Fragments by Art Verdiano Anyone who has ever experienced waiting for a bus in Manila going to Laguna have most certainly felt some of ho...
Fragments
by Art Verdiano
Anyone who has ever experienced waiting for a bus in Manila going to Laguna have most certainly felt some of hopelessness while queueing. The worst I experienced was during the few days before All Saint’s Day or November 1. It was not just a single line but as people described it, it was like a coiled snake taking up almost all space in the bus terminal. You could see people already eating their “binalot” at the queue with their bags and baggage slowly moving along.
But this scene can also be witnessed during Fridays beginning at around 5pm. That’s the time when most workers in Manila decide to go back to the provinces, although the queue is not as heavy as when there is a long weekend. And speaking of queueing, when you are at Buendia, you can also see the very long line of people who are waiting to get a ride at the LRT.
I have mixed feelings about seeing Filipinos fall in line. For one, it can be said that we are a nation willing to wait and disciplined enough to queue. Although there are some who are “maniningit”, people usually remind them about the line to set the queue straight. Queueing also shows that we are civilized enough to wait for our turn.
But it is not only on bus terminals or at the LRT that people fall in line. We also queue at government offices like the SSS, BIR or LTO. And while efforts are being made so that these offices do not have much waiting time, the line can really take long and you sometime have to spend one whole day just to complete a transaction. They even have online appointments wherein you have to get your queue number over the Internet, much to the dismay of senior citizens who are not tech-savvy.
There are also lines at fastfood branches like Jollibee or McDonalds. At cashiers on malls, there usually is a queue. In fact, if we look closely, a lot of time are being spent by Filipinos who are forced to wait in line. How many man-hours are actually wasted simply because instant service is almost non-existent?
The problem is not the line itself but lack of foresight. How come government offices do not add cashiers during rush hour periods? Time and time again, we have this fixed number of windows who cater to clients/customers when it is quite obvious that there are more people now. We are overpopulated and that is a fact. Lining-up simply doesn’t solve the problem but maybe adding a few more personnel won’t hurt.
Anyone who has ever experienced waiting for a bus in Manila going to Laguna have most certainly felt some of hopelessness while queueing. The worst I experienced was during the few days before All Saint’s Day or November 1. It was not just a single line but as people described it, it was like a coiled snake taking up almost all space in the bus terminal. You could see people already eating their “binalot” at the queue with their bags and baggage slowly moving along.
But this scene can also be witnessed during Fridays beginning at around 5pm. That’s the time when most workers in Manila decide to go back to the provinces, although the queue is not as heavy as when there is a long weekend. And speaking of queueing, when you are at Buendia, you can also see the very long line of people who are waiting to get a ride at the LRT.
I have mixed feelings about seeing Filipinos fall in line. For one, it can be said that we are a nation willing to wait and disciplined enough to queue. Although there are some who are “maniningit”, people usually remind them about the line to set the queue straight. Queueing also shows that we are civilized enough to wait for our turn.
But it is not only on bus terminals or at the LRT that people fall in line. We also queue at government offices like the SSS, BIR or LTO. And while efforts are being made so that these offices do not have much waiting time, the line can really take long and you sometime have to spend one whole day just to complete a transaction. They even have online appointments wherein you have to get your queue number over the Internet, much to the dismay of senior citizens who are not tech-savvy.
There are also lines at fastfood branches like Jollibee or McDonalds. At cashiers on malls, there usually is a queue. In fact, if we look closely, a lot of time are being spent by Filipinos who are forced to wait in line. How many man-hours are actually wasted simply because instant service is almost non-existent?
The problem is not the line itself but lack of foresight. How come government offices do not add cashiers during rush hour periods? Time and time again, we have this fixed number of windows who cater to clients/customers when it is quite obvious that there are more people now. We are overpopulated and that is a fact. Lining-up simply doesn’t solve the problem but maybe adding a few more personnel won’t hurt.
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