By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
With the sky-high prices of everything, everybody has to search for survival tricks in their bags. But just like everything else, some are being hit so bad, while others still have silver spoons in their mouths.
One of the most badly hit sector are the self-employed drivers of the public transport sector. These are the drivers of jeepnies and taxis who are not employees but survive on “boundaries.” They pay certain amounts as “boundaries” for 24 hours or a certain period of time. They use the vehicle to transport passengers and whatever is left from their collections is their earning after deducting the cost of diesel or gas.
They are now practically dead with the stratospheric prices of OPEC juices. Those who are surviving are those who can pull some survival tricks in their bags.
Some taxi drivers to penny pinch don’t anymore eat in roadside “turo-turos”. Instead, they bring their own “ba-on” or eat cookies as they drive, hiding this from their peers to protect their ego by taping a screen on the driver’s side door window.
Other taxi drivers find ways to earn more. One went to employees of hospitals who know when patients from out of town are about to die, offering taxi service to their relatives (earning about P7K per cadaver) to be transported to nearby provinces. It would be very cheap compared to utilizing ambulances or funeral services.
But when it comes to dirty tricks, nobody beats the ladies of the night in any money makin endeavor. They have millions of tricks at their disposal to make their customers lose their minds and part with their hard-earned money. These range from coaxing them to become dead drunk or making them sleep like logs after moments of ecstasy, to wake up much later, robbed to the last penny. Yet some of these guys are so stupid they have the temerity to go and file a complaint with the police the morning after even if they don’t have any verifiable identity of the lady of the night.
The point is there are tricks in every trade to get ahead of the competition.
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