Gas station attendants don’t exactly have the best working conditions even on a good day, but one attendant in Tanjung Morawa, North Sumatra, recently had to deal with the worst kind of customer: the sort who not only doesn’t want to queue but is willing to beat up anybody who stands up to them.
The culprits in this case, as shown in a CCTV video that recently went viral, are a military officer and his wife. The clip shows the couple on their motorcycle skipping a line of cars and going straight to the gas pump. The attendant in charge of the pump then appears to tell them to go to the back of the line, after which this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DuaYpSFrnI
Both the military officer and his wife got off their motorcycle, with the latter screaming at the attendant and throwing something at her. As the attendant was running away from confrontation, the officer chased after her and kicked her in her back (1:20). The attendant tried to fight back but a security guard, other attendants and passersby quickly intervened to prevent further violence.
According to a report by Tribun, some viral posts about the incident accused the military officer and his wife of becoming angry after being told off for skipping the queue, with the wife allegedly screaming, “Can’t you see what kind of motorcycle this is?” at the attendant, pointing at its military license plate.
Regional Military Public Relations Head Roy Sinaga confirmed that the culprit in the video is indeed a military officer and that the military is investigating the alleged assault on the attendant internally. No sanctions for the officer or his wife have yet been announced.
“I apologize in the name of the Military District Command and I hope the public will also speak to people in the service industry with respect,” he said, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
The Military Police is also questioning the attendant as well as one of her colleagues and a security guard. The attendant’s father was reportedly a military officer as well, but he passed away some time ago.
Unfortunately, it is not that rare for Indonesians in positions of authority to abuse their power and assault those they think are beneath them. In July of last year, a military doctor and the wife of a police general slapped airport security officers for what they said to be impolite manners while carrying out their jobs. The incidents prompted Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport management to instruct their security officers to “smile more” to prevent themselves from being slapped.
