Baggage Counter Encounter
This story happens in a baggage counter in one of the supermarkets here in our place.
My wife and I usually go to supermarket to buy groceries. I usually dress with sando, shorts and slippers so I don’t really look nice that day. Upon arrival in the supermarket, we went directly to the baggage counter to leave our things to lessen the burden we are carrying. When I arrived in the baggage counter, the Claim section was not organized. People don’t fall in line properly. They just try to insert themselves to get into the “line” first. Anyway, the Deposit section is not that crowded with people so I was able to leave our things easily in the baggage counter and we went inside the supermarket to buy our stuffs. We fall in line in the cashier after gathering all the stuffs we need, pay for the goods and after that went back to the baggage counter to get our things back. So I went back to the baggage counter and fall in line in the Claim section even though the line was not that defined. Besides the signboard with the phrase “Please Fall In Line”, I usually do fall in line to make things organized even though they are not. After the crowd in front of me trimmed down to just one (1) person, a “lady” wearing a standard office dress inserted herself right next to the person in front of me. You can really tell that this “lady” has attended school and can read and understand the sign board in front of us - the sign board that says “Please Fall In Line”. She was in her late forties just to give you an idea how old she was then. So I was really pissed off after waiting in an unorganized line just to be over taken with a lady with “manners”.
If you were in my shoes, would you just let it pass? Most of us would just let it pass just to avoid trouble. But, try to think of it this way. It is just like cancer. If we don’t remove it from the system early, it will spread exponentially and it will be unstoppable later on. People will tend to abuse especially Filipino.
Having my blood rise to a temperature that triggers the alarm to “RED ALERT”, I burst into a cold explosion to stop the rising temperature while I retaliate back at the lady with “manners”. This is what happened, the person in charged in the baggage counter also heard this.
Me: The problem with us is that a simple instruction - Please Fall In Line - is very hard for us to follow!
Lady with “manners”: It should be the person in charged in the baggage counter that you should blame for this and that he should be the one telling us to fall in line.
Me: It is the responsibility of the person in baggage counter to serve us on our baggage needs, and it is OUR responsibility to fall in line.
Lady with “manners”: You should have told me in a lower tone.
Me: You are already old enough and yet you still can’t follow. A louder voice will make an emphasis.
Talking to the person in the baggage counter irritated:
Lady with “manners”: Okay, serve him first before me.
Me: Damage has been done madam. You already made a mistake and there is no way you can redeem yourself. And besides, you don’t have to tell him that. It is obvious that I should be the one to be served right before you, isn’t it?
I know she was humiliated that time in front of people around us listening to our conversation. Thanks to her, she made may day!
