Not Good Enough (Yet) for TV

I drove home Friday from Maryland upon the conclusion of a two-week assignment there. Since our company's office in Maryland was about 190 miles (approximately 300 kilometers) from my place, which was between three to four hours' driving distance, I decided to just drive down instead of fly.

I had rented a car instead of bringing my own. And part of the rental agreement I had with the car rental company was that I was supposed to return the car with a full tank of gas. Failure to do so would surely invite additional charges to an already sizeable rental bill. After making some mental calculations based on my trip route, I noted that there was a rest area that was about 10 minutes away from the car rental facility. I could certainly stop by the rest area, have the car filled up, and drop the car off at the car rental facility without worrying about any additional charges

So that's what I did. I stopped by a gas station in one of those rest areas along the New Jersey Turnpike. The gas station had four fueling bays (or "islands" as we call them in the Philippines) with two fueling pumps each. I noticed that lines of cars, four cars deep on the average, were lined up on each bay. I picked a particular bay and promptly fell in line to wait for my turn.

After a few minutes, I had noticed that the lines on the other bays seemed to be moving a bit faster than the line I was on. At first, I couldn't figure out why that was so when most of the cars in line ahead of me were either compacts or medium-sized cars. So I rolled down my windows and popped my head out of the car just to get an idea of what was going on.

Well, what I saw was a lady with a microphone interviewing the driver of the car that was about two cars ahead of me. Right next to her stood a TV cameraman who had one of those rather long and heavy tv cameras on his shoulder and was busy filming the entire interview. My initial reaction was "Oh man, not now." I was tired and in a rush to get home for I had been on the road for more than three hours at that point. I quickly checked my rearview mirror to see if I could still back my car out to get to the other bays. Too late. There were already at least two cars behind me. Thus, I had no choice but to stay put and keep waiting.

The "interview" and refueling eventually ended after what seemed like an eternity. The car in front of me then pulled up to the first available pump while I pulled up to the second one. But then, guess what? As soon as I asked the gasoline attendant to fill up the car, I saw the lady reporter and the TV cameraman quickly come up towards me.

The lady reporter quickly introduced herself and said that she was a reporter for CBS News. She said that they were doing a piece on the rising gas prices in the country for broadcast that evening. She asked me if I would mind if she ask a few questions about the state of the country's fuel situation. Since she was nice enough, I agreed to be interviewed. However, in a flash, some thoughts quickly zipped through my mind. "Are we already on the air?" "How do I look? Do I look good for the tv camera with my sunglasses on or off? Where's my comb, damn it?!?!" "Will they broadcast this piece in the Philippines?" "Would they let me say hi to my folks and friends back home?" "Could there be any Hollywood agents out there watching who may be looking for some fresh-faced Asian talents?" Ahh.. I guess you can scratch that last thought.

Anyway, once I agreed to be interviewed, the TV cameraman quickly trained his camera on me. The reporter asked me for my full name and thanks to my father's excellent choice of a first name, she asked me to spell my name out for her. Then came the questions.

CBS Reporter: Do you have any travel plans this summer?
Panaderos: Yes, I do.

CBS Reporter: Do you plan to drive or fly?
Panaderos: Fly.

CBS Reporter: Will the continued rise in gas prices affect your travel plans?
Panaderos: It will certainly affect some of my travel plans, but not all. I might have to cut back or cancel some trips.

CBS Reporter: Will you think that many other Americans will also cut back on their travel plans and why?
Panaderos: (Trying to appear scholarly.) I believe so. A lot of families are running on a tight budget these days with both the rising cost of fuel and food. Quite a number of people lost their jobs too as a result of the subprime mess. Those factors all add up.

With that, both the lady reporter and the cameraman thanked me. I paid the gas attendant and drove off to the car rental facility to drop the car off. I then quickly called my SO with the news (no pun intended) that I was interviewed by CBS News. I told her that it was for a piece that they were scheduled to broadcast later that evening.

I rushed home, turned the tv on and tuned it to CBS while I unpacked my stuff. After an hour, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric came on and sure enough, the news on the rising gas prices was front and center. In a moment that would have made Ayn Rand quite proud of me, I eagerly awaited for my face to be shown on tv, to heck with the gas prices!

But then, by the title of this post, you surely must know by now what happened. Sadly, my face didn't end up on the news report. They ended up picking some lady whose face I did not see while I was lined up at that same gas station. I guess in the interest of time, they had to pick one out of the several that they had interviewed that afternoon. Oh well, that's life.

Better luck next time. :) Later, Hollywood. (Naks!)