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First impressions



I was visiting an oil palm estate where the Assistant Manager was a young Englishman. He had the impression that most  civil servants were corrupted. 


At that time I was driving a Peugeot 504 which I had bought from another civil servant when he left for an office job in Kuala Lumpur. He had told me that in his new place he had to pay a high price for parking and because of the busy roads his petrol bills would be high too. He felt the public transport system with mini buses and all in the Federal Capital he would not need a car there. I was able to bargain and brought down the price of the car to reasonable levels informing him that I didn’t need a car but was prepared to take over  his car if he slashed the price to reasonable levels. His departure date was imminent and if he did not dispose of the car he would have a problem on his hands.


Coming back to my story - as soon as I  met the Assistant Manager in the estate, he remarked that the Government does look after its officers well - intimating that I must be corrupted and living beyond my means. He had the notion that public service employees had ‘O’ level qualifications or lesser and moved around  on motorcycles. I don’t blame him as he has only encountered uniformed civil servants like postmen and meter readers of utility companies. 


As soon as I had completed my meeting with him, I told him that I would be leaving. He said his manager knew I was around and wanted to see me once I was done with him. I accompanied him to meet his manager and was surprised to find that he was my University course mate. He came around his table and gave me a warm greeting. The manager told his surprised Assistant that I was his course mate from University. He invited me for lunch at his Club and asked the Assistant to join us for lunch. The young man declined, apologised and said his wife was waiting for him. He excused himself and went out to join her for his lunch. The next day my friend the manager called and said his assistant had apologised for the cold reception he had given me thinking I was a uniformed junior staff employed in the civil service and he never thought the civil service employed University graduates to visit estates. I told my friend I had forgotten the incident but in future I would come to his estate on a borrowed motorcycle, since I did not own one to satisfy his Assistant.


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


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