Seminar, the lousy type

Before I forget, I need to have this recorded as the events created quite an impression in me. I went for a seminar a few days back. Three speakers - MOM, Safety Auditor Association and a certain Private Company.

MOM was focusing on trying proclaim how hardworking they have been; and how, despite their hard work, the laymen failed to live through dangers and hazards.

Safety Auditor was complaining about how the auditees did not made the auditor's lives easy by not producing the right document at the right time at a snap of their fingers. By the way, he did not test out the slides and had version problem as a result. He was also late when returning from tea break, as a result, the whole seminar floor was waiting for his grand arrival.

Private company's representative talk more humanely, but boastfully. He went about advertising his company and their products and how well they scored in the audit and also how every company should strive to achieve a certain level of safety.

I have no problem marking the whole session as 'FAIR', first speaker 'FAIR', second 'FAIR', third 'GOOD'. I have been quite generous with my marking if you ask me.

"She held on to my hands and pressed her head into whichever part of me within her reach, as we made out way to the clinic for the third time that day."

It has been a disturbing day the whole of yesterday. I see gore, blood, innards. It's not everyday that one can see what's usually on the big screens in real life. Ah Niu went into a fight somewhere with someone (or the plural of someone) and got himself a big nasty wound at the back of his head. The wound has not healed since and he refused to be taken to the doctor. He is now Rotted Niu".

Saima has been previously warded into the clinic for a dislodged rectum due to hookworms infection in her digestive system. The specifics of it shall not be discussed. The rectum got pushed back in and the hookworm got treated, and she was discharged in our second visit to the clinic yesterday. Lo and behold, within 3 hours of her discharge, what was pushed back into her, exited again. I would not say they came out of the anus because quite frankly, nothing really came off, its the same things along the same system that happens to be in a different place. I would think of it as a sock turned inside out.

Without a choice, we have to bring Saima back to the clinic, and she is staying there, again. We forgot to bring along her leftover medication from the last warding and told the doctor we will be returning later to get that done. Saima was slightly trembling - I don't know whether it's the air-con or her mood - throughout the journey. She held on to my hands and pressed her head into whichever part of me within her reach, as we made out way to the clinic for the third time that day.

We returned with the medicine in our final trip for the day and Dr Jemmy had to break to us a news that would crack our heart and shatter our wallets. Saima has to undergo a surgery. Her digestive tract has to be drawn inwards to toward the stomach and sewn there as the recurring problems no longer has a solution. We agreed to the procedure after some serious questioning by Seamonkey.

As I typed now, Saima is probably on her way to the medical centre at Nusa.

p.s. Saima will also be spayed in the same procedure.

What song is this?

If any kind soul knows the title to this song, please let me know.

Committed 2/2

In the last post, I mentioned that company A never called me about the phone inquiry I made about Lian Yun Gang. When I was at their brick and mortar shop, they had the audacity to discuss it as a joke.

"What gang? Lian Yun Gang? Fan Di Gang (Vatican) I heard of, not Lian Yun Gang, where is it really?"

I believe if they know that I was the one who called and ask about their joke, they would not have joked about it so openly. Anyway, I did not book to fly with them, because:
1. The ticketing officer did not know the route to Lian Yun Gang, nor did he know the airport code is LYG (I have to tell that to him).
2. He also did not know how to connect flights to LYG. How can I trust that I am getting the cheapest possible flight?

The customer service officer finally called after 2 days. And I told her that I have decided not to book with them because the price quoted to me was at least $700+. I booked with Kingdom at $570.

Anyway, I have digressed much. I was supposed to be talking about my Shandong trip and not my colleagues LYG trip. Having secured a far with company B, yet out of curiosity, I asked the lady from Kingdom to check a fare to Shandong for me. She quoted me $1000+. I shooked my head. She asked whether I have seen cheaper fares. And I nodded. She asked how much and I replied her honestly. She told me that she would search out a fare for me, if there are cheaper flights, she would give me a ring. And I left the place after booking the LYG flight.

