So P went on leave today and we decided to drive Mom to SM Las Piñas to facilitate the replacement of the defective refrigerator she bought a few weeks ago. Mind you this was already her second request for replacement because the first unit (Electrolux) was also defective, so Mom decided to switch to Condura, which turned out to be defective as well—all this grief because Mom decided to replace her old National refrigerator which still worked, anyway.
On the way to the mall, P visibly winced and said that someone ran over a dog. I looked and saw that it was a cat. I thought to myself: If all dogs go to heaven, do cats as well? Or does the fact that they already enjoy nine lives cancel that one out?
Whatever.
At the mall, we waited patiently for the customer service personnel (CSP) to man his booth. When he arrived, he was accosted by a livid woman demanding to know what happened to her defective thermos. CSP mumbled something about delays and the woman said in a very loud voice, “’Yan ang hirap sa inyo. Kaya nga kami bumibili dito sa ganitong lugar para wala na kaming problema, tapos ganito? Pareho rin pala? Mahihirapan din kami!” CSP mumbled something about returning in two days and the woman said, “Sinabi mo 'yan, ha? Babalikan kita. I’ll take you at your word.”
While Mom was eyeing the refrigerators, trying to decide which one was least likely to be defective, a male SM sales staff fainted against the door leading to the “authorized personnel” quarters, a small pool of liquid—the color of urine—collected at his feet. Everyone gasped and being the domineering person that I am, I jumped up and instructed the other sales staff to pick the boy up and bring him to the clinic. I also shooed away the usiseros by telling them to clear the way for the ill boy. The boy was carried out of the area only to be returned to the staff quarters upon “supervisor’s” orders, we were told. Eventually someone came out to say that the boy had been revived and said that he fainted because he still had not eaten breakfast and lunch. This was at 3 PM. We asked, “Bakit hindi s’ya kumain?” We were told “nagpigil” daw. We said, “Dapat kumain kayo pag gutom kayo, kahit biscuit.” “Bawal ho kumain dito, ma’am,” came the sheepish reply. We again encouraged the SM people to have the boy looked at in a hospital or clinic, but then by that time we also had to leave. It was at this point that I marveled at how people could easily walk away from things especially if they were not involved. One minute I was scared that the boy might die, the next minute I was happily munching on the squid and shrimp balls P bought for me.
On the way to my office to sign the payment forms I forgot to sign the other day, specifically near the Nichol’s toll plaza, I saw several kids running almost halfway through the northbound expressway to throw stones at zooming cars. These were kids from the squatters’ area situated along the riles. I’m talking about five- to seven-year-old boys running to halfway the middle of SLEX just to throw stones at cars. They also looked kind of pissed off. When we came abreast of them and they threw a volley of stones in our direction, P and I instinctively ducked inside the car. Luckily, we were spared. I immediately called the PNCC hotline to report the incident because not only were they posing a danger to motorists, they were also posing a danger to themselves.
After running errands at the office and at the mall, P and I went to ATC to bum around. We ate dinner at Cibo’s. There, I decided to give up our table to a family of four. They took the table, but did not acknowledge our kindness. After supper, we browsed books at the bookstore and once tired of that, we decided to leave for home. Before heading to the parking lot, I went to the CR to pee. There I noticed that the toilet I used flushed repeatedly every few seconds or so. I told the maintenance person, “Sira 'yung isang 'yun. Flush nang flush. Sayang ang tubig.” She said, “Ganyan lang ho talaga 'yan, ma’am.” I said, “Pero sayang ang tubig?” The janitress just shrugged and skedaddled away to chat with the lounge receptionist.
