Stop being shameless freeloaders

 

At a car wash recently, two enforcement officers in an official vehicle drove in and asked for the car to be washed. After 20 minutes, they left without paying. When I asked the foreign workers why they did not ask for payment, they just shrugged and walked away saying “what can we do.”

A few weeks ago, a chat with some corporate figures who deal with politicians in power, or their representatives, revealed how those in power use facilities and just walk away without settling their bills.

One of them was terribly upset that the “big names” or their associates who make bookings for groups on behalf of the “bosses” do not even have the courtesy to ask if they have to settle their dues before they leave. Some behave as though it is their birthright, he said.

Another said these freeloaders run up bills ranging from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of ringgit depending on the facilities and the number of days they use the outlet.

“We are sick to the core with some of them. As much as the owners want to stand up against these kinds of abuses, they have reason to fear as some of those people are at the very top of licensing authorities.”

This leaves the operators and owners at a loss as they fear that pushing them for payment may result in obstacles being thrown at them to upset their operations. One of them clarified that it was not that they were doing anything illegal to be that fearful, but they are at the mercy of the authorities for one reason or the other.

“Some of these influential and powerful people do ask for discounts which are okay, I guess. But to take everything for granted and assume that the operators are obliged to offer free services is totally unacceptable,” one of them said.

Some claim that many uniformed officers eat in warongs and walk away with owners forced to ignore such acts out of fear of repercussions. Malaysians for some strange reason seem to be in fear always, even if they have not done anything wrong.

The unending number of Macau scam victims are living examples of believing strange phone calls telling them they could escape prosecution for an offence they had not committed in the first place.

The moment the scammer tells them they are linked to money-laundering activities or have evaded taxes and that they could help to prevent legal action, they panic despite frequent news reports on such con jobs.

Honestly, this freeloading culture has seeped into the very fabric of the Malaysian political and corporate culture. As for the civil servants, there are directives on the control of gifts and the maximum cost of the items they can receive.

Major corporations on the other hand have provisions for entertaining potential clients for meals and drinks. But this is bona fide and fair as part of expenditure for bringing in business.

But to use their positions and offices to get free services at the expense of businessmen and corporations for costly entertainment is an absolute abuse of power and position and ought to be condemned by all.

The entrepreneurs know who the freeloaders are. They expect discounts, exceptions to the rules and, of course, seek to get your services for free, without giving anything back. They shamelessly walk away after enjoying the facilities, food and drinks.

These actions obviously are tantamount to corruption, and most of us are aware that this practice has been going on for several decades now. We have heard of corporations forced to pick up the tabs for political meetings too.

A basic law of nature is that someone usually loses in order for another to gain. Freeloaders may not know but they add the cost of their free lunches on to the cost of living. And consumers and taxpayers end up footing the bill indirectly eventually.

The poor warong owners or car wash operators are at the lowest end of the business chain, thus they are helpless against the show of might by certain enforcers.

The bigger entrepreneurs will have to recoup their loss of income to freeloaders by raising their charges or by any other means to stay afloat.

If you look at this whole scenario, freeloading is essentially a virus that’s gorging on a sick body. Those engaging in this are slowly but surely sucking the nation dry.

There are two things that can stop these practises. One is for the government to issue a stern warning to its employees and the other for the corporations and businessmen to stand up and say enough is enough. - FMT 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.