Getting to know the cleaner

A couple of weeks ago, the regular lady cleaner in the office was not around. There was another girl instead, so I asked her the whereabouts of our regular cleaner. Apparently she was away on high fever, and as the doctor suspected that it could be dengue, she had to stay at home for a while until she was given the ‘clear’ sign from the doctor. The stand-in was a relative of hers and in daily contact with her, so I conveyed my sympathy and salam to the regular cleaner via the stand-in.

When the regular cleaner returned, I asked her how things were. She thanked me for my concern and my salam. I wondered aloud – how did she know it was me?

“Akak sorang je yang tahu nama Ju. Orang lain panggil ‘adik’ je”

I was… surprised. All these while, she works exclusively on this level and I am the only one who has been calling her by her given name?

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I think most of us have read that oft-forwarded email about how one lecturer quizzed his medical students on the cleaner’s name. When most (or was it none?) of his students could not answer the question, he talked about how important it is to establish contact with people around us because we need to show we care, or something to that effect. The students later learned (and could never forget) that the lady cleaner’s name was Daisy.

Learning from that email, I made it a point to get to know the cleaner’s name wherever I work. There’s Kak Peah back in Serdang. Then, there’s Kak Ros in Wisma Damansara and now Ju in Putrajaya.

Apart from thanking them for emptying my waste bin or vacuuming my room or wiping my desk or spraying the phone, I sometimes chatted with them. Kak Peah shared her stories about keeping the family together and her business as a nasi lemak seller and a small stallholder at the local pasar malam. Kak Ros also talked about her family as well as her decision to wear tudung and all. I remember presenting a few tudung to her when she began to wear tudung and how profusely she thanked me. Ju is still young, but has two children to support so both she and her husband are working hard, plus looking for side income, such as making profits from selling used paper and all.

What are the points in chatting with the cleaners?
From them, I learn much about perseverance, persistence, patience, coping with difficulties and being grateful for Allah’s many blessings.

Besides, chatting with them, asking how things are, show that I care for them and about them. I know they appreciate it. Perhaps just as much as I appreciated officers stopping to make small talks to me back in the old university days when I worked part-time as a cleaner at a call centre in Leeds.

As I emptied waste bins, or wiping a desk or two or crushing Styrofoam cups to be recycled, one or two officers would stop to chat on this and that. The weather, the latest book I was reading, the latest movie, the recent football match, and so on and so forth. Sometimes I simply listened to their rants and ramblings on particular difficult customers they had to deal with over the phone. At other times, one or two would bombard me with lots of questions regarding Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and south east Asia in general. While I found some questions to be rather amusing, it was almost always a pleasure to be chatted up. As it showed that they care – or at least some of them did. I appreciated it.

Just as I hope my cleaner appreciate my effort now.