"NOW!"
"NO!"
"You've been standing there for almost 5 minutes now.."
"Well sorry for being extra cautious and not wanting to be another sad roadkill."
"If you don't cross the road now, we are going to miss Cik Siti's nasi dagang at bazar today..."
"We wouldn't if only you had dropped me on the other side 10 minutes ago..."
"OK NOW! NOW IS GOOD! GO JUST GO GO GO!" my mom screamed from the rolled down window from the driver's seat.
To top it off, I was carrying ten packages that day, and that posed an extra danger as it might obstruct my vision. When I got to the other side of the road safely, I heard a honk. I turned around and I saw my mom with a wide smile giving me the thumb up sign. Yeah thanks a lot mom. She knows just how terrified I am of crossing the unforgiving roads in Malaysia and she enjoys using that fact to torture me.
It was almost 5.30p.m, nearing post office's closing time. There was several other customers at the counter. Sigh. I really hope we wouldn't miss Cik Siti after all. All I could think of during this final critical time of fasting is food. And iced mango juice..
Sometimes we would go to the main post office, but this branch is closer to our house. The downside is, all the process are not computerized as in the main branch, forms have to be filled manually by the clerk, so it would take a bit longer than usually. But I don't really mind. It's not like it takes hours. Just a couple extra minutes.
When it was my turn, I propped all of the stuff I brought on the table. The lady who worked behind the counter smiled when she saw me. I've been there several times before so she recognized me already. She has been very helpful and friendly that I enjoy chatting to her while waiting for her to prepare my packages for PosLaju's shipping. I think if every public service officer has a work attitude like this lovely lady, they could finally shed their negative image of being unfriendly and unproductive.
She was finishing off my last package when a man, wearing a serban walked up to the counter and said to me, "Depa ni buat kerja lembab sungguh la.. (I will not translate his dialog so that you wouldn't miss the essence)."
The clerk and I were taken aback by his statement so I forced a smile and said, "Customer ramai tapi yang kerja dua orang ja pakcik, tu lambat sikit tu.."
"Tapi kalau dah semua orang pandai masuk U sapa nak kerja kat sini kan kehkehkeh," he said in a very cynical tone, as if his words weren't sharp enough. Well I'm pretty sure he has a double PhD and an IQ over 150 for him to make such a condescending statement like that.
Err awkward moment ensued.
The lady behind the counter just kept quiet, her face flushed. I felt sorry for her but I didn't know what to respond to that to make the situation better. So I turned to her and said thank you with a warm smile before leaving the counter.
The moment I stepped out from the post office my head physically felt hot with anger. I should have stepped up to the situation. Pakcik tak pakcik. He was being rude and he should be put in his place. Plus the clerk didn't deserve such treatment. What I hate more than rude people are rude people in serbans; because I place high respect for Islamic scholars.
I was so angry that I couldn't wait to rush to the car and tell my mom. And I realized later that it took me less than 30 seconds to cross the road.
Some people are just unbelievably and unnecessarily rude to people they deem to be beneath them. I just don't understand the sense of entitlement some people think they have over people whose line of work involves serving them and attending to their needs. They are human with feelings you know.
2 comments:
i had witnessed a waiter spitted into a cup of drink and asked me to serve it to a lady customer. at that moment, i really had no guts at all to walk with the cup on my hand. luckily one colleague volunteered to help me. she said that the lady always caused them trouble but as for herself, she wouldn't choose to treat her with such a manner. as for the last part of the story, it was really a horrible scene to watch or even just to imagine it.
another story, i also sometimes get irritated by the fact that i have to wait for almost an hour to pay the electricity/water bills. but the pakcik shouldn't use the word 'lembap' to describe the situation. it's not only due to the limited workers of pos malaysia, but mentality of customers who mostly still don't trust online banking. like my dad la...haiya..and he always asks me to join the queue. blerghh (-_-)
i was exaggerating the lesson of course. but this one time, i've watched a customer publicly humiliated a waiter during a night where the restaurant was full of people. apparently the waiter mixed up the orders, brader tu punya tak puas hati dia cakap, "ni skolah sampai darjah berapa ni? ka tak sekolah ni?" he repeatedly asked the poor waiter loudly. that too was a horrible scene to watch. me and my mom directed the obviously fictional lesson to those kind of extreme rudeness.
ya betol moon! like my mom. doesn't trust the technology. she says she likes to get receipts/bills in solid paper. haiihhh...
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