Column | The Greenkeeper Writes
Published on June 9, 2020The Day After Part 9
Ah Seng scratched his head and sighed. If there were somebody else in the workshop he would have shouted at them already, but he was alone. There was another machine broken. He felt frustrated. He knew he should be used to it but it was still frustrating.
How hard was it to check your machine before you started the engine? Roslan put a premium on staff training and pride himself on all staff in the department being trained. One of the training aspects’ was to do pre-start checks on machines; check the engine oil, the hydraulics, the coolant and that all tyres were in place. How hard was that?
Well, someone forgot to check and now another machine was in the workshop. Ah Seng sighed again. Seriously, how long would it take to check before one started? The counter-argument from some of the clever (a better description was lazy, thought Ah Seng) staff was that ‘I don’t check my 10-year-old car’s engine before I start, why do I need to check my two-year-old machine? Well, the machine was not yours, it belonged to your employer and if your employer gave instruction to check before starting the engine; you check. Secondly, you drive your car to work and then you leave it at the parking lot so at most you use it for an hour a day while the machine is used for six hours a day to cut the grass! There are just so many things that can go wrong in a machine that’s used that much.
Actually, that kind of thinking is common among many managers and owners too when it comes to buying new machinery: if I can maintain my car for 12 years, why can’t you maintain the machinery for seven? The fact is one shouldn’t compare a 12-year-old car running for an hour a day in stop-start traffic to go to work to a seven-year-old machine running at full engine revolution for six hours a day. A fact that is totally lost on them. The engine revolution had to be at full throttle for the blade of the cutting unit to turn at maximum speed, the speed of the machine is controlled by a pedal that controls the hydraulics of the machine.
Ah Seng remembered one discussion when the manager asked Roslan to tell the operator to reduce the engine revolution while mowing, “It’s so loud” he said, “and he’s moving too fast!”. Roslan tried to explain that reducing the engine revolution would also reduce the rotation speed of the cutting units’ blades and affect the mowing quality but the manager had made up his mind and wasn’t listening any more. Roslan looked at Ah Seng, shrugged and walked to the operator to sat something to him.
Probably asking him what he had for lunch, thought Ah Seng, smirking.
In the post-lockdown period when all departments had to tighten their budgetary belts, he could ill-afford another machinery breakdown. Thankfully, since Roslan came in, he bought machinery that was as compatible with each other as much as possible. For example, tee mowers that were the same brand and model as the greensmowers and the fairway mowers as the rough mowers. Specialised machines are the best but for ease of spare parts and training, the more similar the machinery in the complex, the easier it was for everyone. At best, he didn’t need so many types of spare parts and at worse, he could cannibalise from one machine to get two running. But alas, this one that broke down yesterday was a specialised one of a kind machine, because the operator didn’t check the engine oil.
What to do? Move on lah. He decided to go to the store and get the parts he needed for the day. Ah Seng usually discussed with his junior mechanics at the end of a working day on what they had accomplished for that day and what they needed for the following day, so he had a list of what he needed. He saw Nina’s car so he knew the store was open.
The store had improved a lot since Nina took over as store-keeper. Fast-moving items were almost never out of stock and she was efficient in persuading suppliers to send the occasional spare parts needed urgently to be sent before the paperwork was even completed. He was careful to not open the parts till the paperwork was completed though; one never knew when the GM would suddenly cancel the order.
Walking into Nina’s office, he saw she wasn’t at her desk. Perhaps she was in the toilet or already in the store? He walked into the store and looked for the parts he wanted. He saw some new stuff at the back of the huge 20m x 10m store and decided to take a look at it. It was the new tools he had ordered! Just like a boy with new toys, he was already imagining the things he can do with the new tools.
After satisfying himself that the tools were exactly as he specified, he walked back to the spare parts section of the store and took the parts that he needed. There was a tear in the plastic packaging and a screw fell out and dropped on the floor and rolled under the rack.
“Aiyah” he exclaimed, crawling under the rack to get the screw.
He stood up, the door swung open and Nina rushed in, did a forward-roll like what he usually saw in the movies, crouched in a fighting stance and pointed a black metal at his face.
Ah Seng froze. He held up the spare part to her and gulped “I… I… sorry. You… you… were not there. I’ll fill-up the form when I come out”.
Nina laughed, breaking the tension and Ah Seng breathed a sigh of relief. Did I just pee in my pants a little? Damn that was a shock, he thought. He saw that the metal thing was some sort of stick, a baton that he used to see some guards carry though a smaller version. “Where did you learn to move like that?” he asked Nina curiously.
“YouTube,” she said casually.
Ah Seng was about to say something else when they heard a sound from behind the door, in Nina’s storekeeper office. Nina gestured to Ah Seng to move back and signalled him to keep quiet. Ah Seng frowned.
She let herself into her office and closed the door behind her. He could hear voices and a laugh. A man’s laugh.
Now I really need to pee, thought Ah Seng. He carried all the parts he needed in his hands and walked out the door. There were two men in the room facing Nina, one of them turned and pointed a black metal at his face. This time Ah Seng recognised it as a gun.
From the corner of his eye, Ah Seng saw a blur of movement as Nina extended the baton to 15 inches, pivoted on one leg and brought the baton down on the forearm of the man with the gun. Ah Seng could hear a bone break in the man’s forearm as he howled in pain and let go of the gun.
The other man reached into his jacket brought out another gun but Nina was faster, she had already reached him before he could point the gun at anyone and kneed his stomach. He bent over. She brought her elbow on his back and cracked the baton on the hand holding the gun. The gun and the man fell to the floor motionless. Nina picked up the gun and Ah Seng saw her slid out the magazine, checked the bullets and slid it back into the gun just like an expert and he gaped. He found no words to say.
Nina glanced at him and shrugged “YouTube!”
