Dear Editor,
A friend of mine after quite some time of encountering all forms of obstacles in trying to get his act together said to me in sheer disgust, “I really can’t take five more years of this, it would throw me off balance completely, I would lose me bearings.” He then proceeded to relate to me some irritants which he cited as being “totally ridiculous” and in many instances amounted to naked arrogance, disrespect and “eye-pass.” After listening to him I couldn’t disagree, for the malpractices, sloppy and slothful disposition of office personnel that he pointed out were what we all know so well, and have ourselves experienced from time to time.
Editor, often times when folks return home on holiday or to live and are critical about what they see, ie, our low standards and lethargic attitude, we tend to become upset with them. We castigate them for “making themselves large, showing off and being foreign minded”, which is often so much loose talk with little to do with the matter at hand. It is just simply a question of having lived in a place where they have become accustomed to a certain quality and standards, so it becomes a drain on them having to revert to a state of mediocrity. It is like the young man who lamented the slow pace at which we are developing and who noted: “In studying for my CXC in 1996 I had to use a flambeau because of the persistent black-out. I left, went abroad for a couple of years; I now come back in 2014 and have to watch my daughter studying, doing her homework using a flambeau because of black-out.” That, for this young man is totally unacceptable. The key words here are ‘a point of reference’, and this is what most Guyanese who have been living abroad do. You really shouldn’t fault them, but it is an entirely different story for someone who hasn’t had such an experience, and for whom there is no reference point ‒ compared to what?
Now to list a few irritants: This brother, after three, four months in total frustration and bitterness was going nuts, being given the royal runaround for the money he had already worked for. He observed that there aren’t too many managers who are helpful, much less go out of their way to assist, while reporting for work in their own sweet time. He encountered office workers ‒ clerks ‒ with ‘sick’ attitudes, full of contempt with their noses in the air, not even having the courtesy or patience to offer you an explanation for anything. There were the foolish, rude, commonplace remarks being made upon trying to uplift a cheque or money: “Yuh deh bad”; “Wha is de rush, yuh gon dead?” You are given the push around until you start feeling cheap, running to and fro looking crazy and stupid. You are given a date and time to go to an office and collect what is due to you, and upon arrival at the office, you appear invisible to personnel who are busy engrossed in their discussion. Upon approaching them, before you can finish stating your case you are dismissed as if you are an annoying intruder: “The boss ain’t deh, he gone out de country.” When will he be back? “I ain’t really know, maybe the next two weeks.” And who is left in charge? No one! Nobody is deputising for him/her, everything stops until he/she returns, so one is left at the mercy of an inefficient and uncaring system, and at the whim of a boss who is accountable to no one and works to suit him/herself.
Your business is now a problem which is causing more stress since you have workers to pay who themselves have families and are desperately depending on you. It is rather unfortunate that the many managers and staff personnel who have been trained abroad, had the benefit of seeing and experiencing professionalism at its best; they have seen excellence and high standards, yet fail to carbon copy and exhibit the same at home. He noted also that getting a simple document to sign, which is a routine thing, takes an inordinately long time.
But let me say this: you see some people fitted into positions which can only be considered as mere sinecures, since there is virtually nothing for them to do. With no one to turn to and not being able to accomplish anything, one can be pushed over the brink, and find it hard to maintain decency and sanity. The whole charade is designed to weigh you down, and make you feel so wrong and out of place, while others casually say to you: “What yuh fighting up fuh, complaining about, yuh can’t do nothing about it.”
And all the above opens up the floodgates for a number of improprieties, as well as corruption and conflict. This is what the brother cannot take. How then can you make a professional who has spent 20, 30 years abroad working in a stable and well-functioning system accept the piffle and the monkey business that goes on? So once again, how could you in the light of all of the above expect them to revert to the life of mediocrity that is shamelessly being perpetuated? It is definitely asking too much indeed: “A mind that is stretched by new experiences cannot go back to old dimensions”
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
