*I was supposed to do this blog right after the incident. But my heart wasn’t into blogging then so I waited for the right time. Thus, now. =D
A few weeks back, mum and I went to buy some stuff in the grocery after Church. We usually get in line in the seniors’ lane, mum being one. Haha! It’s soooooo much convenient primarily because elderly people are given priority and the line’s shorter.
Since it was a Sunday and people just finished Mass, it was expected that the line was a little longer than usual. What ticked me off was that we were in the seniors’ lane and three people ahead of us were TOTALLY NOT SENIORS. There was a mother with her little kid, plus two other men. After them were two elderly men then us. One of the elderly men left the line and transferred to a shorter line. Imagine that! Seniors’ lane shouldn’t be long UNLESS the grocery was packed with elderly people which wasn’t the case that time!
The man before kept on looking at us. Apparently, he was also ticked off by the situation. When he was finally being served, my mum talked to him.
Mum: Sa senior lang dapat itong line di ba?
Man: Oo nga eh. Kaya nga ho ako tumitingin sa inyo kasi nalito ako bat may ibang nakapila na hindi naman senior.
Mum: Sa ** ho hindi talaga pwede pumila ang hindi senior sa senior lane. Pinagsasabihan talaga. Ms. Dapat pagsabihan niyo sila.
Ate Cashier: Ma’am pinagsasabihan naman po namin. Yung iba talagang matigas ang ulo o kay di kami pinapansin.
Mum: Ay dapat mahigpit kayo lalo na kung may senior na nakapila. Kung wala naman nakapila na senior okay lang. Pero kasi nakapila kami, yung isa nga umalis sa pila sa tagal eh.
Ate Cashier: Pasensya na po Ma’am.
Mum: Hindi okay lang, pero sana ingat kayo next time. Asan ba manager mo?
Ate cashier points at her manager who was just nearby. Mum spoke to her and told the entire incident. She said thanks to the comment. Para nga naman yun sa mas magandang serbisyo.
But wait! There’s more!!! Before we were even done, a man, not an elderly lined after us. Tissue lang naman bibilin. Then another man came with his teen son. Grocery kung grocery. So ate cashier was put on a test.
Ate Cashier: Sir senior po kayo?
A-hole Mr: Bakit pang senior lang ba ‘to? Sabi lang naman we prioritize senior citizens.
Ate cashier stopped and failed to prove her point. :S The other man was playing dumb. Deadma sa sitwasyon! IGNORANCE is a CRIME! A-hole Mr. didn’t stop there. He was murmuring about the whole thing that it made me want to retaliate for ate cashier. Mum was throwing dagger looks at him and told ate cashier paalisin sa pila. He knew he was in deep sh*t ‘coz he left his son in line. He walked a little farther and talked to his friend complaining about the senior lane. Goodness! He is such a b*tch! We can hear him from where he was.
He has a point with the entire “We prioritize senior citizens” but if just looked below that sign, he SHOULD’VE seen the SENIOR LANE. So that doesn’t allow him to fall in line THERE!
Sobra-sobra ang pagkairita ko. Ang bobo eh! Bihira ko lang gamitin ang salitang bobo, pero sa mamang yun, akmang-akma ang salita! Kasama pa naman niya ang anak niya. Ang gandang halimbawa di ba? Gusto ko talaga siyang kausapin. Yun ang pagkakamali ko. Dahil pinili kong manahimik at pabayaan niyang tapakan ang pagkatao ng iba. Pero nung panahon na yon, ang inisip ko kasi baka mapaaway ang nanay ko dahil sakin. Ayoko sa lahat ang titirahin ang pamilya ko dahil sa ginawa ko. Dahil ang mga kilos ko, ako lang yun. Teka, switch. My parents didn’t raise me to be disrespectful and that moment I felt that this foolio was such an idiot that he will take it against my mother and not against me. That kept my mouth shut.
Pero hindi ko napigilan magreklamo sa nanay ko habang nangyayari ang lahat ng iyon. At alam kong narinig ng mama yun. He came close just before we left. Again he asked the cashier if it was only for seniors. Siyempre si ate natuod na naman.
As I was grabbing the grocery bags (he was standing there), I gave him the coldest stare I could give anyone, uttered “Goodness!” with so much anger, banged him in the arm with the grocery bags and left. Hopefully, he learned a thing or two.
Forgive my language, pero and bobo kasi talaga! Sobrang bobo nakakainit ng ulo! Anong hindi mo maintindihan sa signage?! Hanep ka lang Sir! Gusto kitang ibalik sa eskwela para matuto.
I feel for ate cashier. I know she should’ve been firm and I should’ve spoken for her when she wasn’t unable to (gave you my reason). But people like ate cashier think this way: The customer is always right. Yun ang masakit na katotohanan. Bihira lang sa kanila ang magsasabi, na hindi po talaga pwede ang gusto niyo. You want to know why?? Because their self-pride is below zero, tendency is for them to just give in. Why zero self-pride? It’s because of people like that man and people like me as well. That man shouldn’t have treated her like she was “inferior”. There’s a thing called human dignity and no one, I repeat NO ONE has the right to take it away!
Feeling niya angat siya sa buhay na pwede na lang niyang pasunurin ang iba sa gusto niya. Kaya nga may tinatawag na rules di ba? Para saan pa yun yung lalabagin rin lang naman kasi tingin mo mayaman ka at ang iba hindi?
People like me shouldn’t just stand there and let him trample the poor cashier’s dignity. APATHY is IGNORANCE’s sibling. Therefore, a crime as well.
May this be an eye-opener to us all that money is not THE gauge for human dignity. EVERYONE has human dignity and NO ONE can take it away. Please, please let us all be sensitive and WISE.
p.s I told my mum if I can say my two cents’ worth to the person involved the next time it will happen and she gave me the heads up. Hopefully, it won’t happen again. ‘til then…
