Some of you know by now that I'm currently helping a dear friend to manage her Petronas gas station in Tanjung Malim, Perak, about an hour away from KL. I don't really have a specific job description. It's basically trying to discipline and keep an eye on her staffs, helping out with various paperwork around the office, and keeping her company on long drives across the state and trips back to KL. Since we both have a lot of dramas going on in our life right now, we have tons to talk about in the car during our long drives. She's, by the way, one of the two close female friends I always confide in especially when it comes to relationship issues, or what Indonesians call "teman curhat."
There were some worries that this job is beneath my station in life, meaning it doesn't match my education and personal background. But I believe that any honest, hard-working job is a REAL job and I really don't mind doing jobs that are considered low-status in the eyes of the society.
Living in the US for a very long time has taught me a lot about humility and respect for others regardless of their background. I had worked in many odd jobs that were in no way related to my educational qualification, part of it was to make ends meet, but most importantly, for the experience. Gosh, it'll take me forever to list all the various jobs I did in the US in order to survive but here's a partial list: custodian (mopping up students' pukes in the dormitory), dishwasher at the dorm's dining hall, parking valet at elite clubs and restaurants, parking attendant (juru parkir), parking cashier, warehouse worker, office temp worker, landscaper, carpenter apprentice, lead abatement worker, youth counselor, dry-cleaning store manager (this was when I got robbed at gun-point by two guys), political canvasser, part-time high school teacher, soccer coach for middle-schoolers, and the list goes on.
I wouldn't trade any of my previous work experience, however lowly they were, for anything in the world. Each job I've ever had in my life has contributed a little something to my personal character and has made me who I am today. I have internalized the values of hard work and struggling to survive, which I wouldn't have to do had I stayed in Malaysia. I mean it's impossible to empathize with what the poor and unfortunate people have to go through in life without at least trying to walk in their shoes and see how it feels like. It shapes my outlook in life as I see all these social injustices happening around me: single moms working three dead-end jobs to feed their children because they were forced off the welfare rolls; men who couldn't get a job because of past felony records though they had already paid their debts to the society; or simply regular folks who work slave hours every week and still couldn't make ends meet.
To be honest, I do have the comfort of knowing that I can always call my mom for money if I ever need it, which I very rarely do and it's usually for major purchases like a laptop or something. Or I can always go back to Malaysia and live within the security provided by my family. I've resisted the temptation for fourteen years until I finally decided to come back this past January. My dad keeps buzzing in my ears that had I stayed and worked in Malaysia after I finished my bachelors degree I could have easily earned big bucks by now. He, in fact, had a job waiting for me working as an executive at one of his friend's company, but I turned it down and went back to the US instead. I never once regret that decision, and I told this to him over and over again trying to get through to his thick skull. I doubt he will ever understand why I did what I did. Contrary to what P. Diddy says, "it's NOT all about the Benjamins!"
By the way, it was through most of these odd-jobs that I found my love for hip-hop music. After spending so much time working alongside blacks and Hispanics I came to love the urban American culture and what it represents. I also lived among them in the ghetto, though in a less-dangerous neighborhood. Oh, how I miss those days... block parties on the weekends, outdoor BBQ, neighbors sitting and gossiping on the stoop, hoopties (urban slang for cars) bouncing on the streets with ear-splitting bass lines, kids jacking the fire hydrant in the summer heat, and playing pick-up basketball in the local parks. Okay, then... my next post will be about things and people I miss in the US, and believe me, I do have many!
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