Be Humble!
1329 Words
Sunday, 19th February 2017
My father looked at me and sized me up for whatever reasons I could not explain at the moment.
“You want to work here as a Dishwasher? You got any experience, no?” The restaurant manager, my father, introduced himself as Mr Aziz and I wondered when did my father change his faith. He even got a funny Middle Eastern accent!
“Yes, fa…I mean, yes sir. I would like to work here as a dishwasher. I do not have any experience working in a restaurant before but I used to wash plates, pots and other utensils before when my cousin got married before.”
“I volunteered to work there to clear up the dishes as fast as possible so that the diners would not wait for their plates.” I lied because the only plates I washed when I used to stay with my parents and not when I decided to move out and stayed at Old Brompton instead, which was just a stone’s throw from my parents’.
“Good, good, good, good, good, good. You can work today, yes? I give you a uniform. Pants, shirt, hair cap, face mask, plastic apron and importantly safety boots. I give you locker also. You put things inside after you change. Here, fill up this form. This is for your shoe size, pants and shirt. You work from 7 pm to 1 am okay? You come here 6 pm, change and have dinner. Not have dinner and then change. We will mistake you as customer.”
“Thank you, sir, Mr Aziz, sir! I really appreciate it. I hope someone would teach me how to work the dishwasher machine or is it going to be manual washing instead?”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Someone will teach you, yes? You put name on the form and start of work date. How long you no work? If you want, you work today, tomorrow we pay you when you come 6 pm. Okay? Any problems? Then after work, eat supper then change. Put dirty uniform at the laundry basket. Lady will come to take and wash daily.”
“Thank you, sir, Mr Aziz, sir. Yes, the payment arrangement is fine with me. It is £10 and hour and £60 for the day, am I right, sir? I just came to town here and I have not found a job yet. 7 pm to 1 am work if fine with me, sir.”
“Good, good, good, good, good. If got overtime, you want work? Your normal work hours 7 pm to 1 am, yes? If you work 12 pm to 6 pm, you work overtime. Come 11 am for lunch before work. We pay you £15 per hour and 6 hours gives you £90. Night job £60. So you earn £150 per night. What say you? You want overtime, you tell me. I slot you in. I like hardworking young men like you. Save money to get married, yes?”
11 am report for duty and lunch. 12 pm start work till 6 pm. Break for dinner. 7 pm continue work till 1 am. Break for supper and then head back to God knows where I would end up after 2 am! I could sleep at Trevor Square but the biting cold would make me frostbite.
Quick brain! Think fast! Make your decision fast before Mr Aziz that looked like my father changes his mind. Sleep can settle anytime later. Its time to get money first!
“Mr Aziz, sir, I would work normal hours today and from tomorrow onwards, please slot in for me overtime. Yes, I am planning to get married and this is the only time I could save up for the wedding, the house and the works, you know what I mean. I really thank you for giving me this opportunity and the only way I could repay you is to work hard and smart!”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Work hard and smart. Okay. It is settled then. Today work normal shift. Tomorrow you come in 11 am okay? You want daily cash or weekly cash? Up to you, we no problem.”
“I would let you know, Mr Aziz. The next few days would be daily cash and then I would be taking monthly pay instead. Would there be any issues like the occupational pension monthly scheme?”
“No, no, no, no, no. There’s no issue. You work as contractor. No fixed hours. No fixed salary. But between you and me, no problem eh? Alright, come by later at 6 pm. Change into new uniform. Put clothes in locker and go have dinner 1 hour. Eat what you like. No problem.”
I controlled my emotions hard and since the time I had arrived in this world, the only person that had treated me as a person was the old man in the milk truck and Mr Aziz, the restaurant manager that looked like my father with a Middle Eastern accent.
I thanked Mr Aziz and went out of the office where I find a spot to write my name and the date I started to commence work on the form before I filled in the rest like shoe size, pants and shirt. As I write, I swallowed hard as I was welled up in my own emotions and I knew I had to take chances in order to survive first, gather some money and then start to climb my way towards the music industry.
“Hello, Matthew. This is Sue and I am back online again. Please do not use any profanities or you would not be guided for the next 4 hours this time.”
I heard the robotic female voice in my head and I thanked Lady Luck once more! I thought of the words and spoke to Sue in my head about the encounters and also the job I am filling in tonight.
“Very good. Remember, what happens here in the gaming world here is like where you had come from before. Do not overwork yourself even though collecting money is important factor right now. Give yourself one month to work in this manner, collect enough funds and from there I will guide you through. But before that, go and register your Band’s name. Look into the system menu and you could find it on the first page.”
After I had completed the form, I handed it back to Mr Aziz and informed him that I would be here at 5 pm sharp. He took the form and called up someone from the landline and spoke some gibberish that sounded like Arabic and indicted the sizes of clothes that I would be needing.
“Alright, here is the locker key. You go out and turn right to go to back end area. There got locker. You go and collect your clothes from Laundry department. They give you 2 pairs. One wash, one wear, yes? Now go and see you later 5 pm.”
“Thank you, Mr Aziz. See you later at 5 pm then.”
After thanking the restaurant manager, I followed his instructions, collected 2 pairs of clothing and went to the locker to store them there. It was Locker #32, the same number as my parent’s house.
I locked it up and went out of the restaurant through the staff entrance at the kitchen area. I said hello to everyone as I left the staff area and noticed that I would be the only Caucasian teen working in the back end area along with some Bangladeshi and Pakistani dishwashers too.
“That’s good, Matthew. The first step is to be humble and it will bring you places!” Sue voiced out in my mind as I stepped out with confidence.
- Writer
