Danger!!!

Dear Diary,

About a month after graduation, I landed myself a job in a telephone factory in Cherok Tok Kun. While I was working there, I stayed with my uncle in Kulim. My uncle and his wife worked at their friend’s restaurant named Restoran Suwadi, which also provided catering services. This was somewhere in 1998. I used to hang out at the restaurant; so, I built a good rapport with all staffs there. They’re mostly easygoing kampung guys. Nearly all of them could not really communicate in English. Bahasa rojak boleh la.

One day Suwadi got a catering project at a big factory which employs foreign workers. It was quite a big project, mind you. As usual, the first thing to do was setting up the buffet table and preparing all the utensils. One of the boys, let’s us just name him Z, was responsible for beverages section. He was supposed to make two types of drinks, hot and cold. He was in the middle of making tea when he ran out of sugar. He needed to run to the van and get the extra supply.

As Z was walking away from his beverages station, a Japanese man came to the station and was about to pour him a cup of tea. Panicked, Z screamed as loud as he can, “Danger! Danger! Danger!” with hands flailing in the air.

The time stood still. Stunt, everybody wondered what was going on. My uncle ran to Z’s station to check out the incident and broke down with laughter as soon as Z finished telling him what happened. He then explained to the Japanese man that Danger actually meant no sugar.

Now, the word Danger will voluntarily bring a smile on my face whenever I read or hear it.