26.1.09

On Homeworld MRT Adverts

Dear Homeworld voice actress,

You are probably the most pathetic lady I have ever heard. Who goes window shopping for furniture every fucking day on the same fucking store? I'd understand someone going every week, but every single day? If the store ships stuff every day, and a furniture store for this matter, I'd assume that this store would go broke pretty soon. Clothes I'd understand a little more, but furniture? Oh, come on!

Seriously, find a better hobby.

Sincerely,

Concerned MRT Passenger,
Inggo

P.S.
I am aware you're just reading from a script. I just got very irritated after hearing your advertisement every time the train stops for a station the entire day. Anyway, the writer sucks and makes you sound like a loser.

On Philippine Education

Dear DepEd,

Your education system sucks. That is all.

Sincerely,

Five-year Freshman,
Inggo

14.1.09

On Street Children Parents III

Dear Parents,

I never would've thought I'd need to send you another letter on the same subject, and so soon.

The time was just past seven, Just today, on my way home from school. I was riding a Project 6 jeepney from Trinoma. The jeep halted on a red light before turning left to Mindanao Avenue. A street child, maybe in early puberty, went in the vehicle and began wiping the people's footwear. As he reached the end, he began begging for alms, you know, the usual stuff they do. As he reached the end of the jeep, one of the passengers had his cellphone out, maybe texting someone. He, the passenger, was sitting on the end of the jeep. The child grabbed the phone and ran away.

Sadly, I couldn't do anything myself, since I was seated in front of the jeep. The passenger, flustered at first, got off and chased the child. The entire vehicle was in a commotion. The driver didn't know what to do. A few moments later, the light turned green. The driver at first didn't move, but the traffic behind him started honking their horns.

Who is to blame on this event? The driver, for allowing street children such as the criminal on this case to enter the public utility vehicle? Or the victim, for taking out his cellular phone at the scene of the crime? Me, for not being able to be a hero on this event? The child himself? Syndicates? Poverty? The Government? The law enforcers?

For me, you are to blame, the parents of the child. You can reason out that you are poor, but it's still your fault for having a child and not being able to provide for him, or at least teach him what is right and what is wrong. You can reason out that he might be an orphan, but there must be a parent of this child, and it is still their fault for abandoning him. You might even be dead, but knowing that you are having a child, you should have prepared for such events. You can reason out a lot of things, but in the end, this finger that points who to blame points to you.

Sincerely,

Witness to a Juvenile Crime,
Inggo

13.1.09

On Street Children Parents II

Dear Parents,

Seriously, stop procreating.

Just the other day, while watching someone play DDR in Trinoma, a street child found himself there beside the machine. I honestly don't know how he got there, maybe security found themselves off guard or something. The player was using his bare feet, and he takes of his slippers. In the middle of the song, the kid took the dude's slippers and attempted to run away. Luckily, I managed to grab hold of his tattered shirt and take back the pair of slippers. I let him go. He ran away, most possibly in fear.

Learn to discipline your children if you really have to make more of them. Oh, wait, that's probably what teach your child to do.

Sincerely,

Anti-Slippernapper Gentleman,
Inggo

9.1.09

On MRT/LRT Passenger Decorum

Dear Passengers,

I know it is difficult being a train passenger, especially on rush hours. However, we must still practice proper decorum at every instance we are using this public utility. Note that I used the term public utility. This is not a private vehicle, so we should learn to use it as a public and not as an individual.

Whenever I use these utilities, I find myself stuck in a pushy crowd, disallowing passengers to exit. Also, I find that a lot of space in the center of the train remains unused. It seems that everyone wants to stay near the doors, maybe because they want to alight the train first when their station comes. But I always see that these people stay near the door from end to end (okay, maybe from Taft to Cubao, or North to Ayala).

What I want everyone to realize that most of us using the train wants to go to their destination at the fastest time possible. The time it takes for people getting on and off the train lengthens because of the people staying by the doors and those eager to enter the train, blocking the path of those wanting to get out. Also, at particular stations, people fail to organize themselves in queuing for tickets or for entering and exiting the station. And finally, more delay happens when people force themselves in an already full train, or rushing in during the warning buzzer and failing to beat it causing the doors not to close.

