My Precious Job

Solve this riddle: "It was once highly sought after, now it's almost bottom on anyone's list." - so, what's my job? If your answer is "a teacher", then you're absolutely right!! Too bad, there's no prize for making a correct guess.

I joined the education sector in 1990, and my first posting was to a rural school in Sarawak, in a small village called Nyelitak. I wonder if that village still exists. The school definitely isn't there anymore due to under enrolment - there were only forty students when I was there. It was a wonderful experience, though scary initially. I didn't know anyone, yet I had to mingle among the natives; I found that they were really good people. I came back to Malaysia (civilisation!!!) 3 years later, and had to re-adjust my brain to suit the "new" environment.

Sekolah Rendah Kerajaan Nyelitak, Simunjan (background: school building, foreground: canteen)

I continued teaching till 2000, and then I decided it's time to move on. Never mind that I'd lost all the benefits of being a government servant; I wanted something new. So I left Malacca and teaching, and joined a private firm in Petaling Jaya as an Educational Consultant. Wow... really great - a consultant, huh? Actually, I was more like a Training Executive for the company's educational software sold to schools. I met a couple of new friends there, two of whom I'm still in touch with. I wonder what happened to my really cool boss. Anyway, I didn't last long there as I'm never a city kid, so I seized the opportunity to return to Malacca when there was a vacancy at a newly established college here. I joined late 2001 as its pioneer language instructor.

Things went smoothly, I got to know more friends. Then there was hanky-panky in the management and heavy internal politics that had affected the staff. Finally, after securing a new job, I left that college early 2005 and joined a private university. The pay was much lower, but who cares. I knew I made a good move. Here's where I met my wife who dumped me 3 years later. The colleague who introduced her to me has now gone into hiding. Gosh, she must have thought I'm the bad one. My ex-wife's good; I'm bad... as always, men get the blame.

I've learnt a lot in this university. I've got great, helpful colleagues, and a personal office (with a room mate), so there's kinda privacy. There are lots of stringent policies to adhere to, but never mind - it's a small matter. I'm happy here but like many other private sector employees, there will come a time when I've to leave this place with sweet memories.

In my humble office

Yup, there's no pension for me when I'm 55 years old, which means I've to keep working till I can't breathe anymore or till my future wife (if I'm lucky enough to get one) tells me: "Hey, old man. Enough of working la." :-)

That's life at work for the time being.