About two years after that, I was busy handling correspondences with participants of an up and coming international conference that the department was organizing. We had just shifted to the new campus at Seberang Perai Selatan, a site which was formerly known as The Transkrian Oil Palm Estates.
Then, there was an incoming message in my handphone, “Need to see you today! Am on my way…”
“Sure! Will be at the ROVISP Secretariat Room, first floor,” I texted the reply.
A few hours later and there he was, with his sheepish smile, panting away.
“Yes *****! So! What can I do for you this time?” I said, turning slowly from the computer screen as he entered the office door.
“Let me take my breath first!” he said, pulling himself down on the chair at the gesture from my hand.
“You ran all the way?” said I jokingly.
He shook his head and bowed to the floor for a while.
I waited…
“Rode my bike. And thank you for waiting for me. I would like to ask you to be my referee,” he said after his pantings had quietened down.
“Good!” I said, taking hold of the pieces of paper that he handed in front of him.
Refereeing is one thing that I have gotten used to. Numerous pupils of mine have come back for letters of recommendations; for further studies, for job applications, for scholarships…I don’t mind. It is part of my job.
“You want to further your studies! Well and good!” I said with a happy note.
“Just in case, you see! I heard that some of the industries are relocating, mostly to China. Who knows?”
“What made you think that the company you are in might do the same thing?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“I have been downgraded from a engineer to a technical assistant’s post, just recently. My pay has been cut by quite a fraction. The management says that they needed to cut down costs,” he said.
“Is that so?” I said with a worried look now.
“It is all right, Ma’am! Remember your words that day? The thing that you said about survival and finding something to hold onto? I am managing just fine. Some of my friends have been given the boot! And I have been riding my bike, right after work everyday, going from one house to another, giving tuitions to little boys. I am beginning to enjoy the sessions too!” he said.
“All right then! Just leave these papers with me. I will post them to the Graduate Studies Institute, main campus, by tomorrow” I said with a sigh of relief.
We talked for quite a while, about old times. Especially, about how he nearly lost his focus during his undergraduate years when we were at the campus in Tronoh. That was years ago….
Then, there was an incoming message in my handphone, “Need to see you today! Am on my way…”
“Sure! Will be at the ROVISP Secretariat Room, first floor,” I texted the reply.
A few hours later and there he was, with his sheepish smile, panting away.
“Yes *****! So! What can I do for you this time?” I said, turning slowly from the computer screen as he entered the office door.
“Let me take my breath first!” he said, pulling himself down on the chair at the gesture from my hand.
“You ran all the way?” said I jokingly.
He shook his head and bowed to the floor for a while.
I waited…
“Rode my bike. And thank you for waiting for me. I would like to ask you to be my referee,” he said after his pantings had quietened down.
“Good!” I said, taking hold of the pieces of paper that he handed in front of him.
Refereeing is one thing that I have gotten used to. Numerous pupils of mine have come back for letters of recommendations; for further studies, for job applications, for scholarships…I don’t mind. It is part of my job.
“You want to further your studies! Well and good!” I said with a happy note.
“Just in case, you see! I heard that some of the industries are relocating, mostly to China. Who knows?”
“What made you think that the company you are in might do the same thing?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“I have been downgraded from a engineer to a technical assistant’s post, just recently. My pay has been cut by quite a fraction. The management says that they needed to cut down costs,” he said.
“Is that so?” I said with a worried look now.
“It is all right, Ma’am! Remember your words that day? The thing that you said about survival and finding something to hold onto? I am managing just fine. Some of my friends have been given the boot! And I have been riding my bike, right after work everyday, going from one house to another, giving tuitions to little boys. I am beginning to enjoy the sessions too!” he said.
“All right then! Just leave these papers with me. I will post them to the Graduate Studies Institute, main campus, by tomorrow” I said with a sigh of relief.
We talked for quite a while, about old times. Especially, about how he nearly lost his focus during his undergraduate years when we were at the campus in Tronoh. That was years ago….
(to be continued...)
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