RM615.50

Before I start off... forgive me for harping on this as this is one of the things that really gets to me about our country and also about most leaders and employers.

RM615.50 was what Ayu took home for the month of May's work. RM390.00 is her basic. The remaining is her points and if I remember correctly RM52.20 is for some adjustments. This is for a full month's work. She paid her rent which was RM280.00. RM280.00 would not even get you half a room in KL's Golden Triangle. I remember the going rate was about RM400.00 onwards for that area. So that leaves her RM335.50. Water, RM10.80 and electricity, RM53.29. She buys a pre-paid card worth RM30.00. That leaves her with RM241.40. She buys some groceries... basic stuff... cans of sardines, bread, tuna, instant noodles, condensed milk, eggs, etc.. which should last about a week... it came to almost RM100.00. So, balance is RM141.40. She has not even bought toiletries and that shit ain't cheap. Without buying toiletries she has just under RM5.00 a day to spend. Transport to work is provided. One meal per day is provided. So she can spend no more than RM5 per day for her other meal.

No savings. No insurance. No entertainment. No clothes. NOTHING. So, explain to me... how does one survive with this kind of salary? Do employers and/or owners think of this? They sit in their comfortable rooms and earn a 5-figure salary and they don't give a shit about their employees. They will just say... oh, when I was your age I earned the same amount. Bah! Frankly, 20 years ago I took home more than 50% of what Ayu did. I took home about RM1k a month... BUT... back then a bottle of 285ml Coke was about 45sen... now a bottle of 500ml Coke is RM1.70. A packet of Maggi back then was 30sen... a packet now is about 65sen. Back then an egg was about 12 sen... now 28sen if you're lucky. Wait a minute Mr. GM and/or owner... if everything is almost twice the price now, shouldn't the salaries be also twice the amount now? WTF?

Now... as an FOA... Front Office Assistant... you are regarded as having a 'respectable' job. There is opportunity for career progression etc and you need to have certain qualifications to do the job... e.g. a bit of brains, communication skills, pleasant personality, etc. But what do you get paid? RM600.00 +/-. I passed by a shop... furniture shop... advertising for a 'Sales Assistant' at RM700.00. Ok... to be fair, it is very likely that they don't provide transport nor meals and career progression is probably non-existent. But still? RM100 more for a Sales Assistant job and I probably don't have to have any knowledge of the product. Just smile like an idiot till the customer is ready to buy. Something wrong... no?

So, if a 'respectable' job gets you RM600.00 a month, what then would the chap who cuts the grass by the roadside day-in and day-out earn? RM300.00? RM400.00? Let's just saylah... just say... RM600.00... I know it is highly unlikely but just for argument's sake. They work a 5-day week so let's say 22 days a month. Which means the dude who cuts grass 7 hours a day earns about RM27.27 sen a day. How much grass can you cut in 7 hours? 1000 square feet? A decent apartment in KL is just shy of 1000 square feet. So how long does it take to cut grass in that area? 15 minutes? I think less but we shall just use 15 minutes. So, in 7 hours you should do about 28000 square feet... alone. The resort I am going to open sits on about 1 acre of land which is about 43500 square feet... but there is built up area... so the grass area is about 28000 square feet.

I enquired with these dudes how much they would charge me to cut that area... and they quoted me RM300.00. Excuse me? Is there something wrong with you or me? I asked him why? He says there were 4 of them and then there is the cost of their petrol. If it takes 1 person to do half an acre in 7 hours, how much time would it take 4 persons? Less than 2 hours... and how much is their rate of pay for 2 hours? RM7.80 per person.... multiply by 4 equals RM31.20. Okay... you are doing work outside... so let's double it... no, let's triple it... RM93.60. So, tell me... why the fuck should I pay you RM300.00? How much bloody petrol can those machines of yours guzzle? I guess I really look like an IDIOT that's why.

We have employers and owners who exploit their employees and we have employees who just want to con you. Reasonable people do not exist anymore. Frankly, I don't mind paying a person RM100.00 to do the job or 3 persons RM50.00 each to do the job. But when they try to rip me off like this... my middle finger is all they get. They'd rather get nothing than something.

Coming back to the salaries... I was watching the news the other day and they were reporting about some rubber tappers who get paid RM300.00 a month to tap rubber.... and when they get their pay checks they are left with less than RM100.00 due to deductions and advances. And they have FAMILIES. WTF? Hey! The year is 2010... you still pay RM300 a month? What is wrong with these people... the employers and owners. You don't make money from rubber? You make a shitload... but you pay a measly RM300 a month? And when these people become scums of society out of desperation, we wonder why?

Here the rate for part time work per hour in a hotel is RM2.50 vs RM5.00 (minimum) in KL. In KL you have buses till late or the trains. Here you have taxis and taxis and taxis and taxis. Food here is just as expensive, if not more than KL. I earned RM2.50 an hour 25 YEARS AGO! So why does KL pay more?

I dunno... just blogging this and thinking about it just makes me sick. Please come and smack me if I ever become like these employers and/or owners. MALAYSIA BOLEH! This is why I am 'SO' proud to be Malaysian. Tiu...