Am sure many of you will be surprised if I say that for most of my life I’ve had a weight problem. (wink-wink) Sadly it’s not the lack of but rather the over-abundance of (yes over na abundance pa!) And living here in the Philippines where people can be tactless and where being overweight is frowned upon, I’ve had many moments of WTF when it comes to my weight.

THE UGLY TRUTH

A few years back our family went to Shangri La Mall for lunch. When we were getting out of the car, my niece, then around 5 years old, dropped her shoe in the car and was having a hard time putting it back on. My sister-in-law who was pregnant at the time and I were helping my niece. This caused a slight delay before our car could move from its spot on the driveway in front of Rustan’s. A lady with a grocery cart was waiting for her car which was behind ours. She yelled at us to hurry up. I told her to wait because this little girl was having a hard time. She kept mumbling about how slow we were but we ignored her. When we were finally done and were walking towards Rustan’s, the woman yelled at us, “Matataba!” I turned to her and said, “Una buntis siya” I went on, “pangalawa, ako mataba, pwede ako pumayat, ikaw pangit ka, anong gagawin mo?”  For a moment, she was taken aback, then continued, “Taba!” So I replied, “Panget!” And suddenly from a few feet away, a female voice yelled, “Panget!” It was my cousin, she had no idea what was happening but seeing that some woman was yelling at us, she jumped in to support.

CLERICAL ERROR

In most local brands, the sizing is not always plus size friendly. So when sales clerks see a plus size person walk in the store, they already pre-judge that person. I entered a store in Megamall looking for a top for my mom. It was about 15 minutes to closing time so the sales people were already counting down and not very interested in new customers. I walked into a store  and asked if they had any silver tops (mom needed it for a party) and the sales people who were sitting on the floor playing cards (yes cards!) got up and said, “Maliit ang size naming.” I hadn’t even asked for a size! I was so annoyed I said, “Miss hindi naman para sa akin e. At bastos ka!”   And I walked out.

Even in tiangges, I already know if a stall only carries small sizes because the sales girls don’t bother saying “Mam/Sir T-shirts!” If a stall carries my size, the sales person will usually say, “Mam, may malalaki kaming sizes!”  I tell them that rather than say big sizes, they can always just say that they have my size? Right?

PLANE CRASH

One domestic flight on PAL, the FA was distributing snacks and he looked at me and told his colleague (in a loud whisper that I could totally hear), “Bitin dito ang isa!” and gave me 2 bags of chips. I told him, “Hindi ka nakakatawa.” He spent the rest of the flight apologizing and giving me freebies. Found out from an FA friend that had I reported that person for his insults, he could get major demerit points on his record.

THE BORACAY SERIES

I’ve had several “fat girl incidents” in Boracay, but somehow I don’t get offended when the locals call me fat because I know to them it’s used as an identifier and not an insult. So I just usually laugh off these off.

One post-Christmas holiday, we took a cousins trip to Boracay. Let’s just say that we are a very healthy bunch. So we had a few fat stories. Though honestly, in Boracay, they use the term as a reference or a statement of fact and not really an insult as they do here, so we were more amused than offended:

My cousin (who was about half my size) and I were buying Choriburgers and mine was taking a bit too long. So when I followed up, the salesgirl asked her companion, “Yung sa mataba wala pa?”  I just looked at my cousin and laughed.

Another time, a boatman approached us and asked if we wanted to go boating, we asked how much and he said it would cost P1,500. We asked what the capacity of his boat was and he replied, “Mga 15-20 po. Pero kung kayo 10-15 lang.” . Thank you ha!

STRANGER DANGER

This last incident just happened about a month ago.  I was quietly minding my own business when a friend of my friends arrived. Apparently she had gained some weight since they last saw her because the first thing they said to her was “Uy tumaba ka.”  I guess said girl was bothered by the comment, and was feeling defensive, because she stood next to me and asked the others, while pointing to me (just so we all knew who she was referring to) “Sinong mas mataba sa aming dalawa?”  And mind you, I hadn’t even been introduced to her, I had no idea who she was and she had no idea who I was. For all she knew, I was just a stranger standing next to her friends. I mean seriously, WTF right? Thankfully, I was raised right by my parents, so I just smiled at her. When our mutual friends finally introduced us, did you think she’d apologize for insulting me? Nope. In fact she went on to talk about me as if I wasn’t there. Granted she was saying I was cute. But hey, still rude.

I tell my friends, only I can call myself fat. Other people don’t have that right. And sadly, it’s only in this country where they actually do call you fat to your face without a care. I know that I’ll never be a size 2, but having been a size 18 at one point in my life and now at size 10, I’m quite happy with where I am. And proud. So when I still get these zings, I admit I still get affected.

But hey, considering how tactful Pinoys are, there will be more stories like these.  But to the next person who calls me by this hideous word, I can always say, “Ako mataba, pwede akong pumayat. E ikaw panget, anong gagawin mo?”

That’s all for now…bow.