It's true I don't like soap, but you don't have to rub it in my face!

Lesson for the day. No truth about customers being ALWAYS right. This is just what we (as customers) want to believe in. But definitely NOT if we're behind that counter.

There was no taxi service scarcity today. The service reached my place exactly on time. Only I was not yet done preparing. Which only means the driver had to wait (as usual).



Hippo needed to remind me to hurry. I hate each time he does that. Am such a sloth and I CANNOT move any faster than 15 feet per minute! Blah! Of course this is another stretching of the truth. Haha

...anyway...

Finally, I was out. The cab door was opened for me and so I got in. The driver asked for the destination and I politely answered.

The man was old, a little bald with some white hair showing from beneath his red baseball cap. Not the ordinary looking Filipino driver, I must say. Exactly how Hippo described him to me. He's more of Spanish descent. Mestizo and reddish. Even thought he could be the owner of 24/7 taxi service posing as a driver for whatever reasons! Nah! Another wild imagination.

Going back... we had a very short conversation, which went like this...

_____________________________________________

Mestizo Driver: Where are we heading?

~ Paper tiger ~: To Shell Maya

Mestizo Driver: Right at Shell Maya, is't?

~ Paper tiger ~: No. After Shell Maya, a few buildings after... at Telecoms Plaza.

Meztizo Driver: Just along Buendia...

~ Paper Tiger ~: Yes. Buendia, that is.

Mestizo Driver: Ok, (imperative tone) You're late. 10 minutes.

~ Paper Tiger ~: *blank*

_____________________________________________

long silence...

He like slapped into my face how I make taxi drivers wait! (of course not literally) No matter how short the wait, it doesn't matter. TIME is precious.

Yes, I am paying them. I pay extra 50 PhP for the pick up plus the fare from my place to office (measured by a meter), which runs from 89 PhP to 102 PhP. Most often than not, I give extra 20 PhP for tip. This is out of the question, though. Because, in real sense, I definitely have to pay for their good service, right?

What I feel guilty about is I am (have been) taking their precious time (no matter how brief) from them. It could only be just 5 minutes, 10 minutes, yes...what is 5 minutes anyway?

...but time is something that cannot be returned when lost (or wasted). It cannot tick backwards. It doesn't have undo button. Every second passed is already history.

When I was applying for a job for the first time, I experienced having to wait for hours. I didn't like it. I so DETEST it! For me, no one has the right to take so much of my time because it's MINE. They can waste all their time all they want but I would never allow them to make me wait like that AGAIN. Not because I am the one applying or for the lack of better term, asking for something (job that is), I should be so humble and let them just take away every minute of my time.

I recalled all this during my entire trip to office (which just took only about 45 minutes...imagine?!!!). Was reminded of the GOLDEN RULE. I hate when people make me wait. So, why am I making these drivers wait, too?!

Am I so like those HR people that set schedules for applicants' job interview...(?) The very eager and equally nervous applicant comes in, at most, an hour early before his time. Minutes after minutes...eventually turned into hours, many applicants are already in the waiting area. One brave applicant breaks the deafening silence and talks to the one beside him...

___________________________________

Applicant 1: What time is your schedule?

Applicant 2: 9:30, and you?

Applicant 1: We have the same sched.

The rest of the applicants: what?!!!!!

___________________________________

In short, they are made to wait there for more hours than they should. What? Because they're just applicants? That they're the one needing jobs so they have to suffer like that? The you-want-it-go-geddit freakin attitude! Grrrr!

I so hate that scenario. I promised myself I won't ever let ANYONE do that to me. This is my time...it's not theirs. They got absolutely NO right to waste it for their own fatuousness.

...but today and the past 2 years...I have done the same to those poor drivers... *sniffs* I am GUILTY.

Am so sorry.

Am I bad?

Note: Dunno if my intro is even relevant. Whatever!

I see me three years ago today...

My life is as if enclosed in the world of showbiz. Somehow, it feels like people are relentlessly after my next moves. My affairs have been such a big part of their lives that they could not go through a day without discussing about me. Should I even be flattered? I wish it could somehow be considered like soft-soap; you know what I’m saying? It’s not the case, though as I am now tremendously disconcerted. I wish they would just leave me alone. People around me are like paparazzi that never leave as if I am such an important item. I mean, come on! I would understand if I were Britney Spears or something. Only I am just a simple girl that you will see in the same lonely and lackluster corner everyday; just a simple girl dreaming to have a quiet and unruffled life. Can I just have that? Can anyone of you just give me that? I do not need your attention. Believe me, I can go on whether you notice me or not, so please stop giving me all these attention now. I desire to just run far away and shut myself off from everyone. I am so damn sick and tired of small-minded people who cannot find anything good to say about anyone. No prank, I am and I’ve always been.

Wait, I must listen intently to myself. I have started acting like a certified grumbler! What is happening to me? This is all so unbelievable! The past days have been knotty for me, yes. People left and right are causing me distress. If I were a manic depressive freak, I could’ve already found myself at the morgue with all other manic depressive bodies lying on hard-wearing steel beds. Guess, this juvenile child inside me is in fact a warrior that never gives up on any fight. Yet, evidently, my heart had gone worn down.

Not that I had gone cynical or anything. Don’t get me wrong, I get to smile and laugh once in a while. I can only apologize to people who I should be focusing on for the lifts they give me whenever I am low. I do feel gratified because of them. And I believe they are one of the biggest reasons that I hang on strong. They are what cause the sparkle in my eyes and the delight in my heart. They do…and I hope somehow, in spite of my incessant ramblings, they still could see how they have made a big difference in my life.

Life, they say, is never easy. What more can I say?