1464. Myanmar stories - The man from Shwebo

Khin Khin had replaced the Man from Rangoon who resigned with a Man from Shwebo. I saw him at her office 2 days ago on Friday. The Man from Rangoon was also present.

"This is the man who resigned and therefore you got the job," I said to him. He is also a slim man, shorter than the Man from Rangoon and has a less dark complexion. He was from Shwebo, a district famous for its thanaka trees. If you visit Myanmar, you will not fail to see the ladies and some gentlemen with thanaka cream smeared on their cheeks and forehead. This is the culture. The cream comes from the thanaka trees.

"It takes 8 years for a thanaka tree to produce good thanaka," the Man from Shwebo said to me. "The stem is cut and ground in a stone plate to produce the juice. The best juice is from the stem of a thanaka tree grown for 8 years."

"Nowadays, it is very difficult to get a job in Singapore," I advised him to be patient and not resigned within 2 weeks as he had a son and wife to support in Myanmar. "You will work 10 hours a day and have a weekday off, according to the Man from Rangoon. There will be supervisors scolding you. Be patient. Work for a year."     

"Singaporean employers want young employees and fairer complexion," Khin Khin asked and was told that the Man from Shwebo was 35 years old. The other man was 38 years old.

"The Myanmar supervisor will want to get rid of you," Khin Khin said. "So he will shout at you for being slow and inexperienced if you are hardworking, like the Man from Rangoon. The boss is uncouth and uneducated and does his shouting too."

Actually, according to Khin Khin, the main reason for the resignation of the Man from Rangoon was that his wife, working on a work permit in Singapore had Sundays off while he would only be given a weekday off per week. So he would not able to see his wife. The wife of the Man from Shwebo is in Myanmar and so he could work hard, I hope.