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The sawmiller and his cash


During my labour office days, I once had to visit a sawmill that was located away from town. When I reached the mill I was directed to an office. I asked the receptionist for the Manager’s whereabouts. She then directed me to a shipping container (which had been converted to an office) located behind the sawmill. I thought that was a sensible thing as the sawmill was a noisy spot with circular saws and the sounds of falling logs were causing quite a din. As I approached the container the door opened. The occupants may have been alerted that I was looking for the manager. But the man who extended his hand was clad in a cotton shorts and an open neck singlet. I identified myself and told him I was looking for the manager. He grinned exposing a few gold colored teeth and said he was the manager. He had guessed I had my doubts because of his attire. He went on to explain that it was a hot day and that there was a malfunction of the air conditioner in the container. The fans in the container were at full blast and afforded some relief for the heat in the container. At a signal   the two clerical staff left the container. I thought they were being sent off for tea breaks. It was naive of me of course to think sawmill employees get tea breaks as I had seen staff having their lunch at their desks. As soon as the staff left the room the manager came from behind and  slipped a bundle of currency notes into my shirt pocket. I did not want to touch the notes and directed the manager to remove them from my pocket. He was confused as he had only stuffed notes into pockets of public officers and has never had to retrieve notes from their pockets. He let go a grin in an attempt to humor me. I told him if he did not retrieve the money then I would be calling the police. That must have scared him and he grudgingly recovered the notes from my pocket. He then showed me a page in the ledger where he had written out neatly the dates , names of public officers who had received monies from him. I thanked my lucky stars that my name would not be appearing in his register. I warned him to stop this practice or he would be arrested one day for offering bribes to public servants. 


But he was an incorrigible guy, for that New Year he passed me a huge hamper. I reported this to my boss and was told not to make an issue of it as it was the New Year and the manager would be scolded by his boss for his failure to carry out a simple task if a complaint was made. 


All contents (c) of Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana@blogspot.com


Image (c) gscabin.com.my

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