Same old, same old...

Yeah, the stories on quality of services by government officers. I've always excused their bad services because of the lower wages (not really the current situation, given the varied amounts of allowances they get nowadays), attitudes inherited from their seniors and maybe their personal problems or mood swings.

Bad service is one thing. Bad manner is another. Personally, I'd rather face a bad service than a bad manner.

I was having a difficulty with an online application with one of the agencies. There were a lot of pages to be filled, and every now and then they simply change the information needed to be filled. Maybe I was unlucky. My earlier application which was done last 2 weeks was pending approval because of an enquiry, which I didn't know until I checked on the status (it was overdue but nobody bothered to call to inform that it was overdue. Hey! What's the use of filling in the contact details there, eh?) Eventually it was rejected, after I made numerous phone calls to them (getting through to the officers was really, really difficult). The officer told me that she would reject the online application, and I need to submit a new application.

After a week, the old application was still not cancelled on the webpage by the officer, so today I had to make a number of calls again. Finally, it was rejected online, so I submitted my application again. I didn't change any other details apart from the address, but my application couldn't go through because it said that a section in the application is not completed. How strange!!! It went through the last time, but this time it was not completed?

So, I called the support hotline. There were 4 numbers to call: the office in PJ, the office in Putrajaya, the office in Sabah and the office in Sarawak. I called the office in Putrajaya. A lady answered the call, and spoke to me like I was an idiot who did not understand Malay language. No doubt her voice was soft, but the tone was definitely sarcastic! Well, sarcastic tone still sound sarcastic even if you soften your voice, ya? Told her my problem, and told her that my previous application went through but this time didn't when I didn't even amend anything on that field, but as expected, I didn't get any solution. She just told me "Ada yang tak lengkap la tu...Cik tengok la pastu save bla...bla..." I got fed-up, but as usual, I do not like to argue or scold people and create a scene. Just told her that I would try again and put down the phone.

After more tries, I got fed-up because I didn't know what was wrong. So I called the PJ office. Another lady answered the phone. I explained my problem, and she breezed me through on what I should have done. Maybe it was a common problem, because she identified it very quickly. I managed to submit the re-application this time around.

Yes, I understand that you have to answer many, many calls in a day. Maybe they were the same questions over and over again asked by different callers. But, IT IS YOUR JOB!! If you don't like entertaining calls, don't work as support staffs or hotline staffs! It's that simple. Find other jobs that suits your personality more. If you can't find the right job and are stuck in these kind of jobs, well, SUCK UP AND DO YOU JOB WELL OK???

Hadoiiiiii!!!

Kenapa?

Kenapa orang awam yang hanya ingin membantu sesama manusia yang ditindas perlu diserang, dicederakan dan dibunuh?

Kenapa mereka menyerang orang yang tidak bersalah ini di perairan antarabangsa? Mereka masih belum lagi menceroboh perairan kamu...

Kenapa perlu mencedera dan membunuh mereka yang tidak bersenjata dan tidak menyerang balas?

Kenapa minda mereka terlalu kejam dan sadistik? Takkan tiada seorang pun di kalangan rakyat mereka yang berpelajaran, bertamadun dan berfikiran waras? Mereka tak terfikir ke yang tindakan mereka tu sungguh barbarik dan tidak bertamadun?

Semoga Allah melindungi mereka...Amiin...

A heated entry..

The sun was blazing like nobody's business and the air-conditioner in the car didn't help much. Traffic was so bad in front of S*mm*t and and from the junction that I was coming from, the cars couldn't move at all although the traffic lights had changed a few times already since stupid, inconsiderate drivers from the main road entered and waited at the yellow box of the cross junction.

I was fast losing my patience, and to top it all, my stomach was kind off upset. Daniel also complained of stomach ache. Darn! My car was the 4th car on the most left lane and the traffic lights kept changing colours but we were still there, fuming.

Suddenly, a red Isw*r* stopped right next to my left, intending to cut queue. It was driven by a young male driver with another male friend on the passenger seat. Maybe some college students or something. The rudeness was something, the don't-care attitude was something else.

As expected, my already boiling temperature raised to the maximum limit. At the next available opportunity to move forward, I spared no chance to them. There was actually no space for them to move forward, but still the driver persisted. We were separated by mere inches and our side mirrors practically touched each other.

