LRT: Barkers (29 May 2009)

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrecawagas/

In the Philippines, there is a job who Barks.

Funny how barkers shout their heart out to earn a living. They wouldn't miss to scream in front of passengers so to have them ride in their respective jeepney, tricycle, bus, etc. People in this line of job basically do not have a lot. In my point of view, the effort they exert is not equal to their pay. If they are the unfortunate ones, who waits for the jeepneys in their stops then calls out people, they will only receive around 5-10 pesos or sometimes none. On the other hand, barkers who stays in terminals get more. Say if the fare is 40 pesos per passenger in a 10 seater vehicle, they would most likely get 10% of the total fare or more (these are rough estimates).

Being a barker obviously is not as easy as it looks. It is indeed a tough job. As I said earlier, their pay is not enough to the effort they exert; worse, some drivers do not pay them after encouraging passengers to ride their vehicle.

This is how Filipinos are, this is how tough we are.