They are people too - flesh & blood

When I was still in Melbourne studying and just after graduating (gosh, I sound like a 44 year old when in fact I am 20 years younger), I worked in the F&B industry and bounced around a while. I also worked in various other industries. Mostly, in retrospect, it was in the service line.

Now, my sister is an air stewardess - also in the service line, and she has told her fair share of horror tales about dodgy/selfish/greedy (the list goes on) customers as well as the good ones.

So, today, I was at the petrol station. The attendant came over to help me fill up my tank. I recognized him - he had done the same for me b4. And, just like the previous time, I chatted him up while waiting for the tank to fill - nothing much, just some small talk, his family, his life, his kampung, things like that.

This last one year, since returning from Melbourne and settling down back in KL again, I have noticed how people in the service sector are oft ignored. Not a "thanks". Just the neglected person who HAS TO appear on time to take orders. Stand there stupidly while customers dilly dally over the menu making stupid humming noises while deciding what to order. Appearing INSTANTLY when the patron wants something. Instead of doing things for himself, simple basic things that he can do, the patron stands around and orders the guy to do it. Like it is his God given right. Hey (and please tell ur friends about this. you can easily spot who the inconsiderate people are), you got hands and feet right? Grab your own chair, or your own fork and spoon if its like just next to you, and for gods sake, know what you are gonna order b4 u beckon the fella in and dont let him just STAND there while ur slowly taking ur time choosing because he has other tables to serve too and if those people dont get their service on time they will make a hoo hah (just like these other inconsiderate people) and then the poor waiter will get in hot soup.

I have been trying to be that ONE customer who is not like that, who with a kind encouraging smile, or just some small considerate deed, makes the guy's job easier. I have been trying to be so to the guy that serves me at the restaurant, the guy who fills up my petrol tank, the lady who takes my order at KFC, the foreign contract workers who work for my company and are under my direct beck and call. They do anything, and I mean, ANYTHING, I ask. And they have the most subservient attitude. Yet I do not think I am above saying 'thanks' to them, along with a simple pat on the back or shoulder as encouragement or acknowledgement for a job well done.

I hate the local culture of 'I'm holier than thou.' Please do not look down on people in the service sector. Many of them have a tough life and a tough job as it is. Many of them hold down 2 jobs. If you think your life is bad, how about theirs? Can you do what they do? Can you ever be humble enough if you need to be?

The petrol station guy has 2 jobs. Daytime as a cook, nighttime as a petrol station attendant. Just trying to survive, boss. Got wife and 3 children. Just want to give them a good education boss. I gave him RM2 to go and buy a drink. RM2 wont make me a millionaire or a bankrupt, but, its not the worth - its the gesture that warms his heart, and thats what matters. The Nepalese guy who helped me carry 55kg of stuff on his back and dragged it up and down 3 storeys high (I also gave him a few bucks to go and buy a drink at the canteen). He has a disabled mother who needs medical treatment back home and he cannot afford it. And the Deluxe contract worker who works minimum 12 hour shifts, WORKS NON STOP, has a small break here n there for meals WHICH HE PAYS HIMSELF, and has no seat for the entire 12 hours. Some do, some don't depending on the job. And the guys who work in the ultra hot environment. And he gets paid RM5 or something A DAY. And this boss gets a cut of that RM5. Then they got to pay for lunch. And to top it off, on their way walking back home, they get robbed.

What have they got to live for? We think our jobs are tough? Come on, we are just too spoilt cushy and pampered. Learn to be humble. We have a choice. If we leave our current jobs because oh we complain that we got to work more than 10 hours, all we gotta do is find another job in some air conditioned place and sit around and can surf Net and still make enough to indulge in stuff that improves our quality of life. How about these guys? Work 12 hours in shitty environment with shitty bosses and everyones a boss and they r like the lowest on the food chain who has to get down on hands and knees and use just water and no gloves to scrub off industrial grade glue n ink from the ground, pay for lunch, save a bit left, tired as fuck, walk back, get robbed, WHOLE DAY OF WORK GONE, gets home to some dirty place shared by 20 other guys, no proper running water or power. What kind of wretched life is that?

If it was me, I would surely the fuck have become a criminal. No frickin way would I abide by the SYSTEM if thats what I get in return. No way. Stay legal, is like ... death. Mights well take that chance to be rich, and either I become rich or I go to jail which considering my other options, ain't so bad.

It is high time we treated these people as human beings too. They do what they do out of love. They are of flesh and blood. They love their children, wife, ailing parents. Thats what drives them to do such things. They swallow their pride. Are we so noble? I admit, sometimes I forget to be nicer to these people. But I will now add this to my list of 2007 resolutions - to try and be nicer to the service people I meet. They are humans too. They can do much more than me. When I wake up and realize the day I have ahead to look forward to... I would just so feel like stabbing myself if I was them. No other choice except to slog. Damn...that frickin sucks.

Its like when I was making sandwiches at Subway Melbourne. I didnt like it one bit. Hated dragging myself to work. But it was bearable coz I knew it was an interim job, a stepping stone until I got a proper permanent offer. But to those colleagues of mine...this WAS their career. This WAS their PERMANENT and proper job. Making sandwiches. Man...that sucked big time. Thats all I have to look forward to? Thats my life, my career? So I really respect those people who can drag themselves to work day after day in such unglam jobs. What is there to pity in those people who 'drag' themselves to work day after day in some multimillion dollar firm or bank, sit around an aircond office and earn much more than these other people ever will. What you got to complain? At least you get to throw around phrases like work life balance, career path planning, job satisfaction etc.

So yea..sorry for the long diatribe. Lets try to be nicer to every service person we meet. Thank you.