Finding Hope in Missing CDs

Am back after Adi's battery of second quarter exams. You'd think I was at his classroom taking his exams with him, right? Well, preparing his reviewers just took up all of my free time for the last week or so and am now glad that I have time on my hands again.

Last weekend, we were at Robinsons Galleria with the kids. There were a few errands to do, numerous things to buy and with Adi and Ali with us, we are bound to get confused and distracted. We passed by Astrovision and Daddy bought 2 VCDs (hindi pirated) and I decided to get Shrek 1 so Ali could watch it.

We went from one place to the next. We bought our weekly medical needs at Mercury Drug and then rushed home to go on to our dental appointment. At the dentist's, Daddy suddenly asks me if I had the VCDs. I didn't have them and Daddy then realizes that he left them at the Mercury Drug counter when I was buying our stuff there. He was busy watching Ali go around the place and failed to get the stuff when we were done. About P450 worth of VCDs lost!

I suggested that we go back to Mercury as the discs might still be there. Daddy replies: "Wala na yun doon," with an unbelieving look on his face for my naive suggestion.

While in the car on the way home, though, Daddy changes his mind and asks me to check at Mercury. We pass by Robinsons Galleria again and I go down, praying that we did not really waste P450. As I got to the drugstore, the counter was full of people. I had to wait for a few minutes before I could ask about the discs.

When I had the chance, I asked one of the Mercury staff: "Excuse me, meron po ba kayong nakitang mga CD na naiwan dito kanina?" (Translation: Did you see some CDs left here earlier?)

The girl smiles and says: "Manang, andito na yung may ari ng CDs." (The owner of the CDs is here) Then as if wanting to make sure that I was the rightful owner, the girl proceeds to ask me but in a nice way: "Ano po yung mga title?" (What were the titles?)

I rattle off: "Shrek 1, SWAT,..." The girl smiles, waits a bit and then gets the CDs from another Mercury Drug staffer. The safekeeper of the CDs then says: "Customer po ang nagbalik niyan. Yung katabi nyo ho siguro nung may binili kayo kanina." (It was returned by another customer. It may have been the customer beside you when you were here earlier.)

And so the CDs are back. We didn't unnecessarily waste money and Ali was so entertained by Shrek 1. Manuel and I were so happy in the car, not so much because we had the CDs back but moreso because, no one got them when they could have. It may not be worth much but as they say, if you can be trusted with little things...

So, there is hope. To that mystery shopper who kindly turned over the CDs to Mercury, thanks a lot! To the staff at Mercury Drug, Robinsons Galleria branch, thanks also for safeguarding the CDs. In this day and age, honesty is still a virtue and character is really what you are, even when no one is looking. It is great to be Pinoy.