Grateful Dad #35: A Stranger’s Kindness
The littlest acts of kindness become big especially if we receive them during the moments when we feel most desperate. Such is the case when I received a random act of kindness on my first day at work.
Grateful Dad #35: A Stranger’s Kindness
We all have our first day at work jitters and the same is true for me. I guess they’re more palpable for me because I’ve been away from full-time work for ten months, having done freelance work during that time. When you are nervous, more often than not, there are some small things that are bound to go amiss.
Anyway, so after finishing my first-day itinerary at the office, I decided to leave work on time because I still had to look for the station for the EDSA-bound BGC bus. While I used to work in BGC, I’m unfamiliar with the area where my current office is located.
Thankfully, I was able to find it effortlessly although there was already a queue at the loading area. The bus arrived after about 20 minutes and began boarding the passengers. However, when I was near the door, I realized that the people were paying using their Beep cards. I didn’t have a Beep card and at that moment, I had no idea how to get one.
When it was my turn, I had to take my chance and asked the driver if I could pay via cash. I couldn’t afford to miss that bus because that would mean that I’d be much delayed and Mommy Khris and I would be able to get home much later.
The driver told me that they only accept cashless payments and told me to just request the passenger behind me to tap his Beep card twice. I wasn’t aware that the BGC buses have gone totally cashless because it had already been five years since I last took a BGC bus to work.
At that point, I was already feeling a little embarrassed with my situation but I had to muster the courage so as not to miss that trip.
“Okay lang po ba, pa-tap ng twice ng card n’yo, babayaran ko na lang kayo?” I said.
The person behind me, a man who looked like he was in his mid-20s, was kind enough to oblige and tapped his card twice without hesitating. While inside the bus, I rummaged my purse for coins and was able to produce P13.
I was handing my payment to the person but he just said “Okay lang po, hayaan n’yo na.” I just smiled and said thank you. It was just P13, a small amount, but it was a big deal for me.
The person could’ve said no which meant the added anxiety of trying to find a place where I could buy a Beep card, further delay and added stress, and, of course, the overall feeling of humiliation for being in such a situation. Nevertheless, because of the kindness of a stranger, I was spared all of those headaches.
During that moment, that P13 was worth millions to me, and thanks to a kind stranger it was given to me without anything in return.
As we were about to get down at the central station, I said thank you again to the kind stranger. I never saw him again at the bus station after that.