking, though," said Kate.
I nodded. It was true, there was a lot of night-time shift work here, especially in call centres where most clients were in the US time zone. This meant a late start for the workers, but when the money is comparatively good, most people did not argue. The Australian time zone did help us somewhat, but it was proving difficult to staff up as quickly as we wanted.
"Fair enough. Thought I'd ask." I looked back at the two sisters.
"And that's why we're going now, Kate's working later tonight and I've got another busy day tomorrow. Have a good night, see you in the morning," said Marygrace.
