my mother, whenever she drives in the petrol pump at my neighborhood, she would always requested for the same worker to fill in her car's tank. the guy's name is Syarif (Sarip) and is a Bangladeshi. but he is able to understand and speak our bahasa pasar very neatly though his accent might got the conversation wobbly lol look at my parable.
Sarip and my mother, i could say, quite close since they have a warm customer-worker relationship. but my mother would once in a while breach the professional relationship by buying Sarip some pisang goreng and keropok lekor or a bottle of Coke or have an earthy 10-minute chit chat while he filling up the tank. mother love chit chatting with him. and she is concern about him too. like one time she came in on a Friday noon and asked whether Sarip would go for solat Jumaat. which he said yes. Sarip is nice to me too. i adore how gentleman he is to greet me with salam and ask whether my mother is healthy or ask her whereabouts.
recently when my mother and i came to fill in the gas, as usual the other worker yelled for him to come and serve us. he came and bid salam and asked for how much my mother wanted to fill in and he keyed in the numbers and picked up the nozzle and filled in the gas. and then he told my mother with a weak voice that his mother passed away last Sunday. my mother was shocked and said that he should go back to Bangladesh. Sarip told her that if he is going to go back to his hometown and visit his mother's grave, he needed a long vacation because couple of weeks is not enough. my mother agreed and all of us then sank into numbness as we breathed in the carbon dioxide of silence.
the gas was done filled in. Sarip then unloaded the nozzle and shut the gas 'hole' (lol) and bid salam to signify his gentleman's good bye. and as my mother drove out of the petrol station compound, she did not realized i was looking on all over her face and breathed a heavy relieve that my mother is still breathing and is right beside me.
Sarip and my mother, i could say, quite close since they have a warm customer-worker relationship. but my mother would once in a while breach the professional relationship by buying Sarip some pisang goreng and keropok lekor or a bottle of Coke or have an earthy 10-minute chit chat while he filling up the tank. mother love chit chatting with him. and she is concern about him too. like one time she came in on a Friday noon and asked whether Sarip would go for solat Jumaat. which he said yes. Sarip is nice to me too. i adore how gentleman he is to greet me with salam and ask whether my mother is healthy or ask her whereabouts.
recently when my mother and i came to fill in the gas, as usual the other worker yelled for him to come and serve us. he came and bid salam and asked for how much my mother wanted to fill in and he keyed in the numbers and picked up the nozzle and filled in the gas. and then he told my mother with a weak voice that his mother passed away last Sunday. my mother was shocked and said that he should go back to Bangladesh. Sarip told her that if he is going to go back to his hometown and visit his mother's grave, he needed a long vacation because couple of weeks is not enough. my mother agreed and all of us then sank into numbness as we breathed in the carbon dioxide of silence.
the gas was done filled in. Sarip then unloaded the nozzle and shut the gas 'hole' (lol) and bid salam to signify his gentleman's good bye. and as my mother drove out of the petrol station compound, she did not realized i was looking on all over her face and breathed a heavy relieve that my mother is still breathing and is right beside me.
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