One Day Millionaires and Drunkards

Advanced apologies to non-Philippine based readers. Majority of employees here get paid on the 15th and on the end of the month, it doesn’t have to be a Friday to be a payday, they do it mid-week if needed be and if 30th or 15th falls on a weekend or the holiday, people gets it earlier, if not later.

Everyone is drinking and having a good time on Fridays. Why is everyone drunk on a Friday night? I think the larger question here is why am I not? Why is the joke on me? Shouldn’t I be getting shit faced on a Friday night? Apparently, I’m writing this blog post while a lot of people are itching to spend their money on drinks and fun. This is the downside of working on a BPO environment.

Here in the Philippines, the phenomenon called ‘one-day-millionaire’ is observed on paydays. Commonly happens twice a month when most people are just burning to get their cash out their pockets, and greasy food in their bellies. Beer rains like there’s no tomorrow and the good times just keep rolling like a boulder down Mount Everest, you’ll be buried in the avalanche of what’s left of the good times the morning after, and most of all you don’t care.

But why do people think irrational about their cash on a Friday night? If society has a tumour I’d name it “cost of living” not to mention way of life here in the Philippines and how difficult and taxing it has been to majority of its populace. Not that the cost of living here isn’t expensive but it’s relatively tough to live comfortably. Commuting everyday on jeepneys is like being in a purgatory, can you imagine acid rain mixing with your favourite petroleum brandname carbon exhaust from vehicles stuck in traffic while you’re sitting beside a sweaty bag of grease, not much different from what you’re current state will be in if you’re riding with them? That’s just the half of it, the other half is when you start walking down the sidewalk which is equally crowded, street vendors proliferate worse than cholesterol from the clogging artery of a 400lb iron liver’ed champion by the roadside. Going on an overpass just adds a nail to the coffin, and while you’re halfway through the rain you’ll be wet, not that drenched but wet enough to catch a cold which will definitely be the case when you start riding a crowded bus, standing with the AC on full blast on a rainy day.
Welcome to the Philippines. It’s more fun here in the Philippines—not to the common Juan though.

If I think about what the majority of folks go through every day, it starts to make sense to me, not everyone is born with a spoon in their mouths whether it’s silver or gold, not everyone gets paid the same way to afford to take the taxi cab on a drizzling 2am drive home. Not everyone is as privileged as we are or as we think or opt to be. And obviously, not everyone has the same motivations in doing so. It makes sense to me that when life is too hard, be happy when you can. If you can’t be happy, two bottles of beer might talk you into a good laugh, if that didn’t work, a bucket will surely will if you don’t fall asleep first. It’s easy to pass on judgment and label people than to understand them and show empathy towards what they’re going through.

Irrational as it may be, being in a vantage point where we see them as one day millionaires judging them for their habits can feel morally upright if we stay on a social high-ground where we can comfortably say. But I’m thanking God that this exercise has been a both a blessing and a challenge to the humility, empathy and compassion that I can extend towards everyone in my attempt to step closer to enlightenment. At the end of the day I don’t think I’m any different than any of them, what’s the difference between draft beer and a bottle of merlot anyway if your motives in downing both is equally the same on a different standpoint. I guess we’re just as qualified as the next one to be Dr. Seuss on that specific instance.

What’s so wrong about wanting to be happy?