'Small change'
MEDIUM RARE
Two times in two days in different places I heard the same phrase, “Barya barya lang,” the vernacular for “small change,” though a better translation would be, “I’d be happy with whatever small change you can give.”
The first time it was uttered, I heard it in the restaurant where two of us were dining on buns and chicken noodle soup. A knot of street children had managed to infiltrate the restaurant, their cheerful voices sounding like a Christmas carol. I pointed to the food, inquiring with my eyes if they’d like some of the siopao. No, no, they chorused, shaking their heads as if in rhythm with their plea, “Barya lang, barya!”
Before I could fish some coins out of the purse at the bottom of my Bayongciaga basket, the restaurant supervisor came out of his office, scowling as he shooed them out of the premises, and that was the end of the first barya-barya chapter.
The next morning, bright and early before I could gulp down my orange juice, Cook rushed in from the gate with her sing-song plea, quoting the garbage collectors doing their a.m. rounds, “Barya barya!” That they had to ask for barya at all was unusual, for they were used to receiving more than small change on previous occasions.
What Cook did not dare ask them — a question I’d been saving for the chance to talk to them face to face — was, “Why aren’t you using the rubber gloves you were given to protect your hands?”
The crew consists of five collectors and one truck driver. But from the time the gloves — in highly visible shocking pink — were handed to the five of them, they have not been seen using them during their collection rounds up and down our street. If they’re not using them, what have they done with the gloves?
Does the question put an end to the mystery of why able-bodied men hired to do a thankless job find it unmanly to wear protective personal equipment during their working hours? Did the contractor who hired them try to convince them to take care of their health, or did he give up after finding the protective gear bought for them had landed in the trash?