Fortunately I got along well with Puat. Or should I say he got along well with me. It was hard not to. You see, Puat was a Malay from Malaysia. He seemed like one of the typical Malay abang who roared, 'Botoh!' at the stands with me in the National Stadium during the Malaysia Cup days. He was casual, straight talking and had the humor traits like the Malay friends I grew up with. We hit off right from the first minute to my relief, or the chauffeuring assignments would be long and weary indeed.
Puat was here to assist our young company to achieve ISO 9001. He was supposed to be some QA/QC big shot from main company who was in charge of the QC matters in the region and had many QC managers working under him. Gave no damn, as usual. The rules don't change. The person, not his reputation, makes the man. It almost felt he was Singaporean, able to relate to many issues I wanted to express. We started talking about his job, his career, his family, his car and his house. All I revealed about myself was how long I have been here and who did I come with. That was about how much I was asked. That was perfectly fine with me. The less I needed to answer, the better.
By the second day, we ventured into more interesting topics about both our countries and their government for a start. Though the length of time we spent was minimal, we soon found ourselves discussing a wide range of topics under the sun. Puat's way of explaining his points were entertaining, sometimes even comical. They were always simple but effective, didn't hurt we could have a few hearty laughs together.
Puat was here to assist our young company to achieve ISO 9001. He was supposed to be some QA/QC big shot from main company who was in charge of the QC matters in the region and had many QC managers working under him. Gave no damn, as usual. The rules don't change. The person, not his reputation, makes the man. It almost felt he was Singaporean, able to relate to many issues I wanted to express. We started talking about his job, his career, his family, his car and his house. All I revealed about myself was how long I have been here and who did I come with. That was about how much I was asked. That was perfectly fine with me. The less I needed to answer, the better.
By the second day, we ventured into more interesting topics about both our countries and their government for a start. Though the length of time we spent was minimal, we soon found ourselves discussing a wide range of topics under the sun. Puat's way of explaining his points were entertaining, sometimes even comical. They were always simple but effective, didn't hurt we could have a few hearty laughs together.
No comments:
Post a Comment