Friday, October 03, 2003

This morning I went to my general manager's house and had Khash (boiled cows feet) before the sun came up. I guess since it's not cold yet and there was no woodstove going to keep warm, it just was not the same. Yes, Khash for me tastes best when it's freezing cold outside and the beef broth with a layer of fat which is cut by vodka is something one needs to warm up inside.

After we finished, we went to the factory to have a staff meeting to discuss the missing oil and a few other missing things that were taken out of my jeep. We already have a good idea as to who is responsible, but my general manager felt it would be best to put everyone on notice and understand that someone is going to have to fess up.

When my general manager told the workers that we know that someone within our company has stolen the oil, as no thief would take the time to disassemble a hatch and attempt to replace the oil in the transmission with water, everyone just listened. Once she was done talking, our youngest and most motivated worker Edo asked if he could say something (Edo very rarely talks and just listens and does what he is told).

He went on to say that he is a bit confused how we could even think that it was the day crew, as this would mean that they would have to work together to steal the oil and he for one has known me since he was a child and it was I that put shoes on his feet when he didn't have any to go to school and for him to allow someone to steal after all I've done for him over the years would be the worst thing he could ever do to anyone.

When Edo finished, I said that I understand that people are hungry and need money, but among us, there is no one making less than a living wage and though I didn't say it, the guard is making from his salary with us and pensions, over $150 a month, which is 3 times more than the average wage. I went on to say that what upsets me most is that by replacing water in the transmission, the bulldozer would be ruined and since there is a shortage of such needed equipment, anyone that would do such an act of sabotage is a trader to our country, as they not only cause harm to me, but to the people who need that equipment to work and feed their family.

We finished the meeting with my general manager setting down a new set of ground rules and we put Edo in charge of the keys to the factory and made him answerable to the equipment. Until I get the new factory area ready, which was going to have surveillance cameras installed, the bulldozer will be stored at the bulldozer operator's house and the dump truck and excavator will end up back at my house.

This afternoon I went to the mayor's house for lunch and we were joined by some workers that were doing some tile work at his aunt's house. One of the workers was Esh Edo, you remember, the guy that last summer took his son swimming in a reservoir, but he nor his son really knew how to swim and his son ended up drowning after he panicked. It was kind of sad, as everyone picks on him and the poor guy seems to have a very low self-esteem. He does not think too highly of his father Esh Albert, who recently left his wife for a younger woman and then the younger woman kicked him out of her house and Esh Albert had no place to return to.

Anyway, they let Esh Edo say a couple of toasts, and though they were really not bad toasts, the other workers didn't seem to take them seriously and made jokes about what he was saying. It didn't seem to bother him, but I didn't like the way this poor man was being treated and can see that it's really true that if you tell someone they are stupid, they start to believe it themselves. Esh Edo is a perfect example of that, but as stupid as they think he is, since he is physically strong, he is in demand and as he told me, those that make fun of him, he charges them more and they pay. So I wonder who the stupid ones are in that case?

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