Litter Bugged

There were three of us waiting for the elevator on the 13th floor: me, a guy who bought food from the café on the same floor, and a girl carrying several files. When the door opened I let them enter first. That’s when I noticed that the girl dropped a piece of paper on the elevator floor, a receipt. I caught her notice the paper on the floor but she decided not to pick it up.

The door closed. I looked down at the piece of paper littering the otherwise pristine elevator floor, then back up to her face. She was ignoring me and the paper. Dedma ever. I considered several options:

Polite: “Miss, you dropped your receipt.”
Bitchy: “Do you want me to call your yaya to clean up after you?”
Smug: “Ahem. Littering is so inconsiderate.”
Pa-saring: (to the guy) “Ay, ang ibang tao diyan, o! Hindi marunong magtapon ng basura ng maayos!”
Pa-subtle: (ala-dumb blonde) “Hihihih! Miss, uh, is that paper yours? A-hihihihihi!”
Long-winded: “Miss, may dumi ba ako?” (You can either wait for her to react or not.) “Kasi buti ka pa, may basura… sa sahig!”

I was still busy thinking up of another option when the door opened and she stepped out of the elevator. The receipt was still on the floor. I glanced at the guy beside me; he apparently was unbothered by the piece of paper on the floor. I wanted to pick up the paper but stopped myself. What would the guy think? That I’m a neat-freak? That I’m a sanctimonious prick? That I’m actually a well-dressed janitor working in the building? I decided to wait for him to get off his floor.

When the door opened and he stepped out, I moved closer to pick up the paper. But then three other people stepped in. I was standing in front of the receipt. Oh no! Now I can’t pick it up. Worse, now they’d think it’s my piece of litter.

When the elevator got to the ground floor, I hurriedly stepped out; five other people were going in. I decided to leave that piece of litter for them to figure out what to do with it.