Tuesday, April 21, 2009
just another day.
As he entered the cafe, his eyes ignored the smile of the anonymous face in front of him. Greetings and pleasantries dutifully ignored, he gruffly announces, " I want a strong cup of coffee." As the little lady, barely out of her teens, asked with a nervous smile if he wanted any milk in his coffee, he stares at her noticing her for the first time and with a look of incredulity answers,"I said I want a strong cup of coffee. Why would I want milk if i wanted a strong cup of coffee? IS THAT SO DIFFICULT?!?" The nervous smile turns into a look of fear with the slightest hint of disgust glassed over by her ever-ready smile and the little lady passes him his cup of coffee, black, wishing she could have added an extra ounce or two of spit. "Thank you sir,"she says collecting his exact payment and turning her view away from her aggressor to her regular customer behind him.
He looks up and starts walking hurriedly out of the cafe. He sits down at the solitary space available at the small seated smoking area outside, happy that he beat no one in particular to the empty seat and wastes no time in lighting up a cigarette. Mild 7, what's the point of smoking something so light you could barely taste it, he thought. Well, the point was staying alive. His 3-prong plan of battling his doctor's diagnosis of high blood pressure was - 1) Start smoking a pack of lights a day instead of his 2 pack-a-day Marlboro Reds. 2) Spend as much time away from home and his wife as he can. 3) Eat less.
For a principal of a primary school, he didn't exactly embody the adage of life-long learning. The knowledge that he has a medical condition has put fear in him but not enough to find out more about it. In fact, he is the definition of the stubborn, old-school ignoramus, who wills his problems to go away instead of doing anything about it. The 1,200 odd students under his care would either become him eventually or learn to despise people like him with a passion.
Looking from inside the cafe, the little lady had no way of knowing all this as thoughts of the extreme lack of graciousness she just encountered threatened to spoil her day. "Why do I do this?" she wonders, not for the first time. She knew the answer to that, it paid the bills as she continued her weekly classes at night to become what she had always dreamed of becoming, a pre-school teacher. Alas, this was one of the occupational hazards she had to learn to accept with her part-time job - the customer. For every asshole there's an angel who will light up your day. For every idiot who throws their money on the counter, there's one who will actually ask you instead how you have been. Just another day in the life of a service provider in Singapore.
Singaporeans not satisfied with service? There's more than a few who probably don't deserve it. -dib- at 8:25 PM