Chapter 11 The Raging Fire Burning Soothingly

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! never ending surprises.
That was what were installed for Ken.Very obvious those staffs and contractors did not welcome him.Their awkward reception was telling .

First surprise was the the office building.It was an old wooden building slightly slanting,a storm could have brought that down easily but that never happened, it with stood all those,odd is it not so?.

The Assistant and the conductors were present and introduced to him.The Contractors were also there.All of them were smiling sceptically especially the Assistant.He put on a sour face all through that introduction.
He was showed his office all plank partition.All expected Ken to leave the moment he saw all those unimpressive things around.

Later Ken found out that the Assistant had expected a promotion when his Manager left but the Boss never promote him and he had been there nearly ten years.The problem with him was that he never think back as to why he was not given the promotion.Reasons later on.

Following he was showed an old bungalow,a semi-detached bungalows.The first on was occupied by the Assistant.The vacant lot was reserved for Ken.Second surprise was there were no furniture,just a "few" but flimsy,like a bed without mattress.All appeared to have been cleaned recently.By then the executive had left,so no one to complained to.

An old Dahatsu jeep was also reserved for him as well as a motor cycle.Somehow Ken felt that those people had expected him to leave without second thought but they were in for a disappointment as Ken was a hardy man.All these were nothing to him he can bear with them,beside he was really hard up for a job.Sleeping without mattress was nothing new to Ken,as long he had his blanket with him there was no stopping him to sleep without the mattress.

When lunch time came Ken drove out to town for it,similarly he did likewise for dinner.That evening he passed the night without the comfort of a mattress.He slept well that night,much to the disappointment of all those who never expect him to stay.Maybe some other would have marched out but not Ken.He was there to work and work he must,by hook or by crook.He had a responsibility to his dear family.

Next early morning he was in for further surprises.Being new he was the first one to arrived at the office for muster.His staffs drifted in one by one lazily and it was the same with the Assistant.With the office opened by a staff Ken went straight into his office.His next surprise was that he according to the Assistant should prepare the muster chit.What bloody nonsense was that.Nevertheless he slowly prepared it after muster.He was definitely not pleased with that.

Later that day he called the Head office who immediately sen him the new mattresses and some furniture.A set of sofa was obtained from the new bungalow which was v=never resided by any Manager.

He kept his patient just to find out what all these people were trying to do.In any case it was good start as he had first hand knowledge what and where those workers were going.Next he walked to the workshop where the tractors were serviced.The drivers saw him going round quickly drove off to their respective taking the contract harvesters with them.

On closer look he found out that most of his tractor force were old tractors all above fifteen years except one four wheel drive which slightly newer.Fortunately all were Ford tractors.Prior to this his tractor force was only two tractors,now that he had fifteen older ones,it definitely be more challenging.

Armed with the plantation map he went round the fields with the Assistant guiding him. He only showed Ken all the main roads.Actually that was excellent,for the fields although very hilly had only some top roads and middle roads despite the age of all palms were about ten years and slightly older.

Luckily the plantation had an old bulldozer for road maintenance only.With this in working order Ken had thus a plan to improve its road system.His knowledge of the "Catherine's wheel" thus had apart to play.

With his previous experiences all those above were now "Sub, Sub, Seow" or small matters - no problems.What he experienced in previous encounters thus thus came in good used.There was nothing to stop him as he could stream rolled over them with ease.

His predecessor was a Taiwan graduate with no plantation experiences that was why there was so much Ken could do to make himself out shone the predecessor.Called it experience if you may but luck was surely with him all the way.By now Ken can perceived clearly that his downfall elsewhere were actually some sort of blessings in disguised.

His level of dealing with opposing forces also changed dramatically,having read the Chinese version of "The Art of War",he now know to adapt to fighting his enemies the correct way with much patient and tolerance.He may have erred in his previous encounters but now he has learned to be able forgive and forget,but shall strike when the right time lures him to demolish any opponents.To strike back not only the enemies be demolished but condemned or displaced forever.

Further to continue with some more surprises he initially encountered.The Assistant thinking that Ken do not know how to handle the check-rolls passed them all over to him.He pretended as though not knowing accepted all those jobs which should rightly be his.Ken with ease slowly completed them.There were some minor problems at first but soon he got used to them and did all those much to the Assistant surprised.

His intention was to drive Ken away with the job load.How foolish and immature was his numb mind.For Ken he accepted those jobs as a challenge and secondly by doing the check-rolls he could study the work force he had in hand.So were the payments to contractors,what better ways to know them better?.

He ability caught the Assistant dumbfounded,then he knew Ken was actually well equipped to perform and no obstacles can deny him due success.

Another surprise was the Mill Engineer,a well respected man in the Company.The "Dato" was very impress with his performances.His ability to sweet talk to the Boss made him the more admirable in the eyes of all.

