Tricked

I had gotten through most of my trip without being pickpocketed or mugged. Hence I was rather gleeful on the last day, great success! Since there was much time to kill, I decided to walk from Hotel Aniene to Roma Terminus, which I thought was roughly 3km away and could probably be covered in 45minutes, or definitely under an hour. After being unable to access the wireless, I decided to start my epic journey early, at around 250pm. After 4pm, I was still walking. I think the distance was closer to 6km, but anyway I reached the Terminus closer to 5pm, after taking a well deserved break at Porta Pia (but which also delayed me and caused me to get caught in the rain). After getting my ticket, it was already 510 and the train was to depart at 528pm, some 400m away at bin 28.

After some rushing, I managed to reach the train just behind some stragglers, who boarded the first carriage they saw. Trying to be smart and not wanting to squeeze with them, I headed for the carriages towards the back, tired and oblivious to the gang of teens who had gathered in front of me.

Just as I approached them, I heard a shrill whistle and one of the guys leapt onto the train, making it seem that the train was about to depart imminently. I quickened my pace and the guy on the train beckoned to me, and reached out his hand to help me lift my bag onto the train.

Initially, I was grateful for his help, until he asked me for money for “helping” me. Only then did I realize that I had been tricked and the whistle had probably come from one of his friends. I had wondered about the direction of the sound of the whistle and also wondered why the train would whistle in the first place, so next time I really need to start listening to those clever voices in my head which I always ignore.

I felt that I was tricked and conceded defeat and so I handed him one euro. He said it wasn’t enough so I dug around a little more and gave him 2.05 euros. After some hesitation, I took back one euro. He tried to convince me to change the one euro for the five cents but I started grumbling about how I would rather bring the luggage down and carry it up again.

On hindsight, I really should have done that instead of giving him any money. Surely I could have lifted it up by myself? Now I will never know. But I would also have worried as to whether I would have missed the train as a result.
On further hindsight, my ego was sorely bruised by this encounter. As I sat on the train, I kept imagining different scenarios as to how I should have reacted. After all, I love money and this is a very wrong way to lose it. I think in the first place I should not have been tricked. Okay, tourists get tricked easily, but I should not have given him any money. Just put the luggage down and carry it up again. Show some backbone, show some guts, show some attitude. Or even when he asked for more money, I should have lost it and taken back my money. This guy is a free loader, with working hands and legs, shouldn’t he find a more honourable way to earn his keep? Granted, I was worried about his friends below, but then on the plane I saw this Wing Chun movie. A good guy stands up for justice. In this aspect, I have definitely failed. Too wimpy already la. Even in office, I should have insisted that I cut short my trip, I would have been able to return by Friday and avoided a lot of the potential shit that I am facing now. FML. So from this moment on, I want to be strong physically, I want to be strong mentally in the face of injustice. I don’t have to be smart, but I want to be able to sleep at night, knowing that I can live with dignity and not let others take advantage of me.

I don’t think I want to tell this story to anyone