Had expected a good end to an otherwise dour week.
The abyss the week began in gave way to semi-heaven as I battled work and then abdominal colic.
Had two crazy days of chasing and chasing after stuff that people owe me and then spent another two days clutching my stomach.
The pain was so bad that I had to go off work midway and make my way to my GP. There, I had to wait in line for 21 patients. My pain got from a 5 out of 10 to 8 out of 10. My long sleeved working shirt got wetter and wetter but I wasn't even feeling warm. It was the pain!
I guess the counter staff saw my misery and probably alerted the doctor. I did not want to tell them about my pain because the last time I tried telling them, I was told that if I could not wait my turn, then I ought to go to the Accident & Emergency Department.
Soon, one patient was not around when his/her number was called. And I was asked to go in instead. Had my jab and my two days' MC. Came home and crashed. Paying off a sleep debt never felt so good.
Then came yesterday. The private transport that I booked to drive me home came 10 minutes late. This is stupid because I delayed getting off work by 45 minutes and paid $5 (instead of the usual $2 thereabouts on public transport) to get home by 7 pm. Of course, by the time I got home, it was 7.15 pm. I am going to try this transport guy once more and if he does not show he is conscious of keeping time, then I might drop him.
In any case, there is this garrulous woman on the mini-van that yaks non-stop. Peace is only restored after she gets off - first, thank God! - at Casa Merah. But that was already more than half the journey done. But if I get driven to the doorstep, I am quite willing to tolerate her showing off and noise.
This transport thingy didn't take the cake.
I had an appointment last night for my hair treatment. I made an 8 pm appointment at 4 pm. As I rushed all the way down from home - no thanks to the stupid transport guy - at 7.42 pm, the hair treatment woman asked if I was ok to go in later, 8.30 pm instead. Ok, I told her.
I went for a quick dinner. The guy selling rice with vegetables was selling gold nuggets instead of vegetables. I hardly had a standard portion of anything!
At 8.10 pm, I stepped into the salon. Shaggy Bitch was there, not even started. So, she must have been the double-booker or the walk-in. Looking at the length of her hair, the treatment is not going to even end by 8.30 pm.
I was right. When the hair treatment lady was done with Shaggy, it was already 8.50 pm. Then instead of letting me begin, she got a waiting customer to wash off the henna on her head.
At 9.05 pm, I stood up and told her, I can't wait any more.
I will do that to her insistently from now on. Make an appointment and if I walk in and she's not ready for me, I will walk off. There is no point in making an appointment if she is not going to keep to her end of the bargain.
She is not running a subsidized medical care facility. At least for those, I am looking at a minimum 50% subsidy from the government. The doctors are beyond overworked and waiting for them while they tend to other more urgent patients and full paying patients is unavoidable. Hey, those people paying $1.05 for a pill while subsidized patients are probably paying $0.10.
Some people just need to be taught a sense of timing and business ethics.
Showing posts with label service in Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label service in Singapore. Show all posts
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Monday, August 09, 2010
Free Lunches
It was a North Indian buffet lunch with a twist.
Food would be delivered to the tables instead of diners having to help themselves from the common food display.
The spiced papadoms came. Spicy!
The sutchi fillet curry, the mung bean dhal, and the pureed spinach with chickpeas came. So did the bryani rice and a stack of quartered naans.
Then something that was terribly burnt arrived at the table - chicken tikka. I rejected the dish. No way would I accept something so burnt. There were enough charred bits for me to discard every single piece of chicken without a second look.
The waiter insisted that the dish is supposed to be burnt. Hello... I'm Chinese but this is not my first Indian meal! I asked for tandoori chicken. The waiter said my dish was "normal." I queried him why the rest of the tables get tandoori chicken while we get burnt chicken tikka. So he said he'll bring the tandoori chicken.
A millennium later, the tandoori chicken came. The first piece I took was more than half uncooked. I'm ok with slight undercooking but uncooked. I rejected the dish. The waiter did not protest this time, since he saw the condition of the food.
Then lamb shish kebab came. Not the best but it was meat. Then I wanted my tandoori chicken. What is a North Indian meal without tandoori chicken?
Yet, two millennia later, another dish of chicken tikka appeared. I rejected the dish, saying that it wasn't what I ordered. I want my tandoori chicken. Alas, it was out. The kitchen ran out of it.
Fine, what about dessert? I wanted dessert to round off the meal.
We have gulab jamun and assorted ice cream. I was told. I asked to have both and the waiter noted the order.
The gulab jamun came, burnt to the core. The ice cream was ok.
Bill time. I called one of the non-uniformed guys and asked if he was the boss. He said he was a partner. So I told him about my meal and told him that if his restaurant went under, he has his wait staff and his kitchen to thank.
He was apologetic. I was measured and courteous.
We got a free meal. There are free lunches after all. All you have to do is to be at the right place at the right time.
Food would be delivered to the tables instead of diners having to help themselves from the common food display.
The spiced papadoms came. Spicy!
The sutchi fillet curry, the mung bean dhal, and the pureed spinach with chickpeas came. So did the bryani rice and a stack of quartered naans.
Then something that was terribly burnt arrived at the table - chicken tikka. I rejected the dish. No way would I accept something so burnt. There were enough charred bits for me to discard every single piece of chicken without a second look.
The waiter insisted that the dish is supposed to be burnt. Hello... I'm Chinese but this is not my first Indian meal! I asked for tandoori chicken. The waiter said my dish was "normal." I queried him why the rest of the tables get tandoori chicken while we get burnt chicken tikka. So he said he'll bring the tandoori chicken.
A millennium later, the tandoori chicken came. The first piece I took was more than half uncooked. I'm ok with slight undercooking but uncooked. I rejected the dish. The waiter did not protest this time, since he saw the condition of the food.
Then lamb shish kebab came. Not the best but it was meat. Then I wanted my tandoori chicken. What is a North Indian meal without tandoori chicken?
Yet, two millennia later, another dish of chicken tikka appeared. I rejected the dish, saying that it wasn't what I ordered. I want my tandoori chicken. Alas, it was out. The kitchen ran out of it.
Fine, what about dessert? I wanted dessert to round off the meal.
We have gulab jamun and assorted ice cream. I was told. I asked to have both and the waiter noted the order.
The gulab jamun came, burnt to the core. The ice cream was ok.
Bill time. I called one of the non-uniformed guys and asked if he was the boss. He said he was a partner. So I told him about my meal and told him that if his restaurant went under, he has his wait staff and his kitchen to thank.
He was apologetic. I was measured and courteous.
We got a free meal. There are free lunches after all. All you have to do is to be at the right place at the right time.
Friday, June 25, 2010
One can wait too long...
