For a carless mom like me, commuting when the little girl is with me is such a pain. She would complain A LOT when I let her walk and transfer from jeep to jeep, bus, MRT/LRT. Nakakahiya din minsan because you will hear her shriek with “Oh my, it is so hot here Mom!” or “Can’t we just take a taxi?” or “I am so tired of walking!”. This is the bad side of not having a yaya, the kid will tag along with you wherever you go – but I am not complaining. I love to be with her and I would often choose ‘lakads’ that are kid-friendly. I would often decline invitations if no kids are allowed. It’s just that, when we commute, magastos talaga!

Now back to the topic, when the little girl is with me, we would often take taxis or cabs, whatever you call it. My usual P7 – P10 one route fare would become P100 (tip included, as they will NOT give back any change. sad no?) In this journey, I already encountered a lot of tusong taxi drivers:

• Sira ang metro. therefore, pakyawan. Damn you.
• Akala mo PromDi, yun pala mali! A taxi driver who picked us up in Megamall do not know where Tiendesitas is. Naman manong, it’s in the vicinity lang! Ginagago niyo na ako eh. They do this for several reasons but the common ones are: tumaas yung fare or magbigay ka ng tip for their HELP. That’s BS!
• Walang barya or walang pang-sukli. Enough said.
• The deadma driver. We onced experienced being caught in the rain. I hailed a cab but the driver said no when I told him that we are bound for MOA Di na naawa sa amin!
• TAKUSA (takot sa asawa) – drivers under this kind would often tell you “Pauwi na ako eh!” I’m sure everybody already experienced this.