I have always believed that we are at a particular place for a lot of reasons...The choices that we make in our life at times has its own reasons that will make us realize that we are needed...I remember when I was younger, my religious teacher told us that we are the 'khalifah di muka bumi'(a messenger)... These few days this thoughts has been running in my mind...There are a few interesting occasions which made me ponder about this...

A few days back there was a lady on a motorized wheelchair who came to the shop for a late lunch...She approached my supervisor Shaun to order something to drink...For my colleagues it was 'unfortunate' of me to be there but I felt that 'fortunately' I was there...Shaun could not understand a word that came out from the lady as she had speech difficulties where she stutters before finishing a word and is not able control her pitch...Not only that, she has trouble coordinating her whole body, from her eyes and hands...Without hesitation, I offered to take over Shaun and attend to the lady...She wanted a large cappuccino with whipped cream and a set of sandwich...As ordered, Shaun prepared the sandwiches and I made her coffee...I sent it over to her table and walked away...

Five minutes later....

Lady: Hellll(stutters)llooo

Me: Yes can I help you?

Lady: Can you put napkins on my chest and take the money for the sandwich...

(This was rather awkward as I had to dig in through her bag for her money)

I then left the table and start my closing process...Then she called me again...Bak kata orang melayu belum sempat panas bontot lagi dah kena panggil...

Lady: Can you please pick up the sandwich and put it on my hand...

(I swear it looked so hard for her to even eat the sandwich)

Me: Sure...

Approximately 8 minutes later...

Lady: Put some sweetener in my coffee...Put two ok..

(I had a real problem with this one as the sweeteners were really small and I think I actually put more than 2 in her coffee which I thought those mini dispensers were rosak sebab macam tak keluar je)

Lady: Bring the coffee up to me...

(I felt like I was her carer already)

Lady: Ooooh...Oooohh...Its too hot...

Me: Do you want some ice...

(She gave me a nod and I went to put some ice in

her coffee and went back to her)

Lady: Ooooh...Ooooh...Its too cold...

(I went back and put some hot milk in her coffee)

Lady:Its too hot...I want more cream...

So I went back and redo her coffee and she drank it happily...My colleagues we all laughing at me but that experience made me realize that I have so much patience...What if it happens to you??Would you just sit and watch or give her a hand... :)

Below is an image of her...

Well thats the end of the story...So today, two of the shop's regular customer came...Two of them were two interesting old men...The first guy is a Scottish guy whom will always order for a cup of regular latte...My manager calls him 'the little guy'...I served him and he asked me where I was from...To my surprise, he knows where Kuala Lumpur is and even know that we call it KL...He told me his story...He left Scotland when he was 18 to join the army and later joined the navy where he retired as a sailor...This friendly little guy then told me that he was married to an Irish woman and all his money is in Ireland...He slipped his hand in his front pocket and took out a picture of his wife..."This is my wife, she died 20 years ago when she was 55..." I could sense a tone of sadness...Such a charming old man...He kept an obituary piece in his card holder...It wrote 'Deeply Missed & Loved'...That really moved my feelings...I mellowed down the conversation by saying that I was about 7 years old at that time...He finally had a chuckle...I went back to work....

At about 4 pm another old Chinese guy from Hong Kong came to the shop looking for me...The first time he came, I was the one who served him which he remembers and constantly look for me as he is not able to converse that well in English...As usual I tend to understand all this people which amazes my colleagues.. Today he did not want his normal sandwich...He wanted to make a call to his son...He showed me some coins on his hands and a phone number written on a piece of paper...I excused myself and helped him to make his call at the phone booth nearby...He told me that he can't read the numbers and he said that I have good eyes to look for him...I went back to the shop, and checked on him and I saw him talking happily on the phone...He hung up and I saw him looking in the shop for me...He wanted to give me a wave and bowed from afar as a gesture of gratitude...

This is one thing that I would like to share with everyone which is to listen...When my colleagues asked me how I did it...I tell them...The key to understand all this people is to listen carefully and you will understand even when they are not speaking your language just listen...Another lesson is not to complain...One of my supervisor Wioletta was telling the rest of my friends that I am the only one in the store who has never complained about work...Of course la meluahkan to mum and dad is normal, but not complaining until I want to quit...And I told her that there is no point of complaining as it will make us more stressed out...What I did was simple...Just enjoy the job and tell yourself that not everyone can do what you can do...Honestly the job looks really simple but its hard work...I understand her point but there are times when you should be grateful that you have a job to survive....

So thats the end of my long winded story...What I learn from these few days is that a person's disabilities are your strength that you have to share...Always give a hand not for a hope of a good return but to do it because you want to do it...I hope what I wrote today benefits anyone who reads it...I am not at all a great person but one thing I know I am is that I am grateful with what I have and I am only human and I do make mistakes along the way...Allhamdulilah...

If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book