Here are some guidelines we should all follow upon using this service in order to become refined passengers:
  1. Upon entering the station, have your baggage opened up for inspection once there are only one or two more people in front of you.
  2. When purchasing tickets, keep the queue at the direction of the wall. Do not block the way for passengers who already have a ticket. Also, when asking someone else to buy your ticket, do not block the path to the ticket receptacles.
  3. Do not step beyond the platform edge. This is marked by the different colored tiles. On MRT and LRT2, it is yellow. And on LRT1, it is red. This serves not only for your safety, but also for space to those who would be alighting the train.
  4. When the train comes, do not step towards the platform edge until all people who desire to alight the train have done so.
  5. Upon entering the train, do not push the people in front of you. At the same time, when in front, do not take time entering the train, and follow guideline number 8 immediately.
  6. Do not enter the train when the warning buzzer sounds. The buzzer does not mean "QUICK! RUSH! PUSH! DO IT LIKE YOU'RE PREGNANT! PUUUUSH!" The buzzer actually means: "Warning! The doors are closing. Stop entering the train and kindly wait for the next one."
  7. If the train is full to the door, do not push people in. If they follow these guidelines, you should know if there is still space available to you.
  8. As you enter the train, go to furthest you can to the center. If you come from the left of the door, go left. And if you come from the right, go right. An exception would be if this is the door of the end of the train, in which you go to the direction of the center of the current train. It doesn't matter if your destination is near or far. This is to let other people enter the train smoothly and to maximize space. Position yourself to according your destination once the train is moving at constant speed.
  9. Do not stay beside the door unless you will be alighting on the next station or the remaining space in the center constrains your position.
  10. Whenever there is an available seat, take it. Seats often become available when people queue for getting off the train (see number 13). If you aren't alighting on the next station, take the seat. This is, again, to give more space to the standing passengers.
  11. If you are standing, and if you can reach the bars or railings, use them. Do not use the straps unless you cannot reach the bars. This is so that passengers who cannot reach the bars are able to maintain their balance in the train by holding the straps. Also, use only one hand on the railings, and do not use your entire body and embrace the pole as if it was your lover. If you do use the straps, use only one. Or better yet, share a strap, win a friend (remember to wash your hands afterwards).
  12. Keep your baggage in front of you. Not only does this prevent any theft, but also provides more space.
  13. When you are nearing your destination, go towards the door as the train moves in constant speed. Once the station is announced, you should already be in queue for those desiring to alight on the next station. You know you have failed this step if the train slows down causing you to lose your momentum. Some practice for this step is required.
  14. If you find yourself at the door or at the queue of those wanting to alight, and you're not exiting on the current station, step out of the door and give way to those who will be alighting. After which, enter the train keeping guideline number 8 in mind.
  15. When the train doors open, exit the train swiftly and orderly in a single file towards the exit. If people follow these guidelines, there should be enough space for you to proceed towards the nearest exit.
  16. Upon exiting the station, queue on a line furthest from the train. Also, keep in the queue, and do not cut other queues. An exception would be when a ticket receptacle suddenly closes, where the line furthest from the train should allow those from the closed queue to shuffle in courteously one person at a time.
  17. Oh, and if you are disabled, carrying a child, or pregnant, please use the first train. I know you are already handicapped, but the first train should serve this purpose. The rest of the trains are ideally for those who are in the rush hour traffic.
Quite honestly, I am ashamed of the fact that our people have a lack of discipline. And I'm starting to lose hope that Filipinos will ever be disciplined. But maybe many of us just don't know how to behave. Hopefully, this will help those who don't know what proper decorum is in a train and its stations.

Following these guidelines will make you a refined train passenger just like me. If everyone follows, we should all have a quicker and more comfortable journey to our destination.

Any additional guidelines are welcome.