Just ask American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
Both men resumed play at Court 18 today knotted at 59-59 in the fifth set of their first-round Wimbledon singles match, having obliterated every record for length and longevity long before they were forced off court by the setting sun for the second consecutive night.
The match continued on serve with no break points until the American hit a backhand passing shot past the Frenchman in the 138th game of the set to finish the contest in front of a packed crowd on Court 18.
The amazing final score read: 6-4 3-6 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 70-68.
I believe this match will be remembered for a long time.
* * *
We sat at a coffeeshop waiting for our menu to arrive. Two reminders from the drink stall assistants later, the cze-char assistant came and asked what we wanted.
A wait later, the menu arrived. We thumbed through the menu rather quickly and decided what we wanted. This time, we had to beckon two different assistants twice each and none of them had the time to come near the table to take our orders.
Finally, a third assistant came by. By then, we were more than 20 minutes into waiting to be served. We stood up and walked off as the guy asked if we wanted to eat.
"No. I waited so long I'm full already." I replied.
Honestly, the entire operations can go "fornicate with arachnids". The assistant apologised for being extremely shorthanded today and what not.
But we simply walked on, choosing not to reply. If there isn't a good thing to say, don't say it. At least not along Sam Leong Road, beside Desker Road.
* * *
Ticked off army guys two weeks ago over their botched armoured vehicle movements that left a whole bunch of cars backed up into the Kallang Leisure Mall carpark. Cars were stuck on the ramp and the queue snaked into the car park itself. Pity the poor sods behind who had to pay for parking charges as they were still stuck in the "paying area".
I am rather certain that the armoured vehicle drivers had not been properly briefed on public road convoy movements prior to the first dress National Day Parade rehearsal. I am also fairly certain that the army acted in its own accord, failing to rope in the Land Transport Authority and the Traffic Police to help in closing roads and ensuring no traffic snarls to facilitate the convoy's movement. I am deadsure that the fellas planning the parade did not read the planning and execution papers that their predecessors in 2000 and 2005 had written.
The low CEP kapitan had the cheek to tell me that the "concept for 2010 is different" and "cannot (be) compare(d) with 2000 and 2005" when I told him that he should have read the prior papers.
If anything, I was the chief note taker at all National Day Parade 2000 executive committee meetings and I know what needed to be done when you are moving out all the green coloured moving metal pieces to challenge North Korea. Ok, the NK part, I jest. Still?
When I told a retired air force lieutenant colonel about the event, she went ballistic. What nonsense, she proclaimed. "The concept will definitely be different but the underlying principles will be the same." How we agree!
So, after a good 30 minutes of being stuck in a jam not of our doing, we were finally allowed to drive out when the armoured vehicle convoy drivers were made to keep in their respective lanes and not hog the middle of a two lane one-way road.
A little planning and a well-executed staggered road closure would have avoided many ugly scenes. But then, the men in green just love to be screamed at. Just watch how well adored the drill sergeants and parade commanders are...
* * *
And there is another aspect where one can wait too long, but the time is not ripe yet.
Later.
Both men resumed play at Court 18 today knotted at 59-59 in the fifth set of their first-round Wimbledon singles match, having obliterated every record for length and longevity long before they were forced off court by the setting sun for the second consecutive night.
The match continued on serve with no break points until the American hit a backhand passing shot past the Frenchman in the 138th game of the set to finish the contest in front of a packed crowd on Court 18.
The amazing final score read: 6-4 3-6 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 70-68.
I believe this match will be remembered for a long time.
* * *
We sat at a coffeeshop waiting for our menu to arrive. Two reminders from the drink stall assistants later, the cze-char assistant came and asked what we wanted.
A wait later, the menu arrived. We thumbed through the menu rather quickly and decided what we wanted. This time, we had to beckon two different assistants twice each and none of them had the time to come near the table to take our orders.
Finally, a third assistant came by. By then, we were more than 20 minutes into waiting to be served. We stood up and walked off as the guy asked if we wanted to eat.
"No. I waited so long I'm full already." I replied.
Honestly, the entire operations can go "fornicate with arachnids". The assistant apologised for being extremely shorthanded today and what not.
But we simply walked on, choosing not to reply. If there isn't a good thing to say, don't say it. At least not along Sam Leong Road, beside Desker Road.
* * *
Ticked off army guys two weeks ago over their botched armoured vehicle movements that left a whole bunch of cars backed up into the Kallang Leisure Mall carpark. Cars were stuck on the ramp and the queue snaked into the car park itself. Pity the poor sods behind who had to pay for parking charges as they were still stuck in the "paying area".
I am rather certain that the armoured vehicle drivers had not been properly briefed on public road convoy movements prior to the first dress National Day Parade rehearsal. I am also fairly certain that the army acted in its own accord, failing to rope in the Land Transport Authority and the Traffic Police to help in closing roads and ensuring no traffic snarls to facilitate the convoy's movement. I am deadsure that the fellas planning the parade did not read the planning and execution papers that their predecessors in 2000 and 2005 had written.
The low CEP kapitan had the cheek to tell me that the "concept for 2010 is different" and "cannot (be) compare(d) with 2000 and 2005" when I told him that he should have read the prior papers.
If anything, I was the chief note taker at all National Day Parade 2000 executive committee meetings and I know what needed to be done when you are moving out all the green coloured moving metal pieces to challenge North Korea. Ok, the NK part, I jest. Still?
When I told a retired air force lieutenant colonel about the event, she went ballistic. What nonsense, she proclaimed. "The concept will definitely be different but the underlying principles will be the same." How we agree!
So, after a good 30 minutes of being stuck in a jam not of our doing, we were finally allowed to drive out when the armoured vehicle convoy drivers were made to keep in their respective lanes and not hog the middle of a two lane one-way road.
A little planning and a well-executed staggered road closure would have avoided many ugly scenes. But then, the men in green just love to be screamed at. Just watch how well adored the drill sergeants and parade commanders are...
* * *
And there is another aspect where one can wait too long, but the time is not ripe yet.
Later.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Case Study: How to throw a bitch fit
You are to read the following case study very carefully before you attempt the questions that follow. Answer each question in continuous prose. Each answer should not exceed 250 words. You have 48 hours to complete this assignment.
You should type out your answers on A4 or Letter sized paper, 1 inch margins all round, 12 point Times New Roman font. You may submit your answers online in the comments column following this post.
You are reminded not to repeat your points in different answers. You are reminded of the need for clear and concise writing.
Scenario
I was shopping for a new rice cooker when a Chinese PRC woman started kicking up a big fuss at the store.
She accused the service staff of being rude to her; some snarky remark was involved, or so it seemed. Ms PRC shouted at the service staff for not answering her question on how good a pot she was interested in was and also pointed out that the side comment that was made about her type was not appropriate.
Ms PRC then started screaming. In addition, she took to banging and kicking the items at the store.
