Job Week

Being a Scout is not easy, especially if you are in Victoria School. One of the things that Scouts dread most is the annual Job Week. Scouts can go over Singapore knocking on doors, offering to do odd jobs for people in exchange for cash. This event usually lasts about four days. This money used to fund the Scouting activities for the Scouts in the school. You would not believe how some people would behave when their doors are knocked upon. One old man, probably living by himself scolded me with vulgarities in hokkien, a Chinese dialect. He then proceeded to throw things such as plastics bags filled with rubbish and old plates at the door. The plates smashed into thousands of tiny, razor edged pieces. The hallway was littered with them. Luckily, I was not hurt. I was very scared of the old man; I figured that he must have been senile so I decided to leave him alone and quickly run away. Another man, who was middle aged, also lived in a small, cramped HDB flat. His dog leaped upon me the moment I arrived. He did not install a fence behind his door to keep out the dog. The dog nearly bit my leg; its snout was jammed in between the bars of the metal grill. It began to gnash its teeth furiously and barking as if there were no tomorrow. Sticky, milky drool dripped off the dog’s jaw and landed on the ground with an audible splat. It stared at me with its evil yellow eyes, as though it almost wanted to kill me. But what happened next was worse. The owner of the house said to me in Chinese, “Ha! Who asked you to come so close. Serves you right. Every year you Scouts come to my home to beg for money. Get lost and tell your friends never to bother me again.” I walked away in bitter disgust. I was very offended indeed. I felt like scolding the man but I did not want to add fuel to the fire. Hopefully, I will never have to endure people like that again.