Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sabarudin Tukang Bawak Kereta...

We interviewed Sabarudin last Thursday, and we're quite happy with him.

We offered him the job on Monday, and insya Allah he'll start work this Friday. I'll be taking leave on Friday to show him the routes to send the kids to all their segala mak nenek's schools/classes.

He's younger than us by 2 years. And when he told us his age, this was what Ayah said to him -

Ayah : 39 tahun?! Oh, ye ke?! Saya ingatkan tua dari kitoghang!

(I know, I know...Ayah can never be in PR. HAHAHAHA!)

And when we asked him if he smoked, he said, "Ya, tapi tengah cuba nak berenti... Kalau dulu 2-3 kotak sehari. Sekarang 1 kotak dua hari".

To which Ayah said -

Ayah : Tak payah "cuba" berenti. Berenti ajer terus... Kalau nak "cuba" berenti, memang susah. Sebab kalau cuba, you'll always have the excuse of 'having tried' tapi tak berjaya...


(Yup, that's Ayah for you. Straight to the point. But, he's got a good point there :))

And we heard from my MIL last night, her driver (who's a friend of Sabarudin) told her that Sabarudin has not touched the ciggies since Monday, and has been chewing gums instead :). So, that's a good sign. Hopefully, he'll succeed in kicking the habit, insya Allah.

The arrangement is still kelam kabut because Dar is still not back yet. So, our base will still be at my MIL's for the time being.

Ayah will be driving the kids to school in the morning and he'll go straight to work after that.

Sabarudin will only start work at 11:00a.m, and will go straight to Ayah's hospital and wait there if he needs to send Ayah to the other hospitals if he's being called.

From 1:00p.m to 7:00p.m, he'll be attending to the kids pulak - their tuitions, their extra activities in school, their piano lessons, etc. And of course, he'll be ferrying Ayah, too, in between. At the end of the day, he will send Ayah's car back to Ayah at the hospital, (his motorbike will also be there anyway) as there's no telling what time Ayah's going home on some days. At least Ayah will have his car to drive home himself.

On some days, Sabarudin will have to work until 8:00 - 8:30p.m, and we'll pay him OT. But, the fact that he'll start work at 11:00a.m compensates for this, I guess.

On Saturdays, he'll be working from 8:00a.m until 1:00p.m as that's when Ayah will have to run here and there the most in the morning. The kids also have their chess (Hasya and Hilman) and guitar (Hanna) classes on Saturday mornings. So, insya Allah there'll be less running around for me nanti. But, either Ayah or I will still have to send the kids for their swimming class at 4:00p.m every Saturday. Still, it's not too bad compared to what we have to do now without a driver :)

Sabarudin will be driving Ayah's Honda, instead of the Naza as we don't want all three cars to be out on one day. Mana lagi nak bayar minyak, nak bayar toll segala for all 3 cars, kan? Botak lah kepala if like that.

I will still be driving my Kembara myself. I told Ayah I don't want to use the driver, because on days when his last duty is to send the kids to my MIL's place (when they have mengaji, etc), if he's driving the Naza, that means he would be leaving the car there (at least when Dar is still not back yet, and there's no one at home in SD) and I for one is NOT going to drive the Naza back to SD with the kids after their mengaji! So, it's best if he drives the Honda, and send it to Ayah at the hospital at the end of the day, and I will have my Kembara with me all the time, and can drive back to SD after their mengaji. Furthermore, whenever Ayah needs to use Sabarudin when he's supposed to send/fetch the kids, I can always take over the job instead, insya Allah.

For those who didn't know - I have NEVER driven any other cars except for my Kembara. I refuse to drive the Naza or the Honda. The ONLY time I had been behind the Naza's wheel was when I had to reverse it as it was behind my car, and I needed to go off somewhere in a hurry, and Ayah was in the shower then and could not reverse it for me! That was the first and the last time I drove that huge machine. And I'm not going to start driving it now especially when we'll have Sabarudin to do the driving now. He's supposed to menyenangkan hidup I, not putting more stress on me! Hehehe! (Ya, membawa kereta Naza adalah sangat stressful for me, okay?)

Once Dar is back, things will not be that complicated, insya Allah. At least we have a fixed station in SD, BUT, of course duit toll will be sangat dahsyat because all their schools, extra classes etc., are held on the other side of the toll...

Well you win some, you lose some, kan? :)

Wish us luck! Hopefully things will work out well for us, insya Allah.

I hope Sabarudin will treat the kids like his own, and I hope he'll do his job well - amanah, jujur and ikhlas.

I wish him all the best in his new job, especially part nak melayan anak-anak I bercakap dalam kereta nanti, terutamanya melayan soalan-soalan maut dari Hilman Syauqi...Hehehe!

