04/08/2025
FYI
A few weeks ago, I was about to go to a shoe repair shop.
Yung sapatos ko na bago... medyo bumuka. Super liit lang, mga kalahating inch. So I thought, okay, mura lang 'to.
Pagdating ko sa shop, kinausap ko si Kuya, “Paayos lang po, konting dikit lang.”
Sabi niya, “Sige po.”
In less than two minutes, tapos na.
Ang bilis.
Then he said, “350 pesos po.”
Napakunot-noo ako.
“Saglit n'yo lang po ginawa, Kuya… Ang mahal naman.”
And then Kuya looked at me, smiled, and said something that hit me hard:
“Sir, hindi niyo binayaran ang dalawang minuto ng trabaho ko. Binayaran niyo yung sampung taon kong experience para magawa ko yan in two minutes.... nang walang sablay o kahit konting puti o nanigas na pandikit na lumagpas.
Tahimik ako.
Because in that moment, I realized...we often confuse time with value.
We think just because something is done quickly, it should be cheap.
Pero hindi natin nakikita yung taon na pagttrabaho, paulit-ulit na pagkakamali, calluses, cuts, sunog sa pandikit, at sakripisyo para mapino ang isang simpleng trabaho.
That’s when I understood:
Expertise is invisible, until we devalue it.
And this doesn’t apply just to shoe repair.
It applies to artists, freelancers, people who are in sales... anyone who mastered their craft.
So the next time we think something na
“mabilis lang naman.",
"madali lang naman yan."
Remember:
We’re not paying for the time it took to do it.
We’re paying for the years it took to learn how to do it...perfectly.
And that, my friends, is worth every peso.