Adam.

Remember about the old man who was working as a dish washer at the hotel where I work? I haven’t seen him in over a month. But someone told me that he’d continue working again starting next month. Maybe he’s just getting a well-deserved rest after 3 months of hard labour.

This is another post about people working at the place I work. This is not a story about another old man. This is a story about a young guy. In fact, he is a year younger than I am. I talked to him before I went home in the locker room. He was lying down on a bench looking tired. I opened my locker and he woke up. He said he was sick. I smiled. Take some medicine when you get back home, I said. He said he’s chest is painful. He said he’s never been this sick.

So I looked at him, and told him, when you get back, take some medicine.

I was changing from my work clothes to my normal clothes and he was still sitting on the bench looking weak. After I was fully dressed, I sat next to him. Here’s an abstract what I know of him from the questions I asked.

“My name’s Adam. I’m 21 years old and I’m  Malay. I’m the 2^nd child in the family out of 5 siblings. I have an elder sister and 3 younger siblings. My sister, she’s married at the age of 16. She now has 3 children. The siblings below me are 18, 15 and 12 respectively. My family, we don’t have that much money. My dad’s a guard and my mom’s a full-time housewife. I dropped out of school when I was in form 3. After that, I started doing odd labours to keep myself occupied and earn some money. I once worked as a cleaner for 3 years and earned about rm380 from that each month. After that I worked at a restaurant and then now here I am, working in the hotel as a steward*. I dropped out of school because I don’t feel like studying anymore. Do I regret my decision? Yeah. Of course I do. I want to further my studies too but… (sigh). Do I have any dreams? My mom told me, not to dream too much because it will get me disappointed.”

Throughout our conversation, he kept on smiling. He coughed and he looked weak but a smile never faded from his face.

I told him, I’m like him too. I’m doing part-time because I need the money. He laughed and he said, same like me. Yes, it’s true. I’m not that different from him. Before I went back, I said to him, don't forget to take your medicine.

I’ve made a new friend. He opened my eyes. And yet again, I’m struck at how fortunate I have been in my life so far. Alhamdulillah.

p.s: Adam works as a steward at the hotel. Not the kind who serves food and gets a hefty pay, but the one who does the odd jobs around the hotel like washing the dishes, clearing the rubbish etc. It's a physically tiring job.