"Pabili po."

“Pabili nga po ng Tata Ritz.”
“Ng ano ‘yun?”
“Ito po oh.”
Then he pointed to the peanuts. So I got one and handed it to boy who was giving me a peso in return. While handing it to him, I saw it. Clear and bold.
It was the factory that manufactures those peanuts. That is why the kids were used to calling it Tata Ritz.
Ate Ging-ging started her small sari-sari store two years ago. There at San Francisco St., San Roque Village, San Dionisio, Parañaque City, houses are built close to each other. And almost everywhere I look at, there would be a store. Just know where you’re heading and you would get what you need and what you want.
Ate Ging-ging’s store is just small, compared to the only sari-sari store we have in Multinational Village. But do not get me wrong.
Need anything?
Just go to Ate Ging-ging.
She has biscuits, candies, chips, pancit canton, coffee, powdered juice, toothpaste, dishwashing liquid, shampoo, sauces and condiments, cooking oil, onion, garlic, tomato, canned goods, soft drinks, beer, cigarettes and even floor wax.
She may have limited quantities for these but she still has enough to give you what you’re looking for.
A friend of mine, Mark, lives two houses far from hers. He was with me the afternoon I became a tindera or vendor for the first time in my whole life.
I spent three hours there, waiting for people to come and buy. If you’re curious about what it was like, it was not that exciting but I tell you, it was not easy as well.
After listing all the products I could see in her store, I asked Ate Ging-ging to put the price beside each product. The list became my guide but it still was not that easy, especially when I had three buyers all at the same time.
It was confusing. Much worse, it was as if I forgot I know mathematics.
When a girl asked for a Tata Ritz and Potato Crisps chips which cost six pesos and handed me a twenty-peso bill, I asked myself, “Twenty minus six?”
Twenty minus six.
Twenty minus six.
The thought went on for about four times in my head. And then I asked myself, “Why was I over-thinking a very simple subtraction?”
After giving her fourteen pesos, I just smiled to myself and thought, “Oh my. Twenty minus six lang, hindi mo alam?”
After one hour of sitting, waiting, and reading a newspaper, I looked at the money I got.
Twenty-six pesos.
Twenty-six pesos only.
Then suddenly, a man came and said, “Aba, may bagong tindera.”
Talking to Ate Ging-ging, he said, “Sigarilyo nga, Fortune.”
“Ayan oh. May tindera kami.”
“Eh di naman marunong yan eh. Pag-seminar niyo muna ‘yan.”
Then I panicked. I wasn’t able to include the cigarettes in my list. It was because they were stored in a jar and I did not think that the jar had something inside it.
I asked Ate Ging-ging where and how much the cigarette was after he had given me two pesos. But since the guy was muttering something I did not bother to understand anymore, I did not clearly hear Ate Ging-ging’s answer. I mistakenly heard her answer, “piso isa” as “Bigyan mo isa.”
“Oy, isa pa! Sus! ‘Di naman marunong eh.”
Then I just said, “Pasensya na, kuya.”
Mark, who was with me, was my best friend since high school so I wasn’t surprised that he knew that I was deeply affected with the man’s words.
“’Wag mong pansinin ‘yun. Ganun lang talaga ‘yun magsalita.”
To be honest, I was about to cry that time.
I felt stupid, not knowing what to do and not knowing what to say. I also did not even know how to take a soft drink bottle’s cap off.
It was hard. Hard for a girl like me who is used to a not-that-cozy-yet-you-have-all-you-need lifestyle.
After an hour and thirty minutes, I already knew that being a vendor isn’t for everyone.
Try memorizing all the prices plus dealing with that kind of people.
It is a skill. A skill not all of us has. A skill I don’t have.
Why I chose this to be my new experience, I still don’t know why.
I just did.
It was already seven o’clock in the evening and I still had sixty-two pesos in my hands, the same amount I had thirty minutes ago.
“Ui Mark, wala ng bumibili sa ‘kin.”
In order not to get bored, I just thought through my head the new experience I was having.
First thing that came into my mind was that almost all who bought gave exact amounts. Thinking of where I was used to, people usually do not give exact amounts when paying. Giving five hundred pesos for buying just 1.5 liters of soft drinks is usual.
But there at San Francisco St., I guess either it seldom happens or it doesn’t happen at all.
Another thing that I observed was the Filipinos’ culture of tingi.
The culture of tingi or pakonti-konti is very evident here in the Philippines. From the toothpaste to the shampoo to the onions to the cooking oil, you can buy them in small amounts. A sachet of toothpaste or shampoo, a piece of onion, or a plastic of cooking oil.
The main reason here why we love buying tingi is because they cost lower. Trying to budget our money everyday, we prefer buying small amounts of everything and paying lower costs rather than getting many of everything and giving more money away.
In doing groceries and shopping, not all Filipinos like one time, big time. Many still prefer the other way around.
Then I was lost with my train of thoughts when Ate Ging-ging said, “Pakiabot naman yung itlog. Magluluto muna ko.”
That's the time I realized the advantage of having your own store. Everything is at your reach. You don't need to go outside and find whatever you need.
Forgetting to go back to my train of thoughts, I just concentrated on the people buying.
Three hours had already passed and it was already eight o'clock. In my hands were one hundred and two pesos.
That was the time I said to Ate Ging-ging that I already need to go, gave her the money, and thanked her.
Walking away from Ate Ging-ging's store, I suddenly thought to myself...
That one hundred and two pesos was just eighty percent of the fare I spend a day when going to school and going back home.