Sunday, November 13, 2011

BIR Experiences. What should I expect?

This is one of my most-hate part of landing / getting a new job- completing pre-employment requirements. I hate the medical examination, I hate the NBI application, I hate almost everything. So to cut the story short- which was ruined by hassling getting-this and getting-that- I have gone to BIR RDO 43-A (LOL!)

I was there at around 4:00PM. There were three allocated desks which service general inquiries like mine- getting TIN Card. The Security Guard handed me number 48. Since it was just my first time going on that kinda place- which smells like a publishing house- I asked Manong Guard 'Kuya what is this for po?' and he answered "Ay para po yan sa number ninyo. Tingin lang po kayo dun sa may number na red and you will know if it's your turn." and I was like "Okay. Thanks." So I filled out a form and headed to the waiting lounge- luckily they have.

On the waiting lounge, I saw pile of people waiting for their number to be prompted on the monitor positioned on top of the three desks which I have mentioned earlier. I was holding number 48 whereas the number prompted at that time was just number two. I would have to wait for 46 more peeps to finish before my turn. So I glanced and looked around. At first sight, you will notice a heaps of paper scattered everywhere. There are so many things which will make you uncomfortable with that place. The smell is so loathsome. Yes it has AC but with that volume of people, it does nothing.

So came 4:58PM, and two more minutes they were about to close the operation, the number prompting has stopped. It has prompted number 47 for almost 10 minutes. I was in a big disappointment at that time and I could no longer hold it back. In my mind, I had almost cursed the three clerks who did nothing but put stamps on papers. I felt so disconcerted that I knew I had to do something. I did not go there just to be advised to go back on Monday- since it was Friday when I went there. So I gazed the whole vicinity and something was not right. This girl, who kept on going back for whatever her reasons was, caught my attention. She kept on going back to the second clerk. So, with so much animosity and frustration, I stood up. Below is how our conversation fired up the people who witnessed how mad I was. (DISCLAIMER: I am neither happy nor proud about it. It was just a normal reaction coming from someone who feels discombobulated.)

Me: Ma'am excuse me, may I know what number you are holding?
Her: (Searching for a piece of paper inside her cheap bag) 57!
Me: Oh! Okay! So you must know that the number was stuck-up to 47 because of you and I am expected to be seated on the chair you are seating right now. I was provided with number 48 by the guards and was in this place for almost an hour now.
Her: Ooops! I am sorry. I just need to finish this one. (Showing me a rim of form from BIR)
Me: So are you implying that I need to wait and the rest of us here for you to finish before we can be serviced?
Her: No. (Giving me a fierce look)
Me: So do you think I will allow you to be on that seat considering that I have been here waiting for almost an hour now?
Her: No! (Shouting)
Me: With all due respect Ma'am, will you please get out of that chair and wait for your number be prompted on that monitor on top of your head?
Her: You are rude!
Me: Good thing your brain was able to generate an adjective that best describes how I treated someone as dumb as you that even numbers 1-48 does not know.

And she walked away with so much frustration and side comments. And for whoever who is going to read this, we conversed (or should I say "argued") using the English language. Those are the exact words that came out of my lips as far as my audiographic memory can remember. I am so pissed.

Fast-forwarding what happened next and disregarding how the guards consoled me, I sat on the chair where the biatch was sitting. I informed the clerk that I am going to get my TIN Card. So I handed him filled out form.

Clerk: Nagalit kayo dun Sir ah.
Me: Kasi naman simpleng number rules lang hindi pa niya masunod. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it na po. (Handing him my filled out form)
Clerk: Pasensya na Sir ah.
Me: That's fine. It's not even your mistake.
Clerk: Kayo ba ito Sir? (Checking if I had filled out the form correctly) Ah, binata pa pala kayo. Ingat kayo Sir. Mga ganyang hitsura ang habulin.
Me: (Giving him this dumbfounded look) Huh?

And he just smiled.