First night in Manila, jetlagged and hungover, Jul, my brother Paolo and I went to Metrowalk to look at pirated stuff.
As always, the vendors were harassing everyone by shouting “ANO PO YUN, SIR, MA’AM? DIBIDEE? DIBIDEE!” at ear-shattering level.
I was trying to look for the 6th season of Sex and the City, and was probably muttering under my breath when an eager-looking vendor came up to me, chirping, “Ma’am, ano po iyon?”
I asked her, “Er, do you have Sex and the City episodes?”
“Meron po!” she answered in the affirmative, and led me to her little booth.
“Anong season po, ma’am?” she looked like a boxer about to enter the ring: a very determined expression on her face.
I asked for the 6th season.
She started riffling through her dvds while I waited patiently. After a few minutes: “Ay, ma’am, wala po,” she said.
“Ok, what about the 5th season?”
More riffling.
Sadder expression: “Wala rin po.”
“Er… 4th?”
She looked half-heartedly at her dvd stock and didn’t even check. “Ay, ma’am, wala po.”
Silence.
I squinted at her. I swear to god she squinted back at me.
Carefully, I asked her: “Do you have Sex and the City episodes?”
Almost immediately she answered, “Ay, wala po.”
At this point, an amused Julien choked with laughter.
The girl, probably not appreciating being laughed at, pointed vaguely to another stall. “Pero dun po, may sex doon!”
Paolo, interested : “Where?”
Gritting my teeth, I left Dory with her imaginary dvd episodes and walked to another vendor. “Excuse me,” I asked the guy behind the counter. “Do you have Sex and the City episodes?”
The guy looked at me, then Julien, and hesitantly opened his porn folder.
“Er… it’s not porn. Sex and the City? The HBO series?”
He put his folder away and leaned his elbows on the counter again. “Wala po.”
And that is why I’m spending four times more to get the episodes here in France.
PS. I passed Dory on the way out. I swear she forgot who I was, because she called out, “Ma’am, dibidees?”
