Of wiremen and my disappointment with my own people…

I wanted to do some wiring in my house e.g. points for water heater, additional switches and sockets etc. I am not keen in electrical matters or rather have any talent for it. Give me hammers, drills, timbers, cement, paint.. I can construct or do something out of it, well, at least something. Don’t talk about the end product. But with electrical matters like wiring, it needs special skill and knowledge. I believe it can be learned but as I mentioned earlier, I am not quite keen on them.

So, coming back to the things I wanted to do in my house, I looked for wiremen to carry it out for me. So, I called for the guy who has done the wiring for my brother’s house. My brother suggested him because he said he is good and furthermore, he is a Kadazan. So I thought it will be good since he knows my brother and he is a Kadazan. Then one fine Friday morning, I called him to ask whether he can come and see and quote the job to be done. He told me that he will only be able to make it on Sunday noon, a.k.a. 12 noon. So, I waited on Sunday, around 11, I texted him if he is coming (just to confirm back). He replied he will only be there at 3pm!!! I was a bit upset as I have made the appointment and he didn’t come. So, asked him to come the coming week. He said “Bah.”. So, I waited for another week. It’s now Friday but I resisted calling this guy. Come Saturday, I still resisted calling him. Okay, let me explain why I didn’t call him. Firstly he has promise that he will come the week after. Secondly, if he really wanted to take this job, he will surely have called me. He never contacted me, even until today.

So I said to myself, perhaps he don’t want the job. Maybe it’s too small a job for him. I don’t know. Then I start looking for another guy. My wife told me she has a relative who can do wiring. So in my mind, better!! That guy is a relative of her and at least they can have some side income doing this job. I don’t mind paying a little bit more since they’re relatives too.

Then my wife called this relative and arranged for them to come. It’s supposed to be last Sunday i.e. yesterday around 1pm like that. We waited. We purposely cancelled all appointments outside. We actually are prepared to take them to do it, whatever the reasonable price they want to offer. We waited….. and it’s like déjà vu. It’s the same thing happened like two weeks back. No phone call. No text. No nothing. Just like that. They never showed up. Grrr.. I end up installing my adjustable louvers (next posting perhaps).

Me and my wife was disappointed by all this. We wanted our own people to do it. Just to give them some ‘business’ or side income. But they are not seemed to be interested. OK, they may have their reasons but at least they told us that they can’t come or do not want to do it at all. I am not seeking for them to say “sorry”. No, it’s not my intention. I was actually disappointed with the attitude of my own race. Your own people are giving you some kind of opportunities but not taking it. Again, perhaps, this job I am offering is too small a job. But, believe me, if I ask a Chinese to do it, they will come and response fast. Of course we don’t talk about the costs first, but they will act fast. I have experienced once before. I called this Chinese guy which I got from a shop. It’s on a Sunday and I just bought a fan that very morning. Yes one fan. This Chinese guy responded fast. It’s an RM80 job but he still does it nonetheless. Too bad I lost his contact number when I lost ‘Little Buddy’ aka handphone in Semporna sometimes last year.

Well, the point I am talking is that I am disappointed with my own people’s attitude. Of course not all, there are some good ones out there, but based on this experience, I was disappointed. I am not saying that I am good or better than them, but if I have a skill e.g. wiring, I surely will use it to as much as I can to get extra income. I am not highly paid, even if people may say otherwise, but with the economic conditions nowadays; it’s good to have some extra income. And that extra income can lift a little bit of your financial burden… well, the two guys did not take this opportunity, perhaps others will…