Only in Manila...!!!
Yesterday was a long day (even by my standards) and not the best day ever...so by the time I left work I was not in the best frame of mind and just wanted to get in the taxi and go home..
So I find my taxi and then (and I am prepared for this part) have to go through the whole "No, I will not pay an extra 30pesos, only what's on the meter"....which, the guy accepted with good grace (which I have discovered is quite normal) but...and it's a big but...this guy obviously had a trick up his sleeve....on goes the radio...and he starts singing...normally, the singing is ok. Singing taxi drivers in HKG are not great, singing taxi drivers in Manila are actually very good...and I quite like listening to them singing along. However, this guy was the exception to the rule...he could not sing at all....my cats are more tuneful.
Given the frame of mind I was in I knew I couldn't bear the trip home with this shrill tuneless squeaking in the front....so I asked him to stop....and then came the crunch..."twenty pesos to stop singing Ma'am"....it was probably the first thing to make me laugh all day...so, I agreed!!!! And I have to say it was the best money I have spent in a while!!!
So I find my taxi and then (and I am prepared for this part) have to go through the whole "No, I will not pay an extra 30pesos, only what's on the meter"....which, the guy accepted with good grace (which I have discovered is quite normal) but...and it's a big but...this guy obviously had a trick up his sleeve....on goes the radio...and he starts singing...normally, the singing is ok. Singing taxi drivers in HKG are not great, singing taxi drivers in Manila are actually very good...and I quite like listening to them singing along. However, this guy was the exception to the rule...he could not sing at all....my cats are more tuneful.
Given the frame of mind I was in I knew I couldn't bear the trip home with this shrill tuneless squeaking in the front....so I asked him to stop....and then came the crunch..."twenty pesos to stop singing Ma'am"....it was probably the first thing to make me laugh all day...so, I agreed!!!! And I have to say it was the best money I have spent in a while!!!
posted by Madame Chiang at 6:42 am
3 Comments:
So now I am curious: did you pay him to stop singing, or did you pay him because he made you laugh? Sort of reminds me of an old anecdote by Robert Fulghum (hobos telling jokes and asking money for the punchline).
Still, a good story. Made me laugh. I'd split the bill with you if I could ;-)
I paid him to stop singing....the making me laugh was an added bonus for me!!!
Ha, ha, that's good. It is wearing to have to negotiate that at the end of the day, I agree. Still, as you say, they usually give up fairly easily. In fact "giving up easily" might almost be classified as a national characteristic, with positive and negative outcomes. Take the newspapers: the huge national scandal that will bring dow the government and half the business community on Monday is usually fading away by Wednesday and by Friday everyone is going "what was that about again"? On the other hand, Pinoys don't have that relentlessness than can so exhausting in other cultures and I guess we should all be grateful for that.
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