I was in a hurry, the taxi driver was driving like a maniac with me in the backseat.
This was a nightmare ride.
I was so used to my hometown Manila, now my new home was Palawan, and traffic here was worse than my hometown.
I paid the driver his fare as my luggage had been left when we took the taxi, I knew it was going to be a terrible ride to get your stuff back.
I walked to the lobby with my luggage and the doorman saw me.
“Sir, are you a guest of the hotel?”
I nodded my head.
“Yes, I am from Manila.”
He led me to the front desk.
“I like your name. Your name is Pretty, like the ‘Pretty Perfume’ brand.”
I smiled.
This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I was to make my first friend here.
We sat down and talked for a while.
He said he would bring along the hotel gift shop to the airport again, my bags weren’t that heavy.
When I told him I didn’t need to sell anything on my account, he was a bit suspicious.
He said that people usually take a lot of stuff on their way to the airport.
I told him that I wasn’t really leaving today, but that I was checking out of the hotel.
The reason for my early check out was because I didn’t have enough credit on my card.
I told him I would like to use the cash deposit machine, then pay my rent with the card.
He said it was no trouble at all.
The lady at the front desk got me my money.
I left the money there and went to the gift shop.
I bought the staff some of the things I had left behind.
While I was out I had made over 100 pesos’s worth of purchases.
I walked out of the gift shop and I guess I wasn’t really that anonymous anymore.
I didn’t want to go to the airport and walk back with him, he even gave me his uniform to wear.
I politely declined. I walked out of the hotel.
I imagine if I had money, but I didn’t have much, so I just walked.
I would’ve gone to an ATM and tried to withdraw money but that would’ve been a pain in the ass.
I walked for miles down the beach, I set my sights on the next city.
I would go to Manila, I would jump on a bus.
Just as I started to flag down a taxi, I heard someone say my name.
“Oh, why it’s you?”
It was the doorman, from the hotel, I had forgotten all about the hotel.
“You’re not going to the airport, are you?”
“Yes, I am”
He asked me where my taxi was, I told him that I wasn’t going to the airport.
He was very persistent.
“Why are you going to the airport?”
“Because I’m going home.”
“Why?”
“I’ve decided to quit my jobs here and go home.”
He told me that was a bad thing.
He told me that the hotel staff really liked me and that I was a good worker and I could just quit.
“I could stay with the hotel.”
I told him I was going home, whether he liked it or not.
“You work too hard! Come back to the hotel.”
I was getting frustrated now.
I told him I was under pressure to go home, I wasn’t going to the airport.
“You could stay at the hotel.”
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“No.”
He was pretty persistent.
“This is your hotel, it belongs to you”
“You could stay with us.”
He was becoming angry.
“No.”
He finally gave up.
He had gotten myself to a point where I accepted his offer.
We headed back to the hotel.
I told him I didn’t really want a room anymore.
I still liked my room and I had grown very used to my room at the hotel, I really liked it, but I didn’t want to impose on the employees.
He finally convinced me to stay in the hotel and quit my job there.
I told him I would, I didn’t really want to go home anymore anyways.
