Humanity
UNDAUNTED, Tayco poured her energy on establishing and operating the Pinokyos Canteen along a commercial lane trying to capture the market of 700 workers of the biscuit factory on Rebisco Road in Gen. Luis Street here.
But the market, as always, had its own rules: customer preference goes through a cycle, competition is high, and lenders are unforgiving.
The market, apparently, didn?t care if Pinokyos Canteen?s revenues were also going to charity work for less-fortunate Filipino children.
The factory had fewer workers beginning November to mid-March. Pinokyos Canteen competed for these workers? purse against five other canteens, two bakeries, three retail stores, and a fruit stand.
Tayco pointed to the signboard at the factory?s gate.
?When that says ?All apprentice girls and boys, work!? or ?Wrapping, manual, work at 7 a.m.,? it means we have to prepare meals for them. I know how many meals I will cook for them,? Tayco said.
Another sign meant workers would have to go to another Rebisco factory outside the city and cuts the number of potential customers for these stores.
With its manager accustomed to seeking out donors than steering a business, Pinokyos Canteen?s coffers began to bleed.
Then her son Richard ?the eldest of five? complained of headaches and needed money for a brain scan.
Then her husband, whose philandering she claims stopped when she began Pinokyos, left her for two weeks at a time when the pressure to turn the business around intensified.
Her husband refused to speak and just sat on of the canteen?s wooden bench, staring at the factory gates.
Tayco said he must be wondering about her pregnancy, which was the reason the doctor she?s selling her kidney to rejected the organ purchase.
Later, when he thought Tayco was out of earshot, her husband said he went away because he can?t stand Luisa?s temperament.
Her son Benedict said her mother scolded her in front of customers inside the canteen.
She also threw the TV remote at me, he added.
That that feistiness remained with the diminutive Tayco (she just stands a little above five feet) is no surprise with the odds stacked against her.
