Perbualan tak perlu

The following is a YM conversation from this morning. I’ve changed the name of the person. Obviously, ‘her’ is not her real name. I’ve added my commentary in italics. Otherwise, the conversation has not been modified.

 Hopefully this post offers a glimpse of what goes in my mind when I’m having conversation. In this case, I chatted with an acquaintance. My relationship with her is more a lecturer-(ex-)student (i.e. formal) than friends. With some former students, the relationship has grown beyond student-lecturer. But, with this person, I’ve kept the existing boundries.

her: salam

me: salam

me: kat ofis ke?

her: a'ah

her: kt ofis

her: sir pon kt ofis ke?

me: yes

her: aha..

her: bru msk ek

me: a'ah

her: ooo..

her: sir keje pe kt sne?

[She knows that I’m doing PhD. So, she must be asking about my non-PhD work, right?]

me: kerja cleaner, part-time

her: tpu...!!!

her: ckp la btul2

her: keje pe?

her: nk tau jgk

[How should I respond to this as factually (i.e. without a hint of gedik) as possible?]

me: do youo think i was kidding?

her: cleaner? what do u mean by clener my dear sir?

[ok.. so here goes my description of what a cleaner does]

me: someone who cleans

her: what do you cleaning?

me: just like the makcik cleaning on campus

[is that description still unclear?]

her: then y do you hve ur ofis?

her: i mean y u r working in ofis?

me: kerja cleaner tu kerja part time

me: my full time work is doing PhD. I have an office for my PhD work

her: sy mcm x caye

her: hmm.. tp...

her: sy ni da lah cpat tertipu

her: hmm..

her: sy mmg x caye la

[okkkaaaaay…..how do you actually want me to answer your question? With Aznil Nawawi’s flair? With a Shah Rukh Khan’s playfulness? With sultry words to match that of Cassanova?]

her: sir mesti keje besar2

her: da lah bmw

her: xkn keje cleaner

[I see. So, your schema for someone who drives a BMW does not include a cleaner. That’s fair enough. Please broaden your schema to entertain this possibility. And which part of your schema allows a PhD student to ‘keje besar2?’ Do you know any full-time Malaysian PhD student working as a bank manager, accountant or architect?]

me: apa2 je la

her: xpe lah sir..x nak kongsi sir keje pe...

[Huh? I already told you! But you’re the one who denied my statement]

her: sy sje je nk tau

her: sir  jgn la slh anggap pape ye

[Well, don’t I get to ‘anggap’ something after my factual statements are ignored?]

me: tak hilang bisa ular menyusur akar. I don't feel embarrassed telling people that I actually work as a cleaner.

[There. I’m restating my previous statement. If you still don’t want to believe it, I’m not spending any more effort to convince you.]

me: but, if you want to continue to play hide-and-seek... you go on your own. I'm not playing games

her: sy tnye je...

her: lau btul, ok...

her: ape slh nye sir trng kn..

[‘trng kn’? Was I not clear enough? Or is it the lack of playfulness that’s bothering you?]

her: xyah la mrh sy

her: k lah

her: thank you..

her: mule2 sy respect sir

[there it goes. Macam pernah kubaca je ayat ni. I think I know where it is heading, and where it came from.]

her: ingt kn sir dpt bg nshat yg bergune untk sy

[Oh my! I am extremely sorry to disappoint you. To make up for the disappointment, consider this post as an advice. In addition, was all the thing I said in previous conversations not ‘bergune’? And, to think of it, how does asking about my job would benefit you?]

her: sy mntak maaf la lau sir rse terganggu

[apology accepted]

her: sy mmg tade niat pape

[You’re making it worse. Setiap amalan itu dengan niat. Kalau tak de niat, masa sia-sia sajalah perbualan ni.]

her: cme sy anggap sir sbg org yg berilmu lbh dr sy

her: n boleh tlong ajar sy mcm2

her: tp xpe lah.. mgkn da wat sir slh fhm

her: thanks for everyting

[You’re welcome dear. You’ve given me one more thing to put on my blog.]

