It was the beginning of November and our house (or at least the wall) was being built. Janet and I discussed what if anything we should do for our crew for Christmas.

I asked the question, “Should we give them a little cash?” Other suggestions included a bag of simple groceries. Janet proposed that she cook them lunch.

As the date approached we confirmed with our contractor that we would provide lunch for the crew on Friday December 21st. At the same time our friend, Kevin, was having construction done on his lot using the same contractor. In fact it was he who recommended his contractor, Romil, to us. I asked him what if anything he was intending to do for his crew for Christmas. A bag of food – rice and canned goods was his response. We both agreed that food was probably wiser than giving out cash. We then agreed to combine the crews and have the shindig on our lot.

I asked our contractor, Romil, how many we should expect and was surprised that the answer was 30. Romil explained that many of the crew work 3-4 days a week and so while we rarely see 15 men working, all told between the two crews, the grand total was 30.

Janet knew that her youngest sister, Miaca, would be with us the week before Christmas, as well as two young nieces, Hannah, and Juliana. So it was agreed that our girls would prepare the meal, while Kevin would handle the food bags.

Now what to feed the crew? Menu planning is practically a sport in the Philippines. You’re not just going into the supermarket and grabbing whatever is on sale. OK, that’s what I would do but not Janet and not any other Filipina around here.

After much discussion, Janet decided that the girls would prepare a pork and vegetable dish, we would buy a bunch of lechon manoks (chicken) from the largest retail seller of such chickens around, and then each worker would get a large serving of rice and a Coke Sakto. There’s been lots of debate on the Philippines forum I frequent about the meaning of the word sakto. Janet says it means “good enough.” The Coke Sakto size is I believe about 6 ounces. Now giving an American a 6 ounce drink at a party would at the very least lose you a friend for life, but here in the Philippines it’s an economical and reasonable thirst quencher for a snack or lunch. In short, it’s “good enough!”

I suggested to Janet that we go to the chicken place the day before and order the chickens to be picked up before lunch on Friday, The man there said, “I’m sorry but I cannot guarantee it.” He would not be working on Friday. “Can you call the guy who will be working on Friday?” “He can’t be reached,” I was told. “How about leaving him a note?” “Yes, but I can’t guarantee, Sir.” Perplexed, I looked for a solution. “When do you close tonight?” After being told they closed at 9:00 I asked whether he could prepare the chickens tonight and we would pick them up just before closing. The deal was made.

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At 8:30 we arrived. The chickens were cut, wrapped in aluminium foil and plastic and boxed up. Janet put them in the fridge when we got home. The next morning we heated up the pork dish Janet had made, as well as the chickens. We set up a small assembly line where Janet, the kids and I filled small lunch containers with pork, chicken and rice. In all we made 40 meals, packed everything into the car and drove to the work site.

A rudimentary table had already been set up for the food, which we laid out. At 12:00 the workers took their lunch break and fell in line to receive their lunches. They were very appreciative, equally so when they got their food gift bags from Kevin and his family.

We felt like we had done a really good thing for the hard working crew; well that is until late that night. Janet woke up in the middle of the night complaining of stomach pain. When I got up that morning I was told that she and two of the three girls had spent much of their night on the toilet.

Janet hadn’t eaten the pork so determined “it must have been the chicken.” Later I received a message from Kevin that much of the crew had stomach problems. He did not but he also had not eaten the chicken.

I felt fine and bragged about my cast iron stomach, since I had eaten a lot of the chicken. Unfortunately cast iron only lasts so long and a few hours later the bug hit me as well.

I messaged our contractor and apologised; he confirmed that he too had stomach problems.

At the end of the day, as we usually do, we visited our job site. The workers confirmed that they too had had problems. Janet thoughtfully had brought a few Immodium tablets and passed them out. What was unusual, though not unusual here in the Philippines, was that the men all were laughing and joking, had worked well that day, and continued to thank us for our efforts, despite having been “poisoned” by those efforts. In the U.S. they’d have already hired attorneys.