I HATE CHINESE NEW YEAR IN KUCHING CITY!

It is a girl’s nightmare to marry a wrong husband and an employee’s nightmare to work for a heartless boss!

Written by Miss Yellow

When I write this article, I think I am on the verge of getting crazy, imagine a Chinese new year without any extra dime in your pocket when you husband’s boss didn’t yet release any money, and it only remains three days before Chinese New Year. Worst still I have been jobless for ages!!!!

   For a rich Datuk businessman, everyday is his Chinese New Year, that’s why he wouldn’t understand his poor employees why they insisted to celebrate Chinese New Year and must have bonus released to them only on Chinese New Year.

What a fateful life in this Kuching city? I came here with full of anticipation but in this eve of my stay here I would tell you why I think I don’t belonged to this city Kuching!

    

   I am still not bowing down with my tough life yet, past three years I gained more white hair on my head more than ever, I gained more weight more than ever and I am getting darker in complexion more than ever! You know who I would curse, when my prayers were not heard by my God?!  No woman likes her husband or children being bullied right?!

About three years ago, my husband returned home announced to me happily that he signed up a project with a handsome, young and a professional boss, a lawyer. And three years later he told me that I have a crow mouth. Well I am a modern Cassandra, he didn't take my advice!

   I poured cold water on him, ‘Do you know that a lawyer won’t know anything about your work nature? Does he know that you can’t build road when it is raining? Does he know that every day when you worked on his project, you are involving in lots of capitals? Does he know that you have to pay trucks, mechanics, workers etc and etc.? Will he pay you the full amount of the periodical work done like those established companies like Naim Cendera instead of just 40%? (This kind of bloody contractor really thought that every subcontractors earn more than him!!) Does he know that you have to pay for all those suppliers? Do you know lawyer can “chop you here and there in a ultra unreasonable way and at the end you won’t earn any dime, yet he will show his Buddha face telling you that, “Look, I am always helping you, am I?” Does he know that if he delay paying you but you have to sell off your shop lots and other capital assets?’

    

   So since my husband signed up with this lawyer-contractor boss, my life is in hell for three damn years in Kuching too. It is a girl’s nightmare to marry a wrong husband and an employee’s nightmare to work for a heartless boss! Let me tell you this, I am the victim of this issue, I have a “wrong husband” and he has a “wrong boss”, my luck is betting zero, and yet I am still holding my chin up grinning bravely.

There are many simple-minded sub-contractors (usually engineers) never thought twice when signing up project with a main contractor. I hear a lot of information past three years when I stayed in Kuching of who are the best contractors, who are the mean contractors and who are the worst contractors. I warn you that you have to watch out the following kind of main contractors when you sign up to work as a subcontractor for them.

(1)      Make sure he is not a second generation of a fairly rich businessman’s son, he was probably one of the smartest siblings amongst many others, that mean he would never need to let his finger getting dirty, arrogant in nature, thus he won’t have any compassion for those people who work hard for him under the sun, instead he would think that they are stupid that’s why they work these kind of dirty jobs, or else they would be like him sitting under the cool air signing billions of ringgit projects with the government sectors.

(2)      Make sure he is not a lawyer. The reason is he doesn’t know any shit about construction works, but he knows laws. Unless you have your own corporate lawyers’ team, or else if you are just a little subcontractor, he may “swallow you up” without a single noise, you won’t dare to make any noise, all because he is a lawyer. He thought that his subcontractors could “steal materials” to undercut cost but actually these subcontractors are always under stringent surveying by JKR engineers and consultants. So he thought his subcontractors actually earn more money than him, so he starts to cut here and there very unreasonable. He didn’t know that his subcontractors only were the winners to win contracts from him, when they bet their LOWEST!!! If a person plays dirty to win a contract, he will think the whole world would act like him! So don’t expect his fair treatment to you “employees” (or slaves)

(3)      The contractor-boss hardly accepted even “minimum religious education” (no use if his wife is as holy as a monk!) as a Chinese-Malaysian if he was not taught any Confucianism or Taoism, but if he is purely English educated. So don’t talk about compassionate, love, cherish and patient to him. He would scold the whole office staff yet no one dares to retaliate and challenge him, even if he was so unreasonable and acted like a barbarian. He usually has foul temper, the whole office staffs scared the shits pout of him, especially if he becomes a datuk now!!

(4)      Usually his dad has at least two wives, to show that he was from a problematic background already, lacked of fatherly figure since young day to coach them to behave like other ethical businessmen.

Just few weeks ago, people in Kopitiam kept gossiping a contractor,  this contractor didn't want to pay after a company removed all the heavy equipments out of the scene of a building for its open ceremony. I learned that he was a famous contractor in Kuching city who would not pay his subcontractors but would tell them to continue his next project, if the subcontractors pull out, they would be afraid they would never receive any more money, but if they continue to work for this company which shares a name like Barbie’s best boyfriend, their poor families would be having Chinese New Year like mine, no traveling, no good foods, no good clothing, poor in cash for years.

   The other kind of above mentioned boss would treat his office staff like slaves, one staff has to work for five staff’s works to cut down his employees’ expenses. These staffs were always working overtime, some of them even have to work during Sunday, during Chinese New Year, and the most they could get is RM500. What the staff didn’t know was the accountant was the one who got scolded badly by her boss, “I don’t understand why you all need to get bonus during Chinese New Year, I thought of giving you all during year end!” (Dubs… year end was just a month ago, did you give last year end’s bonus to your staffs?)

   

Bad bosses are like bad husbands, lucky employees need to look for good and kind employers with compassion. When I stay in Northern Sarawak for almost two decades, I know of a good employer, he was an engineering consultant, he and his wife earns a lot of money, yet they would credit those staffs and engineers who worked for them, they would bring the whole company staffs to tour England and Australia, during the trip the staffs would have extra expenses given.

  

   Some bosses are just greedy, they only think of if their own pockets and bank accounts are loaded, they didn’t care a shit of what other people suffer, the best is like my husband, sold off his shop lots and capital assets to “pay” for his contractor-boss’s project.

Lastly, I met a woman kept telling me how capable is her relative, but does she know that what is the use of a capable person without any compassion, his standard of kindness is different from the rest of the populations, if he donated less than a 10K he expected a big photo taken posted on newspaper. He didn’t pay his employees well, make them overworked. He didn’t pay his subcontractors fairly and also slowly.. or dragging the payments so that he could use the money to reinvest in European share markets …. yet when he talked to them, he would say, “Oh I always help you, am I?” That’s mean he thought all his subcontractors earned lots of money from his projects, he didn’t know yet now he has become very notorious in the civil contract works that he likes to cut and chop a pig, and the subcontractors at the end not even sharing a pig tail, and I think I heard I cursed, “SHITS”

   

   If you are main-contractors coincidentally fallen the above points that I mentioned but with true generosity, fairness, kindness and high conscience, then I am not talking about you!