In a mere 15 minutes, I got her call that she had found a lower fare for me and asked whether I would like to return to her shop, which I am happy to, of course. I had to cancelled Ms Lai's offer, but I think this Kingdom lady deserve my money and she worked for and earned it.

Committed 1/2

I have committed to my 6-day holiday next January.

However, I am not about to share the pre-hols itinerary planning.

Hands up to those who have encountered a bad customer service experience. What I am about to share is a modern day story of a customer service personnel who went beyond just selling airfares.

Let's define the cast. Company A, company B and Kingdom Travel. I chose not to name A & B by name because I think they would rather I not name them.

I did a fare inquiry on A's website. The site shows airfare with good price. Cheap I should say. I attempted to book it. But when it comes to the securing part, it shows that there were no more seats and I should look for a higher fare or another day to travel. Fine, let's proceed to company B.

I did an online booking with B and secured a fare. Though more expensive by about $100. I manage to reserve a seat. The very next day, the salesperson (Ms Lai) called me, not to ask anything other than whether I have transferred the money to them. I said I will make my way to her office to make payment on Monday (which is the next day).

Come Monday, I got a call from Ms Lai and quite predictably, she asked on the status of my payment. I got slightly annoyed and told her again that I will be making my way to her office to make payment and also that I have told her this yesterday.

I called up A to ask about another ticket fare for my colleague to another location. The customer service personnel said that the ticketing officers are all busy and will call me after 2pm. I believe they were all busy eating. And they never called though I heard them discuss about my call when I was in their shop. I did not buy their fare too because the ticketing officer do not seem to know the route to the destination and I had to tell him that.

This is getting abit long. I shall leave the rest of the story for the next post, if I remember.

Untrustable

Cast:
Boss
Minion
Outsider
Authority-A
Authority-B

There was a time when boss got into trouble with authority-A and received an edict to appear in front of the court at a said date-A.

The boss knew that this case would mean a fine, which is fine, by the way. However, he could not attend the court session on the said date-A due to an overseas obligation. He asked his minion to try to settle the matter with authority-A without letting him know about his trip - as good as asking the minion to go to the casino without any chips.

Of course, the minion failed. Boss went to outsider for help as the outsider has links with the nobles. Boss asked for an out-of-court settlement, however, the outsider tried to be smart and asked for a total removal of the charge, which failed, by the way.

The minion told the boss that he would have to seek out authority-B and ask for the change of date. But the boss, oblivious to the minion's words, asked the outsider for help again. And the outsider - after speaking with authority-A - gave the boss a number to call, and the boss asked the minion to make the call. Alas, the number is the number to authority-B, albeit nobody answering for the whole day the minion called.

The minion continues his sad life trying to call.

Pengerang

I am glad there are some things that is worthy of me saying I am happy about recently. The Robinson sale at Expo, I bought like there is no tomorrow, although the John Little sale is really round the next corner.

The Pengerang cycling trip - though smeared with hiccups - was a pleasant first time. I started the trip with less-than-optimum level of enthusiasm, made worse by the wait for the ferry, one hour, if not more. The cycle to Sungai Rengit was an excellent route lined with simple housing, just-enough-to-feed-the-family vegetables plantations, fishing houses, the sea and everything simple in life. Another disappointment is having to eat the oh-so-famous baby lobster that cost a bomb, yet tasted no better than the crayfish at Tebrau market in JB. I am not even sure they are fresh. Thankfully, we had a good company for lunch. The uncle and auntie (or should I say the hip granny with her husband) chatted us through lunch and repeatedly reminded us to "吃！吃！敢敢吃！吃多一點！我們老人家沒有吃那麼多的！"

We realised that we are running (cycling) late, and decided that there is no way we could catch the next (or was it the last?) ferry back to Singapore on time... unless... we could hire a cab to bring us and our bicycles! And we did, and we suffered the shame when the onlookers look upon our arrival at the jetty.

Better luck next time.