Mean Boys

Simply, they can strike back impressively… right in front of you… even while pointing at your face!

…and you still end up clueless about it.

This afternoon my rocker boss asked us out for lunch. It is my colleague’s farewell lunch so of course I had to be there as well (plus it’s free, as always 😉 ). Since my boss is in the other building, we had to ride the train and meet him at his station. I was thinking about still biking my way to his station since it’s just a station away but I scrapped the idea because it’s getting warmer nowadays. Biking (to avoid the trains coz of swine flu paranoia) is not a good idea at noon. So I gave in, and decided to ride the train.

And due to the same reason of that swine flu scare, I bought this mask pack from the 100 yen store. The normal masks that we see in the picture (those that sick people/healthy people normally use for infection prevention/protection) are all out of stock ANYWHERE. And the one that I got was the only thing left. It’s not at all for sick people, probably used for construction because of the picture in the label. And I like it better than the normal one, because it doesn’t stick to your face, and doesn’t leave any marks at your nose.

And the breathing space is a little wider coz as I’ve said, the mouth is not at all sticking to the mask. In addition, the lipgloss/lipstick doesn’t go with it when you remove it. It’s the perfect mask for me. Except for the long metallic thing that I had to remove before I wear it.
So I thought, OK, I’d buy this because I’ll just wear them only in the trains anyway. So today, since we had to ride the train, I used my magic mask.

Now let the bully part begin!

When we entered the train, I separated from my 2 colleagues to sit in front of these Japanese school boys. Their complementary school girls (probably their classmates) are standing beside my seat. I was aware that they’re looking at me. Both groups. And they were laughing. And the boys are looking at one of their mate’s watch. I didn’t care what they were saying because I thought, oh stupid noisy school children (these groups of school kids are noisy in the trains most of the time). I couldn’t understand them anyway so who cares. Then at one point, they were pointing at my direction. I thought it must be the seat beside me which was vacant. I was amused at the 5-6 of them trying to fit themselves in a four-seater seat. So there, I was just watching them quite entertained.

Then when we had to get off, I stood up, and then joined my colleagues to the door. My colleague who was expert in Nihongo, told me right away in Tagalog, laughing: “They were talking about you.” I was cool at first, smiled and thought, oh these sweet boys must be thinking that I’m pretty (or sexy, because my face was partly hidden coz I was wearing a mask). Then he added, “They were making fun of you actually.”

When we got off the train, I looked at my colleague, startled and inquisitive. My colleague told me that they were talking about my magic mask, that these children are somehow aware that the mask that I was wearing is used by construction workers – carpenters, etc. My colleague even supplied me the translated nasty conversations:

#1: When I got to the train and hurried to my seat, school boy 1 jested (obviously referring to me-the masked rider!), “Isn’t it too early for the trains to get repaired/fixed/maintained today?” <then insert evil laughs here>

#2: school boy asking, “what time do the train-fixing-guys usually do some train maintenance?” <so that explains the looking-at-the-stupid-watch>

#3: school boy cracking, “i didnt know that there are women train-carpenters around here…” <insert another evil laughs here> … and… “now the train carpenters dress elegantly…” <insert more evil laughs here!>

Stupid noisy school boys!!!

*bitter*