I purchased a pair of black DS STYLE sandals for two hundred fifty pesos (Php250.00) last March 26, 2010(Friday) at around 1900 – 1930 from the complained tiangge stationed at the lower ground floor of Grand Central. I used the said sandals twice, on my way to Lipa last Saturday and on my trip back to Caloocan. Today, two days after the purchase at around 14:00, while I was walking towards the village entrance from Lipa the right sandal split into two. There was no store around to buy myself a pair of slippers so I decided to walk my way through tiptoed to match the 2’inch hills of my left foot. By the time that I was at the bus station the other sandal broke also.
I had a really hard time walking since I can practically feel the ground by only wearing what was left of the sandals with no hills. From walking from Buendia to the LRT station then from LRT station towards the lower ground of the Grand Central I was walking carefully since I might slip down.
When I approached the two lady vendors I vent out about the defective sandals I just bought. I had taken Business Law as one of my subjects back in college and I am fully aware of the Consumer Act regarding defective products. I know for a fact that it was a defective product and my right is to demand a replacement or reimbursement of what I had paid. One of the vendor disagreed with me and said I can’t return the said sandals since it was purchased in “good condition” but if it is in good condition it would not broke down so easily. They didn’t assist me or help me any further. I asked for a receipt but they didn’t gave me any and they’re alibi was that the official receipt was with the owner. She, the vendor, said that she told me that there was no receipt back when I was purchasing the sandals but I did not remember that she had said that to me. They entertained other customers while leaving me there standing. I was already frustrated that no one would give me any remedy then I asked to see the owner of the store but no one did answer me seriously. I felt that the owner was hiding from me so I went to the Security Office to help me on this matter.
On my part I can say that I exercised due diligence on my way of using the sandals and I paid good money for it. I just lost two hundred fifty pesos which is very material for me. The owner should have trained their staff more effectively while the vendor should not speak to the customer if she doesn’t know how to respond politely to a customer. I think that both the owner and the vendor have the responsibility to at least study or even read the Consumer Act since they’re doing business.
I plead to the management of Grand Central to take action regarding this matter.
It really amazes me when I think back at how long it had been since I fell in love with him. How it may seem to be a long forgotten road, a mere memory on how it all started but the feeling stayed here in my heart. There were times that I thought I had lost it. That every time I read his text messages saying “I love you” I felt indifferent and I was wrong to think that I was losing my feelings, it was still there, sleeping maybe.
I thought that I would be better off without him, some of my friends also thought too but no, I am miserable. I can’t bear the fact that he will not think about me anymore or that his angry with me. I don’t want him to hate me. They said I will find another man but I don’t want to be touch by another man’s arms. I would cry if another man would insist on grabbing me. I don’t want to feel another man’s skin. I thought I could easily move on have another man to be with but I can’t. My body can’t, my mind can’t, my heart can’t – I’m stuck with him.
It is more painful now that we are broken up than when we were together fighting and if there were things that I learned, these were those:
One, when love hurts you it drives you crazy. You can’t think straight, you can’t make the best decisions for your self and you’re paranoid at what will happen every single minute that you’re not together.
Two, you can easily pass an audition for a drama film since just one thought of him not loving you anymore can bring your tears to like a heavy pouring rain. You cry at the shower, you cry at your parents empty room, you cry at night when the lights are off and you are trying so hard to keep it in just so your sister will not hear you crying.
Three, you keep your self busy with work just so you can escape from the loneliness but the downside is that you can never really focus to your job since your mind is pre-occupied.
Four, when you love somebody you get vulnerable and the pain you will feel depends on how much you let that feeling go deep into your heart. You will now how much you love a person when he hurts you.
But I think the biggest realization I had was this:
“How much can you really love a person that you can keep in the pain just so you and him can make it to forever?”
Then I think I just found out my answer…
I am happy that I found love while I was still young and I think I am lucky that for the many reasons that he might not, he loved me back.
He and I have our similarities and a great range of differences but every relationship has them. The song was wrong when it said “love me for what I am”, it is not really changing oneself –of course it’s wrong, it is about constant adjustment for both sides to fit one another.
Trial, its one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Its only when things subside that you can see things more clearly and you get to understand why things are happening and that everything is for a reason. I am not saying were getting back together or that we are breaking apart. What I know is only my present, everything else only Future knows.