Suddenly, the passenger of the car in front of me opened her door and came out. I didn't realize what had happened until she inspected her rear car's bumper. Turned out that the stupid Isw*r*'s driver had hit the car in front of us! PADAN MUKA!!! Tau nak gelabah ya? And then the driver came out, an elderly man and he started giving them a lecture or something. Lucky that nothing happened to his car.

And you thought the punks had learnt their lessons. Tapi kalau dah dasar kurang ajar tu memang kurang ajar jugak la.... They still persisted to cut in! The driver started ramming the engine as loud as the car could. Korang ingat aku heran ke? Hey, my car engine could ram too, ok? I was desperately minding my language since Daniel was sitting right next to me.

When I started ramming my car engine, the two punks became more moronic than before. Somehow, they got the idea that they should switch places as the driver and passenger. Agaknya yang passenger tu lagi hebat kut driving skillnya... Ptuiii!!!

At the next traffic light change, all drivers from the same junction as me spared no chance any more for the oncoming car from the junction from our right. I moved forward, unheeding of the stupid, stupid red Isw*r* and they also dashed forward, still intending to cut in. And as soon as we reached the yellow box, they got blocked by a car which came from the right junction and was waiting in the yellow box. Oh! Sweet victory!!! And I could hear their horn blaring for the car to move out of their way. PADAN MUKAAAA!!!!

Moral of the story:

1. In traffic jams, everybody wants to get out of the jams as quickly as possible. You are not the only one in a hurry, so be considerate and do not cause more jams.

2. If you are rude, you would be treated rudely in return.

3. If you have made a mistake and you are in that emergency lane unexpectedly (which was not in this case), please give signals, and show sign or something with your hand to apologize to the car driver whom you wanted to cut in into.

4. Please do not think that all women drivers are intimidated by male drivers.

Takde keje, eh?

I am not a big fan of Y*ut*be... Only use it when necessary (like finding songs that I like) and that is not very frequent. But when I looked up the raya song just now, I came across loads of videos of contests. Singers from different countries' performances' videos were compiled and compared, to see who has the better voices, better looks, higher notes etc. And the videos became battle fields between people from the countries that were being compared, to ridicule and make nasty comments about each other's countries. WTF???

The makers of these videos really ought to be whipped in public or locked up in some dungeons where nobody could hear them or read what they write. What is the business of creating opportunities for people to fight each other? Even this simple thing could create so much hate, anger and cruel intentions, and yet these people kept on going to find ways to play with fire.

You are entitled to your own opinions. People have different tastes, likes and dislikes. If you think a particular singer is superb, other people might not agree with you and think that that singer is lousy. But it doesn't give you the right to give nasty remarks to the other person for not liking your idol!

And mind you, not only these comments touched about the singers contested, they also were nasty about the other citizens of the respective countries as well. Haiya....Habis semua isu-isu dalam negara terlibat..

I am speechless to see the levels of maturity of these people....Grow up, will you? And find better and more productive things to do, ok??

I wonder whether the respective singers know what their fans are doing...hehe....

Bugged...

I was really bugged and annoyed at the rate people are fighting against each other now. People calling other people names, people meddling in affairs that they knew nothing of (setakat tahu permukaan saja dah nak komen-komen pasal dasar) and made it public, hence causing religions and races stir or public humiliation to certain parties/people in a country, people yang sibuk jaga tepi kain orang... KORANG NI TAKDE KEJE LAIN YANG LEBIH BERFAEDAH KE?? A hell lot is happening in the world today, and you keep on fighting like brainless, uneducated people!!

And people who intentionally make small things big are the biggest jerk of all!! Sengaja je nak besar-besarkan cerita sampai satu dunia tau, so that people can share your ideas, is it?? Why can people with negative thoughts keep their thoughts to themselves??

I am refraining myself from reading the local newspapers now but the news kept coming via other channels. MENYAMPAHNYAAA!!!!!

How come?

I was bloghopping last night when I came across a blog by a girl that I do not know, whom was thrashing ex-MCKKians and ex-TKCians heartlessly in some of her posts. Hmmm.. I was fascinated by the fact that she 'pukul rata' that all 'budak Koleq' only want to date/marry TKCians, and all TKCians are arrogant, snobs and b*tches. And, she claimed that she was offered a place to go to TKC at some point, but she rejected the offer and thankful because she didn't join.

