Accents
For want of a parking space
For want of a parking space, the hubby and I almost started the workweek with a ruined day last Monday. We skipped lunch, thinking to avail ourselves of the merienda buffet in a restaurant cum department store along Quezon St. There would be leche flan, guinatan plus we could mix our own halo-halo. Talk of variety being the spice of life.
Buffet aficionados will tell you that eating all you can at a set price is good for the pocket especially these days of the E-vat. So, bid goodbye to dining ala carte. Put away the menu card. Leisurely buffet dining is one of the joys of being a retiree, and that particular Monday we were out to enjoy it. We have reached that stage when bundy clocks don't bother us. No harried diners, not us. But I digress.
Rudy and I drove around block after block, looking for a parking space that would not be a mile away from where we intended to dine. We were unmindful of the usual exasperating flow of traffic because we were actually killing time. Twice, thrice we drove because the next time around could mean one available parking space. All to no avail, as the expression goes.
Relevant to mention at this point, as another expression goes, is an e-mail that Eileen Roque-Buckalew, secretary of our Fil-Am club in South Carolina, has shared with all club members. For subject of her e-mail, Eileen wrote: Galing Talaga ng Pinoy, so very appropriate for the short piece below that highlights Pinoy ingenuity in solving New York City's lack of parking space. Read on, smile, or chuckle:
The Wit and Class of a Filipino
A Filipino walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. He tells the loan officer that he is going to the Philippines on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer tells him that the bank will need some form of security for the loan, so the Filipino hands over the keys of a new Ferrari.
The car is parked on the street in front of the bank. The Filipino produces the title and everything checks out.
The loan officer agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan. The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the Pinoy for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan.
An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parks it there.
Two weeks later, the Pinoy returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41.
The loan officer says, 'Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?'
The Pinoy replies: 'Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?'
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)