Every day I travel for about 35 minutes on a Public Utility Vehicle (PUJ) to my work place. The  past 3 years of my commuting life I grew accustomed to the kinds of people I travel along with every day. And so for this article I will try to enumerate  some of the kind of commuter I have observed during my daily route.

Disclaimer: If you’re one of these people I have mentioned, I don’t mean to upset you or something, this is my opinion, this is how I see the people around me. Surely, you have your own opinion and I respect that, just respect mine.

1. Crammed up Students – those are the students that are all crammed up with their notes, with their messy hair and messy uniform clearly they haven’t combed their hair and not able to iron their uniform. And who wouldn’t notice the dark circles around their eyes. Either they were too lazy to study before hand, or the exam is too long, too difficult. Well, on my personal experience it was always the latter *laughs*

2. Easy going Student – then there are those students who are too neat and clean. Very at ease and they seemed like they had enough sleep the night before. They’re the kind of students I wished I was like before *smirk*, when I was a student. Clearly, I was part of the other half *smiles*.

3. Meje ( Mejo Jejemon) – and then there are those who belong in the Jejemon Society. They’re usually on their teenage years, with their baggy pants and checkered long sleeves, with a lil touch of Jeje caps. I used to associate them before with fraternities and gangs but then I realized it was too judgemental of me to do so. And settled with maybe that’s just their fashion sense.

4.  The ” I have no idea where I’m going” – they’re always on their puzzled-look, with a hint of innocence in there faces. You can’t help but try to give them directions and landmarks for their convenience. They usually sit next or beside the driver so they could ask for guidance. That’s what I did when I first travelled alone in the city (decades ago).

5. Barkada trip – They usually travel in group, may it a group of young people or an adult. They do the same thing, chat the entire duration of the trip. With their loud voices, giggles, laughs, back-stabbing their common friends, and just about anything, anything at all; they sure are very irritating. Even when they handover their fare, they often argue who will pay the fare for the entire group and that would make you even more pissed.

6. The Call Center Agents – now I consider them a bit higher to any other type of commuters. They usually dressed in a semi-formal attire with jackets/blazer/ sweaters in their hands. Although they have black circles around their eyes indicating lack of sleep, they still manage to look good. They usually wear a pleasant smell, probably from their expensive perfume and cologne. They can sometimes tagged as “OA” at times, specially when they answer their phone with there conyo english or straight english (doesn’t matter), point is –  really? why so english?? -_______-

7.  The smelly one – obviously, they’re the opposite to those who smell pleasantly. They’re the people who you think left their respective home without caring to take a bath. With there sweaty armpits and oozing body odor, you surely don’t want to sit right next to them.

8. The back-packers – they’re usually foreigners, with their gigantic backpacks. Usually, the drivers would ask them to sit right next to them since their bags are such inconvenience to other commuter. Common destination, the bus terminal.  They always show such interest in our place.

9. Super late people – they are usually students or employees, they’re a bit annoying specially when they get into the vehicle despite the fact that there are no space for them, they can even resort to just kneeling on the aisle just so they can ride, what’s more annoying are the drivers that lets people like this to ride.

10. The insensitive (s) – I would like to point out the annoying traits of this kind of people. They think highly of themselves; they wont accept the fare, they act as if they’re too busy doing stuff on their phone, they refuse to give extra space to other people even thought they have plenty of space in their side. These people should take the cab instead, no place for them in a Public Utility Vehicle (PUJ).

11. The sleepy head – now this is my kind of people, *all smile*, when I usually get into the PUJ, I would always choose the seat right next to the driver. They  say it’s the safest part of the jeepney for when accidents happen, but that’s not really the reason why I always chose that  particular place. It is simply because I can sleep my entire trip to the office with fewer worries in mind about my personal belongings since snatchers only have one way to get access to my bag.

12. The Criminal minds – If you’re lucky enough, you might encounter the hardcore of all the commuters or should I say “poser”. Robber, thief, predator – They pretend to be just an ordinary commuters, until they find a perfect timing! With gun or knife in hand they would terrorize you until they get what they want! They usually attack in pair, the other serves as a look-out. You’d rather give them what they want, these people are desperate enough to come up with such measure. You don’t want to mess with them, they would do anything to get your valuable stuff. Friendly advice – just give in, give them what they want. Your life is more valuable than any other things you possess.

After years of commuting, I became used to seeing these kinds of people. I have to admit though, one way or another I can relate to 9 out of 12 of these types.

Photo credits to : langyaw.com