24 February 2009

street fight!

I'm sitting in one of these tables outside Starbucks People Support (the extra cold blast of airconditioning inside the coffee store is just too much for me), just doing my usual freelance work while having a decaf vanilla latte.

It's 12:56 am and Starbucks is mostly composed of the call center crowd at this hour.

I am then rudely interrupted from my work by the sound of a man swearing (as in, really swearing) loudly at someone. And so I look up and see an unusual scene right in front of me.

To my horror (and fascination of the rest of the people in Starbucks), I see a guy in his late twenties grabbing the hair of another guy (also looking twenty-something) while continually swearing at the top of his lungs ("p#&%^g*&@ mo!" times 10). He's yanking on the second guy's hair and dragging him here and there, while a woman attempts to separate the two from one another. After what seemed like forever, two security men from People Support finally intervene, and the whole hair-yanking first act of this street drama is over.

Girl then tries to calm down Foul-Mouthed Boy, who immediately and possessively puts his arm around her shoulder, as Abused Wimpy-Looking Boy looks on, rubbing the sore spot on his head where the first guy seemed to have grabbed a fistful of hair. Foul-Mouthed Boy then seems to have said something negative because Girl pushes his arm away and goes over to the side of Abused Wimpy-Looking Boy, who stands close to her.

The security men block the two boys from going near each other, and FMB continues to say mean stuff while giving AWLB the dirty finger. This gives the security people reason to take both boys and girl away from the transfixed watching public and probably to a place (Barangay San Lorenzo headquarters?) where the matter can be properly resolved.

All this time, I've been watching with my mouth open, my hand on my chest. This was my first time to witness a public skirmish, although it wasn't Embassy-brawl level. Nevertheless, it was a most disturbing sight for me; I never would have expected to see such an ugly scene right in front of a decent coffee place and at the heart of the Makati business district.

The stupid, crass things people do at one in the morning.

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