TEN RULES TO FOLLOW WHEN RIDING A PUBLIC JEEPNEY
This is a VERY OLD blog. I first wrote
this when Friendster was still the “in” thing, and I was still
going to school. I re-blogged this on November 11, 2008 in my second
blog. And now that I've decided to be a “permanent resident” in
blogspot.com, I am re-blogging this again (Sorry for the redundancy :
“re-blogging” and “again” but you know what I mean). Despite
the “old age” of this blog, I believe that the rules I wrote down
still apply even until now – except maybe NUMBER 7 - though they
are generally applicable in Bacolod City only. Other cities, towns,
and provinces have their own “jeepney culture”.
READ ON.
Almost all of us ride public jeepneys
to work or school everyday, so I think this matter is essential.
There are actually many rules to follow but I summarized them into
ten rules to simplify things. Also, these rules are based on my own
personal experience.
1. Say “Please” and “Thank You”.
It is common to ask someone else to pass our fare to the driver.
What I hate the most are people who hand me their fare without saying
“Please” and “Thank You”. Please guys, show some manners.
Thank you.
2. Do not touch anyone. This might
seem like a strange rule but I experienced this a gazillion times
already. Some people tend to touch other people when they board the
jeepney. They would use my knees as a sort of support to keep their
balance. This is acceptable if the person boarding the jeep is an
old person over sixty years of age. But for young, strong people,
especially men, I deem this as a lame excuse for a perverted act. If
you want to “keep your balance” when boarding, there are handle
bars on the “ceiling” of the jeepney. Another “touching”
incident in the jeepney is when some people touch my arm or leg if
they want me to pass their fare. Some older women would tap my arm
quite hurtfully and say “Day, lihog gani bayad” Aargh! You can
just get my attention by saying something, not by touching me!
3. If the situation calls for it, hand
your fare to the driver by yourself. Ever been in a situation where
there are only two of you inside the jeepney, and both of you are
sitting at the far end? Of course, my conscience dictates that I
should hand my fare by myself and NOT WAIT for the other person to do
it for me. Naturally, not everyone has my conscience, and so they
purposely wait for others to hand their fare, and just ask that
person to hand their fare, too. I even had the experience where the
person who was with me was a male college student. How I wanted to
berate him. Of course, I didn't say anything, though in my mind, I
wished that he would not have a girlfriend his entire life.
4. Do not sing too loudly. Okay,
you're the vocalist of a band, you're a karaoke king/queen, you're
the sister/brother of Mariah Carey, you even have your multi-platinum
album, but this doesn't mean that you should sing loudly inside the
jeepney. Some people prefer to have a quiet ride. So, please stop
splattering your saliva all over my face. Thank you.
5. Do not take somebody else's seat.
Everyone's favorite seat is at the far end of the jeepney. I admit
that I also like that place myself, except when it is raining (you
should know why). So here I was, sitting at the far end of the
jeepney, then there was this young woman who hailed the jeepney. She
got on and asked me to move because she also wanted to sit at the far
end of the jeepney. At that very instant, I felt like pushing her
off the jeepney and laugh diabolically as her skull shatters on the
sidewalk. Too bad, I wasn't able to push her. This rule has an
exception, of course. I would gladly give my seat to old people
especially if they are carrying lots of stuff. But for the rest of
the world, no, thank you, the seat's mine. I got on first.
6. Do not be a “poser” (or
poseur). It is common for jeepneys to have this really loud stereo
system, and the driver would turn up the volume really loud
especially in the late afternoons when the radio stations would be
playing rock songs. And so, there were these three college guys who
were slammin' on one of Bamboo's songs. One was “drumming”,
using his legs as the “drums”, the other was strumming an
invisible guitar, and the other one was so into his “bass lines”.
Those guys must be in such a loser band that they were so in need of
a stage. Since nobody really wants to hear how they play, they just
made the crowded, hot jeepney as their fantasy stage. So you'll now,
really talented musicians don't strut their stuff inside a crowded
jeepney since they are already secure with themselves and their
talents. They don't need a Bamboo song to give them any affirmation
or sense of purpose.
7. Do not flaunt your techie stuff. I
don't why some people just want to show off their expensive phones,
iPod, etc. inside a jeepney. I mean, haven't they heard of the word
“snatcher” before? 'Nuff said.
8. Watch your hair. Both genders
nowadays love to sport long hair. That's fine with me so long as
they are not letting me eat their hair inside the jeepney. (I always
bring a pair of scissors with me – just in case someone needs a
haircut inside the jeepney. [insert evil laugh here]).
9. Do not be a b*tch to nice people.
I was inside a packed jeepney and I was sitting somewhere in the
middle. There was this young woman who asked an older woman in front
of her to pass her fare to the driver. The older woman didn't pass
the young woman's fare. Somebody else did it for her. I realized
that the older woman was deaf. Yes, she was really so deaf and so
blind that she thought she was the only person inside the jeepney.
She did not want her manicured hands to be defiled by another
person's unsanitary coins (sarcasm intended). During the whole ride,
the older woman did not, not even once, pass anyone's fare despite
the fact that she was near the driver. She was a b*tch, pure and
simple. If she thought that “she was too good” for the jeepney,
she should have taken a taxi.
10. Your fare is as good as mine. So,
I don't know why you are sitting in a diagonal manner and taking the
space of two persons.
These are just general rules. There
are exceptions.
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