In my course of work, there are often (more than I would have liked) moments when I have to liaise with the powers that be ranging from ministeries, governmental departments, police and Courts.
And each time I lift the phone to make a call, I would have to breathe slowly and run happy thoughts in my mind. Why the need? Because while I take every effort to be polite and courteous to the other end of the line, it is just not reciprocated most of the time. Most notorious of them all are the staff manning our institutions of justice. From the way the staff (am not making a general statement here but the polite and helpful ones are simply outnumbered) respond to our queries, we could very well be the accused persons on trial.
By the way, this entry or ranting (whichever way you see it as) is thanks to an extremely 'polite' staff who answered my call. I called up the KL Court Complex to seek guidance as to whom the particular letter should be addressed to. My call was eventually directed to this male person whom I shall call as an 'S'. Anyway, I asked S for the intended addressee's proper designation because obviously, the person receiving the letter may get offended if they are not properly referred to. S thought he was being super intelligent and said it's sufficient if I address it to 'Senior Assistant Registrar (of the relevant division)'. I disagreed because if the division has a Registrar, there's no need for the letter to be sent to the SAR.
Then, I posed further queries which left S more frustrated.
Finally, he said 'Senang. Hantar aje kat CR' (translation: Easy. Send it to CR). I was confused and asked 'what's CR'?. Now, here comes the cruncher. S replied by asking 'Awak ni lawyer ke?' (translation: Are you a lawyer?). While I was getting angry at S' tone, I took a deep breath and said in the most polite tone I could muster, a curt yes. I nearly blew my top when S continued his remark in a very condescending manner, "Awak lawyer pun tak tau CR ke?"
Ok, that statement left me flabbergasted. If it was my faculty mates who asked what CR stands for, I would know it's 'Common Room'. If it was my Form 5 accounts teacher who asked me that question, I would get a whack on the head for not knowing it stands for 'credit'.
Instead, I have one 'S' asking me that question. And in my limited years of practice, I'm afraid I've never come across the term 'CR'. I've heard about 'SAR' or 'TP', 'MJU', CJ, JCA, PCA but not CR. So I told that 'S' that I do not know what CR is all about.
S sighed and said it stood for 'Case Registry'. Bloody hell. How am I supposed to know that? Everyone I know (well, those legally trained anyway. Blinking idiots like 'S' who think they're smart just because they get to scold us do not count) calls the Registry as the Registry. We wouldn't know that Court staff uses CR as part of their lingo.
And just to confirm, I even asked my colleagues whether they know what 'CR' stands for. Like me, they do not know as well.
What creatures like 'S' fail to comprehend with that nut of a brain (forgive me for being generous) is that there are better ways to respond to people's queries. They may see the 'BUAT KERJA' banners every time they clock in for duty but do they know what the term really means? BUAT KERJA means doing your job to the best of your ability. It does not mean giving you the privilege to treat people who seek your help like dirt.
With examples like 'S' running around, I do not know why foreigners think Malaysians are courteous. Obviously, most of us conveniently missed the fact that being polite is a virtue. I'm not asking Court staff to be doormats but merely to be courteous to all and not only to their learned bosses.
But then again, they may never understand what being courteous is all about. Just like being forced to wear a stupid tag saying 'Smile' when you obviously do not like to smile, it reminds me of the following -
'You can drag a horse to the river but you can't force the horse to drink the water'
With that, I 'look forward' to the many more opportunities in interacting with those staff who may make my day if they're just polite.
Ok, that statement left me flabbergasted. If it was my faculty mates who asked what CR stands for, I would know it's 'Common Room'. If it was my Form 5 accounts teacher who asked me that question, I would get a whack on the head for not knowing it stands for 'credit'.
Instead, I have one 'S' asking me that question. And in my limited years of practice, I'm afraid I've never come across the term 'CR'. I've heard about 'SAR' or 'TP', 'MJU', CJ, JCA, PCA but not CR. So I told that 'S' that I do not know what CR is all about.
S sighed and said it stood for 'Case Registry'. Bloody hell. How am I supposed to know that? Everyone I know (well, those legally trained anyway. Blinking idiots like 'S' who think they're smart just because they get to scold us do not count) calls the Registry as the Registry. We wouldn't know that Court staff uses CR as part of their lingo.
And just to confirm, I even asked my colleagues whether they know what 'CR' stands for. Like me, they do not know as well.
What creatures like 'S' fail to comprehend with that nut of a brain (forgive me for being generous) is that there are better ways to respond to people's queries. They may see the 'BUAT KERJA' banners every time they clock in for duty but do they know what the term really means? BUAT KERJA means doing your job to the best of your ability. It does not mean giving you the privilege to treat people who seek your help like dirt.
With examples like 'S' running around, I do not know why foreigners think Malaysians are courteous. Obviously, most of us conveniently missed the fact that being polite is a virtue. I'm not asking Court staff to be doormats but merely to be courteous to all and not only to their learned bosses.
But then again, they may never understand what being courteous is all about. Just like being forced to wear a stupid tag saying 'Smile' when you obviously do not like to smile, it reminds me of the following -
'You can drag a horse to the river but you can't force the horse to drink the water'
With that, I 'look forward' to the many more opportunities in interacting with those staff who may make my day if they're just polite.
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