Life in slow motion

Once, while looking up a potential vacation destination, I chanced upon a blog which warned would-be travelers that services were slow in that part of the world.

It had to do with waiting time at eating places. I remember particularly that the blogger said something like "there's no sense of urgency to serve you your food" and that visitors "would do better to conform with the pace of life in the locality and not to expect the kind of speedy services that they are used to in a cosmopolitan setting". Something like that.

I think I understand that better now.

We've relocated to the province and once, I asked a newspaper vendor here if they delivered, and all I got was a "no". Just that. He didn't ask where I lived so he could assess whether or not it was viable to deliver newspapers to me.

I also called a junk shop once for them to collect the recyclables we'd already accumulated. I've called them twice more and while they said they'd come, I have not seen them. I have gone to a junk shop nearer our place to get rid of the items, and the owner must have been related to the newspaper vendor because he just said "no" when I asked if he went around collecting recyclables.

These are the times I miss Manila, where the competition is such that junk shop owners can be pesky about collecting your recyclables and come knocking too frequently; and newspapers come at your bidding.

I miss Manila where most vendors bend over backwards to give you what you want so that you keep coming back to them. Once, we stopped to buy some roasted chicken on the way home, only to be declined.  The vendor explained that it was already 7 p.m., time to close and that he was just going to finish roasting two birds and serve them to some men who were drinking at the eating area.

When I pointed out to him that he might as well roast two more for us while waiting for the men to finish up, he declined. Because it was 7 p.m. I told him it was takeout. Still no. Never mind that the coals were still smoldering or that some birds were already on skewers. It was already 7 p.m. Duh. What was I thinking?

I have tried to figure out this mentality, and come to the assumption that maybe it's because people in the province are not as desperate as their kababayans in the dog-eat-dog world of cosmopolitan Manila.

They can still afford to take it slow. Their earnings, meager though they may be, can still put food on the table. Maybe this is why they don't bother to hustle or go the extra mile. They don't think it's worth the hassle or the stress.

Take this upholstery shop I contacted. They said they'd call me back because they only did auto seat covers and weren't quite sure they could accommodate my request for cloth covers for the foam that pads my living room chairs.

I'm still waiting.