Questions
1. What did Ms PRC do wrong?
2. What should Ms PRC have done?
Reflections
1. If you were Ms PRC, how would you have reacted in this situation so you can extract maximum benefit from the stall?
2. Do you think it is ethical to extract maximum benefit from the stall? Why?
Role Play
1. Imagine you are a shopper in the store who thinks one of the two women is out of line. Write a retort to show how you could take the side one of the women and start hurling insults back at the "bitch".
2. If you are the manager of the store, explain how will you resolve this issue.
Higher Order Thinking Skills
1. In our social context where we are trying to attract foreign talent to contribute to our workforce and population, how do you think you will help these foreign talent integrate themselves into our society?
2. Do you think soft skills, such as child bearing, child rearing, fighting, quarrelling, screaming, shouting, accusing and insistently talking loudly everywhere, should be part of the criteria for admitting foreign talent? How would one test such skills?
You should type out your answers on A4 or Letter sized paper, 1 inch margins all round, 12 point Times New Roman font. You may submit your answers online in the comments column following this post.
You are reminded not to repeat your points in different answers. You are reminded of the need for clear and concise writing.
Scenario
I was shopping for a new rice cooker when a Chinese PRC woman started kicking up a big fuss at the store.
She accused the service staff of being rude to her; some snarky remark was involved, or so it seemed. Ms PRC shouted at the service staff for not answering her question on how good a pot she was interested in was and also pointed out that the side comment that was made about her type was not appropriate.
Ms PRC then started screaming. In addition, she took to banging and kicking the items at the store.
Questions
1. What did Ms PRC do wrong?
2. What should Ms PRC have done?
Reflections
1. If you were Ms PRC, how would you have reacted in this situation so you can extract maximum benefit from the stall?
2. Do you think it is ethical to extract maximum benefit from the stall? Why?
Role Play
1. Imagine you are a shopper in the store who thinks one of the two women is out of line. Write a retort to show how you could take the side one of the women and start hurling insults back at the "bitch".
2. If you are the manager of the store, explain how will you resolve this issue.
Higher Order Thinking Skills
1. In our social context where we are trying to attract foreign talent to contribute to our workforce and population, how do you think you will help these foreign talent integrate themselves into our society?
2. Do you think soft skills, such as child bearing, child rearing, fighting, quarrelling, screaming, shouting, accusing and insistently talking loudly everywhere, should be part of the criteria for admitting foreign talent? How would one test such skills?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Killing Me Softly...
Spent about two hours in the Changi General Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department's Observation Room when I went over for follow-up treatment last Friday. Immediately on entering the room, I was plonked on an empty bed. There was a patient on my left (Bed 7) and an empty bed on my right (Bed 5). No prizes for correctly guessing for my bed number.
Beds 1, 2 and 3 were empty while on Bed 4 lay this Malay guy who was conscious but hooked to various monitors. He's perhaps in his 30s or 40s and if anything, I'd suspect withdrawal symptoms rather than any real medical emergency. But what would I know.
Bed 7 on my left lay a sleeping guy, possibly a national serviceman, wrapped up in his blanket. I was not sure if he's malingering but I was beyond caring now. I had problems of my own to worry about. Bed 8 seemed to be occupied but the patient was blocked by the mass on 7. Bed 9 was empty. Bed 10 lay this Chinese man who looks like he's from China but I might be wrong. Beds 11 and 12 were empty.
I was waiting for my turn to get my CT Scan done. Right after I was made to lie in the bed, my blood pressure was taken and the nurses manning the OR counter began talking about the age of their new patient and his condition. Yak yak yak...
The nurses woke Patient 7 not long after I was settled in and asked if he could manage to go home by himself. I guessed that was the beginning of the long weekend and the hell he couldn't! So, off he went. I saw the gaunt patient on Bed 8. Bed 10 went up for his scan and I waited my turn, when the machine became available.
Before long, Bed 10 seemed to come back down while I fidgeted, went to the loo, was made to sit on a wheelchair, wait in the wheelchair, wheeled up to Radiology, and got my scan done.
Act 1 was complete when the CT machine fired the last x-rays through my skull and possibly semi-cooking my brains. I was wheeled back to the OR and made to get back on my bed.
* * *
"You must drink water. See, ask you to drink water, you don't want to drink? Today you're back in here again." So goes the son to his father, the patient on Bed 8.
"Yesteday, we came here and you were vomiting. They wanted to put you on the drip and you don't want.
"What can we do now? No point telling me that they use such a big (gauged needle) one on your now, right? Yesterday, if you take, you won't need such a big one.
"You need to drink water. How can you not drink water? Yesterday, when the doctors let you go home, you were told to drink lots of water. But you say the water makes you vomit. Now doctor X cannot do anything for you. God can't do anything for you either.
"Don't worry about anything at home. Everything will be fine. The home will still be there when you go home. You should just stay in here and start drinking water.
"You cannot go home now. See? Even God doesn't want to take you yet. So, how?..."
Apart from some occasional low groans and some raspy, unintelligible sounds, the son persisted on his soliloquy. There was resignation, not anger.
"See? I already take leave today. I got no choice since I have to bring you here. Tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday. I don't have to work. And today I take leave to bring you here..."
The battle of making dad drink water was amazing. While I tried to resist turning over to take a look, when sonny left, I sneaked a peek. Old man seemed to be burning. His face is flush reddish purple and his lips were dry and chapped. His eyes were listless as he stared out into the clinically white lighted room, his mouth gaping like a beached goldfish gasping for air.
* * *
"Oh, Mr So-so. I'm your doctor. I've just seen your radiology report. I think you have got a mini-stroke. You know, a TIA..."
Man, I know a TIA. It's short for transient ischaemic attack. I just watched it for the third time on Royal Pains the night before. Oh shit, what if I had a TIA from the car accident...
The patient on Bed 10 must be pretty taken aback. Stroke? How is that possible? He looked perfectly normal. Normal weight range, normal everything.
"Mr So-so, TIA is like a stroke. You see your films? There is this dark region. The blood flow to the area is affected."
I could almost see myself spouting these lines. Man, when I go to the US for studies, I'm going to audition for a role in some medical drama. I could play the role of a plastic surgeon who gets a patient who wants a pair of 38H and midway into the headlights enhancement operation, she had a TIA, wakes up after emergency rescue and decides that, for the sake of her fragile life, she wants a pair of 42L instead. The patient's name? Miss Giant Parts Greenberg. ;)
"We don't know if there is permanent damage. No. You cannot go home. You must stay in the hospital and we need to treat you. We will find out the extent of the blockage and see if you have any permanent damage here.
Such words were not exactly the most comforting to me, since I'm also waiting for the CT scan results.
Doctor turned to Patient 10's wife and asked, "Do you know if he complained of any weaknesses on one side of his body...?"
