Penguin RushYou are Served!
Last Monday, 09 April 2007, I went to the NRC (National Registration Centre) to register our baby's name. We have agreed to name our baby Ikhwan Rasydan, instead of Muhammad Ikhwan Rasydan, due to the latter being too long. It was a second trip for me, for I had forgotten to bring my wife's original identity card (IC) the week before.
Many relate that trips to government offices can be somewhat unpleasant. What with the long wait, crampy conditions and not-so-friendly staff. That may be true to some extent, but in my opinion, I can see that the Government is striving to improve the quality of service of their staff. Like in my case, the officer in charge politely told me my mistake during the first visit and was more than keen to help speed up the process when I dropped by the second time.
Being a government servant has its perks. Nowadays, most of them work 5 days a week; they can easily request for housing and car loans; there are health benefits for them and their loved ones; they have more than 2-hour lunch break on Fridays (to give way for Friday prayers) etc etc.
The recent rumour said that they would probably enjoy another increment from the Government this year. Let's just hope that when the rumour turns out to be true, nothing else would increase. It's like a new version of Newton's Third Law or something, where for every action (bonus and increment of government staff) there is an equal and NOT-opposite reaction (price hike on everything else)...sigh...those who are self-employed or work in private firms, also have to suffer forking out extra money from their wallet to buy stuffs.
Many of us also think that the government staff enjoy multiple coffee breaks in a day and thus, public has this general perception that government servants are lazy, slow and incompetent.
Again, to some extent, this is true but we should never fall into the trap of 'hasty generalisation'. If you happen to be one of those with this perception, please at least make an exception towards those in the Education and Health sectors.
I remember a time, my wife had to work from 8am to 6pm (at least), for 15 days in a row. On the 15th day (a weekend), we arrived earlier than her clock-in time (I was the one who sent her to her workplace). After clocking in, we decided to have breakfast together. When I sent her back, it was about 5 minutes after the official time.
There was already a blood donor waiting. After calling him in, she apologised for having to go and get her breakfast. The donor gave a sour face and mumbled, "This is typical in government offices. Staff always not around, always on breaks and keep people waiting..." Upon hearing that, she just smiled. She might be extra-patience that day, probably because, she was also tired and it would only waste her energy if she were to drag the conversation.
My blood boiled when she relayed the story to me. If I were there, I would have tell this to his face: "Hey mister! My wife is not here to serve you ok! Give her a break, she's pregnant and has been working like 15 days straight. What kind of a person who goes to a blood centre at 7:30 am on a weekend morning anyway? Shouldn't you be enjoying your extra sleep or something? And what is waiting for less than 5 minutes compared to her having to wait for two weeks before she gets her well-deserving day off?........." Luckily I'm not a doctor huh?
Another incident where I think she had worked her energy off, was when she worked non-stop on each day (other than going to the loo or having short meal breaks), from 8am to midnight for three days straight from Friday to Sunday, and then resumed working as usual the following week. Mind you, she was more than 9 months' pregnant at that time!! It really saddened me that my wife (and our baby) had to endure such stress...
Working in Health sector is no laughing matter! Whether a doctor, a specialist or a nurse, we should respect them all. They have to deal with long hours of working compared to many of us. So if they are a few minutes late in attending to us, or if we see them taking a wink, let us not pass any nasty judgements on them, let alone scold them....
P/S: In case you haven't noticed the joke behind the above cartoon, fyi, doctors don't use stethoscope to examine a patient's throat. You may laugh, but according to my wife, on many occasions, movies and TV programmes (locally produced or from abroad) also portray inaccurate scenes involving doctors. Among them are:
1. stethoscope is worn wrongly.
2. X-ray slide is put up and examined on the reversed side.
3. a 'patient' may be bed-ridden with a cardiac monitor next to the bed, displaying Electro Cardio Graph (ECG) of his health condition; however the monitor shows graph of a normal and healthy person.
Hehe, talk about being dooped huh?
Labels: Cartoons, Life, My Families
posted by The Pisces Man @ 1:36 am
9 Comments:
pasal gomen i x berani nak komen lebih2... hehe.. tinggal lagi kita kena tahu tanggungjawab masing-masing + memahami tanggungjawab n condition orang lain jugak... kan? ;)
hope you are enjoying fatherhood. after reading this post i realise we've got something in common
Abdun, shiha here. I wonder where does your wife working now? In which dept? Saje nak tau ;). For both my kids, I took an extra 1 month breastfeeding leave - unpaid of course. Hmm itu la kalau jadi doktor while pregnant nih. I had a very bad experience last time also, and I can relate very well with your wife's story. During that 15 days, dia takde on call ke? Lucky her. Hmm I had to do mine right until the week just before the delivery. Tu pun sebab dah mintak cuti by that time. What ever it is, our accountability is to Allah. Biarlah apa orang nak kata. Asalkan kita ikhlas with our job. Send my regards to her.
-shiha- (somehow I can not sign in with my blogger acc)
The fact that you are not a doctor might have caused you wanting to say those things to the donor. Chances are, if you ARE a doctor, you might not be able to say those things. Not that you are afraid your job is on the line, but because doctors are generally caring and patience. And by being a doctor, chances are those characters will come to you naturally.
The stress that your wife endured during pregnancy might have given birth to a strong-willed and tough-minded child.
With regard to the 'patient' character, well, guess it's good news for the actor then - the fact that he/she is healthy? :)
Hehe tul tu, Baby... Alahai, what a coincidence. Aku lukis kartun gambo aku sakit tekak, terus kena sakit tekak, demam, batuk, selsema... its been 3 days now.
Mr Incognito - yep! enjoying it a lot! Tell me, tell me, what iz it that we've got something in common..?
Hi Shiha, so have u been able to log into your Blogger account already?
Me and wife had a little conversation the other day. If our children never mention wanting to be a doctor, then we don't want to encourage them so much, based on how stressful it is being a doctor. But if they do want to pursue, then by all means they should...
Wife plans to take that extra 1 month breastfeeding leave too, hopefully it will be approved.
Insha' Allah, I will send your regards to her.
Hi 2nd anonymous, doctor eh? The way you write imply that you are.. hehe..
Thank you for your prayer on our child being a strong-willed and tough-minded person, Insha' Allah.
we are both good looking. haha!
Mr Incognito... Ha... Ha... Ha (and take that as a compliment at the same time, heehee).
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