Seumas Tan Nyap Tek*,Advocate & Solicitor
After an enjoyable holiday in Borneo, it was time to go to work. The first thing I noticed when I got out from my car in the office was a foul smell coming from the drain. I decided to investigate and noticed that there was a dead cat in the drain. There were some flies flying around and the cat must have been dead for sometime now as rigor mortis had set in. Not sure who to call, I decided to call Muthu, someone whom I met sometime ago who specializes in cutting trees and removing branches. I have engaged Muthu a number of times and found him to be a decent fellow. I asked him whether he could arrange for someone to collect and dispose of the dead cat from my drain. Muthu replied he would arrange for someone to come as soon as possible. So as not to have any misunderstanding, I asked Muthu how much I should pay the person? Muthu asked me to just “belanja teh”. In other words, a small token sum to buy a cup of tea would be sufficient.
About a couple of hours later, a man came to my office with 2 plastic bags. I showed him the dead cat and he immediately placed the dead cat into the plastic bag. As Muthu suggested to just “belanja teh”, I gave him RM20.00 for less than a minutes work. Surprisingly, the person whom I shall call “Mr. X” was extremely unhappy. He unfolded the money and said he wanted more. I asked him how much he wanted? He replied he wanted RM50.00 for less than a minutes work and he needed to share it with Muthu as well. I doubted that Muthu wanted any commission from this piece of work and if he did, Muthu would have been frank with me like he always was and wouldn’t say to “belanja teh”. Furthermore, Muthu was more into cutting trees and branches where he earns a substantial amount. In my previous dealings with Muthu, I paid him a four figure sum each time he assisted me in cutting trees and branches. Some people may say it is expensive but I would counter that by saying Muthu and his team had provided me with very good service. Not only did they cut the trees and branches but they also tidied up the area. All in, it took them about an hour but it was worth the money. Coming back to our story, since Mr. X was becoming quite a nuisance, I took out RM50.00 in exchange for the RM20.00 which I already gave him. As I was taking the RM20.00 from him, one of the RM10.00 notes fell. Mr. X quickly picked it up and said that he wanted RM60.00 instead of RM50.00. It was obvious that Mr. X was a greedy fellow and trying to get as much as possible. I was in no mood to argue with Mr. X. I told Mr. X to make sure he gives Muthu some money. He smiled slyly and said “of course”.
A few hours later, Muthu called me to make sure that the dead cat had been removed. As I had a few people with me when Muthu called, I didn’t want to create a scene so I quickly thanked him and said I would call him later. After my guests had left, I called Muthu. I again thanked him for arranging someone to pick up the dead cat. I then told him that Mr. X was not looking for money to buy “teh”, he was looking to buy a full course lunch with a dessert thrown in! Muthu was shocked and informed me that he would reprimand Mr. X. I informed Muthu that I would leave that to him but I wanted to make sure that Muthu got his commission from Mr. X regardless whether it was agreed or not amongst themselves. I further informed Muthu that normally, I would not tolerate such nonsense from greedy people but since Mr. X is his friend (I assumed Mr. X was indeed Muthu’s friend), I relented. Muthu sounded apologetic and kept on apologizing. With that, I ended the call. The whole exercise here is to make sure Muthu knew how much I actually paid Mr. X so that Muthu did not get conned if Mr. X told an untruth and secondly, to alert Muthu that Mr. X had informed me he would give some commission to Muthu.
That experience was amazing as I just returned from Sandakan (please read my previous post) where people were genuinely friendly and sincere and I could safely say that if the same thing happened there, the person would not have demanded for additional money like what Mr. X did. I can’t help but think that when Mr. X gave me that sly smile, he was actually saying “Welcome back to reality! Welcome back to KL!” Ah, that feel good sensation I had in Sandakan was wonderful while it lasted!
After an enjoyable holiday in Borneo, it was time to go to work. The first thing I noticed when I got out from my car in the office was a foul smell coming from the drain. I decided to investigate and noticed that there was a dead cat in the drain. There were some flies flying around and the cat must have been dead for sometime now as rigor mortis had set in. Not sure who to call, I decided to call Muthu, someone whom I met sometime ago who specializes in cutting trees and removing branches. I have engaged Muthu a number of times and found him to be a decent fellow. I asked him whether he could arrange for someone to collect and dispose of the dead cat from my drain. Muthu replied he would arrange for someone to come as soon as possible. So as not to have any misunderstanding, I asked Muthu how much I should pay the person? Muthu asked me to just “belanja teh”. In other words, a small token sum to buy a cup of tea would be sufficient.
About a couple of hours later, a man came to my office with 2 plastic bags. I showed him the dead cat and he immediately placed the dead cat into the plastic bag. As Muthu suggested to just “belanja teh”, I gave him RM20.00 for less than a minutes work. Surprisingly, the person whom I shall call “Mr. X” was extremely unhappy. He unfolded the money and said he wanted more. I asked him how much he wanted? He replied he wanted RM50.00 for less than a minutes work and he needed to share it with Muthu as well. I doubted that Muthu wanted any commission from this piece of work and if he did, Muthu would have been frank with me like he always was and wouldn’t say to “belanja teh”. Furthermore, Muthu was more into cutting trees and branches where he earns a substantial amount. In my previous dealings with Muthu, I paid him a four figure sum each time he assisted me in cutting trees and branches. Some people may say it is expensive but I would counter that by saying Muthu and his team had provided me with very good service. Not only did they cut the trees and branches but they also tidied up the area. All in, it took them about an hour but it was worth the money. Coming back to our story, since Mr. X was becoming quite a nuisance, I took out RM50.00 in exchange for the RM20.00 which I already gave him. As I was taking the RM20.00 from him, one of the RM10.00 notes fell. Mr. X quickly picked it up and said that he wanted RM60.00 instead of RM50.00. It was obvious that Mr. X was a greedy fellow and trying to get as much as possible. I was in no mood to argue with Mr. X. I told Mr. X to make sure he gives Muthu some money. He smiled slyly and said “of course”.
A few hours later, Muthu called me to make sure that the dead cat had been removed. As I had a few people with me when Muthu called, I didn’t want to create a scene so I quickly thanked him and said I would call him later. After my guests had left, I called Muthu. I again thanked him for arranging someone to pick up the dead cat. I then told him that Mr. X was not looking for money to buy “teh”, he was looking to buy a full course lunch with a dessert thrown in! Muthu was shocked and informed me that he would reprimand Mr. X. I informed Muthu that I would leave that to him but I wanted to make sure that Muthu got his commission from Mr. X regardless whether it was agreed or not amongst themselves. I further informed Muthu that normally, I would not tolerate such nonsense from greedy people but since Mr. X is his friend (I assumed Mr. X was indeed Muthu’s friend), I relented. Muthu sounded apologetic and kept on apologizing. With that, I ended the call. The whole exercise here is to make sure Muthu knew how much I actually paid Mr. X so that Muthu did not get conned if Mr. X told an untruth and secondly, to alert Muthu that Mr. X had informed me he would give some commission to Muthu.
That experience was amazing as I just returned from Sandakan (please read my previous post) where people were genuinely friendly and sincere and I could safely say that if the same thing happened there, the person would not have demanded for additional money like what Mr. X did. I can’t help but think that when Mr. X gave me that sly smile, he was actually saying “Welcome back to reality! Welcome back to KL!” Ah, that feel good sensation I had in Sandakan was wonderful while it lasted!
*Seumas Tan practices in the area of Employment Law covering issues dealing with human resource matters. He practices under the name and style of Messrs S. Tan & Co. and may be contacted at Seumas@STanLawyers.com.my.
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