A poignant Miss Saigon moment descends. I feel walls in my heart closing in, I can't breathe, I can't win...
* * *
I had quite enough by then. Between the time I was sent for the scan and my return, which was less than 15 minutes, the OR room dynamics had changed. There was now a Patient 5 on my right now and he was offered lunch. That junior category senior even asked to see the lunch menu. He really thinks that when the ambulance crew euphemistically call hospitals hotels, they are thus hotels? Crazy.
Patient 1 was an old man/woman - honestly, when you are old and shrivelled up, no one can tell your sex any more - and s/he was sleeping. Or maybe unconscious. S/he is awaiting admission.
Bed 2 was occupied by a huge Indian lady who was to be admitted. When the enrolled nurses asked her to sit up, they asked her, "Can you sit up?" and then asked if the bed, which was supposed to wheel her to her ward, could support her weight. Somehow, after watching Nurse Jackie, I feel strangely comforted.
On Bed 3 was a Malay old man who wanted to be given his painkillers, forget about any treatment and scoot home soonest possible. He looked like he wished to be home, never mind should anything happen to him. I doubt he was of dischargable patient calibre but to subject a senior category senior citizen to more treatment seemed brutal. And what do I know? I'm just an aspiring medical drama quack.
Patient 4 was more sober by then. Maybe they injected a little something into him? I was not sure. By then, I was already pretty much killed inside by the flurry of bad news and the negative vibes.
"Can I leave this place?" I asked the nurses. "I wanna get lunch."
"Do you have relatives with you?"
"No, I came alone. Oh, never mind. How long will this take?"
"About 1 hour."
"1 hour? I can wait. It's just another 15 minutes."
In an environment where it's bad news galore - the sign at the OR entrance
read, "Due to high occupancy, you will only be allocated your bed in the wards when it becomes available," or something to that effect - find an excuse and get out before your heart gives out when your news come.
Still, high occupancy rates in "Cannot Go Home" Hospital? Amazing. Singaporeans must be damned desperate to go there.
As I waited, there was a fresh commotion in the nurses area about how they intend to complain about a staff nurse or doctor who passed disparaging remarks about the hospital. Apparently, the fellow said something like, "No wonder people say Changi is a bad hospital. If I had a family member who was ill and needed to go to the hospital, I wouldn't even send them (sic!)here." And to make matters worse, this utterance was made in front of the public. Apparently, the OR nightingales are going to launch a joint attack on the hawk by claiming that he was out of line, unprofessional and whatever.
Ah, at least some bitching near my comfort levels. I don't know what transpired but the nightingales seemed perturbed enough to say words to the effect that Changi is a great hospital and if any of their loved ones fall sick, they would have no qualms to send them here because of the high levels of care. Oddly, I feel a little more confident, even if Changi is not even on my shortlist for anything.
* * *
1.15 pm. The wait was getting unbearable. The OR was not exactly changing much in terms of patient numbers but there was clearly a need to get rid of bed hoggers. My case came up for review at the counter. A re-triage of sorts.
"This patient looks all right."
"Yah, 29 years old..." - goddammit, there is ABSOLUTELY no one who's 29 in the OR! I'm the youngest and I'm way past 30! - "and the signs are stable. Blood pressure ok."
"Ok, let me call Radiology."
29 years old? Ha! I was 29 once. But how could they work out my age to be 29 when that was half a decade ago?
"Hello, Radiology? A&E OR ah. Can I discharge this patient? We need the beds."
The next thing, I was told I could leave the observation room.
At that moment, I knew there was nothing very serious. But honestly, the lack of privacy in the OR and the deluge of bad news bombarding the patients in the room can rapidly cause anyone to slip into a transient depression. The what-ifs can really be heart stopping and mind blowing.
I quickly bundled out of the OR and went back to the waiting area, where the doctor walked out of his consultation room and asked for another 2 hours to clear my case as the senior enough radiologist wasn't available to countersign on my CT report and a verbal ok from Radiology and from only one radiologist wasn't good enough to get me discharged as an emergency case.
Still, being able to get out of the A&E for a quick lunch and some shopping to remove the negative thoughts and vibes that plague the free mind - despite the giddiness from the mild concussion - can be a little uplifting.
Beds 1, 2 and 3 were empty while on Bed 4 lay this Malay guy who was conscious but hooked to various monitors. He's perhaps in his 30s or 40s and if anything, I'd suspect withdrawal symptoms rather than any real medical emergency. But what would I know.
Bed 7 on my left lay a sleeping guy, possibly a national serviceman, wrapped up in his blanket. I was not sure if he's malingering but I was beyond caring now. I had problems of my own to worry about. Bed 8 seemed to be occupied but the patient was blocked by the mass on 7. Bed 9 was empty. Bed 10 lay this Chinese man who looks like he's from China but I might be wrong. Beds 11 and 12 were empty.
I was waiting for my turn to get my CT Scan done. Right after I was made to lie in the bed, my blood pressure was taken and the nurses manning the OR counter began talking about the age of their new patient and his condition. Yak yak yak...
The nurses woke Patient 7 not long after I was settled in and asked if he could manage to go home by himself. I guessed that was the beginning of the long weekend and the hell he couldn't! So, off he went. I saw the gaunt patient on Bed 8. Bed 10 went up for his scan and I waited my turn, when the machine became available.
Before long, Bed 10 seemed to come back down while I fidgeted, went to the loo, was made to sit on a wheelchair, wait in the wheelchair, wheeled up to Radiology, and got my scan done.
Act 1 was complete when the CT machine fired the last x-rays through my skull and possibly semi-cooking my brains. I was wheeled back to the OR and made to get back on my bed.
* * *
"You must drink water. See, ask you to drink water, you don't want to drink? Today you're back in here again." So goes the son to his father, the patient on Bed 8.
"Yesteday, we came here and you were vomiting. They wanted to put you on the drip and you don't want.
"What can we do now? No point telling me that they use such a big (gauged needle) one on your now, right? Yesterday, if you take, you won't need such a big one.
"You need to drink water. How can you not drink water? Yesterday, when the doctors let you go home, you were told to drink lots of water. But you say the water makes you vomit. Now doctor X cannot do anything for you. God can't do anything for you either.
"Don't worry about anything at home. Everything will be fine. The home will still be there when you go home. You should just stay in here and start drinking water.
"You cannot go home now. See? Even God doesn't want to take you yet. So, how?..."
Apart from some occasional low groans and some raspy, unintelligible sounds, the son persisted on his soliloquy. There was resignation, not anger.
"See? I already take leave today. I got no choice since I have to bring you here. Tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday. I don't have to work. And today I take leave to bring you here..."
