Bemoaning Public Toilets

Well f*ck.

This is going to be a litany, I can tell.

I hate using toilets in public places. Why? I don't think I need to explain why. But for the sake of a conversation, let me tell you:

By the way, this is going to be one-sided for Ladies' Toilets, since I have never been in the Mens' Toilet...

1. People don't know how to clean up after themselves.

Dammit! Everytime I go to a public toilet, there's always some yellow liquid sitting on the toilet bowl. Not just a drop of two, but a whole spray of them on the seat! And sometimes, it's not just ON the seat, but AROUND the seat as well! Then sometimes there's a puddle on the floor.

What gives?! Don't these people know how to use a toilet? Damn, you don't have to sit on the seat, FINE. Because of germs and blah blah, YEAH I KNOW! But clean up your mess! If you feel disgusted about your own piss, then how do you suppose the next person feels cleaning up YOUR piss?

The worst part of it all is that this happens even in high-end malls with high-end shoppers. Like Shangri-La! So these high-end people are not so well-educated after all.

I'd rather pay P10 to use a Pay Lounge in malls (if there are any). Call me stupid for paying to use the toilet, but I think P10 for a clean toilet, with soap and tissue paper and someone who cleans up the cubicle after each use is money well spent. Less germs to worry about, and I don't get hot-headed about all the dumbass, inconsiderate b*tches out there.

Comments: Kudos to Rockwell and Greenbelt for well-kept public toilets. I always see attendants present ALL the time, keeping busy keeping clean. Good job!

2. People don't know what a trash can is for.

I'll understand if you're 2 years old and below. 25 months and up? You ought to know that a trash can means "dump your trash here and not elsewhere".

The used, crumpled toilet paper is scattered all over the floor NEAR the vicinity of the trash can. And the trash can isn't even overflowing nor full. People are too damn lazy to properly put their trash away. Trash can has a cover? Put your shoe on the pedal at the bottom of the can... it will magically open wide to eat your trash. Trash can cover is a see-saw? Push on one side to swing it open so that no one else sees or saw your trash. No trash can? Then flush it down the toilet, HELLO! Toilet is biodegradable!

Need to toss a sanitary napkin? Roll it up and dump discreetly OUTSIDE your cubicle. All toilets have trash cans!

And speaking of which, last night I was in a bar that I frequent. Guess what was waiting for me in the Ladies' Toilet? *shucks, i should've taken a picture on my mobile phone*

There was this nice, dark RED, sticky-looking puddle on the floor.

By the way, there was LOTS and LOTS of toilet paper available. There was also soap by the sink!

I called the attention of the owner, of course. But still... geez! Anyway, going back...

Nobody wants to look at your bloody mess anymore than you do!

Comments: My high schools' toilets had little hanging boxes where cut-up newspapers and telephone directories are placed. The girls are supposed to wrap their used sanitary napkins with the provided papers, then throw it away properly. Malls should do this, if plastic bags are too expensive to provide.


3. People should know that toilets are for people, not food.

Ever seen a sink with disgusting bits of food in it, causing the sink to clog? Yep... mall employees are washing their plates in toilets. Calling the attention of mall owners! This is a no-no!

Comments: Wash your plates at HOME, will ya?!?!


4. People should know that toilets are toilets, not a conference room.

What is it about girls going to the toilet in groups? Or talking on the cellphone while taking a piss? And chatting away at the top of their lungs, to boot. I've always wanted to hit these airheads. MOVE OVER AND STOP BLOCKING THE SINK THAT YOU'RE NOT EVEN USING!

Comments: No one else cares that you broke up with your boyfriend, or that your husband is a jerk, etc.


5. People don't know how to form a line.

Look lady, everyone inside the toilet needs to take a piss as much as you do, so get back in line! The queueing system in the Philippines is all wrong too! It should be first come first served, not first in, boxed out then served!

For the uneducated many, the queue line is ONE SINGLE LINE that starts in front of the very first cubicle door in the toilet. It's not supposed to be the line in front of every cubicle door in the toilet.

Meaning, that if there are 5 cubicles, there should only be 1 queue line, not 5 queue lines.