Sincerely,

Refined train passenger,
Inggo

7.1.09

On Tokyo Tokyo Trinoma Maki

Dear Tokyo Tokyo,

I've tried out Trinoma's Tokyo Tokyo only three times, and all these experiences happened within the last three months... the last one being today. Now, I'm fully aware that Tokyo Tokyo isn't real Japanese fast food, much less a restaurant. This is noticable ever since the change in your branches, losing much of your sushi and sashimi choices. Heck, you've also added a lot of Chinese stuff in your menu, just preceeding the items with "Japanese" even though they aren't. And I've proven this the first time I went to your branch, ordering a set of eight spicy tuna rolls and expecting raw fish in my maki. Instead, I find spicy canned tuna, probably Century. What I'm saying with this is you have lost the privilege to call yourself "Japanese" anymore.

However, that's just the start of my complaints, and the above goes for all of your branches. The following I cannot generalize, and only goes for your Trinoma branch:

On the same day, the same abomination you call "spicy tuna rolls" did not meet the quality I expected. They were cut unevenly. The nori was tucked into the roll on the side down and the rice looks as if it was forced in. The rice was stale. It tasted nothing like sushi rice, which is everything sushi is about.

I know it's pretty hard to describe, and that's the best I can put into words. But it was repulsive... a disgrace to all maki. It would've probably been better if I had taken a picture. Sadly I didn't. I would the next time, but I doubt I'd be going back anytime soon.

I've actually given you three chances to change, maybe because I don't have a lot of choices when I'm craving for maki. Alas, it has come to this. The second time, I ordered a set of California maki. It had the same problems—uneven and ugly looking rolls, stale rice, nori tucked in the bottom. The only difference is the contents, being mangoes and crabmeat, which didn't even fill the entire roll. The third time, just today, had no changes.

And for all the three times I've eaten there, I had to wait for twenty minutes for my eight pieces of maki. After twenty minutes, you give me a plastic box containing eight pieces of maki failure. And, yes, that is for all three times.

Do you actually create these rolls individually? Is this why you're taking so much time, and producing so much failure?

Fix yourself up or give that place to a more deserving tenant.

tl;dr: Read the line above.

Sincerely,

Sushi Aficionado,
Inggo

3.1.09

On Timezone Trinoma Maintenance

Dear Maintenance,

I've been a regular customer ever since your opening. And I'm probably one of the people who has played on your GuitarFreaks 11th Mix machine the most. Heck, I'm almost a Platinum member because of it. That aside, I would have to complain on how you take care of your machine. It's been over a year since you've had that machine, and ever since the strap on the left controller broke, you never bothered replacing it. All that you did was tie it up in a knot, disallowing late teens, such as myself, and adults to play the game due to the width of their developed torso.

Now, while I complain for the fact that you haven't bothered fixing it up to now, I remained a patron to the machine, using the right guitar controller even though its notes aren't audible. It's been more or less half a year since this problem, and I'm quite disappointed that just today the strap on the right controller has gotten the same sickness. How the heck am I supposed to play on your machine now?

I don't think it would cost a lot replacing the guitar strap. The Timezone branch in Mall of Asia resorted into replacing the offending straps with real guitar straps, making it even more comfortable than the regular one. Sadly, the said machine's right guitar controller has a hard-to-fix effector knob problem, and its picking lever has lost its ability to detect up-picks. You're quite lucky that the buttons and pick on your machine aren't that worn out yet, although they're starting to show their age.

And it's not only the GuitarFreaks machine. I've also noticed that every week after week, I ask you to replace the defend button on the player two side of SoulCalibur III and the kick button on the player one of the same machine after playing my free game and losing because of the said buttons. This has been a problem about two months since your opening, and until now, it has yet to be fixed. Also, the hi-hat on DrumMania 10th Mix requires a large amount of force in order to press, which would just cause more damage to the said pad.

If you don't have plans on replacing these machines entirely, at least do a good job maintaining them and replacing parts when needed.

tl;dr: Fix the damned strap on GuitarFreaks, goddamnit!

Sincerely,

GuitarFreak,
Inggo

1.1.09

On Globe on Christmas and New Year's Eve

Dear Globe,

Thank you for your extremely poor service today, and last week as well. Now, my father thinks I'm a no-good person since he didn't receive the messages I sent through your short-messaging service last Christmas and this New Year's Eve.

Sincerely,

Angry Globe Prepaid User,
Inggo