The battle of making dad drink water was amazing. While I tried to resist turning over to take a look, when sonny left, I sneaked a peek. Old man seemed to be burning. His face is flush reddish purple and his lips were dry and chapped. His eyes were listless as he stared out into the clinically white lighted room, his mouth gaping like a beached goldfish gasping for air.
* * *
"Oh, Mr So-so. I'm your doctor. I've just seen your radiology report. I think you have got a mini-stroke. You know, a TIA..."
Man, I know a TIA. It's short for transient ischaemic attack. I just watched it for the third time on Royal Pains the night before. Oh shit, what if I had a TIA from the car accident...
The patient on Bed 10 must be pretty taken aback. Stroke? How is that possible? He looked perfectly normal. Normal weight range, normal everything.
"Mr So-so, TIA is like a stroke. You see your films? There is this dark region. The blood flow to the area is affected."
I could almost see myself spouting these lines. Man, when I go to the US for studies, I'm going to audition for a role in some medical drama. I could play the role of a plastic surgeon who gets a patient who wants a pair of 38H and midway into the headlights enhancement operation, she had a TIA, wakes up after emergency rescue and decides that, for the sake of her fragile life, she wants a pair of 42L instead. The patient's name? Miss Giant Parts Greenberg. ;)
"We don't know if there is permanent damage. No. You cannot go home. You must stay in the hospital and we need to treat you. We will find out the extent of the blockage and see if you have any permanent damage here.
Such words were not exactly the most comforting to me, since I'm also waiting for the CT scan results.
Doctor turned to Patient 10's wife and asked, "Do you know if he complained of any weaknesses on one side of his body...?"
A poignant Miss Saigon moment descends. I feel walls in my heart closing in, I can't breathe, I can't win...
* * *
I had quite enough by then. Between the time I was sent for the scan and my return, which was less than 15 minutes, the OR room dynamics had changed. There was now a Patient 5 on my right now and he was offered lunch. That junior category senior even asked to see the lunch menu. He really thinks that when the ambulance crew euphemistically call hospitals hotels, they are thus hotels? Crazy.
Patient 1 was an old man/woman - honestly, when you are old and shrivelled up, no one can tell your sex any more - and s/he was sleeping. Or maybe unconscious. S/he is awaiting admission.
Bed 2 was occupied by a huge Indian lady who was to be admitted. When the enrolled nurses asked her to sit up, they asked her, "Can you sit up?" and then asked if the bed, which was supposed to wheel her to her ward, could support her weight. Somehow, after watching Nurse Jackie, I feel strangely comforted.
On Bed 3 was a Malay old man who wanted to be given his painkillers, forget about any treatment and scoot home soonest possible. He looked like he wished to be home, never mind should anything happen to him. I doubt he was of dischargable patient calibre but to subject a senior category senior citizen to more treatment seemed brutal. And what do I know? I'm just an aspiring medical drama quack.
Patient 4 was more sober by then. Maybe they injected a little something into him? I was not sure. By then, I was already pretty much killed inside by the flurry of bad news and the negative vibes.
"Can I leave this place?" I asked the nurses. "I wanna get lunch."
"Do you have relatives with you?"
"No, I came alone. Oh, never mind. How long will this take?"
"About 1 hour."
"1 hour? I can wait. It's just another 15 minutes."
In an environment where it's bad news galore - the sign at the OR entrance
read, "Due to high occupancy, you will only be allocated your bed in the wards when it becomes available," or something to that effect - find an excuse and get out before your heart gives out when your news come.
Still, high occupancy rates in "Cannot Go Home" Hospital? Amazing. Singaporeans must be damned desperate to go there.
As I waited, there was a fresh commotion in the nurses area about how they intend to complain about a staff nurse or doctor who passed disparaging remarks about the hospital. Apparently, the fellow said something like, "No wonder people say Changi is a bad hospital. If I had a family member who was ill and needed to go to the hospital, I wouldn't even send them (sic!)here." And to make matters worse, this utterance was made in front of the public. Apparently, the OR nightingales are going to launch a joint attack on the hawk by claiming that he was out of line, unprofessional and whatever.
Ah, at least some bitching near my comfort levels. I don't know what transpired but the nightingales seemed perturbed enough to say words to the effect that Changi is a great hospital and if any of their loved ones fall sick, they would have no qualms to send them here because of the high levels of care. Oddly, I feel a little more confident, even if Changi is not even on my shortlist for anything.
* * *
1.15 pm. The wait was getting unbearable. The OR was not exactly changing much in terms of patient numbers but there was clearly a need to get rid of bed hoggers. My case came up for review at the counter. A re-triage of sorts.
"This patient looks all right."
"Yah, 29 years old..." - goddammit, there is ABSOLUTELY no one who's 29 in the OR! I'm the youngest and I'm way past 30! - "and the signs are stable. Blood pressure ok."
"Ok, let me call Radiology."
29 years old? Ha! I was 29 once. But how could they work out my age to be 29 when that was half a decade ago?
"Hello, Radiology? A&E OR ah. Can I discharge this patient? We need the beds."
The next thing, I was told I could leave the observation room.
At that moment, I knew there was nothing very serious. But honestly, the lack of privacy in the OR and the deluge of bad news bombarding the patients in the room can rapidly cause anyone to slip into a transient depression. The what-ifs can really be heart stopping and mind blowing.
I quickly bundled out of the OR and went back to the waiting area, where the doctor walked out of his consultation room and asked for another 2 hours to clear my case as the senior enough radiologist wasn't available to countersign on my CT report and a verbal ok from Radiology and from only one radiologist wasn't good enough to get me discharged as an emergency case.
Still, being able to get out of the A&E for a quick lunch and some shopping to remove the negative thoughts and vibes that plague the free mind - despite the giddiness from the mild concussion - can be a little uplifting.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
On tenterhooks
The brain is almost unreliable these days with words I hardly use. The latent memory store does not maintain its integrity enough. I had to check a dictionary, I turn to online ones these days, to check if my tenterhoooks was spelled correctly. D*mn, I was really that tentative about it. But that shouldn't come as a big surprise to me. My entire being last week and this has been on tenterhooks for more things than one.
(Very soon, I should write an academic essay here and then direct all my students to come over here to take a look at one correct academic writing piece so that they know what is a hook, what is a thesis statement, what is a topic sentence, what are admissible evidence, what are cinchers etc... But that is a day in some future.)
The first salvo was my 4 month old Nokia phone not holding charge. I had to send it down last Tuesday to the Nokia service centre and kick up a fuss there because the counter staff tried to shirk out of their product warranty. He claimed that battery life - even if the user manual stated that it lasts up to 300 hours on standby - can be as short as 48 to 72 hours because of all sorts of factors. Yeah, right. When I got the phone new, the battery held charge up to 240 hours (10 days). Now, it drains itself flat, on standby mode, in 48 hours. What could have happened? All sorts of what factors? What about a spoilt battery? I stood my ground and my phone was finally taken in for repair.
