10.06.06
was at metro ayala grocery last thursday because i was intent on buying a couple of cans of four seasons. i promised our company cook that i’d give them to her before she leaves for camotes. thanks to the magic of plastic, i ended up carrying two bags of grocery <to the horror of my sister, i presume [lol!]> home. as closest people know me, I HATE CARRYING SOMETHING IN MY HANDS!!! thus, my co-worker, line and i flagged down a cab.
once inside the taxi, i told the driver my address and gave him specific instruction to pass by v.rama/englis so i could drop line on the way to our place. no problem there, he agreed and started to run the meter.
when we got to the place where i usually drop off line, two men flagged down the cab that we were in. at the same time, i told the driver to make a u.turn. however, as i instructed the driver to make a u-turn, the driver was grumbling. i failed to get the exact words that the driver muttered. what i could make of his murmurs, was his regret on the missed opportunity to have new passengers, ergo earn him an additional flagdown rate of PhP30. so as not to bother the driver, i changed my instruction and informed line to alight from the cab and just cross the street to get to her place.
as soon as line was gone, the driver went on complaining about the opportunity he lost. the two men who flagged down the taxi would have earned him an extra pay. this got me irritated BIG TIME!! inasmuch as i don’t like to argue with anyone, i wasn’t able to help myself. i confronted the driver about his grumbling. i demanded from him what was making him testy. the driver told me that he assumed that i would get off from the taxi the same time line did. again, he went back to complaining about the opportunity/dollar lost. very-unusual-of-vet challenged the driver, telling him that i really don’t have a problem getting off his vehicle if he so wants to pick up the two passengers earlier. but i made it clear that i wouldn’t pay him a cent. from what i remember of my many law elective classes, there was a provision in the law on common carriers which says that a passenger is not obligated to pay the "common carrier?" [say the taxi driver] should the driver fail to take the passenger to the destination agreed upon. anyway, as soon as i told the driver that i’m not paying him, the driver continued to grumble as to why i was angry at him, blah..blahs… acting upon my temper, i got out of the taxi right in front of jolibee guadalupe. i crossed the street and walked as fast as i could away from the driver, who was shouting "hoy! plete oi!". i never looked back and walked towards the gasoline station to flag another cab.
whew… i never realized that a person’s heart could beat as fast as my heart was beating then. i was so scared that the driver might follow me and do me some harm. when i got home, i told my family that i just did something terrible. well, at least that was the most evil thing i’ve ever done in all my 27 years.
