Ending The Day With A Smile

  It's a long time since I last posted something, got a big exam coming up so, I really do think my keyboard missed mii at some point then. Well, back to the point now. It's been almost a year since I moved into a house in Dengkil (a small town in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Everything has been quite peaceful here given that it's still a place yet to be developed. Still, what fascinates mii most, apart from all the foodstuff you can find in this little food haven, is the people here --- the heart of the town.

  When I mention people, yes, I meant each and everyone of them, regardless of whether there're Malaysian, Indons or Nepals, each and every one unique in their own ways, specifically, those who work in the many restaurants in Dengkil. Why you ask? Mainly, most of us, when mentioned about the subject, we will think of these people as low-class society, a group of people who came to Malaysia just to find work that many of us would never even think of taking up the task. We scorned them, we looked at them in a very different perspective, certainly thinking we're much better than them, burrying their dignity in our much self-acclaimed pride. I too admitting I once thought this way, but my few months in Dengkil has certainly changed that perspective, accepting them as a society we never for once stop to appreciate.

  Undoubtedly, they do come to Malaysia to find jobs, earn a living to feed their families and themselves for each passing day. And due to their education levels, they can manage just that. But who are we to detest them? Without them, who is going to do those jobs that you judge so badly? Are you going to? These people, they come from a background pummeled with hardships and pain, each of them has a story to tell if given a chance. Carrying those hardships and problems, they work their socks off everyday. And then, the thing that facilitates mii most, they work to the end of the day with a smile, a smile with so much meaning, so many emotions, so many thoughts, all embedded into it.

  Honestly, I've worked in a restaurant before, cleaning up plates and tables, getting orders from customers and serving food right to their tables, morning to night. In the end, it took mii 3months to finally give up. To face the demands and complaints of all the customers everyday, it really frustrates you. And when it comes to the time when you're so very tired, you couldn't even manage a smile, not even to fake it. These people? They work in conditions beyond our wildest imaginations, their life hangs on the job they're assigned to. Yet, they work the whole day with spirits up high, with a smile to add as a finishing touch. How on earth do they carry such determination to push through each passing day with all sorts of problems in their mind, for that I really salute them!

  Compare them to those other workers in working conditions far far better than these group of people, their service really let's you down. The way they treat their customers is just terrible, not to say that these people have a higher pay than those who work their hearts out. It's just a very very big contrast, and to mii, it is just so so wrong. Never in my life have I seen such determined, resilient individuals. We, having so much to our own, will just crumble under small matters. But them, no, they stand up to live, they stand up to what they believe is right and they really do treat their jobs seriously.

  As I visited another restaurant last night, I was approached by one of the workers there and a chat followed. It was like no other, although the slang and the language he used are somewhat foreign to mii, but I could really feel that he was talking with his heart. It was just that sincere, that pure. Driving past them every morning, watching a whole group of them squatting at the roadside waiting for buses to take them to work, it does somehow trigger a sorry feeling in mii for them. What did they do to deserve all this?

  Our community, over-laden with ego and pride, it's time that we put all that down and look around us. They, like us are no different; their jobs, their lives, just as important as ours. It's time that we regard their dignity and treat them as a human being Gone with those prejudices, gone with those perspectives, open up our minds and learn their way of life. Because, not many of us could even end our day, with a smile....