I was quite insulted, but these claims had been a part of us girls ever since we were in TKC. So, nothing new lah. We often got boo-ed and 'ong-ong, kedek kedek'ed during PPM debates, band competition, weekend outings in town etc etc by those boys residential schools kids (need not name any names here, you girls knew it kan?), but in the end, we were all whom they sought after for aweks/wives, especially during our senior years there and there after. Ironic? You bet!

But that's beside the point. The generalizing of 'all budak Koleq want to date/marry TKCIans' bit that I didn't quite get. During the old, old days, maybe yes. But in present days? I think hardly! I know that F*gette, and T*ntan (and maybe a few others) married Koleqian husbands, and I myself once dated a Koleqian (there you go! rahsia sudah bukak..hehe..), but that is not ALL at all! hehe...I remember way back then, when we were more interested in RMC and STAR boys rather than MCKK boys...hua hua hua! So, should the actual fact become 'all BOYS want to date/marry TKCians?' kwang kwang kwang....
*I am being cynical here, should any of you readers misunderstand this as being a snob, ok? hehe..*

And this blogger hated the fact that Koleqians and TKCians were very proud of their upbringing by the schools, and formed strong bonds even after they came out from schools. What's wrong with that? I bet if she had accepted her so-called offer from TKC, she would have been proud too! And, for a matter of fact, had she been studying in any boarding schools for 5 years, and that was during the most crucial time of your growing up phase- the time when your personalities were being shaped for the rest of your lives, and you depended on your friends so much during that time, she would have the same result!

Sudah-sudah la tu mengata/mengutuk orang...

I am FURIOUS..

'Client is always right' is not always right. How can they be right when they showed no consideration when I told them that their ordered good was stolen from me before I could deliver them and they blamed me for late in delivering them their ordered goods?

Do you think I PURPOSELY asked the effing thief to steal the goods? Huh? Don't you even think about my losses? That I need to fork out another RM1K to purchase the same goods for you! I know my responsibilities. I have placed the same order again as soon as possible and directed them to deliver as fast as they could. I am doing my part. Can't you even be a little more considerate?

Where are your brain and your heart? And to top it all, we were friends!

My Raya Open House 2008

Some photos from my open house 2008, held on Deepavali holiday. More on my FB. I hosted a session of open house for my cousins just the day before. So this year, I actually hosted a 2-day, 2-night feast! Sakan betul! hehe... Not to mention a cooking and makan session before that when my Hubby was still at home for a few friends and families a week before that. Am I a kitchen goddess or what? hahahahaha!

Thanks to all who made it. On the open house day itself, my Mum was the great life saver because she actually had to recook the curry mee three times because it was such a hit amongst guests. Last2 sampai santan pun dah habis, so we had to resort to beehoon soup! haha..

Walaubagaimanapun, ada juga senarai jemputan yang telah melukakan hati saya dengan gagal hadir tanpa sebarang sebab mahu pun khabar atau ucapan maaf. Sangat mendukacitakan ok? Terutamanya yang sangat rapat dengan saya sewaktu di universiti dan di sekolah menengah dahulu, yang telah berjanji untuk datang, dan gagal hadir lalu gagal memberi sebarang alasan yang logik dan boleh diterima pakai. Dan juga mereka yang telah diundang tetapi sangat malas untuk membalas SMS dengan sebarang jawapan sama ada akan datang atau tidak (tidak mempunya rasa courtesy langsung..hihi..courtesy cakap Melayu apa ek?) dan tidak menghargai jemputan. Saya telah mengenalpasti anda semua dan nama-nama anda akan digugurkan daripada senarai jemputan untuk acara-acara kelolaan saya di masa-masa akan datang.

I mean, is it too difficult to reply to an invitation? As a courtesy to the host/hostess so that they can budget how much food to prepare? And don't tell me that you do not know what plans you will have on the day, especially if you are going to 'balik kampung'. You don't plan your balik kampung (especially the long distance ones), is it? Why must you wait until the event is over only you'd send the apology sms saying that you balik kampung?

For me, when friends invite me to a certain event, it means that they still remember me. And as a gesture of gratitude for their thoughts, I would try my best to fulfill the invitation. Especially if it's a mean of meeting old friends whom I have never met or heard about in such a long time! What is petrol or toll prices or even distance compared to once in a while meetings? It is not that you do this every single day of your life, kan?