The service centre called to inform me on Friday last. The phone is ready for collection. Fine. Looks good to me. Then my computer crashed. It shut itself down and would not reboot.
Housemate said the hard disk crashed. I was devastated. (I can spell devastated because being Murphy's favourite nephew, this word is more frequently used than tenterhooks. Honestly, there is no need to be on tenterhooks usually; one does not often have impending trips.) I hope that it is not. If it is, all my hard work and trip information would be gone. I need to start writing emails to the people I wish to meet to check the timing all over again.
To make things worse, the scheduled back up hard disk went AWOL and had not been backing up my stuff since May. The laptop was finally sent in to HP that same day at 7 pm and even at HP, I had to raise my voice (just a little) at them. It was the third time in a row that I was told my set was not under warranty. However, the fact that my set was under extended warranty (note to all HP laptop buyers: First critical crash-and-burn will occur within 6 months of the first year warranty's expiry; second within 6 months of the extended warranty's (usually for an additional next 24 months) expiry) was established about 4 months ago when it was discovered that HP did not register the set for extended cover. The supporting receipts were faxed to HP, who acknowledged receipt of the extended warranty. Yet, this time, my set was still... Fortunately, the receipts were in the car. Housemate genius conveniently left the documents in the car foreseeing that another showdown would be inevitable given the reliability of HP products. So warranty was finally settled.
But HP has not gotten back to me to tell me if their initial diagnosis of a motherboard failure was correct. The laptop isn't with me yet. I'm working on my older laptop with an external monitor. The LCD screen died 1 month after its 36 month warranty. I probably need to blame certain bloggers who are always in pink for shocking my poor monitor out of consciousness. I jest, but the only reason why I stuck to HP is for their after sales service.
Mini hiccups and the Wii... Oh, after my intial encounter with Super Mario Galaxy and my decision to lay off it entirely, I went back and played the game for a few more times and cleared a few more worlds. But I digress. Amidst these awful occurrences, I had a great save from a friend-cum-mentor. She made me prepare a list of critical info to send to her for a quick browse and from her, I managed to get a document - perhaps the most important one of all - back. It probably saved me another 2 weeks of research to put that same list back together. Yes, it ain't easy reading pages and pages of CV and description to decide if you can work with that someone on your postgrad studies.
I now wait with bated breath, my luggage and all not packed yet, for any news of my laptop. Defnitely on tenterhooks, you bet.
(Very soon, I should write an academic essay here and then direct all my students to come over here to take a look at one correct academic writing piece so that they know what is a hook, what is a thesis statement, what is a topic sentence, what are admissible evidence, what are cinchers etc... But that is a day in some future.)
The first salvo was my 4 month old Nokia phone not holding charge. I had to send it down last Tuesday to the Nokia service centre and kick up a fuss there because the counter staff tried to shirk out of their product warranty. He claimed that battery life - even if the user manual stated that it lasts up to 300 hours on standby - can be as short as 48 to 72 hours because of all sorts of factors. Yeah, right. When I got the phone new, the battery held charge up to 240 hours (10 days). Now, it drains itself flat, on standby mode, in 48 hours. What could have happened? All sorts of what factors? What about a spoilt battery? I stood my ground and my phone was finally taken in for repair.
The service centre called to inform me on Friday last. The phone is ready for collection. Fine. Looks good to me. Then my computer crashed. It shut itself down and would not reboot.
Housemate said the hard disk crashed. I was devastated. (I can spell devastated because being Murphy's favourite nephew, this word is more frequently used than tenterhooks. Honestly, there is no need to be on tenterhooks usually; one does not often have impending trips.) I hope that it is not. If it is, all my hard work and trip information would be gone. I need to start writing emails to the people I wish to meet to check the timing all over again.
To make things worse, the scheduled back up hard disk went AWOL and had not been backing up my stuff since May. The laptop was finally sent in to HP that same day at 7 pm and even at HP, I had to raise my voice (just a little) at them. It was the third time in a row that I was told my set was not under warranty. However, the fact that my set was under extended warranty (note to all HP laptop buyers: First critical crash-and-burn will occur within 6 months of the first year warranty's expiry; second within 6 months of the extended warranty's (usually for an additional next 24 months) expiry) was established about 4 months ago when it was discovered that HP did not register the set for extended cover. The supporting receipts were faxed to HP, who acknowledged receipt of the extended warranty. Yet, this time, my set was still... Fortunately, the receipts were in the car. Housemate genius conveniently left the documents in the car foreseeing that another showdown would be inevitable given the reliability of HP products. So warranty was finally settled.
But HP has not gotten back to me to tell me if their initial diagnosis of a motherboard failure was correct. The laptop isn't with me yet. I'm working on my older laptop with an external monitor. The LCD screen died 1 month after its 36 month warranty. I probably need to blame certain bloggers who are always in pink for shocking my poor monitor out of consciousness. I jest, but the only reason why I stuck to HP is for their after sales service.
Mini hiccups and the Wii... Oh, after my intial encounter with Super Mario Galaxy and my decision to lay off it entirely, I went back and played the game for a few more times and cleared a few more worlds. But I digress. Amidst these awful occurrences, I had a great save from a friend-cum-mentor. She made me prepare a list of critical info to send to her for a quick browse and from her, I managed to get a document - perhaps the most important one of all - back. It probably saved me another 2 weeks of research to put that same list back together. Yes, it ain't easy reading pages and pages of CV and description to decide if you can work with that someone on your postgrad studies.
I now wait with bated breath, my luggage and all not packed yet, for any news of my laptop. Defnitely on tenterhooks, you bet.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Quasi big balls
Tackled the tree top walk today with a PE teacher friend. Here are some facts and true occurrences.
1. We walked a total of 7.6 km, mainly on forest trek, for a 250 m tree top suspension bridge walk. We've decided that a huge amount of persuasion will be required to get us to go there again. For example, a new car park built along the road at about the 2.5 km mark of the trail could be a start.
2. There is a free public carpark for trail visitors so you can park your cars at the start point and then walk your way in. And perhaps have a couple of water coolers and a small toilet/changing room at the car park. The water source and changing room will be well appreciated.
3. Signages at some of the points could be clearer and more pronunced. We had to make a few guesses along the way. And good for me, my sense of direction, even in the forest, served me well.
4. National Parks should consider a one-way hourly bus ride out from the start of the trails to the car park. Folks with jelly legs after traversing the roof top walk would really appreciate the gesture.
5. There is a steep tarmac-ed part of the trail which precedes the tree top walk. Wow, that was a prelude to jello your legs before your fear of heights do you in on the one-man wide suspension bridge.
Personally:
6, I got abrasions on my palms twisting dry my little towel, which was frequently soaked wet with my sweat. If I don't wring it dry, I can't get it to clean any more sweat off me.
