On Top Down Under

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm   - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t all of us love to eat burgers? A Big Mac or Whopper takes an average of 30 secs to prep. McDonald’s in a 2013 survey found it sells 75 burgers every single second of every minute of every hour of every single day. That’s an astonishing stat. Our hunger can be insatiable. I bet no one spares a thought for the ones who makes these possible. I am proud to be one among those millions who has worked or who work at one of such food outlets.

No worries mate

The phone rings at 5:15 am. Reluctantly, I pick it up still cosily tucked under my blanket. Out comes a very cold voice that froze into my ears “Can you come in to work?” I didn’t have a choice. I had made myself available for that day. Originally meant to be a 3-4 hr shift, it ended up being an eight hour nightmare. After I had finished feeding the hungry beasts I wondered if I would manage to make it past the first month. I used to mostly ‘open’ or ‘close’ meaning I had to start either at 5 am or sign off by 12 or later. Being a night owl I hated the opening shift and the chilly Aussie weather added to my misery. But it was the closing shift that made me work my fingers to the bone. Washing all food trays, saucepans and other food handling equipments was a task. Getting stuff ready for the early morning shift was another task. In between all this customers had to be served and quality adhered to. Sweeping, scrubbing and swabbing the entire restaurant floor squeezed every last bit of strength that your body could muster. I used to look like a tramp, battle-bruised.

Awwwwesome

Then came a welcome move. The restaurant manager decided to hire young guns from other nationalities who really desired the job and who could make a difference in the working atmosphere. Needless to say, Indians were the first in line. Indians are known to have a very good track record away from home, unlike our national cricket team. It soon turned out to be a master stroke, not just for the restaurant but for me too. I resented work and now I looked forward to it.

Turning point

At first the whole place looked alien, working alongside guys who thought they were characters from marvel comics. Guys were testosterone fuelled and girls though some good others were least to say obnoxious. The accent was foreign and difficult to follow. Local slangs made matters worse. A fast paced environment with a demanding work ethic was difficult to cope with initially. Coordination and communication was a major stumbling block even for a person from an English speaking background. My confidence to operate in such a hostile and sometimes racist environment was at its lowest. This changed as more Indians were hired. As one would expect, the medium of communication changed from English to Hindi. ‘Tuh-ma-toh’ was exchanged for ‘tuh-ma-tur’ and mate became ‘yaar’. Hostility made way for camaraderie, enthusiasm replaced dull and boring. The roaring tigers had chased the hopping kangaroos. We would egg on each other when the chips were down. We loved working with each other. Even pain felt like pure ecstasy. We used to get a high working with each other. None of us had done this kind of work at home and now we were just killing it. Our working spirit raised the performance level not only of our restaurant but set a new benchmark for other stores in the area. Store and sales records were broken one after the other. Business soared. We were rewarded for our outstanding performances.  Of course, this didn’t happen without us attracting some amount of criticism and jealousy from fellow Aussies. But our charisma was just too much for them to resist for too long.

Good onya, bastard!

It is said that the first thing you pick up from a new language are the swear words. That’s right. We taught the Roos some cool Hindi words. It so happened that one of our overenthusiastic colleague happened to collide with an Indian female in a mall. Her reaction to this incident irked him and he said something that completely outraged her much to his amusement. To his defence, he didn’t know what it meant. He had just learnt the word on his previous shift and in his enthusiasm to showcase his Hindi skills put it in play. The lady at the mall came close enough to leave an imprint on his Irish face. He had just called her a prostitute! After this incident we put out a disclaimer of not owning any responsibility for any consequences one could suffer due to their verbal (mis)adventures.

Work hard, play hard

I didn’t realise how three years had passed. We dominated the proceedings in the restaurant but were never hostile towards any rookie or towards any Aussie. In fact we had crew members who would love to party with us the Indian way. Other nationality workers got a leg up to voice their concerns because of us. Finally, when I parted ways I realised three amazing things had just happened. Firstly, I got friends with whom I still share an invisible but significant bond. Secondly, it gave me the confidence to achieve anything provided your mind and heart are in it. Lastly, and more importantly it helped me pay off my Uni loan, my cross. These friends through their presence unknowingly had helped me overcome the impossible. Confucius in his wisdom once said “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” As a dedication to all those friends I through my own, somewhat bitter experience, have this to say, ‘Find friends you love to work with, and you will never feel you worked a single day.’