Sama Sama

Every now and then, Milady asks me to run across the street to this one Malay-food restaurant. I've gone over there a number of times over the past two years, but it seems like, no matter how many times I go over there, the guys who work there (Malay Malaysians) can never get over the fact that I can speak a tiny bit of Malay. Now I've gotten a tremendous amount of grief over the past three-plus years from Milady and her parents because I haven't really tried to learn Malay, although I do have a tiny vocabulary and know most of the greetings and courtesies. That's what happens at this restaurant: Ang Moh here speaks a few Malay courtesies and these guys flip. Around Eid, I went over to the restaurant and one guy gave me several greetings; I gave him the correct responses. For example, he said, "Hari raya eid ul fitri," and I responded, "Eid mubarak!" He looked at the other workers, pointed at me and made a face as if to say, "Get a load of this guy! He knows what to say." Today, I gave one guy some money to pay for the food and he says, "Terimah kasih" (thank you). I say, "Sama sama" (you're welcome). His boss, who's looking on, laughs! (The Ang Moh knows what to say yet again. Can you believe it?) I swear, if I were to speak fluent Malay to these guys, they'd probably drop dead on the spot from the shock! ;)