Don't la be like that.

“ Dapat nombor berapa, dik?”, she barked at me from behind. I spun around, too quickly much to her annoyance. I showed her my placing card. She eyed it for a while , pursing her lips.

“ Eee..kalut la urusetia ni. Tak teratur langsung” she complained loudly. 

“ Tak salah diorang sangat , kak. Tiba-tiba je MC announce suruh nombo 4 sampai 30 amik medal kat kaunter urusetia. Agaknya, MC ni memandai-mandai je”

“Slowlah!” she complained again.

Meanwhile, a giant crowd had formed at the urusetia counter. The three race officials manning the medal pick up counter were trying their best to get everything in order.

“ Eh, berasak-asaklah. Busuklah” the woman said again, fingers pinching her nose. ( Alah, macam ko tu wangi sangat)

Suddenly she marched to the front, pushing everybody ( including yours truly aside).

“ Eh amoi! Amoi!” she banged the table rudely. “ Mana saya punya medal dan duit!”

“ Sikijap ya. Biar saya atur dulu”

“ Ini line cakap untuk F, kenapa budak sekolah mau beratur sini!”

“ Sikijap cik. Semua olang pun mau cepat. Nanti saya ambil. Jangan mara mara.”

“ Eh cepatla ambik saya punya. Sudah lama tunggu,” She shoved her placing card in front of the official's face.

 Mak aiii, talk about being rude. Baru dapat no 10, but acts as if she’s Flo Jo. Honey, just because you paid your fees, doesn't mean you get the green light to step on other people's head.

I’ve posted about this before. How we take our race officials and volunteers for granted. Keyword. VOLUNTEER. They do it sukarela, geddit? They’re not paid to give you water or to sponge your sweaty legs. They’re not paid to hand you medals or take care of your belongings. They do it for free. For the love of the sport.

So for crying out loud, please be polite to them. At least give ‘em a smile and a simple thank you. Yes, you’re tired. Yes, we know you ran that far. Doesn’t mean you can boss them around. Do you realize that they’re there long before you arrived and they’ll still be there while you’re in the car on you way back home, happily yakking about your race adventures?

Okay la, maybe some races aren’t as properly planned as others. Some aren’t even handled by people who run. But can’t we still appreciate the effort? Shitty races don’t justify shitty treatment to the volunteers. You wanna be mad, be mad at the organizers. Go write a letter, make a complaint note in the papers, go to Karam Singh Walia for all I care.

But don’t vent at those poor people at the water stations.

“ Oi, my Gatorade isn’t cold enough!” ( while hurling the cup back at the table)

Don’t be rude at the people during race kit collection,

“ You’re so stupid. What do you mean no more XXL shirt?”

Don’t be mad at those poor St John/ Bulan Sabit people

“ I said, sapu the ointment here la. HERE!”

Come on la people, we’re better than that.

Note1 : Segala dialog diatas bukan rekaan semata-mata.

Note2: This is just a reminder. Kalau tak penah buat , takpe la. Don’t forget your thanks yous, you beautiful people, you.