E S S O

They said, Esso stands for Every Saturday Sunday Overtime or Every Saturday Sunday Off. Neither applied to me as a Process Assistant, I was assigned to shift work. I did not know whether the day was Saturday, Sunday or Public Holidays. I worked on the morning shift, 8 to 4, evening shift, 4 to 12 midnight and the graveyard shift, midnight to 8 in the morning.

Reporting to work as a Process Assistant, firstly I had to undergo Basic of Operation Course for one month. I was briefed on the operation of the refinery process and its downstream production. I manually had to undergo the manual operation of gas bottling, filling up lorry tankers, filling up railway tanks, bitumen drumming and basic mechanical practices. There was no automation or conveyor belt during that period of time and I got to manually handle the loading arms and filling noozels. It was tough for a small size man like me. After bottling the gas, I got to check its weight. If I overfilled, I got to purge the gas out and during under filling, the cylinder got to be refilled. It must be of the correct weight for the ultimate consumers.

Having completed the on the job basic of operation, I was put on shift work, under the supervision of Shift Operator and Shift Superintendent. It was on the job training and I had to undergo Four Job Qualifying Program within four years, namely the refinery operation, refinery utilities, oil movement & storage and laboratory testing. An increment of RM 60.00 was awarded for every passing of each Program. Therefore by the fourth year of service, my salary was RM 205.00 + RM 240.00 + shift allowance of RM 30.00. During public holidays, my pay was automatically double. When I incurred overtime work, I was paid overtime pay and food allowance. It was a pleasure to work overtime on public holidays, where the overtime pay was quadruple. In the late 60s and early 70s, that amount of monthly income was considered big. By 1969, I already had my first car, Peugot 204, NC 5122.

The toughest among the Program, was refinery operation. I had to study the chemistry of refining operation and understanding the flow charts. There were jungles of pipe lines crossing each other within the refining unit. These pipelines were control by valves, pneumatic and automatic instruments. As a Trainee, I had to master all the flows and knowing all the locations of instruments pertaining to the subsection of the refining process. Physics and chemistry I studied at Technical Institute, came in handy. This Program was the toughest to pass.

Safety was top priority. I had to attend Safety and Fire Fighting Courses. I was safety attired and fully geared in doing my job. Safety helmet, shoes, goggles and gloves was a must. I must be at all time alert for fire hazard. I was trained to drive and operate the Fire truck and the Ambulance. When the fire siren sounded, the man nearest to the Fire Truck had to jump into the driver’s seat. Sometimes, when I looked back, I smiled to myself, a pint size man, 5 feet in height driving the mammoth Fire Truck. On the other hand, there is a pride in me, not many people had driven a Fire Truck in their life.

Working in the oil refinery operation was not easy. It requires broad as well as brain. Rain or shine I had to be on the spot. Oil samples and measurement from the 40 feet tall storage tank must be extracted even at 2 in the early morning. All alarms from the control panel had to be attended, failing which the smooth refining operation would go hay wire. During working hours, I had no fix time for lunch or dinner. It was subjected to cooperation among those on duty. We took turn to have our meal and the standard ruling, there should be not more than two personnel in the Dining Room at any time. The operation of the refinery should not be left unattended. Someone must be watching the control panel in the Control Room. The Control Room was something like the Control Panel of Cape Kennedy Launching Pad. We took turn to take down readings every hourly.

The function of the Oil, Movement and Storage was to ensure grades for the local market distribution were ready. Quantity ascertained, correct addition of additives, sampled, Lab tested and issuance of quality certificate. I like most when I was assigned to the Loading Pier during shipment. The pier is a concrete island isolated from the shore. Accessible only, by boats or on extreme emergency, I had to jump and swam ashore. I would be myself on the pier and I was the Loading Master. I was the Boss. Once the loading commenced, there was very little to do, except to keep my eyes and ears opened. I received and gave instructions from/to the Refinery by two way telephone connected to the Control Room. When this phone rang, either party must respond immediately. I just supervised the loading operation and interact with the Ship Officers that loading operation went smoothly. On completion, I witnessed the ship gauging, certified the quantity, obtained the required certificates and the ship could sail.

Working environment in the refinery was exceptionally fantastic. The degree of cooperation among the Process Assistants was superb. We traded shift during each other festivals. We could interchange shift if we had something urgent to do. We were mostly bachelors then and we enjoyed together. During our off days, we got together and painted Kuala Lumpur red. We usually rendezvous, at the Clubhouse for a game of gin rummy. We prove to ourselves and the people of Port Dickson that May 13 was utter rubbish. My two good friends then were Angamuthu and Ho Kok Lin.

There were good times and bad times when I was working in Esso. I had two warning letters during my service. One instant, I drove the pick up without a driving license and the other, I overflowed a storage tank. On the first instant, a speedy motorcyclist took the sharp corner and straight went to the pick up. The other, I was in charge during the inter tank transfer and I miscalculated the time taken. The good thing, I was always there whenever my colleague needed help. Esso set me a good training ground and the aspect of learning was by asking a lot of questions with the Seniors. It was mostly on the job training.

Years passing by quietly, now it was 1974. I am now happily married and my first child would be due either March or April. I am now in the 7^th.year of service with Esso. I had to do something for the betterment of my family and I did not expect to keep on doing the same job day in and night out. My social life was in shamble. I worked on shift and my wife was a Government servant.

In February 1974, I attended an interview with Guthrie Malaysia Bhd for a job, destined for the new Port of Pasir Gudang. I got the job as Executive Supervisor and a 6 months training at the Port of Singapore.

Arigato Esso, and goodbye Port Dickson. Singapore, here I come. I remember, I used to see the Mail Train passing by my kampong, and dreaming that, the train will one day take me to Singapura.