Musings: Ask and you shall receive

In less than an hour:

Situation 1:

I was buying some things and the cashier accidentally punched in the wrong key in the computer and couldn't figure out how to undo it. 

In less than a minute, she asked her workmate, and after they tinkered with the PC a bit, they messaged their friend (and apologised to me the whole time). They then restarted the PC and scanned my items again, but the system still went bonkers. Their friend finally replied to their txt with how to fix the situation, but it seems a bit technical (it involves clicking some buttons in the software plus pressing some keys, but their keyboard is quite worn out so they couldn't see all the keys properly). 

Finally, they turned to me and asked me if I could help ("Akak, tolong kami boleh? Kami tak reti" while showing me the txt messages).

Thankfully, I knew where the keys are on the keyboard so we managed to solve the problem together.

Situation 2:

Two grown-up men (early 30s maybe?) standing next to me kept whispering to each other while glancing at me. It was a hot day in Ramadhan - a month where Muslims are supposed to fast from dawn to dusk - and I was enjoying my (quickly-melting) ice cream.

It was 7.32pm (i.e. already Maghrib, which means the sun has set) so we could break our fast. I ignored their stares until I overheard one of them whispering "Wei dah azan ke?" (did you hear the prayer call?).

I casually turned to them and said, "Dah, ada announcement just now" (Yes, there was an announcement).

They laughed nervously and looked away.

Conclusion:

Willingness to be vulnerable to get things done is often seen as something unnecessary or even shameful, but imo admitting you don't know something and asking for help when you're stumped makes you faster at learning.

I'm really proud of the two young girls because they knew when to admit they needed help, and they tried their best to use all the resources they had around them within a short timeframe to solve their problem... while the guys in contrast broke their fast late because they didn't just ask other people.