Friday, September 24, 2004
Buses and Brain
Pasubali: I don't really mean to rant here... Medyo bad trip lang kanina. Pasensya na.
*****
Friends, let me talk about bus drivers.
Bus drivers, i'm sorry to say, downright tell everybody in this wonderful planet that they are the next best thing to dinosaurs. Their brains are a perfect opposite to the enormity of the monsters they drive. The thing in their heads, probably about the size of a pea, finds the task of avoiding an accident with smaller vehicles quite difficult.
A difficult task indeed, that among all the cars driving along Regalado Avenue, a particularly fascinating driver (let's just call him, 'Manong') chose to hit mine; just like any other dim-witted T-Rex that used to randomly prey on smaller reptiles.
Here's the scenario: already slowed down to 10 kph, I signaled 'right' as I was about to turn to a gas station... There's no way Manong could have not seen me. I was right in front of his bus.
But no. He stealthily went straight for the kill—slowly but surely. Yes, it's just a small dent (almost a feet long) and a light two feet long scratch near the rear; but it already has caused me half a day at work, and I know it will definitely cost me more than two thousand pesos for the repair.
Back to Manong, he manifested yet another oddity. With his dinosaur-ish gibber, I was able to decipher bits of messages. He dared to tell me that "buses-hitting-cars" was a natural phenomenon—that I couldn't do anything about it. And that with all his stupidity, it was but obvious that he could only pay me 500 pesos for the damage he's caused the car. And that his boss (probably a pterodactyl) would eat him alive if I filed a case. And that the best thing he could do was beg me to spare him his skin.
OK. Just because I still wanted to go to work and I didn't want the hassle of filing papers that don't really matter because they usually just add up to the stack of scratch papers in most police stations, I accepted the 500 and let Manong go scot-free.
I was just itching to tell Manong one thing: "Next time, please stay in Jurassic Park."
At home, 1:00 am
(09/24/04)
*****
Pasensya na talaga.
[Manong's mug shot courtesy of Station 5]