But I can still give you good advice such as “Do not bully/ill-treat/terrorize/take advantage of newcomers. You may not know when you will meet them again."
Take for example on Thursday night at my ex-colleague’s wedding. Sharing the same table with me were two young chaps. At first I had no idea who they were, they looked kind of familiar but that was it. But they remembered me, oh boy and very clearly too.
One of them told me,
“Remember several years ago I called your organization to see if you have any vacancies and you told me there were plenty in your department and asked me to bring a few friends along?”
“Hmm… I said that? Okay, and then what happened?”
“And then,” he continued. “I bought two of my friends along and it turned out there was only ONE vacancy?”
“Oh…er…”
“Yes, but luckily you managed to find two more vacancies in the other departments.”
Phew...
On another occasion, not long after I have shifted to my new house in Senja, I had a fever and decided to see a doctor. Because I was new to the area, I did not have any particular doctor in mind. So I went to this clinic just a few bus-stops away from my house. As I stepped into the doctor’s room, I couldn’t help feeling I’ve met this doctor somewhere before.
“You are Corporal XXX from XXX camp right?”
“Er, I guess so, and you are?”
“Don’t you remember? I am Ah Hock (not his real name) from Ah Pang’s batch (again not his real name). Remember Platoon 10, Section 2? I have even done a few guard duties with you when you were guard commander?”
Oh no, guard duties? That sounds bad, guard commanders used to give those guards a hard time during guard duties. OMG, that was more than 10 years ago. Quick think, must think hard, have I ever asked him to run around the flagpole carrying his rifle above his head? Have I ever asked him to do push-ups before every meal or to sign extra duties? Damn I can’t remember anything about him.
Before I could answered his question he continued,
“You were a great guard commander, I’ve enjoyed doing guard duties with you. So how’s life?”
Another phew.
But just in case, I visited another doctor who simply asked me to sit down, open my mouth said “Ahhhh”, took my temperature, and asked me to pay at the counter. No chitchat, no “Oh I remember you!” just the way I like it.
Who? Me? Er, I think you got the wrong person my friend.
16 comments:
I don't know... something about the smile seems so familiar ::grin::
It's a small world, DP.
When I started work in a telco, the first person I met was a friend's friend who used to join us in our beer drinking sessions while we were in the army.
You just never know who you'll need in life, eh?
Great picture - can i steal, um, er, borrow it?
It's a small country. Yet, for so many years after leaving school, never meet any of my primary or secondary school friends.
Thanks for dropping by water pixie.
No mistake about, I am smiling at you. :)
Hey dsnake1,
It is a small world indeed. Take for example tare, I didn’t even know we were schoolmates for a while.
Hey fred,
take your pick, the picture is not mine. I stole, oops, borrowed it from the Internet. ;p
Me too Liz, me too. :(
once my gfs wanna intro a yandao to me.... 1st thing he went, "have i met u b4?" kenna luffed at for lame pick up line.. but end up we were frm the same sec sch..... -_-"
wat?? you and panda are schoolmates???
and abt that yandao... panda.. dun blame us... who's to know he's from your school!! and he's not so yandao lah... just wanted to intro him as someone to play a prank on... kekekeke
talking abt familiar faces... i've got ppl who come up to me and said "hey you're from the same church! How come you haven't been showing up lately??"
and I din even noticed they existed before... :P
well i din even noe DP existed while i was in that sch for tat short period of time.... :P
kitty not blaming u lah.... well like i said b4, i din even notice him in sch, tat shows how yandao he was..... *evil chuckles*
hehhehhh deadpoet I am one of the young chap ... nice blog by the way :)
hehhehhh deadpoet I am one of the young chap ... nice blog by the way :)
Thanks. Come here often okay? Let's meet up for coffee one of these days.
It will be fun. :)
wat?? you and panda are schoolmates???
It's a small world after all. :)
That is very good advice. I would expect treating people with respect and kindness to be obvious to us all from childhood, but I've noticed that many people never grasp the concept. Integrity, honor, ethics, compassion... these things are nearly dead in society. Such simple things that benefit everyone, yet are ignored by nearly all.
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