We’ve all been to weddings before. Or a ceremony of some sort. On arrival at the venue, it is customary for the visitors to greet and ‘salam’ the host and whoever is nearby – cause that’s just the right thing to do. Similarly when it was time to part, one would meet the host and family to express thanks and gratitude for the food and such. Some may ask further questions about work and all but eye contact with ‘thanks’ is enough. It was a gesture my siblings and I felt was normal and part of common sense. Something that we thought everyone would do.

We were wrong.

Apparently, not everyone does that. It made us even more speechless that this ‘not everyone’ group is not the young Gen Z’s but the older generation – the ones in my dad’s age category. 60 years and above.

My dad has retired and it’s only natural that people of his age are all accomplished in their respective fields. Mostly in the Tan Sri, Datuk and Datin category. Or CEO, CFOs, bosses in their organizations etc. People who use mixed English and Malay in their conversations. In short, the typical representation of T20s you see in a Malay soap drama.

MENONONG

My siblings and I were lined up at the door, ready to greet the guests when most of these elite elders with their wives would just walk past us without an ‘Assalamualaikum’ or ‘hi’. We are a team of brothers and sisters, so even if the Datuk’s cannot salam us.. surely the Datin’s have hands kan? But no, not even a smile. And we are not even wearing masks anymore. The same thing would happen on their way out as though the relationship they have at the time is strictly between them and our father. ONLY. They’d be walking by so fast to the door as though they needed to escape quickly. It’s fine if you do not want our honey gifts since you eat caviar anyway but – a ‘thank you for the invite, we have to get going’ would suffice.

I am not saying all Elite Elders are like that. The very few Datin’s who greeted us were, on the other hand, nice and sweet. There was however an over-friendly lady friend of our father at the ceremony. My sister and I are suspecting that she is trying to place herself as a candidate for Dad’s wife. We will keep an eye on this Lady F.