by Wong Soak Koon
Aliran Monthly Vol 25 (2005): Issue 4

	All too often, like management, we do forget that sales people are human beings and not part of the goods on display. Wong Soak Koon

Trips to the mega-malls have become quite frequent for me nowadays. Perhaps retirement has something to do with it. More practically, it is simply to use the e-mail at some cyber cafe since I haven�t yet set up my system at home. In between projects and other activities, I would have my camomile and peppermint teas at various cafes. There are so many malls sprouting up everywhere, �malling� must be a national addiction all over Malaysia. We love our night markets (pasar malam) too but these are near nocturnal events. In hot afternoons, the malls are cool retreats. Did I hear someone say �Got nothing better to do-ah?� or �Please do something more worthwhile-lah, something to feed your mind. Ugh�malling! That�s for the Philistine masses!�

What makes anyone think that to �mall� is to leave one�s mind at home? I have had some marvellously stimulating conversations with a variety of people (both customers and waiters/waitresses) at different eating places in malls when I stop for a bite. These unforced exchanges uncover for me the injustices, the struggles of various people at the micro-everyday level in our society. These are the kind of challenges seldom noted because those bearing up to them are nameless, faceless Malaysians of all races who will never make it to any book of records.

No concern for workers' security?

One encounter, in particular, struck me. In a big anchor store of a mall somewhere in the Klang valley, there is a cafe I love to frequent because the people working there are so friendly. We talk often and one day I was shocked to learn of the rules and regulations imposed on workers. Above all, I was most upset by the lack of concern for the security of workers. On the issue of security, I learnt that some waiters/waitresses not only have to prepare and serve food, they also have to bank-in the day�s takings.

Now this may seem simply part and parcel of the work deal, but the full story slowly emerged. Apparently the employees are not allowed to bring even a small bag (perhaps for their personal essentials?) into the store. Thus when they have to bank-in money, they very often have no alternative but to use those transparent paper bags which are used to bag the goods customers take away.

Worse, not being allowed to use the main mall thoroughfare, they have to use the car park area to get to the bank. Even in daylight hours this is most unsafe. Sure, there are guards, but haven�t we known of violent incidents in the car parks in spite of security measures? I wonder what the rationale is for the management to make employees, most of whom are women, walk those dangerous subterranean pathways to bank in money? If the argument is that this is less conspicuous, it is an argument that falls on its own head. It is precisely because these pathways are often isolated that they are most unsuitable.

Then too, not being allowed to bring even a small bag in means that workers have had to leave their belongings in lockers the management provides. Lockers are fine if it is safe to put things in them. This simply isn�t so. Apparently, many management figures feel that they must disclaim all responsibility for any loss from the start. I would be in a dilemma if I were an employee and have to leave things where I may lose them. I wonder how many have lost items bought with their hard-earned, meagre salaries and then have some boss say, �We told you already what. Put at your own risk. Not our responsibility what�. Even the famous Harrods allows employees to bring in small bags. Of course, these are checked at shift�s end when employees leave. (I know about this from the Discovery Channel, another retirement addiction). I don�t understand why we can�t do this here.

No hair colouring!

I also learnt that no employee (male or female) is allowed to colour his/her hair even slightly, let alone dye it. I could laugh if it weren�t so sadly illustrative of the clear drive to control people in certain authoritarian segments of our corporate society. I suppose they would much prefer human beings to be as uniform, homogeneous and colourless as white shirts, manufactured in some factory, and now on sale in the garments department.

As one very sharp employee told me, �What right have they to mind my private choices as long as I don�t dye my hair green!� Then she went on to elaborate on the private and public domains more coherently than some feminist scholars. She seemed well-educated which makes me wonder about her background. I did not ask her (Auntie here must not be a busybody cajoling people to confess). But I am meandering�I should leave it to some urban anthropologist, economist or sociologist to probe into the backgrounds of mega-mall employees and to link these to correlates like employment and work patterns, rights of workers etc.

As I look around, it seems to me that the surface conviviality hides the daily struggles of many small-wage earners who toil in our mega-malls. The glazed eyes of consumers as they examine each item on sale can obscure from their sight the exhausting lives of those working behind counters and those on their feet for long hours who serve and sell. Malaysia�s modernization project has spawned new modes and patterns of work but has it encouraged an accompanying concern for the rights of workers who often have no recourse to any form of unionization? The next time I meet a grumpy sales person (and I am not encouraging discourtesy), I hope I can be more patient. All too often, like management, we do forget that sales people are human beings and not part of the goods on display.

It is true that I have not heard the management�s side but then I don�t bump into management. Those I usually meet are the frontline foot soldiers in the Great Battle of the Malls for the Malaysian consumer dollar. The �generals� (middle, top management, etc.) are, I suppose, far away in offices hidden from our view busily planning yet another sales blitz and calculating what employees on the battle front must do to make it a success.

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