Because the customer is not always right

The customer is always right. 

Yes, it's just an old cliché, but before consumer rights advocates and my friends from DTI give me a long lecture on consumer welfare, read this Maundy Thursday saga, okay?

Thursday. April 2, 2015. Around 1:30-2:00PM. Arayat Street, Cubao, Quezon City

I was in queue at a drug store cum convenience store to buy some stash of potato chips and soda. I was third in queue, there was a girl with instant noodles and bread in front of me while the cashier was attending to two ladies who bought two 1.5 liters of cold soda. The cashier asked them if they want to avail of put the bottles in a plastic bag or paper wrapper, and so the story begins...

Cashier: Ma'am ipa-plastic po o paper bag?

Lady 1: I-plastic mo na lang at mabigat

Cashier: Two pesos po

Lady 1: Bakit may bayad?

Lady 2: (lumapit sa cashier at sa kasama niya) Bakit ano problema?

Lady 1: Yun plastic pinapabayaran.

Lady 2: Bakit wala ba kayong plastic? Ayan o, ang dami mong plastic dyan sa tabi mo bakit hindi mo ipagamit?

Cashier: May bayad po talaga ang plastic, kung gusto niyo po dito na lang sa brown paper bag para walang bayad.

Lady 2: E mababasa lang yan papel na yan. Bago kami makarating sa pupuntahan namin nahulog na yan laman. Bakit hindi mo na lang dyan ilagay sa plastic kesa sa papel?

Cashier: Hindi po pwede Ma'am.

Lady 1: Ano? Hindi pwede, pero pag may bayad pwede?

Cashier: Ganun po talaga Ma'am, bawal na po kasi ang plastic.

Lady 2: Bawal ang plastic pero kung may bayad pwede?

Cashier: Para po Ma'am maiwasan kaya po pinapabayaran.

Lady 2: Naku halika na nga, bitbitin na natin sa iyo yun isa! (at umalis na sila)

Girl: (grinning at the cashier) Ako po Ate, paper bag lang!

Cashier: (sighs then smiles at the girl) Hindi naman kami ang naniningil, ang tagal na yun utos ng City Hall...

In case you missed it, there is a "plastic bag reduction ordinance" being enforced in Quezon City since year 2012. Part of its implementation is the collection a plastic recovery system fee of two pesos from the customer for every plastic bag used, regardless of its size. The two pesos per plastic bag fee is collected at the point of sale and should be included in the official receipt. This is to ensure that the fee collected from the customers will be remitted to the City government which logically should be responsible of addressing whatever ill effect the plastic bag will bring to the city once it is disposed by the customer. Na-ah, please do not argue with me nor ask me where and how the City government is using the funds from fees collected; I also wonder about that but to make my life simpler and my brain less stressed, I just bring my reusable bag or place whatever small item I bought inside by bag.

I admire the cashier in this particular case because she remained composed; she didn't raise her voice at the customers who were rude at her nor did she give in to their bullying. As for the two ladies, bless them. I just told myself that maybe they were not locals of the the city so they are not aware of the ordinance (but hey, ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance -- not even when you are a customer insisting that your demand be granted by the store personnel).

As you can see, the customers were absolutely wrong in this case. Yes, we do have rights but we should remember that rights are not absolute and we also have the responsibility to follow regulations being enforced by authorities. True, some regulations may be burdensome but there is also that principle in law that "the law may be harsh but that is the law" -- but hey, the good news is, laws are not cast in stone, these can be revised or just thrown away into oblivion (kidding! they call it "repeal"). The thing is, it is not right to bark on the wrong tree. The cashier (or business establishments for that matter) are just following the rules enforced by the city government so if one want to challenge that or ask where the two pesos per plastic bag go, visit the City Hall.