Hello friends! How's your day been? Mine actually didn't started well as I have this very frustrating experience which I will share with you today. This is actually regarding my experience with a certain conductor in a Green Star bus I rode from San Juan to EDSA Ortigas earlier this morning.
The story goes like this:
I waited for a bus around 7:40AM at Pinaglabanan. Along came this Green Star bus with plate number UVK-468. I boarded, sat and waited for the conductor to take my fare. Everything was usual, me giving the money and this kuya conductor giving me the change and the ticket. I have this habit of checking if the value of the ticket is exact so after a few moments I went on to check the ticket he gave. At first glance, one will find it normal as the big 12.00B is very much readable. We only pay the minimum for the trip so I thought nothing's wrong. However, I was quite uneasy with the it because it was a little crampled and I saw folded lines already. New tickets are usually smooth and firm. I took a second hard look and voila! Just as my instinct dictated, the ticket was really tampered. If you look at the picture below, you will find the words "TWO PESOS" below 12.00B. I realized that the 12.00B was traced with a pink ballpen and the "1" in "12" was just handwritten. Pretty clever!
With the observations I made, I was firm with my decision to confront kuya conductor as I don't like the idea of us passengers paying right for our fare and not getting exact values for our tickets. That is really unfair you know. So, I waited for him to pass by again and when he did, I told him that the ticket he gave me was tampered because it only says TWO PESOS. You know what he just said, "12 pesos yan eh!", then walked past me hastily. He just literally brushed me off! With his actions, I knew he was guilty - guilty of cheating me, his past victims and even his mother company. I know this is not the first time he did this to his passengers and most people would not notice if they don't bother enough to check if their tickets are valid and not tampered.
Before alighting the bus, I talked to him again, showing the ticket and told him "Two pesos lang to kuya. Irereklamo kita.". Then I continued to walk but I made sure to take a look at the bus' plate number (so I was able to mention it above). Ha! You think I will not stand up against this trickery huh? Well, this post is my protest.
Php 12.00 maybe just a small amount but if we always let this small act of cheating go unnoticed and these people not reprimanded, it will surely create more trouble in the future. Remember the left and right news about corruption in our country today? Well these kinds of actions are precursors. I'm not trying to be righteous here. All I just want is to remind all of us that honesty is still the best policy. If we can't be honest on small things, how much more with the big ones?
As for you kuya conductor, I hope you will realize one day how wrong your actions are. You didn't only cheated, you also lied. Just deny and deny eh? I feel so sorry for you. I'm really annoyed and I will not hide that.
P.S. I'm so sorry Green Star if I have to mention you. For sure not all of your conductors are as bad as this one but I hope you always instill the value to honesty in you workers. And it's not just me that was cheated here, you were surely cheated also. :)