7. My inner thighs are abraded. Man, they hurt when I walk and I had to work around the pain by walking somewhat bow-legged. Thereby, the title of this post.
Perhaps there was too much anticipation and too much expectation from the two of us at the onset of the trip. In the end, we had some sun (fortunately much less than feared) and too much walking. The walk wasn't all that fun, cos there were many up and down slopes and the need to retrace our steps back to the starting point dragged out the experience. The lack of anything really fresh on the way out added to the boredom of the walk.
Durian, rambutan, and jackfruit trees were fruiting like crazy. There were monkeys, squirrels, birds, butterflies, moths, salamanders, and whatever else saw us but we may not have seen them. There were surprisingly few, or no, mosquitoes and bugs.
For people undaunted still, my advice would be as follows:
1. Bring a towel for wiping sweat, especially if you perspire a lot.
2. Dry fit or no go. My dry fit shirt was fine but my cotton bermudas were so laden with sweat midway into the journey, I couldn't wait to get out of them.
3. Bring clothes to change out after the trip. Toilet and changing room or not, you'll appreciate this.
4. Forget the camera or any bags. If you can, travel light.
5. You'll reach the Ranger Station twice (and man, would I love a posting there! One of the guys there had an autographed Timberland boot. Hot!) and each time, use the facilities. Drink some water the first time around and drink up as much as you need before you make your way out. You tend to lose more water out than in, especially if you visit in the morning. The sun simply gets hotter and you sweat more.
6. Don't eat or drink on your walk. The monkeys we saw were observing us for food. I think they are still rather reliant on human offerings (it's illegal to feed them), especially during meal times.
7. Keep an eye for freshly dropped durians. You might just get a free fruit.
Have fun!
1. We walked a total of 7.6 km, mainly on forest trek, for a 250 m tree top suspension bridge walk. We've decided that a huge amount of persuasion will be required to get us to go there again. For example, a new car park built along the road at about the 2.5 km mark of the trail could be a start.
2. There is a free public carpark for trail visitors so you can park your cars at the start point and then walk your way in. And perhaps have a couple of water coolers and a small toilet/changing room at the car park. The water source and changing room will be well appreciated.
3. Signages at some of the points could be clearer and more pronunced. We had to make a few guesses along the way. And good for me, my sense of direction, even in the forest, served me well.
4. National Parks should consider a one-way hourly bus ride out from the start of the trails to the car park. Folks with jelly legs after traversing the roof top walk would really appreciate the gesture.
5. There is a steep tarmac-ed part of the trail which precedes the tree top walk. Wow, that was a prelude to jello your legs before your fear of heights do you in on the one-man wide suspension bridge.
Personally:
6, I got abrasions on my palms twisting dry my little towel, which was frequently soaked wet with my sweat. If I don't wring it dry, I can't get it to clean any more sweat off me.
7. My inner thighs are abraded. Man, they hurt when I walk and I had to work around the pain by walking somewhat bow-legged. Thereby, the title of this post.
Perhaps there was too much anticipation and too much expectation from the two of us at the onset of the trip. In the end, we had some sun (fortunately much less than feared) and too much walking. The walk wasn't all that fun, cos there were many up and down slopes and the need to retrace our steps back to the starting point dragged out the experience. The lack of anything really fresh on the way out added to the boredom of the walk.
Durian, rambutan, and jackfruit trees were fruiting like crazy. There were monkeys, squirrels, birds, butterflies, moths, salamanders, and whatever else saw us but we may not have seen them. There were surprisingly few, or no, mosquitoes and bugs.
For people undaunted still, my advice would be as follows:
1. Bring a towel for wiping sweat, especially if you perspire a lot.
2. Dry fit or no go. My dry fit shirt was fine but my cotton bermudas were so laden with sweat midway into the journey, I couldn't wait to get out of them.
3. Bring clothes to change out after the trip. Toilet and changing room or not, you'll appreciate this.
4. Forget the camera or any bags. If you can, travel light.
5. You'll reach the Ranger Station twice (and man, would I love a posting there! One of the guys there had an autographed Timberland boot. Hot!) and each time, use the facilities. Drink some water the first time around and drink up as much as you need before you make your way out. You tend to lose more water out than in, especially if you visit in the morning. The sun simply gets hotter and you sweat more.
6. Don't eat or drink on your walk. The monkeys we saw were observing us for food. I think they are still rather reliant on human offerings (it's illegal to feed them), especially during meal times.
7. Keep an eye for freshly dropped durians. You might just get a free fruit.
Have fun!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Hitting Out at the Bus Company
I am a regular commuter on City Hopper 579, one of your supposedly premium services, which you charge an arm and a leg for. I often take the bus often in the afternoons on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. As a premium service, SBS Transit has been able to provide commuters with fixed arrival timings when the bus arrives at specified bus stops. Therefore, despite the much higher charges, I prefer taking 579 from town to Simei MRT, on which I am guaranteed minimal waiting time, convenience and comfort. Having a guaranteed seat on 579 surely beats having to stand all the way from City Hall to Simei on the MRT train.
However, there is nothing premium about this service. One of the biggest drawback of taking 579 is the lack of punctuality in the arrival times (compared to other premium buses like 502, 518, and 578, which also call at the same bus stop). The deviation from the published timing is getting so out of hand that I am compelled to write this feedback.
The deterioration of the punctuality of the service has been gradual but visible. About half a year ago, service 579 often called at the bus stop within 5 minutes of the scheduled arrival times, in the recent two months, the erratic arrival times have been so bad that I now question myself if it is at all sensible to pay $3.10 to take this trip.
Today, for instance, the 1611 h bus arrived at 1630 h. Even though your website suggested that to passengers to "be at the bus stop 5 minutes earlier," past experience of seeing service 579 arrive up to as many as 10 minutes before the scheduled time has taught me a lesson to make my way to the bus stop earlier- I missed that bus because it came way too early. Since then, I made it a point to wait at the bus stop 10 minutes before the scheduled time. Still, there are buses which arrive 7 minutes or so early.
Think about it: If I arrive at the bus stop 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled bus arrival time and I have to wait 20 minutes for the bus because it was late, what SENSE does it make for the commuter who has to wait 30 minutes - despite a clearly stated arrival time for the service - for a 30 minute bus ride from Bras Basah to Simei? A comparable MRT trip would have taken less than the time of either the waiting or the bus trip!
You may also wish to note that only the service levels of bus 579 is way below those of your other premium services such as 518, 578 and 502, and most of your regular services. I know this, because I have been frustrated enough to monitor their arrival times against your prescribed timing for the past months to build my case for my feedback. I am very interested to know why this is, and why SBS transit has allowed it, to be so.
