Watch Me Entertain Myself!

Sacha Guitry once said, "You can pretend to be serious, but you can't pretend to be witty." Oh yes, I'm the great pretender.
(pilot episode: 20 January 2004)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

An In Convenience Store-y

“Bonggang Binggo good morning welcome to 7-11!!!”

The crewmember behind the cash register fairly screamed into my ear as I placed my purchases on the countertop: 2 bananas, 2 packs of apples, and a carton of low-fat milk. Suddenly I felt a wee bit embarrassed, especially to the others in line who were also looking at what I was buying. It’s like I’m flaunting this “Gee, I’m so f**king healthy!” lifestyle while everyone else had sodas, junk food or ice cream in their hands.

The crewmember started ringing up my purchases. Then he asked me: “Sir, how about some bonbon chocolates, sir?”

And suddenly Time slowed to a crawl.

Obviously that was a spiel they’ve been trained to always ask their customers to induce further sales. And when I was there yesterday, I was also asked that same question. So obviously the man was just doing his job.

And yet, in the face of 2 fresh bananas, 2 vacuum-packed fresh apple slices, and a big carton of low-fat milk that he’s now placing inside a plastic bag, one would think that maybe, just maybe, it would occur in his mind to conclude that a person who buys 2 fresh bananas, 2 vacuum-packed fresh apple slices, and a big carton of low-fat milk might not want to eat a bar of sugar-laden, fattening and—most importantly—cheap chocolates.

Ayun eh. Cheap lang kasi.

Anyway, I took the pause in time to contemplate what I was going to say. Should I say something bitchy? Or do I just keep it quippy? Maybe I can just take his question as is, a preconditioned knee-jerk reaction to having a customer in front of him. Or yes, I could buy some bonbon chocolates. After all, they are cheap.

In the end I just shook my head and smiled to myself. He pushed the plastic bag towards me and gave me my receipt.

And Time returned to normal.

“Thank you for coming, see you again, sir!” Damn, they really yell at you.

13 comments:

Mike said...

Same thing happened to me in a Shell gas station, however, the funny thing was he forgot his spiel while his talking. I can't help but to laugh out loud which made him embarrassed.

Pero I asked for apology after that.

MrCens said...

reading this is like watching a tv ad... i can imagine the crisp of the plastic bag, the sound of a beaming laser and a cute crew. hahaizzz mcvie, did you know that everytime na nakikita ko ang tv ad nyo (with juday & angel) i keep telling my pmangkins that i knew one of the persons behind the ad, heheh!!! wishing...

joelmcvie said...

@MrCENS: You should tell your pamangkins na you know Angel and Judai, hehehe.

jamie da vinci! said...

suddenly had a shaider moment... TIME space warp... ngayon din! :)

Anonymous said...

Tambling ako sa BONGGANG BINGGO!

Minsan linoloko ko sila, kung free kukunin ko or kung ibigay niya sa akin kung cute ang kahero. Mwahahaha!

WF: dowcsing

Anonymous said...

Aha, you have eating healthy guilt. Haha. Trust me, most people don't even give a second thought on what things you buy. Na-conscious ka lang sobra. Haha.

Ming Meows said...

ano namn ang kinalaman ng bonggang bingo? binggo pa ang pangalan ng crewmember?

joelmcvie said...

@MING: That's the name of their current promo.

Herbs D. said...

reminds me of this time where me & my cousins tried this new salon near our village. They were trying to upsell us with some "obviously" old products to one of my cousins kasi mukha talaga siyang chinese. ang kulit talaga eh-even though its quite obvious you don't need em. todo parin sa hirit.

but i guess they do get a price from doing this. a friend of mine who worked at jollibee a few years ago told me na kung makapagbebenta daw sila ng champ eh they'll get one rin. i guess ganun sa 7-11. hihi. i dunno, just my simple theory via basic algorithm and minor hypothesis about the space time continuum. ecthos! ahehehe.

MkSurf8 said...

sana sumigaw ka rin ng pagkalakas lakas: BINGGO BINGGO AKO paglabas mo!

Kane said...

Hello McVie,

Remember I once told you every blog has a social class. How some are obviously middle class, others high brow, the rest ... forget it.

"Ayun eh. Cheap lang kasi."

I rest my case. =)

you know you love me,
K

joelmcvie said...

@KANE: Tama ka. Ang cheap ng, "you know you love me, K"

Hahahaha!

I-Witness said...

Ma try ,ko nga sa 7 eleven..heheh