"Mini" shall be her name

I had pondered over "rain", "fleas" and "fence" and all other names, but I finally decided on "Mini", simply because she is a mini version of Nini-the-cat.

The day I found her at the fence

Name: Not decided yet
Date found: 20th May 2010, 930am, picked up at 1030am
Situation: Drizzling, wet thoroughly, fleas infested. Administered Frontline spray and fed. She stayed well with the protection and love of Daisy.

陳慧琳 - 花花宇宙

謝安琪 - 兩生關

老牛吃嫩草

Recently, I came to know of a rumoured case of 老牛吃嫩草 or "Old Cow Eating Young Grass". It is really nothing special, since it happened after Marcus Chin and Jack Neo's sagas. However, the distinctive feature about this case is that the 老牛 is a female cow.

I am not really bothered who the young bull is, but I am really disgusted and sickened by the tele-conversation that came to my ear. Today, I heard, "Very tired, no mood, sibeh xian". It really makes me wonder whether the thirty odd year old bull is asking for sex from a near sixty year old cow.

Plain disgusting.

Customer service lesson

A few days back, I spoke with a certain mister from the People's Association. Our roles in the tele-conversation were that of a service personnel (me) and customer.

This person (let's refer to him as Roy) called to ask about a quotation sent to him earlier on. Roy asked whether the quotation, which explicitly did not include any tablecloths, included any tablecloths. I replied negative. He went on to ask whether the tablecloths could be included, to which I replied him that it was possible, but would incur extra cost on his part. He pressed on to ask whether it could be free. I told him that I cannot make this decision and would consult the manager before answering him, and I did what I said. The manager mentioned that it cannot be rented for free because it would cost us quite a bit for laundry, however, the disposable table cloth could be given complimentary. I called Roy and informed him of the outcome of my consultation with the manager. I could tell he was quite disappointed by the outcome and he proposed that we provide him with two tablecloth for free. I consulted the manager again and got a negative reply with the same rationale. And I conveyed to Roy the message. And that was the point where the ugly drama started.

Roy: "Com'on, it is only two tablecloth."
Me: "We have to spend money for laundry after which."
Roy: "Your business is so big, can't you even provide me with two tablecloths?"
Me: "Whatever I can provide you complimentarily, I have already done so, for these, I cannot accede."

His offensive stance began:

Roy: "I tell you lah! You are not cut out to be a businessman, it is only two tablecloth you also want to count with me. I got other supplier about the same price also, I can go for them you know."
Me: "Well, if there is another supplier who can provide you with a better package, I would really encourage you to go for them."
Roy: "I tell you, you really cannot be a businessman. You company is so big and this small thing you also cannot give me."
Me: "Sir, since you know our company is so big, you would know that we will give you whatever we can provide for free, but I've already explained to you, the price for these two tablecloth is for laundry, what else do you want me to do?"
Roy: "It's only $6. You know, now I have not asked you for discount. I am not going to ask for discount if you provide me two tablecloth for free. If I were to ask you for discount later, it would not be just $6 you know."
Me: "Sir, I understand that you can ask for discount, but I believe it is not mandatory that we have to give it to you."
Roy: "You really don't know how to do business lah!"

He repeated the rubbish about the $6, compared to the 'discount' he thinks he was entitled to. I later directed him to talk to the manager straight. On examination of his statement, I could deduce that he is the one who cannot do the maths. If he had a supplier who was able to provide the deal for a lower price, he should have gone for it. And I do not think I am doing the wrong think to ask him to do that, because I was having his interest at mind, being a service personnel. Unless, of course, he is lying to me that he actually has another supplier, which I think could be very probable.

Flashing Amber

How world class are our transport system? The platform filled up to two-thirds at peak, despite the train arriving one after another in matter of minutes. Pathetic.

Yesterday, on the way to night classes, I had to brave through a thundering session of rain. En route, I passed by 2 junctions that has their traffic lights flashing amber, suggesting that it must have been hit by a bolt of lightning. Surprisingly, in the absence of a regulating system - forget the traffic police, they are nowhere to be seen during the storm - traffic flows systematically, with vehicles from each direction giving way at random intervals.

Is there a problem with the system?