Puja – Steve – Kevin (Not Real Names)

“Made, do I pronounce your name correctly?” Puja asked me during our work.

“Yes, perfect!” I smiled.

“Can you pick those boxes on the corner together with one friend and put those up at the top at shelf number 4, please?” Puja asked.

“Sure, no problem,” I said and quickly worked on the job.

Using a ladder, my friend and I carried 40 heavy boxes of milk products and moved them to the top of the self.

Puja is from Nepal. He is a kind person with a nice smile. He is technically my boss in the warehouse where I work now. He is younger than me but he has been trusted by the big boss since he has been here for around two years. Like me, I also found that he is a Hindu. It does not mean that I want to become exclusive here, but finding out someone else is doing a similar thing in a multi-culture/religion state, like Victoria is quite astonishing for me.

Together with some other men, mostly Indonesians, we work packaging promotional goods from one of well known milk or health companies to be ready to send to all over Australia. It’s a fun thing actually, knowing that you always laugh and smile during lifting huge posters, for instance. Or, when we lift hundreds of goods coming through the delivery place at the back of the warehouse.

What I learn from a younger person like Puja is that he accommodates his staff’s needs, in a tolerable way. He once offered me a change of working shifts as I couldn’t manage to come several times due to my busy works at the University. He is also good at management as he graduated from a business and management class this year.

Working and learning from people and our surroundings are important. As a researcher, my supervisor always tells me, “Be an avid and detailed observer as hunches to research may emerge from these from many contexts.” And this is true. Not only in the academic, but also in diverse contexts.

©mhsantosa (2012)
I am happy to share this. Please feel free to reblog or share the link, all with my accreditation. Thank you.