Give a job not a gift

I just got off the phone with someone my age and currently unemployed. It seems that as one gets older particularly past 50, employment or opportunities for work or to deliver some service becomes increasingly difficult. It’s as if growing old is a sin or some sort of disease that makes you undesirable or “unclean.”

If you’re an employee at age 50 and above, better make sure you don’t get sick, injured or cantankerous because it’s not as easy to get a job back in a society where insensitive dolts label you as an instant grandparent or Lolo. Never mind that you are more fit and healthier than the newbies with MBAs who work all day and party all night and will ultimately cost the company more in medical insurance and performance losses five years down the road, IF they even stay more than two years on the job.

The reality is that employment is similar to lifecycles. They say we sleep a lot as babies and then we sleep a lot when we get into the 70’s or the last quarter of life. As employees we start out working for nothing and being treated with no respect. The same seems to happen for people in their 50s. Many hold on to their jobs with unspoken fears: fear of illness, termination, under performing and no retirement fund etc. In many instances it is not real respect and appreciation for their wisdom and abilities that is on the table but more of deference to the elderly.

The saddest thing I’ve observed is when well meaning friends give gifts or “hand outs” to the “old” and unemployed. It is certainly a very Christian and charitable act that has become uncommon nowadays. But on the other hand there is also the risk that it diminishes the self -respect of the recipient while becoming nothing more than a performance of duty for the giver. I am reminded of the phrase about teaching people to catch fish instead of giving them fish and it leads me to suggest to people: Give a job not a gift.

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This week I’ve received several complaints about parts of the tollways that have clearly annoyed motorists.

First is the E-Pass lane at the Calamba tollbooth going to Manila that defies logic and enters the realm of the unbelievable. I can personally attest to the fact that if you use an E-pass at that tollbooth you will take longer getting through than motorists who simply drive through on the non-Epass lane because they no longer issue cards and simply charge you at your chosen exit. The E-pass user on the other hand has to line-up and wait for others to get through while the rest of the world zoom past you. This situation has apparently existed for sometime but none of the SLEX managers seem to have paid attention to the discomfort that defies the logic of having an E-pass.

On the other side of the toll road universe, motorists particularly women have complained about the disgustingly filthy toilets and floors of toilets on lay-bys or rest areas along the SCTEX. I recently drove by the area and personally looked into the situation. To be fair I saw a “Janitor” or designated utility man mopping and washing out the toilets during our stop.

Unfortunately, when you construct tiny cheap toilets that don’t have constant running water, cheap furnishings and no one who watches and cleans the place full time, you will ultimately end up with a pigsty especially if the attendants are not professionally trained. All this years I have loved the SCTEX for the blessing it has been to Filipino travellers especially in the area, but anyone can tell you that a dirty toilet can scar one’s fond memories of a beautiful place.

Perhaps  officials of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) can call the operators to a meeting and encourage them to invest on tourist friendly and women friendly “comfort rooms” that are world class instead of building latrines.

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A neighbor recently expressed his support for my article criticizing the inability of barangay and city officials of Pasig to clamp down on tricycles that operate with open mufflers in defiance of an existing city ordinance banning open mufflers. While mulling over the situation I was reminded of another concern and suggestion I have involving tricycle drivers and local officials all over the country.

In reaction to two incidents of rape and murder that happened in UP Los Baños in the last two years (among many others) that involved drug-crazed tricycle drivers, it occurred to me that most if not all tricycle drivers can go from one town/city to another and drive as long as they have a license. Only the owner-operator and the unit is registered but drivers change frequently. Local authorities don’t require them to be registered at city hall or at the barangay with their complete biometrics and personal information.

This situation is similar to allowing so many construction workers and transient workers into villages and barangays without requiring them to submit biometrics especially finger prints and RECENT photos. Many people will complain that it’s too much trouble and could be an invasion of privacy until a young girl is raped and murdered or a house is broken into and a shabu addict bludgeons someone’s Lola to death.

It is ironic that we the educated and able willingly submit our biometrics and financial records to foreign governments just to get a visa. Ironic that we willingly surrender our license to a security guard in order to enter an exclusive village. But we are so lazy, indifferent or belligerent when it comes to the added security of screening and recording information that could discourage someone from committing a crime or that can catch a criminal. I guess elected officials are just too lazy until they become the victims.

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