Putting Kedai Mamak at their place

I know, in one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned what an epitome of unity a Kedai mamak was, with regards to the 1Malaysia concept. For those foreign readers of this post, a ‘kedai mamak’ was an eatery operated by Indian Muslims in Malaysia.

Before the kedai mamak operators trip over themselves patting each other’s backs, over their 1Malaysia contribution, I think I should save their fallings, by telling them their failings.

‘When the cat is away, the rats will play’. This was very true, at least to me, where the waiters or the workers of the kedai mamak were concerned. I say this because I had noticed, several times, that it was very difficult to get the attention of a waiter, when I was seated in a kedai mamak. True to the saying above, I found out that during each of those times the boss of the joint was not around. When the boss was there, it was immediate attention from the waiter. He would be all teeth and it would be “Yes, sir. What will it be?” even before you sat down!

For example, yesterday morning I went to a kedai mamak, the one in front of the Hyundai sales room in the mini city of Taiping. I sat at a table near the counter. No one was at the counter for me to say out my order. At the back, there were five waiters in their uniforms chatting away. They were indifferent to my presence. I knew it then; the boss was not around. There were only two other customers seated three tables away from me. They had been provided their meals.

I sat there for a clear five minutes. And a waiter slowly walked by me. He didn’t even ask me what I wanted. I hailed him, and asked him to switch on the fan above me. No, it was not hot and neither was I sweating. I just had the urge at that time to repay back their ignorance. The waiter switched on the fan and looked at me in expectation. I just sat there and kept quiet, did not order anything, just to see his reaction. Just as I thought, he did not like me to have free air supply. “What do you want to eat?” he asked. “Nasi lemak,” I said.

“Annei, fry one egg!” he shouted to the waiters at the back, and began laying out on the plate other items that go with the nasi lemak. I did not ask for any fried egg to go along with my nasi lemak. It was the norm, I thought and kept quiet. No ‘Annei’ came to fry the egg. The boss was not around, so no one bothered. The nasi lemak waiter fried the egg himself, placed it on the nasi lemak plate and brought it to me. I told him the drink I wanted. “One teh ore kosong!” he shouted to the back and then went to join them. 

Just then, an elderly couple came in and sat at the table beside me. They looked left and right and no one came to take their order. Pity them; they wouldn’t know they had to wait at least five minutes before they would be attended to. 

So would be my drink! Because the cat was away!