Proud to be Pinoy!

May we stand proud for being a Filipino and give the world more reasons to appreciate the beauty of our country.

Horrible Movie Experience at Robinsons Movieworld

I had the worst movie watching experience in Robinsons Metroeast today! To those of you familiar with the system, Robinsons Movieworld in Metroeast only has two ticket counters for eight movie theaters. No problem there, though sometimes you have to wait in line for some time since there is only one ticket salesperson per booth. As an average moviegoer, the routine would usually be, check out the movie schedule, line up at the ticket booth, buy food, should you choose to and then watch the movie. Simple enough, right? Wrong.

So there I was, in line around 12 noon for a 12:30 showing of Ocean’s 13. (1st showing sked: Meet the Robinsons 12:05, Ocean’s 13 12:30, Paano Kita Iibigin 1:15, Bordertown 1:15). When I got to the counter, the ticket girl tells me that selling for Ocean’s 13 is not yet allowed. “Ma’am, Meet the Robinsons pa lang po.” You mean to tell me, I stood in line for more than 10 minutes (hence, I memorized the opening sked) and when I get my turn, no ticket will be sold to me?! Uhm, opo. What the hell is that? Any half intelligent person would have put up signs announcing that only 1 movie is open for business. So I asked her whom I can speak with. No way was I going to take this sitting down. And very distractedly and unconcernedly she pointed me to the general direction of where the manager is. After two attempts (she pointed to the wrong direction), I was finally able to talk to the manager.

I am a very polite person even when I am ticked beyond the imagination. I politely introduced myself and even shook the manager’s hand and I very calmly explained to her the situation. And her reaction? “Ma’am, hindi niyo po ba nabasa yung movie schedule?” What kind of a stupid answer is that? So I told her that yes I was able to read the schedule (believe me, I wanted to add a lot of sarcasm there. She just left the door wide open. Lucky her, I was able to curtail my sharp tongue). My issue is there should have been a clear communication that tickets to other movies are not yet available. She then launched into an explanation about movie reels not arriving on time and that’s why tickets are not sold. Again, not the issue. The issue my dear fellow moviegoers is quite simple. Since there is only ONE ticket booth for four movies, when that booth opens for business, the automatic assumption would be that movies sold in that ticket booth must be also open for business. And if this is not the case, signs should be posted to inform the moviegoers. The families in front and behind me were in line for Paano Kita Iibigin (they also went away empty-handed), so I am confident that I was not the only one with this assumption.

And when I told this to this very smart and service-oriented manager, her reply was to turn her back on me because she radioed whoever, asking what the situation in the ticket booth is. “Mahaba ba pila? Ano bang binibenta?” Stupid stupid manager. I could have answered those questions for her. Then she FINALLY turned to me to tell me that tickets are now being sold. So I pointedly told her that she can’t possibly expect me to fall in line again! She told me that she will handle it.

Friends, I don’t believe in free lunches and I wasn’t expecting her to give me free tickets or even a discount for the hassle she had me go through. All I wanted was a quick apology and action on my concerns. But no. She took my money, got my tickets and instead of handing my tickets to me (I wasn’t standing very far from the ticket booth) she beckoned to me to go to the booth and get my tickets from her, And when she finally handed me my tickets, no apologies or assurance that the situation will be addressed or any explanation was offered even as I expressed my gratitude for her “assistance”

What a sad sad world we are turning into when frontliners (the ticket girl and guards I asked for directions from) have a rude and incompetent fool for a boss! This same boss who obviously had no issues claiming my money since I am to watch in her cinema but cannot even act in an acceptable and professional manner when complaints about her business are being raised.

I can only hope that this is only a one time thing, but it is one time too many for me.

Philippines and Italy

I will never claim to be a historian. I just have to make that clear. I was reading this article about PGMA's visit to the Fatima shrine and her subsequent private conversation with the Pope and I felt very uncomfortable when she mentioned that the Pope loves the Philippines a lot because we are a devout Catholic country. She also mentioned that Filipinos feel much at home in Italy since Italy is also a huge Catholic country.

And therein lies the irony. Two of the largest Catholic countries in the world just happen to be also two of the most notorious. I mean, it is no secret that the Philippines is one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Our past elections just proved that point. And Italy... I might be wrong here, but didn't the Mafia, one of the most notorious, if not the MOST notorious gangs in history originate from Italy?

It's weird. Our Filipino politicians claim to be acting in faith and they keep on praying in public and banking on their prayerful and pious images to help them win. But, they have no qualms literally killing their opponents in the political arena. Is that an action dictated by their "faith"? Now we go to the Mafia... Again, I am not much of a historian so movies will be my basis here. Even the most notorious Mafioso is usually portrayed as a church goer!

If you can't see what's wrong in this picture, then we have become more hopeless than I ever dared imagine.