Malaysian uncle sells pau to stay afloat during the RMCO
Uncle sells pau to support himself during the MCO
Image adapted from: @wsafiahamirah & @qussiynur
The Movement Control Order (MCO) hasn’t been an easy ride for Malaysians, even though many of us have been making the most of it by staying creative and cracking jokes to keep our spirits up. So we’ve been more than thankful that the guidelines have been relaxed under the Conditional MCO (CMCO) and now, the Recovery MCO (RMCO), that’s allowing even more businesses to reopen so we can get back some semblance of normalcy in our lives.
Showing just how difficult the different phases of MCO have been for some, a Malaysian woman shared the heartbreaking story of an uncle selling pau by the roadside in Kuala Lumpur, to try to make ends meet.
Uncle sells paus with only minimal spare change
The story was posted on Twitter by user @qussiynur on 8th June 2020, and it has since racked up over 25,700 retweets and 12,000 likes at the time of writing.
In her tweet, @qussiynur shared that the uncle usually sells paus in front of Andalusia Travel and Tours at Kampung Pandan in KL, and that she would see him operating his stall whenever she drives her sister to work. But ever since the MCO was implemented, the uncle was nowhere to be found – presumably because everyone was supposed to stay indoors to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Image adapted from: @qussiynur
With easing restrictions during the RMCO, the uncle finally returned to his usual spot. And in an effort to support small businesses selling food, @qussiynur opted to get 3 paus from him. The total cost of the paus was RM7.
That’s when she saw that he only had RM13 left in his “toolbox” where he stored his money. And it was all he had to return to her as exact change for the RM20 bill that she handed over, showing just how slow business had been for him.
Image adapted from: @qussiynur
She shared that she’d buy more paus from him the next day while driving her sister to work again to support him. She also urged others to do the same whenever they see roadside food stalls as many of the street vendors are struggling to stay afloat at this time.
Netizens show support for uncle by reaching out to him personally
Always ready to help out those in need, Malaysians wasted no time to show their support for the uncle by replying to @qussiynur’s tweet. Some asked for the exact location of his stall so they could show up and support him too, while others such as @minmdnor wanted to get the uncle’s contact information so they could reach out to him and help in other ways.
Netizen reaches out to support uncle selling pau online
Image adapted from: @minmdnor
Netizen @hadi_nor also shared that he tried to find the uncle at his usual spot, but didn’t see him there. But that didn’t stop him from attempting to return tomorrow to find the uncle and support his business again as he lived nearby.
Image adapted from: @hadi_nor
Another netizen @wsafiahamirah had more luck when trying to locate the uncle, sharing photos of her purchases from him and tweeting: “I bought these from this morning. For anyone who asked for the uncle’s phone number, I snapped a picture of it along with his menu.” She also added that he was “so sociable”.
Image adapted from: @wsafiahamirah
Uncle sells pau with change for only one customer during MCO
MCO has hit Malaysians hard in more ways than one, and this story is just another example of the struggles many of our fellow countrymen are facing. So we applaud @qussiynur for showing support to this uncle selling pau, and even spreading word of his predicament, which saw kind netizens reaching out and offering help in different ways.
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