I woke at 3am this morning when my sister shook me by the waist just to tell me to shut the electric fan off. I got on my feet, switch it off and open the door to let my cat go out who was also awaken and started to cry around at my feet. It’s a good thing she woke me up. I hadn’t finish reviewing my notes for my morning exam. It was the day of my retake exam for my regularization at the bank.
I went down to the sala and took all of my things with me. My two other cats where there sleeping at the top of the table while one was on the sofa. I open the widows to let the cold breeze enter. I believe that opening windows will let the blessings of the morning come in or simply saying: “letting sunshine in”.
Well, I sat there not really absorbing anything since my mind is still half asleep. So I went out with my dog Ginger to get some bread from 7/11, toast it with peanut butter and had my morning coffee – as per usual. One sip of my coffee got me focus on my reading but then just by a click, everything shut down. There was a brownout. “Ugh! Again.”
I’m not yet ready for the exam, I still needed to clarify some things so I went up to get those candles I placed on my bedside. While I was walking down from our stairs my right foot missed a step and it went all the way until I was able to stop myself from completely falling! My left foot was still placed on the top step and I can’t barely feel my breathing since my heart was pounding out of my chest. I glanced at Ginger who was looking at me worriedly and I felt she knew I had a bad fall.
“Well nothings broken” I said to myself while I was checking on my legs. I tried to sit down again and read my notes as if nothing happened. When the lights went on again I tried to take down notes but to my dismay my hands where shaking, I couldn’t hold the pen properly.
Wow, it was like bad forces were trying to keep me from making it to my exam. Then I thought about the time, “was it past 3am already? It’s not Emily Rose time anymore”.
I went out of the house past 7:30. I knew I was gonna be late since my exam will start at 8:30 in the morning. When I checked my phone there was a text message from Evan,
“Good morning , good luck po sa exams mo. Nilalagnat Evan. Zzzz”
“Kaya pala hindi siya nagtetext” I thought to myself as I was heading towards the LRT station. There was a lot of people in the station even though it was a Saturday and the trip from Monumento Station to Gil Puyat Station had been so slow and so long. I always thought it was a quick trip back when I was used to ride the train.
It was almost 9am when I had my sit at the examination room. I was still picking up my breathing since I practically run my way thru the elevator up to the exam room. Other girls were already answering there test papers while I was thinking again how much is the cost of the checkbooks since I block out, I can’t freaking remember it.
“120.61 personal, 231.69 commercial. Aah! Sana ang tanong checkbook requisition na lang."
When our proctor finally handed me my test paper I flowed out everything I knew and wrote it on the paper. There were items that I’m not really confident that I answered correctly because I didn’t quite understand what the question was referring to but by the end of it I think I did better on this one than the last.
I waved goodbye to Val and Gela, my batchmates, as I headed towards my bus stop. The bus smelled really awful that I tried my hardest not to puke. I really felt dizzy and my stomach was really growling since I had my bread at 6am and hadn’t eaten anything yet at 11am. When I was at the LRT train, I was literally pushing my body against the train doors (the other side, which is closed) just to hold on until I reached the end of the station. My left leg was starting to hurt but I couldn’t let myself down. I had to summon all that will power to make it home safe since there will nobody to rescue me if anything happen. There is no one to depend on anymore.
Ryan, the person who was always on my assist, is with Sophie now. Noemi and Kevin is having their puppy love moments and hanging out with them would only make my feelings worst. Sonny is tending with his sick grandma. I think everybody else has there places, all else but me.
I just don’t know what to do with my life anymore. I used to though I would get married with him. When I broke up with him and he said he still needs to fix himself up alone I just broke. Now I feel like I’m heading nowhere with no goals, no dreams about what will happen in the future. What I had is just the present moments.
Maybe if I get my body in shape again no man will ever let me go. But I don’t want to be a medium of lust to many men. I don’t want to feel mistreated anymore. Its hard being a woman in this kind of society.
The closest future dream I have now is on March 17, 2010 when the result of the examination is revealed. Its gonna be four days from now, four days of praying that I pass the exam and after that – I’m back at square one. I don’t know what to do with my life.