But then again, it's just me. I just don't throw away old friends just as I get new ones..And I also do not ditch my friends when I have already got a family of my own..

Taktik Jahat..

This happened a few weeks ago (before Ramadhan) at Alamanda, Putrajaya. I was on the way out of the shopping centre when i was stopped by a young Chinese chap trying to persuade me to apply for credit cards with him. As usual, I just waived my hand in disagreement. but he continued to ask me questions, such as "Kak sudah ada credit card kah?" Hoping that he would stop bothering me (he was blocking my path), I told him that I own credit cards from 2 banks. "Boleh tak saya tengok kad kakak? Saya just nak tau bila kad expire?" Annoyed, but unsuspecting, I just showed him the card. He took it from me and persuaded me to follow him to his booth. I disagreed, all the while asking for my card back to I could walk away. He refused to hand me back the card, while begging for me to follow him and at least apply for another credit card, stating that he needed to fulfill his quota to pay for his booth rental etc. I was mad at this time but he was more persistent. At last I followed, and he proceeded to ask me to sign up with this bank and that bank. I finally agreed to sign up with Alliance Bank's credit card just for the heck of it. I forced him to cross my IC copy for Allaince Bank's use only. He was a bit disappointed, and reluctantly cross the copy. I suspected that he wanted to use it to apply cards from other banks as well, failing which, he askeed me to sign another form from another bank. At this point, I was ready to scream my lungs out already. He finally backed out and handed me back my credit card.

I left with sebakul sumpah seranah for the guy and whoever he works for. I didn't expect to be trapped like that. It was a mean tactic! I should have screamed earlier and never handed him my card! Couldn't believe I fell for the trick and felt sympathy for the guy's begging. Memang kurang ajar!

I got a call from Alliance Bank a few weeks after the incident confirming that 'my application' was being processed and evaluated. Sampai hari ni hatiku menyumpah budak itu...

Moral of the story: Sentiasa berhati-hati dan jangan mudah kasihan kepada orang. Ingat tu!!! (peringatan kepada diri sendiri yang senang sangat percaya and kesian kat orang lain)

PMS ke hapa? Asyik nak marah jer..

Well, it's definitely NOT PMS. It's just people who didn't do their work properly and made other people's lives miserable.

Copy of my online complaint to the supposedly 'global market leader in international express, overland transport and air freight. It is also the world's number 1 in ocean freight and contract logistics'

I would like to express my utter disappointment with your services regarding our shipment with the AWB#1011771180. It was shipped by our supplier on Feb 13, 2008 and reached your facilities the next day. We have not received any words from any of your staffs since, and after numerous calls to your toll-free line, I learnt that the shipment was under clearance delay because the LPO copy that was attached with the shipment was not clear.

I had immediately faxed the copy of the LPO again, attention to K**** as instructed by I**. I** had then called me to confirm that the LPO copy was received and necessary action would be taken immediately. At the end of the day, all I could see from the website was still CLEARANCE DELAY. I had called the toll free line again the next day, and was informed that the shipment would be transferred to your service centre immediately.

Last night, after again seeing the same status on the website, I called again and was told to call again this morning. This morning I received a call from N******, saying that I had to pay RM1K++ for duties. Didn't the LPO mean anything? She said she needed to check back with K****.

I called her in the afternoon (since I have her handphone no from previous same devastating experience with another shipment) and she said that she had not received any reply from Subang yet. I** called me in the late afternoon asking whether I had received my shipment, and by that time I was so annoyed and bored with the same conversations repeated endlessly. She told me that in the report stated that I refuse to pay the duties, hence the shipment is being on hold.

First of all, didn't the LPO from Universiti XX mean anything?

Secondly, who fax to us the paperwork for the duty? Do you have proof that it was EVER faxed? We never received any.

Thirdly, who gave you the consent to clear the shipment with duties? Do you have any proof that Preferred Vision approved the duties in the paperwork and asked you to clear the shipment with duties? And why should we pay the duties when we have given the copy of the LPO TWICE?

Forthly, why didn't Subang's rep call me in the first place, immediately when the shipment was under clearance delay on Feb 14, 2008? Why must I have to call the toll-free numbers so many times with so many empty promises?

