‘Under new management'

When I was young and silly, I walked the streets in Manila on hot summer days to hunt for a full-time job. After graduating from a university high school in the country’s typhoon belt, I wanted to pursue college education in the university belt in Manila. But I first needed a job to finance my college education. Before I enrolled in college, I literally walked along Taft, Escolta, Dasmariñas, Tetuan, Avenida Rizal and Azcarraga to find a decent albeit menial job. There was no internet, Google or company websites then to make job hunting easy.

Every day, I would meet ever changing faces coming my way, as I looked at street signs to my right and left. I would read familiar messages — NO Vacancy, Mail, Wanted Houseboy: Apply Inside, Beware of Dog (or its variation which warns “Forget the Dog, Beware the Owner”), Post No Bill, Do Not Enter, Under Renovation, or Under New Management. I knew what the other signs meant, but I was curious what “new management” would look like. I would often wonder, “Is the new management grumpier and greedier or kinder and more generous than the old one?”