Ken had been there hardly two months many office staffs from the Head office begin to compare him with Ken.Poor Ken being new was ridiculed by all because the Engineer had tertiary education thus was more systematic in his work unlike Ken who had only secondary education.Fortunately those comments from the staffs and the Dato.Even his staffs and Contractors agreed with them.Ken knew who to please definitely not those criticizing him.

Ken apparently knew all these and he stood his ground firmly,with tolerance and patient,then he reacted slow and steadily.The third month he began to change the routine of the bulldozer driver instructing him to construct and cut immediately new bottom roads in all fields.Beginning from the end of the younger fields which were hilly and where harvesting at its bottom hills were neglected.

His action caught the Boss by surprised as he went round the fields.Was he pleased?Yes he was,he marveled at that improvements.Not only could he visualized what was at the foothill,all crops therein were also harvested and collected back to the Mill.Collections of loose fruits were also properly done.Prior to this spraying at its foothill were not seen properly with that road the hill sides had to be cleared.

Later with those bottom roads constructed he attention turned to the top roads and add in more field roads in the middle.All these gaped the mouths of all including all the contractors and staffs,for now they were forced to supervise their fields properly.

Existing bamboo grooves along the sides of ravines and lakes were also cleared.Previously they had claimed that removing those bamboo grooves were be too costly.Was it? Ken just ordered the bulldozer to bulldoze them straight into the ravines and lakes,what so expensive ? It was a fisherman's tale,because so doing those fishing around the lakes for example will have their hooks entangled in all those bamboo therein.

The driver himself a fisherman reserved several good spots for himself so in reality not all areas were blocked.Besides all the lakes were over fished by those from outside the plantation.The demolished grooves thus served as a conservation for fishes and does wonder for the environment.

Secondly whenever Ken went to the Head office for weekly reports,Ken had them all well prepared in his file.So pleased was the Boss that it was Ken explaining his jobs and his intentions etc.,point for point.On finishing he will request the Boss to correct him whenever he thought otherwise but it was always "Okay you go ahead with everything you planned'.

The Boss even made a comment that Ken was likened to an unpolished diamond,those white skin do not know how to handle good people to bring out their best,they only wanted "balls carrier".To those people in their corporate world those who knows how to carry 'balls"were trusted workers,how absurd of them.They were to employ Managers to manage not to employ social workers if that should be the case it would be better to employ pretty girls,don't you think so?

The Mill had always complained about the plantation's crop but he was always at hand to show improvements.Harvesters harvesting tall palms,under ripe crop was a common affair.Being hilly especially during rainy seasons ,missed out crops in the fields were also common leading to over ripe FFB being left out in the fields.An offend was always in the wrong so he admitted all in faults and promised immediate rectifications,he humbly apologized to the Boss.All these pleased the Boss very much,for he does like to see the Mill and the plantation arguing and quarreling over trivial matters.

All these put Ken into his good books and the tales that he was no better than the Mill engineer lost as days drifted by.No one dare to say that Ken was no good and within five months Ken was confirmed as Manager of that plantation with an hefty increment.With those self-styled approached thus sealed all the mouths of those who belittled him.

Actually the Boss had earlier allowed Ken to move into the new bungalow which was constructed two years ago,but the Boss refused to allocate that to his predecessor.Hardly three months in that plantation he got the permission to shift in.It was simple all he asked was only to connect the existing generator without requesting for a new one and most of all cut down the running time of the generators.

Within a short time he converted the garden of the Bungalow into a beautiful garden with abundance of a large variety of flowers and fruit trees.The Boss even allowed him to built a high fencing around that bungalow.There were also purple creepers with plenty of flowers blooming over the fence and gates.It was so amazing that the Boss brought to see what Ken had done to the Bungalow.

The Boss even gave him a full grown Alsatian to guard the bungalow.Later he was given another dog,this time a Rock Weller.How thoughtful of him.Ken also kept a number of their dogs.Ken's family occasionally came to stay with him,as their children were schooling in Bentong initially, thereafter shifted to Kuala Lumpur as they enter college.
With that cut in supply he reduced the expenditure of running its electricity that was all.That pleased the Boss very much,but to Ken that was nothing new,he experienced those long time ago.A thing his predecessor does not comprehend.

With his confirmation Ken began to change other things though he had only a very weak staffs under him.The three conductors all poorly educated ,nevertheless since they already been employed it was his duty to train them to work to his procedure to achieved better performances from them.He re-organized their work routines,allotting them to each a contractor or fields and making them worked out the check-rolls in turn.Thus making them also well versed with it.

The contractors payments he retained the working out of it for himself.He left his Assistant in a lurch with nothing accept by going round the fields like a bloody fool.Anyway it was he who asked for it by trying to be funny betraying him in the first instance when he first came.He could do nothing as it was already a well known fact that the Boss did not like him or even trust him.

Having pushed to a corner he left for a better position later.He was so smart that Ken could not fit him into his plans only obedient staffs fitted his agenda.The contractors who were with him all along, yielded and behaved like good puppies, for they now know who is Boss over them.Only obedient contractors can survive under him.