The shipment is URGENT and we actually needed to send it to UXX on the Feb 14th itself. It is already 20th and the matter is yet to be solved and I have been bounced here and there by your staffs. If we need to pay penalty for late delivery to our client, shall we charge it back to you for such lousy services? And, this is not the first time it happened to us. You can check your records on how many times that we have used your services and not all were smooth sailing.

We expect the shipment to arrive in our office tomorrow (Feb 21st) by hook or by crook. Don't bother to call me if you cannot resolve the matter as how it was supposed to be resolved.

The costs of THE CATS' poo poo

Referring to the previous entry

Apparently, to eliminate THE smelly problem, I'll have to sacrifice RM1.5K (plus small fixes here and there).

Heck! I'd rather part with the RM1.5K than suffer the consequences. The contractor starts work in 2 days..

Inconsiderate neighbor

I wrote a while back about the jungle in our lawn due to the 'love of planting but lazy to maintain the plants' attitude. That problem has been solved by me chopping off the unwelcomed plants.

We have another problem now. A very smelly problem. You see, they have tens of cats kept as pets. While I don't hate cats (although I am quite allergic to them), I really HATE (in bold AND capital letters) their leftovers aka poo poo aka litter! ESPECIALLY when they left them all in my lawn and backyard!

Excuse me CATS and CATS' owner. My house is not your/your pets' toilet!!!!

I had plans to grow a little vege and herbs garden behind the house, but because of the severe problem, now I am seriously thinking of putting cement all through the backyard so that the cats cannot litter in my compound. And that involves more $$!

Seriously, I don't have anything againts you keeping as many cats as you wish (or other pets for that matter) But, please keep them in your part of the neighborhood, not on somebody else's. Please be considerate.

Currently, my day job includes disposal of cats' litter and it's really not pleasant at all! Flies are threatening the house terribly now and we couldn't have any meals without the agony of the smell and the flies.

Now, do tell me how do I end my misery? I just couldn't wait until their new house is ready (currently under renovation) so that they can pack up and leave with all their pets. But we seriously don't think that they will bring together all the 20+ cats that they have, so if there are any cats left later, I will personally take the liberty to dispose them to the SPCA or something. I don't mean to be cruel, but it would be so much better than some other bad thoughts that I sometimes have while disposing their poo poo! heheh!

It's a jungle out there

I was actually referring to my PH house's neighbour. It's a Malay, quite well-to-do family with the love of gardening. The only problem is, they seemed to love planting, but just couln't be bothered to keep the garden nice and tidy! They have a patio with a little water fountain in the garden with lush greens you can resemble it with the tropical rain forest!

It wouldn't matter if they have a jungle on their compound, but I just hated it when the jungle spread to our compound! Their backyard was also planted with crawling plants like beans, betel leaves, pumpkin etc. And they all crawled all over our backyard and right until our rooftops! Leaving marks on the walls and became the favorite habitation for snails aka siput babi! The snails really gave me a creep the other day because there are SO DAMN many of them! GELI GELEMAN!!!

Yesterday, I went there, got someone to mow the lawn and took the initiative to chop down their trees and plants which had grown comfortably on own lawn. Didn't give a sh*t of what they might think of me. Hey! The plants are on my lawn, so they are theoritically MINE!

What bugged me the most was, how could they be so inconsiderate and just let us suffer because of them? If you are too lazy to care for your plants, why the H#LL did you plant them? And, can I claim for damages (cracks on the walls, stain marks and new paint prices)? And gantirugi teladan, suffering etc?

Thank God I heard they are moving out soon. Just couldn't bear to be friendly with inconsiderate neighbours. And wait until they move out! If they don't bring all the plants along with them, the first thing I will do right after they moved out is to spray insecticides on all the plants! Evil? I don't think so!!!

Harapkan Pagar, Pagar Makan Padi

I had hoped that he would be able to help. After all, he was the decision maker. And, the fact that he knew about my dire situation and he would benefit from the situation's outcome made me furious that just in the nick of time, he betrayed me.

And he is the cause for my great problem now. I have to crack my head now to find ideas on how to solve this problem. And God, I HATE HIM!

Before any of you get the wrong idea, I WASN'T talking about dear Hubby.