One thing about having a driver is that I will not have as much time as before to spend with the kids in the car. But, I hope to have more quality time with them at home, now that our lives are much settled, and now that I will be doing less screaming at the kids as I will not be as tired and exhausted as before at the end of a long day.

And I hope Sabarudin will enjoy his time with them like I do.

Welcome to the family, Pakcik Din :)

16 comments:

mr engineer said...

Errr...welcome to the family Pak Cik Din. Hopefully, his arrival will release lots of stress....

BTW Shana...how long do you intend to drive your Kembara? Do you know that they have stopped Kembara's production?

wanshana said...

Shidy,

Nanti we all bawak Pakcik Din mengadap Ahli Majlis Tertinggi as part of his orientation programme. Sure dia fenin...Hahaha!

Yes, insya Allah, it'll be less stressful for us.

As for the Kembara, actually we're looking for a new car to replace it already especially because dah accident hari tu.

The criteria for the new car is still the same - elevated and small-ish. Hehehe! Any ideas?

(Please don't suggest Toyota Rush -I'm sure it's a good car, but, it doesn't appeal to me somehow).

mr engineer said...

Yes..introduction to Ahli MT is a good idea. Cuma takut culture shock je nanti...

I have to admit that Rush was the first one that popped into my head. The only other one that I can think of now is Suzuki SX4 Sport Crossover. Not too big but just nice for the whole family..and it is slightly elevated..

wanshana said...

Shidy,

Yup, yup, yup!!! That's THE car I have in mind actually! I think it's a cool car :)

The only thing now is to persuade Haizal to agree to it. He's very much into Rush sebenarnya. Maybe you can talk to him, please?

Thanks, Shidy!

Anonymous said...

Kak Shana, If you don;t mind, how much is the driver's salary? Does him claim for the fuel or you guys siap2 fill in the tank? thinking of having one for the kids but really, i hv no clue where to start!

wanshana said...

Dear Anonymous @3:48p.m,

Hi there! :)

Maybe you can e-mail me personally - wanshana@yahoo.com and insya Allah I can share with you the details, etc.

But, in a nutshell, we're giving him a basic salary, plus transportation allowance and phone allowance. He works 45 hours a week (which is standard) and we pay him for his OT.

OT is counted as Basic Salary / 26 / 8 x 1.5 for normal working days (or x 2 for weekend or x 3 for Public Holidays)

We will give him the money for him to fill up the petrol and also to top up the Smart Tags, and he will just give us all the receipts after that for our records.

Hope this helps :)

Madam Tai Tai Again said...

Good luck with Pakcik Din! Most of the time, it is a real pleasure to have a driver. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

DO NOT BUY RUSH. I repeat DO NOT BUY RUSH. Kereta tu tersangatlah ringan (Kembara safer okay.. I've driven both) Engine spec dia sebiji macam Avanza. Better beli Avanza.

IBU said...

Wah! Wah! We now both have 'Sabarudin' as drivers yea? hehehe....

wanshana said...

Hi Gina!

Thanks :)

Unfortunately, I will be the one who will be using the driver the least, so, I will not have that pleasure of being driven around that much :(

Tapi, tak per...maybe on Saturday dia boleh bawak I gi Pasar Taman Tun yang susahnya nak dapat parking time-time tu... :)

wanshana said...

Dear Anonymous @ 9:26p.m,

Thanks for the "warning"! Now, I'm definitely NOT getting the Rush (even if Ayah likes it!!) Now, more reason for Ayah to agree with me on getting the Suzuki! Hehehe!

I don't think I'll get the Avanza even though it's quite nice. I consider it to be a BIG car. So, a definite NO NO for me :)

Thanks for the suggestion though :)

wanshana said...

Ibu,

Ya! Tukang bawak kereta kita dua-dua namanya Sabarudin. But, your Sabarudin is over-qualified for the job description la, babe. He very the high qualification one maaaahh... Kena bawak keretapi... HAHAHAHA!

mr engineer said...

I don't want to sound rude or anything but don't even think of buying Avanza. Onair's nephew who is staying with us now is driving an Avanza. It is underpowered and the suspension s**ks big time.

Go with Suzuki. It is a CBU from Japan.

wanshana said...

Shidy,

Okay - thanks for the review. I'm definitely NOT getting Avanza or Rush now. Sticking firmly to the Suzuki. But CBUs ni normally waiting time punyerlah lama ya amat. Tak per lah. I sanggup tunggu :)

* Haizal's also thinking of upgrading his Naza, too, now ;)

MrsNordin said...

When is your maid coming back?

wanshana said...

BJ,

Don't know la :( She said earliest 15 Jan (which is tomorrow), and latest 29 Jan. So far she has not called to confirm. Berdebar-debar I tunggu ni...