Comments: In other countries, if you try to fall in line behind the door of a cubicle while the queue line begins at the toilet entry, the women in line will rip your throat out. I dare you to try it.


6. Toilet paper and soap should be provided.

Mall owners should be told: don't bother to have public toilets in your malls if you can't provide tissue and soap. Soap is a must. Do you know how many germs are spread in toilets? Everyone needs to and should wash their hands after using the toilet. As for the toilet paper, if it's too damn expensive, then setup a tissue dispenser NEAR or INSIDE the toilet! And make sure you dispense sanitary napkins too.

Comments: Gateway Mall does not have a tissue NOR sanitary napkin dispenser inside their toilets. Maybe the owners don't wipe themselves after they take a piss, hence the neglect to install these dispensers?


*sighs*









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Happy New Year! -- part 2

I am realizing more and more that the longer I put this off, then I will never get it done at all. So here it is.

7. Finish what you started... and try not to start anything new until you finish the previous idea, otherwise you'll never get anything done (as displayed above).

8. Take up drawing again! And put that damn comic into black&white so it doesn't cause a bottleneck for all your other ideas.

9. Behave intellectually.

10. Start the day with a positive attitude and a *great* smile.

The secret to life. I'm beginning to notice that my New Years' Resolutions are becoming more generic and less-geared toward the way I live my life.

Ah hell. Maybe I'll just scrap the whole thing altogether and just go with the flow.

Carpe diem!

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Philippines' State of Emergency

I think I'll hold off my (very delayed) New Year's Resolution part 2 in lieu of this enlightening message I got in my email recently.

And for the record, I concur wholeheartedly with what this anonymous writer had to say.

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Dear Tita Cory, Senators, Congressmen, Businessmen, Media people, Leftists, and all Bleeding Hearts Out There:


I am angry. And I know that there are many out there who are angrier than I am for the same reason. And that reason is simple. I am sick and tired of all you guys claiming to speak for me and many Filipinos. I feel like screaming every time you mouth words about fighting for my freedom and my rights, when you obviously are just thinking about yours.


You tell me that the essence of democracy is providing every citizen the right to speak his or her mind and make his or her own informed judgments, but you yourselves do not respect my silence and the choices I and many others have made. In other words, your concept of democracy is limited to having your rights and your freedoms respected, at the expense of ours.


I am utterly flabbergasted that you still do not get it: we already responded to your calls, and our response has been very clear - we chose not to heed your calls to go to EDSA or to Fort Bonifacio not because we do not love our country or our freedoms or our rights, but precisely because we love our country even more. Because quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward.


You may counter with your ideological propaganda and give me all the dire warnings about the evils of Martial Law, authoritarian rule, suppression of freedom, etc., but quite frankly all we see are your pathetic efforts to defend your right to continue fulminating, filibustering, and sabotaging this country until you wrestle power for yourselves. You tell me that you are simply protecting my freedoms and my rights, but who told you to do that? I assure you that when I feel that my rights and my freedoms are at a peril, I will stand up and fight for them myself. I have done in the past, and I will do it again when I SEE THE NEED FOR IT, not when you tell me to do it.


You tell us that GMA is not the right person to lead this country because she has done immoral acts. As someone who sees immorality being committed wantonly in many ways every day and by everyone (yes, including the ones you do), I may have become jaded. I may have lowered my standards about what a leader should be. Guess what, Tita Cory, you lowered it yourself. When I accepted your incompetence and fought for you during the many attempts against your government, I already lowered the standards to ridiculous levels. Guess what, Senators and Congressmen, you lowered it yourselves when you ran for office and won and now make fools of yourselves in the august halls of congress.


But the simple truth that you try to obfuscate is this: you have not been able to offer me any viable alternative! On the other hand, GMA has bent over backwards many times to accommodate you while continuing to work hard despite all the obstacles and the brickbats you have thrown her way. From where I sit, she is the one who has been working really hard to move this country forward while all of you have been so busy with one and only one thing: to make sure she does not succeed. So forgive me if I do not want to join you in your moral pissing contest. Forgive me if I have chosen to see things from another perspective. You say she is the problem. I say, we are - all of us is the problem; more to the point, I think you are a bigger problem than she is. Taking her out may solve part of the problem, but that leaves us with a bigger problem: you. That is right, YOU!


