Tea Boys

I remember many years ago having to work in Defence Headquarters for three months as a temporary replacement for a colleague who had been fortunate enough to be selected as a short term exchange officer.  His UK army exchange replacement went to another location leaving a ‘hole’ that I was directed to fill (as well as doing my own job!).

The time wasn’t enjoyable.  I don’t like working in a head office where you are just one of the thousands of leemings arriving and departing morning and night.  It was also my first encounter with the government tea lady.  Every morning at 10.00am sharp she would arrive pushing a tea trolley with the urn on top and the cups & saucers underneath.  We’d all get a cup of tea.  There was nothing similar back out on the shop floor.  You made you own tea!

Of course the tea ladies have all gone these days.  A sign of the times and part of the invariable cost cutting exercises during the last 40 years.  So you can imagine what a surprise it was to find tea ladies boys in Saudi Arabia.  Every company (government & commercial) appears to have them.  Female can’t interact with males which means they are all male.  Moreover no Saudi appears to want to serve tea so all the tea boys are foreigners.  The two that work in my office are both from the Philippines and one is a very old ‘boy’.  Probably almost as old as me!  They all appear to wear a waistcoat with bowtie and wander the office complex five times daily serving tea or coffee in a small glass cup.  Like most of the non western expats in this country they get one paid holiday home every year.  You can only wonder what their salary is; where they live in Saudi Arabia; and how much money they manage to save and send home.  My Tea Boy is from Mindanao and he seemed quite pleased that I knew the island had recently been struck by a devastating typhoon and was concerned enough to ask.  He told me his family was safe. Looking at the life of a tea boy makes one realise just how fortunate you were to be born in a different environment with significantly greater opportunities to live a more affluent life.