THE WEEK before last, I bought a used cellar phone from one of the many vendors in Virra Mall Center in the Greenhills commercial center in San Juan City. Within two days, it broke down but I wasn't too worried. The vendor had given me a receipt and assured me I could exchange a defective product within a week.

So off I went one morning, catching the cell-phone dealers around 10 a.m. as they were setting up their booth. Ever so pleasantly, I went over to the booth where I had bought the defective phone and showed the vendor my receipt. I was aghast when she snapped back in Tagalog, "Come back at 11. We haven't had our buena mano yet."

For those not familiar with the term, "buena mano" is Spanish for "good hand." Many cultures, not just our own, have this magical belief that a good sale -- a transaction involving the hands -- at the start of the day brings in more customers and more transactions. "Good" is defined in many ways. It can be a large transaction, which means more money. Or it can be an early sale, which means you won't have to wait long for succeeding customers.

The incident at Virra Mall made me realize there was still another definition of "good" and this was an "easy" transaction, one done without any acrimony. This was why the dealers generally try to avoid handling complaints. When they asked me to come back, what they meant was that they wanted to make a sale first, the buena mano, rather than deal with a bad mouth.

I was slightly irritated and offered to make the buena mano by buying a mobile headset. But no, the woman insisted I come back at 11, explaining that she had to first finish setting up her booth.

Again, the anthropologist in me took over and I tried to be understanding. I knew there were all kinds of rituals involved here. It wasn't just a matter of arranging the phones and accessories in the glass cabinets. They had to put money in the shelves as well -- again a magical practice that presumes money, like the buena mano, generates more money.

But even as I processed this magical logic, I knew I had to say my piece. I retorted, voice slightly raised, that I had to go to work and couldn't wait around another hour. I told them that as a compromise, I would return in half an hour and they better deal with my case. After all, I pointed out, they had sold me a defective phone and they owed me.

I returned half an hour later, and this time it was another vendor who responded. She was there earlier in the morning but had been quiet. This time, all smiles, she apologized for her companion, claiming that she wasn't very diplomatic and that they'd scolded her in the past for that.

I nodded and apologized, too, for my "outburst." (My friends know a Mike Tan outburst is all too often quite ineffective, sometimes even too friendly.) But I did add, knowing that she and most other vendors in Virra Mall were Muslim, that rudeness and the flaring of tempers weren't right, especially since it was Ramadan, the Islamic month for fasting, prayer and reflection.

As we went about picking a replacement phone, I talked about the need to be honest with customers. I've received so many complaints from friends who have been in similar predicaments, ending up with lemons and vendors refusing to exchange the phones. I told my dealer that I knew used cell-phones were always problematic, and that sometimes defects don't emerge until after a few days, which was fine, as long as they honored the agreement, in a written receipt, to exchange the problem phone within seven days.

There is a lesson to pick up from all this, one that is not limited to Ramadan and Muslim entrepreneurs, and this is the need to counter buena mano as a magical belief. Unfortunately, many Filipino business people still limit the idea of buena mano to an exchange of money at the beginning of the day, one which they think will automatically bring in more money.

It's time we -- Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, whatever -- expanded this notion of buena mano to refer to business ethics. A "good hand" is an honest hand. As I explained to the Virra Mall vendor, who has since become my friend, if you offer fair deals and efficient customer support, then you have a buena mano.

The buena mano is not in the buying itself, but in the goodwill and trust generated by the vendor's own ethical practices, together with graciousness and a sense of service. All that comes together to keep the cash register ringing, in terms of returning customers and the friends they bring along.

So, if you end up with a defective product bought from one of the many "tiangge" (bazaars), you might want to go first thing in the morning to settle this. Many Filipino entrepreneurs will avoid having to deal with arguments early in the day and will settle amicably. But don't stop with that. If they respond well, compliment them, and if they don't, stand up for your rights. No matter what you do though, do plug in the need to develop a new buena mano appropriate to our times.