Eh-hum # 239

"Five fifty-five, fifty-five! Dial limang five! Five fifty-five, fifty-fa-ha-ha-ive"

MAKE IT STOP!!!

If you, like myself, are part of the thousands (if not millions) of Filipinos commuting using the Metro Rail Transit, MRT for short, then you will notice that we no longer hear the driver's voice over the train's PA system telling us which station we're already at. Thankfully, a pre-recorded friendly and articulate female voice tells us that, which saves us from getting confused when the drivers still have not memorized the correct order of the stations (have experienced this).

(Also, saves the driver from being jeered at just because they came from certain provinces. Story: my brother heard from a friend that while they where riding the LRT yellow line, the driver announced "Pedro GEL" instead of "Pedro Gil", which prompted once passenger/another friend to say loudly, "Delikado pala sumakay dito, may byahe papunta empyerno". Oh well).

This improvement in the MRT station is welcomed, of course. Some trains even have small TVs for ads. But what is annoying (and speaking of ads) are the commercials being played after the friendly and articulate female voice makes her reminder. It won't be a big deal if there was variety, like a radio station. BUT, as what I have experienced yesterday, it was just ONE commercial, played over and over and over again. From the time I got on the train in Taft, until I got off at North Ave. Much to my chagrin, I found myself humming this Greenwhich pizza ad (to the tune of an Eraserhead hit) on my way home via FX taxi.

MAKE IT STOP!!!

Well, this little experience proves that 1) repetitive commercials are annoying, worse than LSS; and 2) it really works. If I suddenly crave for pizza/pasta, I know what numbers to dial.

All together now: "Five fifty-five, fifty-five! Dial limang five! Five fifty-five, fifty-fa-ha-ha-ive"

Note: I should demand money for even mentioning said pizza company in this blog, especially if people started calling. Hehehe.