We have more than 10 graves to care for at the western road cemetery. Ideally, we want all the graves of our ancestors to be clean and pleasant looking. However, circumstances makes it difficult for it to be well maintained. Last week, Mary paid a man to clean my great grandfather’s grave. Our initial agreement was that he does the cleaning for RM 100 ringgit. When I went to settle the payment, the guy asked for more as the grave needed to be filled with extra soil and some cement work as the tomb was falling apart. I agreed with his reasoning. When I went to the grave the next day, the guy asked for the payment in advance as he needed cash to buy the materials. I thought it was a reasonable request so I gave him the money. That was the last time I saw him.
There are many odd job workers trying to earn a living around the cemetery, some of them do their job well while others have tarnished these people’s reputation by not keeping promises. I am aware of such possible problems arising but then again, I also believe in giving people a chance to prove their worth as well as not judging people at first sight. He did a magnificent job towards the marble on the tomb, never had I seen it so clean, that’s why I trusted his word and gave him the extra money. Unfortunately, he took advantage of my trust.
I was very dissatisfied by what had happened. I asked the other odd job workers and they admitted that that particular guy could not be trusted. They said it was difficult for them to warn me as my sister had given him the job before they could warn us plus they did not want to create an unpleasant feeling among them. I drove along the cemetery and asked people if they saw him until a man told me to wait. He walked down to a corner and shouted in tamil. He was shouting at someone angrily for 3 minutes and dragged the guy out, as if to tell him to give me a good explanation and that guy told me he will get it done before Sunday. I am skeptical, the other men told me it will never happen but I’m going to wait and see what happens.
It is so annoying when people take advantage of other people’s trust, tarnishing other people’s reputation as well as the saying ’ once bitten twice shy’ once an odd job worker cheats you, you become weary of them.