While I felt outraged that she called a Comelec official during the elections and that she may have rigged the elections, I have since then taken the higher moral ground and forgiven her. Yes my dear bishops, I have done what you have told me to do since I was a child, which you say is the Christian and moral thing to do: forgive. Especially since she has asked for forgiveness and has tried to make amends for it. Erap certainly has not apologized and continues to be defiant, continuing to insult us everyday with his protestations - and he is part of your cause now! Cory has not apologized for her incompetence but we have forgiven her just the same because like GMA, she has worked hard after all.


I know you do not think that GMA's apology was not enough, or that she was insincere, or that that apology should not be the end of it, but please spare me the hypocrisy of telling me that you do so for the sake of protecting the moral fiber of society. The real reason is because you smell blood and wants to go for the kill.


Well, I have news for you. I do not like her too. I did not even vote for her. I voted for Raul Roco. But as much as I do not like her, I do not like you even more. I may not trust her, but you know what, I do not trust you even more.


You know why I do not trust you? Because all you do is whine and sabotage this country. You belittle every little progress we make, conveniently forgetting that it is not just GMA who has been working so hard to achieve them. Every single day, we keep the faith burning in our hearts that this country will finally pull itself out of the mess and we work so hard to do that. Every little progress is the result of our collective effort, we who toil hard everyday in our jobs. Yet, you persist in one and only thing: making GMA look bad in the eyes of the world and making sure that this country continues to suffer to prove your sorry point. In the process, you continue to destroy what we painstakingly try to build. So please do not be surprised that I do not share your cause. Do not be surprised that we have become contemptuous of your antics. You have moved heaven and earth to destroy her credibility, you have convened all kinds of fora and hearings and all you have done is test our patience to the core. For all your efforts, you have only succeeded in dragging us further down. I say enough.


Don't get me wrong. I am not asking that we take immorality lying down, or that we let the President get away with anything illegal. But you have tried to prove your accusations all these time and you have not succeeded, so it is time to let things be. Besides, you are doing something immoral as well if not utterly unforgivable. The Magdalo soldiers are consorting with the communists - the same people who have been trying to kill democracy for years. Cory has been consorting with Erap and the Marcoses.


So please wake up and take a reality check. In the absence of true and genuine moral leadership, many of us have decided to cast our lot with the President, even if we do not like her. A flawed leader is better than scheming power hungry fools who can not even stand up for their convictions in the face of an impending arrest.


Your coup attempts and the denials that you have consequently made only underscore what we think is true: you are spineless and unreliable people who only want power but not the consequences and the sacrifices that go with the quest. Your one and only defense is to cry suppression when your ruse does not work. You are nothing but BULLIES who taunt and provoke, but cry oppression when taken to task for your cruelty. You call for the rule of law and respect for authority, but so brazenly display your defiance and disrespect for the same things you claim to be fighting for.


I would have respected you if you took the consequences of your actions like real heroes: calmly and responsibly instead of kicking and screaming and making all kinds of lame excuses. You say you are willing to die for us, that you do all these things for the country and the Filipino, but you are not even willing to go to jail for us.


Come on, you really think we believe that you did not want to bring down the government when THAT IS THE ONE AND ONLY ONE THING THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DESPERATELY TRYING TO DO in the last many months?


We love this country and we want peace and progress. Many among us do not give a f*&k who sits at Malacanang because we will work hard and do our share to make things work. We the people will and can make it work, if only you get out of the way and let us do it. If you only do your jobs, the ones you are supposed to be doing, things would be a lot simpler and easier for all of us.


The events during the weekend only proved one thing. You are more dangerous and a serious threat to this country t han GMA is. We have seen what you are capable of doing - you are ready to burn this country and reduce everything to ashes just to prove your point. If there is something that we need protection from, IT IS PROTECTION FROM YOU.









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