 

See also my previous post on what makes my blood boil. This kind of conversation is another thing that makes my blood boil.

Comments

Unknown said…
huhu...terasa malu sbb dia tu 'her', dan tak sangka dia berani chat mcm tu dgn sir..

sabo jer laa...
Ash said…
Bro, that's why I prefer not to chat with students, and not to treat them like 'friends'. The ones yang rapat pun yang betul2 mature, and faham boundaries. But yeah, if I were you pun I jadi marah dgn cara dia bercakap dgn you. It's OK to 'boil' once in a while. He he he he.
well,well...psychology u obviously know that she's trying to dig your personal life and get updated with it so that she could boast it around "Eh ko tau sir Haris now keje (fill in the blank) tau!" then the kawan tanya balik "Mana ko tau ni?" dengan bangga dan kembang seribu mangkuknya dia berkata "Aku baru je chat dgn Sir smalam n dia bagitau aku"
Maka si kawan-kawan akan terkejut dan dia rasa heroic kejap.
Well,i've been thru that before and i know how a person will eventually feel kembang sekejap when she/he managed to get the updates of someone yang hot stuffs.Lebih-lebih lagi yang jenis jual mahal n tak de perasaan like you.
Gila high skool kot...
Anonymous said…
if I be u kan sir... I set my stealth setting to her - Permanent offline. padan muka. forever tak leh chat ngan sir dah. ade jugak pesen student cam ni so.. ish2...

sesabo jer laa..
by the way.. keje cleaner tu ok ape? I used to do that work too. takde harm pun.
Aridara: you'll face this kind of thing soon. Selamat mengajar, Cikgu.
Ash: #kita serupa....# Nasib baik cuaca UK ni sejuk.. cepat sket cool. hehehe
Nina: Thanks for that insight. Some students treat lecturers like celebrity, eh? Sian lecturers.. kena tahan gossip. "jual mahal n tak de perasaan like you". Moi? Dear Nina, I jual mahal dan sorok perasaan pada org tertentu je... not to all.
Yaya: Jom kerja cleaner kat UK nih. Ada 3 vacancy kat tempat saya kerja. Loaded woooo.. boleh beli BMW. Hehehe
Well celebrity coz they think that you ppl deserve the spotlight."jual mahal dan takde perasaan like you"-->seriously i dont really give a whatnever it is on you dulu tapi this is what i heard from those bunch of so called teeny boopers kat campus yang tergile-gilakan Sir Haris n Sir Haris is the most IN THING la not only in the psychology department but also every department la.Sapa yang tak kenal Sir Haris?Tak caya?try walk into any of the mahallah perempuan and do a random survey.Infact each time you passes by,it seems like malaikat yang lalu.I was like "WHAT?"
In fact ada yg taruk your pic in their friendster/facebook/myspace profile.jangan tak tau!hahaha

Hence now you know why,kan? :)
susah hidup macam celeb ni.
Gitu le pulok. Lepas ni, kena biasakan diri cakap "No comment" & "Biarlah rahsia"
Ri said…
whoa.. pak lang.. that famous.. cannot compute.. *BZKKK (otak berasap overload jap) :P hehehe..
Anonymous said…
cost nak g UK lagi mahal. pas2 blum tentu blh beli BMW dalam masa terdekat. takpe laa saya keje cleaner tempat lama laa...( if takde keje pas abes sem ni) murah sikit cost dia.. hehe. by the way, tak kisah laa blh pakai bmw ke tidak sbb kt sabah ni mostly pakai 4 wheel drive. :)
Nina, actually, you helped me made a point to a certain someone i.e. I'm not hurrying up to remarry after my divorce.
Why not when you have a whole bunch of selections out there especially for u.Tak yah crack kepala nak cari calon when its all for u out there.Yang cantik tak cantik,yang bijak tak bijak,yang solehah tak solehah,just name it la!
nurulshima said…
sir, i gelak reading ur chattings with dat 'her'... to 'her', woi, hang da takde keje laen ke hah? (well, sir, just in case that 'her' checks out ur blog)