That Day-Life of Lin

That day as usual Lin took his bicycle and headed to work. It was so freezing and lin had already passed a few meters when he realised he had left his winter gloves at home. “Why is it so freezing today?” asked himself and took his Handy out to check the weather… Looking at his home screen, “Ha… It’s a new year today that’s probably the reason for so many people on streets…OMG that’s three degrees and feels like minus two...”. The strong cold winds again made lin regret his obliviousness, but he had no time to head back so he pedalled… Crackle, fizz, sputter and whistles were so frequent that day. ” It’s okay…I will reach my restaurant in 20 minutes…” thought to himself forcing his calliper to slow down his bike. “ It’s red and I am goanna be further two minutes late…” Lin wanted to move forward and press the beg button and to his luck came a teen who also wanted to cross the signal. The teen was having a very good time on the streets enjoying his new year which reflected through the hard rock songs streaming from his boombox that was dangling around his chest. Intervening the acoustic came a ping resonating vibration from the signal lamp post. The juvenile had stamped the button on his foot. Lin was so displeased by this action of the young but couldn’t do anything as he was a foreign student to the country. So ignoring all antagonism lin headed to the restaurant.

Stamping at 8 am, lin looked at the work assignment board. “ Why am I not assigned any work today?”, confused lin went to his shift coordinator.
“You don’t work inside today lin…” said the coordinator ” You work outside… Assuring the restaurant and surrounding looks clean is your work today…” Unsatisfied lin replied, “You mean Housemaster chef?...But chef I am a student working part-time here…and I am still new to work”.
“It's fine you can do it...” responded the chef.

With no other choice left, lin had to work as a cleaner that day. Lin was bothered because he was only 23 years old and had never seen a student do such a job before. He was afraid. ”Would people see me inferior?, What if my friends see me cleaning tables? Will people make fun of me?”. With so many questions and with a clutched heart wore his gloves, took a sponge wipe and a disinfectant spray bottle and started with disinfecting tables in the workers dining area and then mopped the floor. While he was moving closer to the exit he experienced a weird smell. It was a musty pungent odour and lin was not sure of where it was coming from. He searched under the tables and on the ledge but found nothing until he opened the door. It seemed like it was all clear in. “Excuse me is anyone inside ?” asked lin knocking on the door. After a clear sign of silence, lin entered inside and figured it out. It was from the women’s section of the washroom. But still, lin couldn’t locate the cause of the stink. There was only one bin which lin assumed to be a normal dustbin until he came closer and realized that it was a sanitary bin for pad disposal. It was lin’s duty to safely dispose of them and he was first a bit reluctant about disposing of them. Several thoughts popped up on lin’s head. “What if I don’t do this? These bins are not available everywhere…How does a woman manage it under critical circumstances? How was it done before when these practices were scene taboo? For it’s still considered a taboo for a woman to come to work during menses in my country”. With all these thoughts and nose closed, lin managed to clear the area from the sting and he also made sure that both the washrooms were comfortable for his colleagues at work. Cleaning toilets was not an easy job for a young guy like lin. He was already mentally exhausted. He wanted to quit and go home but he couldn’t do it because this work was in harmony with his university schedule. “I have come here crossing continents to pursue my master degree and work on a rolling chair…What am I doing here? My parents wouldn’t be happy about me”. Lin felt foiled.

Since 21 Lin never depended on his parents for a living. He wanted to be independent and establish his business empire all alone was his impulse. Becoming a trillionaire was his preeminent ambition. Though lin believe that every work is sacred, this environment was completely new and lin was already tired. But lin was fortunate that he only had to deal with the washrooms in the employee section and not in the restaurant lobby. While lin was happy thinking about it, came up with a vivid voice…

“Come on lin hurry up… You have to go outside too and ensure the garbage bins are empty, parking lots free from cigarette buds and surrounding free from restaurant’s take-home debris…”
“I have to that too…alone chef? It's freezing cold outside…” asked lin in a lethargic tone.
“Yeah, it’s your most important work… clear the garbage bins and sort them out” you don’t have much time left”. Replied the chef.

Lin got his winter jacket on and went out to see whether the garbage bins were full. There were four of them completely jam-packed with trash. “ People come to have food or fill the trash bins? “ lin was frustrated. He then replaced them with new blue garbage bags and then segregated the collected garbage into plastic, paper and biowaste bins which the garbage truck would take every Monday. Lin was shocked and worried at the same time to see the restaurant garbage bins has almost no biowaste. All that was stuffed where plastic and paper wastes. He was worried about the damage those litter would have on the environment.

It was 12:34 noon, there were so many people chilling outside the restaurant. There were cars lined up in the drive-thru. Many parked their wagons to have their food and many to puff a cigarette after their meal. Lin noticed a BMW 250d whose engine was lit for a long time. Inside the luxury, 250d was a young man making intimate moves with a woman. The young man kept his engine running so that he could talk for long and his girl would feel warm despite the freezing cold winds.

With a bare blue trash bag on the left and red trash tongs on the right, lin went walking on the streets around the vicinity of 5 km from the restaurant centre, to look for restaurant debris. It was really hard for lin to accept that he had to collect trashes from the streets. Lin broke terribly. The inner feeling for the work he had been doing since morning took over him. Tears welled up in lin’s eyes. He felt his chest crushing and his throat closing up struggling to breathe. Lin didn’t want to cry on the streets so he looked up at the sky eyes closed and took several long breaths. He stood still for a while. But his thoughts took over. “ What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Why is this so hard for me? What do you intend to teach me, God? How is this going to make me a trillionaire? In what way is this going to make me successful? Is this what successful people had also gone through?” asked lin looking at the sky heartbroken. But his burning desire to be independent stopped him from quitting. His next month expenses squeezed him and made lin prowl on the streets.

It was 14:47 when lin returned to the segregation spot. Cars were still online, people in groups still smoking, and most of all the luxury 250d was still roaring with its proprietor still intimate with the lady. Lin was so hesitant to carry the filled garbage bag and tongs in Infront of those people. Lin wanted to throw the baby out with the bathwater but again failed. What was so embarrassing was the picking of cigarette buds from the parking lot amid the people.

With a trash can and tongs, lin again had to go around the drive-thru and parking area looking for cigarette buds. Lin was riled on seeing the mountain of cigarette buds on the floor. Speaking to himself “Why do people smoke a mountain in this country knowing it’s injurious to health? Are you all not well educated? Lin gathered the mountain inside the trash can. He then heard a chuckling sound from behind him. Turning around to see where the laugh came from, were a group of teenagers making fun of lin’s activity. “This day can never be worse than this... “ Lin was disconcerted and heartbroken but never gave up. He told himself…
“You may not have been born as a prince. You may not have been born in a country where the government takes care of your food and expenses, but you have something that these people don’t. You have tenacious willpower, you have a burning desire, you have a dream, a vision and most of all you are blessed with amazing parents. You have already come a long way and you still have a lot of distance to cross. Don’t give up. If you don’t make it today, you are never gonna make it ever again, but if you could make it through this day then you can make yourself through any hard situations life puts you through, never quit what you do and one day your jaguar will definitely roar marking your success…”

There were many other young people, who made fun of lin picking up garbage and cigarette buds that day, but lin kept working until the end of that working day. “Life isn’t fair and life isn’t easy”. As Burke Hedges says in his book The Parable of the Pipeline, some people are born with silver spoons in their mouth, some with plastic and some with nothing but their own thumb. That’s life…

-Afrin Hewitt Alban