Good Maarrning Saar !!

I was at the Batu Tiga Toll this morning. As the window went down and I paid the toll, a cheerful male voice said 'Good maarning saar. Howvvaarr you? Have a nice day'. I looked up and there was this Nepali or Bangla guy manning the toll booth. He had a huge smile and was obviously pleased at his job.

I couldnt help waving at the guy and saying a loud thank you. I am sure he must have felt better too.

Sadly, just about an hour earlier I had passed through the same Toll Booth - in the opposite direction towards Klang. I paid the same toll - to the usual sour faced, muka masam girl. They dont say terima kasih, smile or even look at you. Although the interaction lasts only seconds, they make you feel as though they are doing you a great favour by accepting the RM1.10 from you.

Well it looks like the locals cannot even handle the toll operator jobs now. Soon the Nepalis and Banglas are going to take over almost all the entry level jobs. If our boys and girls cannot get into entry level jobs, it will be harder for them to gain experiences and move upwards to intermediate jobs.

There is no shortage of locals to work as Toll Booth operators. I suspect the employer (PLUS) prefers to employ the Banglas and Nepalis because they work harder with less complaints and perform much better. If I could I would hire Indons who sometimes come and ask for work. They do not have proper documents so we let them go.

I was on Astro once in a Panel Discussion and one of the other speakers said that 'kerja juru toll lebih teruk daripada beruk panjat kelapa'. I think he too had been hit by the muka masam "I am doing you a great favour" girl at the toll booth. The speaker was lamenting the fact that the toll operator had a huge signboard that advertised 'toll booth jobs' as a career path. He meant that it was a dead end job. Surely our young kids should aspire to be something better than toll booth operators - he said.

I disagree slightly. Any steady job is a good job - especially for young people who are getting started in life. You can learn useful skills in any job that can give you upward mobility. Simple things like coming to work on time, learning to speak clearly to people, learning to follow instructions are major assets for young people.

When I was in college in the US I worked for three years in the University's food and beverage services. We did everything from unloading 18 wheeler trucks in freezing winter snows, serve food to thousands of people everyday, man a sophisticated desserts station, make all sorts of sandwiches, clean and maintain beverage machines, dispenser machines, strip down and clean huge conveyor operated dish washing machines, clean the whole place up and learn to interact with with hundreds of other human beings every day.

It was a good learning experience. One of the most important things I learned was to clean the "hard to get corners". That is where the Supervisor would check - everyday without fail. They have a good maintenance culture. And people took pride in their work. We would compete to see who could clean the burger grill shiny enough to see your face.

Then as you grow older and mature, the sum of your life experiences and job skills makes you more marketable. Putting on a muka masam and having an attitude towards hard work is a great threat to your career paths. Unfortunately there seems to be a national level affliction among many young people towards hard work. There has to be a national level catharsis or purging to rid them of these really bad attitudes.

If our young kids cannot manage simple jobs, then the Indons and Banglas are going to replace them. This will become unavoidable. The Banglas and Indons do not have much opportunities for advancement in their own countries. Neither do our young people from the small towns and kampongs. The only difference is the Nepalis, Indons and Banglas are grabbing opportunities to show that they can work hard. They want opportunities. Our young people are pushing away opportunities.

So what gives? Is it the religion? The culture? The attitude? It cannot be the weather or the water. We all get hit by the same wonderful Malaysian sunshine. We all drink the same bottled water - RM1.00 at Mydin Supermarket.