It’s funny what ideas you get when doing mundane, everyday things.
When I went downstairs to get a kilo of good beef, I accidentally dropped a chunk on the floor. The butcher went down to pick it up, but instead of tossing it in the bin, he just rinsed it with water and put it back with the others… even while I was still in the shop.
Disgusting, isn’t it? I mean, what chemicals have been used to clean that floor? What have other people stepped on and walked into that store with?
It’s a symptom of what some of us have come to call the pwede na yan syndrome. It’s an internal joke amongst a few colleagues, but roughly translated, that means it’s just OK enough… a saying that abandons all semblances of quality work and surrendering to simple laziness or apathy.
We see examples of it everyday. We’ve become so accustomed to it, numb even, that we’ve learned to accept this “just OK” kind of work. How about the kind of patch up work done on roads that is so poorly done that it can’t even withstand a single rainstorm. Or what about the repair job undertaken by a local mechanic that’s so shoddy your car can almost call his “repair” shop home.
And then there are the bigger examples, mostly in government and mostly boils down to poor planning and implementation. For instance, why would the government initiate repairs on the Buendia flyover in August when it could have been done in March, April or May with the hot, dry weather and reduced traffic because of the summer break? That was an upcoming traffic nightmare the moment they announced it. How about the fact that they keep opening U-turn slots along main thoroughfares like C-5 without proper research that they end up closing them anyway; a definite waste of taxpayers’ money.
Things can always get better though. Just yesterday, during the wrath of Typhoon Pedring, we got a sample of a government that functions better especially if they work and plan a little better. Even though the Marikina river was rising and the rains kept coming, dams weren’t being opened at will or at least without properly coordinating with the others agencies first. The response teams seemed organized enough, and everyone was getting ready for the worst that thankfully, did not happen. Leading up to the storm season, the different agencies of the national and local governments have been taking measures to clean up the metro’s waterways and sewage lines, and that effort seems to have paid off a bit. That’s Ondoy’s legacy, for me.
If something is done right the first time then we wouldn’t have these huge problems to deal with. Ondoy was our wake up call, as in one day, all our collective pwede na yans came together to form one ugly mess. Let’s not let that happen again, shall we?
As for that meat shop, they just lost a customer.
I don’t like the taste of floor.
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Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Bulacan, Pampanga and the northern provinces, as they bore the brunt of Pedring’s heavy rains and winds.
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Vince Pornelos
Associate Editor
www.autoindustriya.com
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