Working Class Hero ~ My Heart’s A Stereo

When I was 16, my parents checked in the whole family to a beach resort for 5 days. WTF on so many levels. To a closet smoking perpetually pms-ing teen, the trip was pure hell. Of course being Asian (hah) I hid my true feelings as best I could and ended up spending most of the hols secretly chain-smoking behind a shed, far from prying eyes (under-aged smokers used to be frowned upon ~ it was the mid 90s and public opinion still counted ok?). I hung out with a little old housekeeper and her little old husband, coincidentally the hotel’s gardener. Anyway… I learnt a lot about them in the few short days we stayed there. How they lived in a fishing village nearby. How they’d worked in the resort since it opened (circa 1988 ~ better than fishing, said little old man), how they had a daughter who worked in the resort next-door and how they had a son in college.

My point is, people tell me stuff. And while some things are not meant to be told, other stories were made to be shared. HazzaH!

I met Mattie (no I will not tell you his real name my-former-colleagues, nice try) at my first gig as a full-fledged Department Head (ooooohhhh). I was Hilton’s brand new PR Manager, he was a banquet waiter. I ran a small-ass department for a big-ass hotel. That’s a whole shiteload of reports, writing, editing and designing yo. 5 F&B outlets + 2 super kiasu F&B heads. Equation? A whole lot of late nights. Mattie was (and still is) a tall, handsome, smiley chap of about 28 (he was 24 when I first met him, how time flies~). Being a banquet waiter, he worked late a lot too (ballroom turnover and what not). After a couple of weeks, our polite social exchanges progressed to him popping his head round my office door to say “What the hell are you still doing here?” ~ before bringing me coffee . Like the little old couple so many years ago, he started telling me “stuff” too. This is his story…

Born to a shiftless father and a worked-to-the-bone mother, Mattie’s the second son ~ the first being an equally shiftless true father’s boy, followed by two little sisters (then) under 15. Kuching has few slums but Mattie was born under a star that placed him smack in the middle of the most notorious slum-of-the-city. A place where religion is just a word, and where drunkards and junkies openly roam the muddy roads at night (they shy away from sunlight, he said). Yet somehow by all that’s holy, that very same star granted Mattie what must have been his mother’s good looks, before careworn lines deepened her once smooth brow (he showed me her picture). He also inherited her industrious nature and her quiet demeanour.

Mattie’s parents separated when he was 17. His mum moved out to rent a room (that’s right, one bedroom – where she took in orders to sew) with his two little sisters and told him to be a good boy. His older brother, just a few years older than him, had by then been married and promptly kicked out by his wife for cheating. And the reason Mattie’s parents split? Not because his dad hadn’t worked for 10 years but because, yes you guessed it – he’d been caught cheating… with someone Mattie’s age. *gulp*

Mattie, who had been a part-time waiter at Hilton since he was 16, without anyone to guide him on college applications etc.~ then decided to stay on as a waiter. He said it was where he felt safe ~ besides also being a place where you got free food (staff cafeteria) and where they washed and ironed your uniform.

Me (trying to reassure myself) : You make a good living right? You don’t have commitments anyway, right? With your service points and basic pay you make about Rm900? That’s not too bad, right? Right?

Mattie: Sure. But I have to pay my dad’s car instalment (Rm350) and then there’s my girlfriend’s car (another Rm350) so basically every month I have like Rm200 for everything else.

Me: You’d be better off not driving to work then. Get a bike instead!

Mattie: Who said I drove any of those cars?

Me: You pay for two cars you don’t even drive?? DUDE! You’re like the best son / boyfriend ever! Also the most stupid. What the hell can you do with Rm200 a month??

Mattie: About RM50 for transport. RM30 for my mobile prepaid. The rest is in case of emergencies.

Me: Don’t you go on dates and stuff? But I guess you could always stay home and watch TV.

Mattie (laughing): Who said we have a tv??

….well… you get the picture…

He told me other stuff too. How he’d saved for 2 years to buy a Gameboy (because all boys like their toys) only to have it stolen a couple of months later. How the whole house steamed like a furnace on hot days and how you had to be careful not to leave anything on the floor because water seeped in when it rained. He joked that he was living proof of why people shouldn’t make houses out of leftover plaster and old zinc.

When I, teary-eyed, choked out “I wish there was something I could do”… Mattie, being Mattie just nudged me and laughed. “Don’t worry – things will get better. I can’t go any lower can I? So even if I go a little bit higher, it’s still up… besides, you listen. Plus you give me biscuits!” (I used to keep a cookie-jar stocked for all broke and hungry waiters / waitresses)

Mattie didn't ask for anything. He just wanted to be heard. He was imparting knowledge. Not everyone has the good fortune to sulk at being forced to go to a family trip *gasp* at a 5-star resort! Not everyone has money to burn on smokes behind a gardener’s shed. Not everyone has a hard-working dad who’s always travelling. Some have deadbeat drunk dads who’re always at home, passed out on the only good chair in a ramshackle house.

Saying goodbye to Mattie when I left Hilton was hard. He looked, for once, forlorn. Mattie being Mattie still nudged me and said “Did you leave your cookie jar behind? Make sure you get that assistant of yours to keep it filled.” (yes, she did…)

I didn’t see Mattie till fairly recently. I was buying a coffee (how I miss Hilton coffee!!! Caffè Cino rocks!!) when someone nudges me with a sinister whisper “Cookie??”

There he was, resplendent in a BLACK JACKET!

Me: WaaaaAAA! Look at you, all handsome!! Got the promotion that came with that coat?

Mattie: Sure did.. I’m a Captain now. Not that high but it’s higher than I was. I told you right? *wink*

Me: Yes you did. Congratulations *teary-eyed*

Mattie: *nudge* None of that, none of that… let me get you that coffee, for old time’s sake *nudge*