Smoking in Jeepneys
Posted on September 4, 2008
Filed Under Executive Gifts |
In the Philippines, the jeepney is the most popular mode of public transportation. People use this form of transportation to get to and fro a certain place. The jeepney is also known for crowded seating.
Today, jeepneys bear the No Smoking sign. True enough, since this is used by the public, people should respect others simply by complying with the No Smoking sign. The sad reality, however, is that the sign bear no importance anymore.
Anytime, most particularly during really cold days, you see jeepney passengers displaying their military Zippo lighters to light their cigarettes. If you would be the unfortunate fellow who happens to sit beside this insensitive passenger, you would surely be pissed. Automatically, you think of taking that cheap Zippo lighter, pull out the No Smoking sign and paste it in his forehead. But the good person inside you says that this is just inhuman.
So instead of that violent reaction, you silently sit, pretend to cough at the smoke that is getting into your system, and hope against hope that the person will understand what you are trying to say. Filipinos are known to be non-confrontational, so basic social encounters such as this will already cause an unnecessary amount of stress for any average Filipino.
For the other passengers, although they just silently sit and hope that you would do something to stop the man from parading his use of the cigarette in a No Smoking area, they are merely waiting for a show. Perhaps, they hope that you give the man a beating with your words. Or, that you would take his personalized Zippos and throw them out of the jeepney. They too wanted clean air. There is so much air pollution in the metropolitan areas of the Philippines that even a single smoker such as this jeepney passenger is enough to take the blood pressure of
others to heights.
The problem is, this situation is very simple. People, jeepney passengers for that matter, just have to tell the person. Surely, everyone understands what a No Smoking sign means. A little reminder of the rule will not hurt. And anyone decent enough will have no problems complying with this simple rule, especially if he has already been confronted by a fellow passenger.
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