Sometimes you don’t want to be invisible.
You’re walking into the mall. You stop at the guard’s desk for the obligatory security check. You know and he knows and everybody knows that this is part-pantomime and part-placebo, because even supposing you had a bomb in your possession, it is highly unlikely that the guard would identify it as such (Maybe if it were a large round ball with a fuse sticking out like in Road Runner cartoons). Weren’t there bag inspections as usual the day that Glorietta 2 blew up?Â
So you’re doing your role in the pantomime when someone literally walks into you, treading on your jeans. It’s a woman so preoccupied with texting that she doesn’t look where she’s going. She says “Ay!” and keeps on walking. She does not say “Excuse me” or “Sorry”. It is as if you are invisible. Ordinarily you would let it go, forget about it. You put up with so much aggravation in this city, you hardly even notice it anymore. In fact, you’re so accustomed to dealing with rude, uncouth behavior that when people do exhibit good manners, you do a double-take. Every time someone says “Sorry” or “Excuse me” or “Walang anuman”, you feel like saying, “Thank you.”Â
Today you do not feel like putting up with other people’s shit. Today you refuse to be invisible. You walk slowly behind the woman who had crashed into you. You observe that she is wearing flip-flops and an anklet. She is still texting, oblivious to her surroundings. You calculate her pace. At the right second, you step on the back of her flip-flop, sending her sprawling. “Oh I’m sorry,” you say sweetly, and walk away. Someday, while texting, she may walk into an open manhole and disappear forever.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 24th, 2008 at 17:06
And one day, somebody might actually take advantage of the invisibility and make something to blow us all to kingdom come right under our cute oblivious noses…
September 24th, 2008 at 17:23
“Weren’t there bag inspections as usual the day that Glorietta 2 blew up? ”
but what has that got to do with terrorists?
http://jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2007/10/24/the-literal-hits-the-fan/
September 24th, 2008 at 17:48
Bless you, Jessica. The world needs reminders like you.
Personally I like pushing people who block escalators. No sweet smiles. It helps, of course, that I’m six feet tall, mind. Hheheehe.
September 24th, 2008 at 18:23
Hm, I’m thinking maybe she was the one who thought she was invisible… But, an elbow to her solar plexus would have done her, too.
September 24th, 2008 at 23:05
People in Manila are never really apologetic when they bump into you. Might be the Asian lack of consideration for personal space.
September 25th, 2008 at 00:11
I had to readjust to that reality when upon visiting Manila earlier this year. I was dumbfounded by the idea that the only deterrent to a major security incident at public areas are inept security guards and their slivers of bamboo.
September 25th, 2008 at 08:12
The world needs more people like you. Of course, if there were more people like you, the world would be an orgy of retribution and violence. Come to think of it, maybe there are already more people like you. :p. Just not enough to punish each and every idiot sauntering along the street or through a mall.
Cheers.
PS. Would it make a difference if the moron was reading a book (a decent one) rather than texting? I read while walking all the time. On the other hand, my superhuman abilities have prevented me from bumping into another person (although, once, when I was in third grade at ‘elementary’ school, I walked into a wooden pillar).
September 25th, 2008 at 09:48
Have you tried the MRT? You’ll notice when you get off (the train; get off the train!), the people waiting to get on do not really see the people getting off the train. They block the door, and do not seem to realize that they would not be able to get on the train unless people get off first. Oblivious to the guard’s exhortation (with a bullhorn!), they crowd the doors of the train, seemingly ancient creatures whose instinct is to ride on trains.
I tried to shove two rough-looking characters (I was getting pushed from behind!) as I was attempting to get off, and they had no reaction whatsoever. Their eyes had this glazed, empty look; one can only guess what goes on inside those reptillian brains. Probably, “must get on the train must get on the train…”
September 25th, 2008 at 12:00
Although we still encounter the occasional bastos here, I still prefer Pinoys’ manners over that of the Chinese. I’m not racist or anything, but I’ve just been to Macau and HK earlier this month, and man, were they rude. Being used to Filipino courtesy, I was appalled with how normal it is for them to just push people in order for them to get through crowded areas; in restaurants they’d just vomit their guts out if they felt like it, wala silang pake kung sarap na sarap ka sa kinakain mo; if you can’t understand their language, they’d just scream at you thinking that that would make you understand them better. Aside from that, everyone there seems to be constantly in a bad mood. Alam mo talaga kung Pinoy pag warm ang mukha.
When I went back to the Philippines, I wanted to kiss everyone. Kahit na yung nagsu-sungit-sungitan na airport security guard…kasi kahit ganun, hindi pa din sya bastos, and everyone’s always ready to smile.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:10
the anklet made me LOL. Who in the bloody hell still wears those?
September 25th, 2008 at 12:24
I was told that many of the people who end up working as security guards are former fast food service crew and other contractual workers who are past the age of 25. So if you’re too “old” to man the fryer they give you a stick and make you watch out for terrorists. Probably not a good idea to issue guns.
September 25th, 2008 at 13:58
I guess Ms. Mobile Texter was surely asking for trouble. If it were a Blackberry, then I’d wish that a gang of cutpurses jump onto her and steal her “Crackberry”
September 25th, 2008 at 16:12
Jessica, your comment about fast food workers graduating to security guard jobs explains a lot. A while ago (under this entry: http://jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2008/08/27/the-laundry-list/ ), I started typing a comment about a frustrating experience at KFC in Mall of Asia. Unfortunately, it got lost before I could hit the ‘submit comment’ button and it was too much to type again, but the whole inane incident totally makes sense in light of this bit of information.