As I was crossing a junction at a busy street, I heard someone hailing me, "Hey, Cikgu (teacher)!" from a car at the junction.
I stopped, looked back and walked to the car - a brand new, black Mercedes. The driver had wound down the glass of the window and I was surprised to find that the man was a one-time tenant of a low-cost house I used to own.
He was the one who I had great difficulty in collecting rent from. The rent was only RM200 (approximately USD 60) per month but he would make feel like a beggar every time I came for the rent. Most times I would come home empty-handed as he would pay me a month and then defaulted on the next two or three months.
Finally, he vacated the house but owing me a great number of months in rent. I had not met him again until that day he hailed me.
I stopped, looked back and walked to the car - a brand new, black Mercedes. The driver had wound down the glass of the window and I was surprised to find that the man was a one-time tenant of a low-cost house I used to own.
He was the one who I had great difficulty in collecting rent from. The rent was only RM200 (approximately USD 60) per month but he would make feel like a beggar every time I came for the rent. Most times I would come home empty-handed as he would pay me a month and then defaulted on the next two or three months.
Finally, he vacated the house but owing me a great number of months in rent. I had not met him again until that day he hailed me.
I could see that he had made good. He had also a jewel-bedecked lady, presumably his second wife, sitting beside him. Wealth must have allowed him to marry her.
We could only say 'hello' as it was soon clear of traffic for him to drive into the busy street. How I wish we could talk longer and I could find out how to seek him out later for the rent he owed me.
ltbs
ltbs
There is only one class in the community that thinks about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.
Oscar Wilde
