Unfair Treatment

I have a fellow friend who works in the same place as me. His name is O (Obviously it's not his real name). Well you see...in the place where we work. O and me are the only two new day-staff (meaning that we work from 8 am to 5 pm). There's another day-staff, K, but he came in much earlier than O and me.

The problem is that O is not a normal guy. He's ab-normal in the sense that he does things slower, slow thinking, forgetful, gullible and blur. He has a low IQ. You can say that he exhibits some characteristics of a Down Syndrome victim. Hence he was "marked" by our seniors. So whenever we are asked to do things he would end up finishing last. So among the three days-staff, O would always be picked-on. Sad.

For example, when taking orders in the morning, O may forget some of the orders placed. Then when the food arrived, some seniors ended with no food. As they say, a hungry man is an angry man, how true it is.

On another occasion, when we were grooming dogs, O's dog was checked by the IC (in-charge) before putting the dog back into it's kennel. However, his dog was always not properly groomed at every check by the IC. So he ended up as the last guy. The IC was angry again and shouted and scolded him. In the end, the IC asked him to clean the drains.

O was also confined for doing his job badly. He was asked to clean the kitchen sink. When the IC checked, he found rice and strands of noodles on it. In the end O was confined.

O asked me a few times...

"I know I am blur but I really tried my best in the things that they ask me to do."

All I can do is just console him and comfort him.

Personally I think that one shouldn't be ill-treated just because he is handicapped (handicapped in the sense that he is not as bright and quick in actions as a normal person). I really don't know. But from what I see and hear, he is facing a tough life.

For me, I do the job that they give me. If it's done correctly, there won't be any scolding. But if there are mistakes, I will get scolded...but not as bad as O as O has been "marked" already because of his "blur-ness".

Then there's this IC whose name is L (a different IC from the one mentioned before). He really gave demeaning remarks and held sarcastic conversations with him. An example would be this...

"Hey O! I heard you got a PhD right?" (smiling as he talked)

"Erm...no. The PhD I had was a poly-halfway-dropout" (looking down to the floor as he talked)

"So you want me to call you doctor? Haha."

"Er...don't need"

"Why not we have some intellectual discussions about the solar system. Wait...do you know what a solar system is?" (still smiling)

"Er...yah...it's something about the planets and sun..."

"Good. At least you know some stuff."

And this was not the only time. In the place where we worked, only a handful of us came from JCs (Junior Colleges). L was one of them who came from JC. He is supposed to be educated and cultured. He is not suppose to take advantage of those who are of a low education (like O) and bully them (oooo...how my blood boils).

All I can say is that it's unfair. O is receiving unfair treatment...and I can't really do anything about it as O and me are new in this place. The authorities have also "marked" him so complaining to them would be fruitless.

I guess I will just have to continue to listen to his cries and complains and encourage him.

O...just hang on man...all of these will soon be over.

Tags: National Service, Singapore