Me vs. The Man (or something)

I shall tell you a harrowing tale of betrayal and lies, of savages and airheads. So, fasten your seatbelts.

I moved into my new pension on sunday where I was promised my own bathroom and a nice room for the expensive price of 130,000 pesos per month. That's very high but it's in a nice neighborhood so I accepted. Besides, I was tired of looking and bartering. However, there were several surprises waiting for me.

The first surprise came when I actually moved in on sunday and discovered that half of the room was filled with stuff. Half the closet, one of the dressers, the cabinet, two shelves, and a random duffle bag on the floor. When I asked them about it, the son came in and took a stack of movies from the corner and left. The movies were the least of my worries. The second and major surprise was that the son sleeps right next door and smokes like a chimney...in the house. Also, the bus I take every morning was supposed to pass right outside my house - false. I had to run/walk for 12 minutes to take the bus. Other grievances: no hot water that morning, no heat, no hot breakfast. Not exactly the best start. I changed places the next day.

Now, let's talk about the company bus for a brief moment. Not only did my coworkers tell me the wrong street to wait for it at, but they also gave me the wrong directions to get to that wrong street. And, since two wrongs do NOT make a right, I got very lost. Even though I had woken up extra early, I still had to run like mad to get to the correct corner. Finally, legs trembling and lungs failing, I was standing at the right corner. Victory! Now all I had to do was signal the bus driver to stop as my (misguided) co-workers had told me.

I saw the bus coming two blocks away and prepared to signal him. I stuck out my hand in traditional fashion but he showed no signs of stopping. I started waving my arms - no reaction. Perhaps I wasn't making the right sign. I quickly reviewed all the secret hand-shakes I had learned as well as everything I knew about the gadianton robbers. Still no reaction from the bus driver. I was not going down that easy; I gritted my teeth and began chasing him at top speed in my dress shoes. Two and a half blocks later he stopped briefly because of traffic, but he was on the opposite side of three lanes of one-way traffic. I jumped up and down but he was blind to my existence. Luckily, he wasn't deaf to my existenence. After weighing the options carefully, I ran across all three lanes and knocked on the door of the bus...with a very angry look on my face.

I made it to work that day on time despite them all. I rose victorious over such notable foes as the smoker next door, the misguided co-workers, and the savage bus driver. To all my compatriots who silently fight similar battles I declare that it can be done! I wish you luck.