Star Q
I am not against people who do extra work like small businesses to support their families. In fact I am not embarrassed to admit that my own mother once had a small business of selling Nasi Lemak to help out with my family's expenses. I can empathise with families where the fathers do not earn enough and the mothers take it upon themselves to help out in any way they can.
In order to sell her Nasi lemak, my mother went through all the pains to acquire a small stall in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. She would sell her Nasi Lemak, complete with all the trimmings like Sambal Sotong Kering, Rendang Ayam, Sambal Tumis Kerang, Sambal Tumis Sotong and a variety of other dishes, all from the wee hours of the morning and everything would be completely sold out by 10.00 a.m. But to prepare all the dishes, she would have to start preparing all the ingredients the night before (with my help and the help of one or two of my siblings) After a few hours sleep, she would get up at 4.00 a.m. to start cooking to have everything ready by 5.00 a.m. (she had many stoves!) And by 6 she would be ready at her stall waiting for her customers most of them regular ones.
The long introduction about what my mother did to conduct her small business shows that one has to do things the right way and for some aspects of the business, through proper channels to do so. So, it is to my surprise when I see many people with noble intentions of helping their families, conduct their business without any consideration for other people especially with regards to the location where they set up their businesses.
It was shocking to see one such trader selling her food stuff just near the intersection of a main road also near the main entrance to a housing area. Every morning from 7.00 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. the roads would be thronged with vehicles of parents sending their children to schools while many other young school children dropping by her stall to buy food stuff from her.
By setting up her stall at that particular location she jeopardises the safety of all these eager young children buying food from her. At the same time she also disturbs the traffic flow when the intersection becomes congested.
Like I said earlier, doing something to help out with the family's expenses is a noble thing to do. However there is a place for everything. And where setting up mobile food stalls is concerned, I'm sure the City Council is the correct authority for this person to approach to advise her on the locations where she can conduct business and at the same time provide her with a trader's license.
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