When Life Strikes at You

Musings at PRC

Spending the whole day at PRC to renew my license gave me two choices: to sulk or to be indifferent and read my ebook. I chose the latter. But being indifferent in such an atmosphere is difficult so I ended up observing others when I have to turn off my tablet to conserve the battery. Apparently, the night before my husband got into youtubing again - if that is even a word. The dynamics of the lexicon in order to accommodate the net intelligent generation makes me question the validity of some words. But that is beside the point. Anyway, my tablet was just 50% by the time I got to it in the morning so I had to conserve battery if I want it to last at least for another six hours of boring queuing. Instead, I ended up spying on my fellow clients.

First up, I observed this pimply yet confidently  fashionable young woman in tank top, mini skirt and at least 4 inches of heels. Seriously? Heels at PRC? Huh, I bet she'll kill her fashion sense by the end of the day. I barely had the strength to stand another hour after being on my feet for almost eight hours and I'm wearing flats! Fortunately, the guard had more sense than she had and was denied entrance on the account of the tank top. He definitely saved the young woman's feet from hell.

Then there were theexpressions on their faces. Confident new passers, bored old professionals, eager but nervous first time takers then the hopeful retakers. Honestly, I don't have anything against them, the retakers, that is. I admire their guts, some made it after sooooo many tries. Others just plain gave up hope, so yes, I admire them.

I spotted one that caught my attention. With the blistering sun outside and the lack of air conditioning inside, she went into the lengths of wearing a blazer. No wonder her hanky is practically drenched in sweat. I just can imagine what storm is brewing under her arms. Well, at least she looked professional.

Then there were the ever-present bashers who definitely see nothing positive coming here. I was situated smack between at least five whining persons, each claiming the lack of system at the commission. I just stood there, not making any comments, serious with reading some fiction on my tablet. I wish I bought some of my handicrafts if I'd known it'd be this long here. Well, no use whining. I made use of my time doing what I love in the midst of this chaos they call professionalization - reading.

I, for one, am disappointed with the apparent lack of system. Honestly, there is one, just not enough to cater to the needs of the growing population of professionals. According to PRC data, there has been a hundred plus thousands of increase in transactions over the last ten years. Good thing they have moved in a bigger building. Just that we could have made use of more industrial fans, placed strategically, not just at both ends of the soooo long queues from the priority numbers to the cashier's. I spent a good five hours standing in queues. Even more, I didn't finish my transaction for the day, all the more reason to make a last minute shopping for a change of clothes and undies. I wouldn't dare go back without a change of clothes with the onslaught of sweat I endured the day before.

Put on our perspective, the commission may have lots of omission in their delivery of services. But, looking from their (the commission's) perspective, they were doing the best they can to cater to the immediate needs of their clientele. For one, the personnel were very accommodating when asked. They were quite cheerful too, considering the general mood of the clientele. I'm sure they were on their toes each day, trying to fit in everyone's qualms and sometimes forgetting some of their own. With the "no-noon break policy" of the civil service commission, people expect the frontline services to be committing a huge mistake when they do take a break for lunch or a bathroom break. Well, put it this way, we suffer that kind of burden once in who knows how many times in months or years depending on our transactions. They suffer our grumpiness fifty two weeks a year taking occasional breaks onlt on holidays. Seen from that point, I'd probably be burned out from the stress after a year of working there. So give them a break, fellow professionals and behave as such. While we demand a better service, the service providers would probably do better when we give them the same respect we demand from them.