Friday, October 17, 2008

Malam Jumaat

I had just gone online on YM when an old friend buzzed me. He asked me what I was doing coming online at night. I told him, "Kerja lah."

His spontaneous online reply was, "Tonight kerja? Of all the nights?"

I wrote back, "Iyer lah. Esok got submission. Have to finish lah the work."

He immediately responded, "Tonite???"

By then, I was somewhat annoyed with this guessing game. I wrote back, "What's with tonite? Got Miss Universe on tv ka?"

His response was, "Wei....MALAM JUMAAT laaaaa!!!"

My reply, "Laaaaa....ITU je ker????"

His reply, "WOMEN!!!"

With that last exchange, he went idle afterwards.

Ummppp...this MALAM JUMAAT business has never failed to amuse me right from the time I first entered the workforce. Come Thursday evenings, almost everyone would be so eager to clock out on the dot. The office would be deserted latest by 4.45pm. Even the Pak Cik Guard showed his eagerness to leave the premise, leaving his replacement looking sad as a lost puppy.

If on other days, we'd see the male staff hanging around for a game or two of ping pong, and the ladies would sweat it out doing step Reebok in the training room, Thursday evenings would display subtle moves of almost everyone. When the much awaited 4.15pm arrived, everyone was ready to make the dash home. Akak-akak typist tu, siap put extra layer of lip gloss lagi before going off...fuhhh!! Kelasss...menarik lagi tertarik!!

And before they bid good-bye and head for the exit, they'd give me this look and pass this comment, "Hai, tak balik lagi. MALAM JUMAAT lah. Pahala lebih."

At times when I felt like stinging back I'd say, "Ohh...must it be JUST malam Jumaat je? There are many other nights to be at IT. You poor thing..."

But most of the time, I'd just smile and say, "Ya sila kan dulu... Have fun!!!"
What else is there to say, right??

11 comments:

Kak Teh said...

Oh dear! I have heard of this Malam Jumaat and its significance. Someone must really make a study on how businesses are affected on Malam Jumaats, the flow of traffic, cinemas and TVs - are they all affcetd?

Waterlily said...

Hahaha..I like your response to your colleagues..yes, sila kan mereka dulu..

We are alike on this Malam Jumaat thingy..boring nyer nak kena ikut schedule :) mesti malam Jumaat jugak ke? aiseh.. ok, enuf said :)

Kama At-Tarawis said...

hahahaha....ada ka..doing IT mana ada buleh buat schedule!sepatutnya, nak equals dapat.. takdak tunggu2 punya...hehehehe

AuntieYan said...

Salam Kay,

Selalunya,bagi Auntie, bila malam Jumaat menjelma, apa yang terlintas adalah "roh orang meninggal balik"...orang-tua katalah...so, lepas sembahyang maghrib tu, duduk lama sikitlah atas sejadah, baca Yasin dan wirid lebih sikit...yang lain tu any ninght also can what??? ;-)why do you have to wait until friday night??? :-)

kay_leeda said...

Kak Teh,

I think it's just a cliche. If everyone is really at IT (and nothing else) on malam jumaat, there'd be lots of Mamak joints, Kopitiams, Ramli Burger stalls closed for business. One less nite to operate, fuhh...merudum ekonomi!!

kay_leeda said...

Waterlily,

At times, I'd be just lost for words. Kalu dah eager beaver sangat tu, hah...please proceed. As for me, malam masih panjang....and you are rite, mesti malam jumaat jugak ker? What if kita have a headache that very malam??

kay_leeda said...

Kak Puteri,

Heh..heh..Macam tak logic je kan, IT having a schedule!! Lepas ni...IT will go on auto kot :)

kay_leeda said...

Autieyan,

Tu lah...orang malam jumaat ni, gi solat jemaah ker, buat yassin 2 - 3 round ker...ni tak, ITU yang jadi centre of attraction.

But you know for the life of me, last time (before kawin lah), tak faham why my cousin brothers dok kata "malam jumaat, malam jumaat". Rupa-rupa nyer ade aktiviti dalaman!! Punyer lah blurr...

Anonymous said...

Komen Pak Malim, kucing ray yang alim.

Saya masih ingat, walaupun sudah bertahun berlalu, kata Pak Malim yg berbulu. Saya pernah nampak asap putih berpusar macam puting beliung suatu malam, di tapak Tanah Perkuburan Islam yg agak terkenal di Lembah Kelang, kata Pak Malim sambil memakai gelang. Masa tu saya duduk sorang2 kat balkoni kondo kawan saya, kata Pak Malim sambil memakai baju kebaya. Malam yg sungguh gelap pekat, kata Pak Malim sambil memakai kain pelekat, menampakkan asap putih yg sungguh jelas, kata Pak Malim sambil meminum susu segelas. Ya, malam itu, malam Jumaat, saya masih ingat, kata Pak Malim sambil makan pengat.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes diorang ni eksyen saja yang lebih - ntah ye ke tidak dapat IT pada malam Jumaat tu. Hehehe...

Just to jump on the same bandwagon lah konon so that nobody looked at them with sympathetic eyes. Kesian most of them with herd mentality.

Malam Jumaat sunat, Pagi Jumaat PENAT!

(the mantra of some guys in my office dulu)

Snarf said...

Hmm , interesting tots on Malam Jumaat. But as they say, tat nite belongs to the women aje...off course can do any nite lah...must also be thinking too on tat nite if any of my friends are doin it too!!!
p.s. Macam nak ikut Madonna pulak..mesti ade schedule....