Please do not give me stock replies about road and traffic conditions. Except for extenuating circumstances, such conditions do not vary excessively day to day. Furthermore, the bus spends a good amount of its journey on the expressways, which are almost never congested at the afternoon portions of the day. What I see is simply poor management and oversight by your supervisory staff. Ask your staff why other services can be prompt but 579 can't be.
Do not tell me to use IRIS. The hallmark of a world class bus service is its punctuality. Why do I have to pay money to find out if your buses are going to underperform YET AGAIN? If SBS Transit is able to deliver the goods, people would not even need to rely on IRIS. Many countries I visit do not even have IRIS: What they have a cheap bus services with high frequencies.
Perhaps one incentive for your treasured customers like myself and one way of keeping your company in our good books is to give free rides to passengers if the scheduled premium bus service is more than 5 minutes late. After all, premium services command a price because of their high service levels and should the service fall short, suitable compensation should be made. I certainly don't pay Singapore Airline fares to be treated like a budget airline customer. If you aspire to be a world class transport company, then take a leaf out of SIA's books. If SIA, our truly world class air transport company, were late, they would have served sandwiches and drinks and their front line staff would have been profuse with apologies.
The last thing I need is wait 30 minutes for a bus with already such a low operating frequency and yet cannot keep to its announced arrival time, be faced with a tailgating bus driver who could not see the passenger trying to flag down the bus at the bus stop until it is nearly too late and drive badly, braking too hard because he was tailgating (yet again). Does SBS Transit not assign your better drivers to drive premium services?
Or am I mistaken about 579 being a premium service at all?
However, there is nothing premium about this service. One of the biggest drawback of taking 579 is the lack of punctuality in the arrival times (compared to other premium buses like 502, 518, and 578, which also call at the same bus stop). The deviation from the published timing is getting so out of hand that I am compelled to write this feedback.
The deterioration of the punctuality of the service has been gradual but visible. About half a year ago, service 579 often called at the bus stop within 5 minutes of the scheduled arrival times, in the recent two months, the erratic arrival times have been so bad that I now question myself if it is at all sensible to pay $3.10 to take this trip.
Today, for instance, the 1611 h bus arrived at 1630 h. Even though your website suggested that to passengers to "be at the bus stop 5 minutes earlier," past experience of seeing service 579 arrive up to as many as 10 minutes before the scheduled time has taught me a lesson to make my way to the bus stop earlier- I missed that bus because it came way too early. Since then, I made it a point to wait at the bus stop 10 minutes before the scheduled time. Still, there are buses which arrive 7 minutes or so early.
Think about it: If I arrive at the bus stop 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled bus arrival time and I have to wait 20 minutes for the bus because it was late, what SENSE does it make for the commuter who has to wait 30 minutes - despite a clearly stated arrival time for the service - for a 30 minute bus ride from Bras Basah to Simei? A comparable MRT trip would have taken less than the time of either the waiting or the bus trip!
You may also wish to note that only the service levels of bus 579 is way below those of your other premium services such as 518, 578 and 502, and most of your regular services. I know this, because I have been frustrated enough to monitor their arrival times against your prescribed timing for the past months to build my case for my feedback. I am very interested to know why this is, and why SBS transit has allowed it, to be so.
Please do not give me stock replies about road and traffic conditions. Except for extenuating circumstances, such conditions do not vary excessively day to day. Furthermore, the bus spends a good amount of its journey on the expressways, which are almost never congested at the afternoon portions of the day. What I see is simply poor management and oversight by your supervisory staff. Ask your staff why other services can be prompt but 579 can't be.
Do not tell me to use IRIS. The hallmark of a world class bus service is its punctuality. Why do I have to pay money to find out if your buses are going to underperform YET AGAIN? If SBS Transit is able to deliver the goods, people would not even need to rely on IRIS. Many countries I visit do not even have IRIS: What they have a cheap bus services with high frequencies.
Perhaps one incentive for your treasured customers like myself and one way of keeping your company in our good books is to give free rides to passengers if the scheduled premium bus service is more than 5 minutes late. After all, premium services command a price because of their high service levels and should the service fall short, suitable compensation should be made. I certainly don't pay Singapore Airline fares to be treated like a budget airline customer. If you aspire to be a world class transport company, then take a leaf out of SIA's books. If SIA, our truly world class air transport company, were late, they would have served sandwiches and drinks and their front line staff would have been profuse with apologies.
The last thing I need is wait 30 minutes for a bus with already such a low operating frequency and yet cannot keep to its announced arrival time, be faced with a tailgating bus driver who could not see the passenger trying to flag down the bus at the bus stop until it is nearly too late and drive badly, braking too hard because he was tailgating (yet again). Does SBS Transit not assign your better drivers to drive premium services?
Or am I mistaken about 579 being a premium service at all?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Free China Warmth
Bought a quilt from Ikea just before Chinese New Year (mid Jan) to fit into the new quilt cover. The main reason was the northeast monsoon was a little cold, especially in the night, when the chill seemed to penetrate right into your bones.
As the weather became warmer and more humid, I decided that the quilt was no longer a necessity. Took the quilt and the cover out for a wash on Wednesday and completed doing laundry today. I like to soak the clothes to remove all smell and dirt. The quilt was washed according to the instructions on the label - gentle wash, low tumble dry. I also saw it was made in China.
Alas, the mesh covering of the quilt was tore as I removed it from the clothes dryer.
I did not see any damage when the quilt was first fitted into the cover, during or after the wash, and before I put it into the dryer. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was torn because dry quilt was fluffy and everything was "huge and white, clean and bright."
The tear was not structural. One would expect to see the expanded herring bone structure of the knits if indeed the mesh covering was overstretched. But it wasn't. There were two holes, which I can best attribute to material fatigue. The mesh was constructed using iffy materials and the manufacturers probably expected the guarantees to run out when the damage is seen.
Took the torn quilt, marched to Ikea and got a refund. When giving the refund, the service counter guy reminded that such items had to be done in this way and that, giving stricter conditions that was prescribed by the label on the item. Looks like there is a deeper problem than this.
Moral of the story for Ikea: Outsource to China by all means; screw your own bottomlines.
As the quilt was returned, I reminded Ikea of their other product, a towelette, also from China, which was padded with small "cotton balls" to make it fluffy. But in the end, the balls came off during the laundry cycle and my entire laundry load was rendered useless because the balls stuck to the entire load. Some of my whites turned slightly greenish.
Moral of the story for consumers: If you can tolerate nonsense and have lots of time, buy the Chinese items. Quickly use and make sure they are spoilt by the end of the first use (and before the 100 day guarantee) and then return to Ikea to get your money back. Remember to stress that that was the first use.
I didn't expect free warmth to be most heartwarming. :)
As the weather became warmer and more humid, I decided that the quilt was no longer a necessity. Took the quilt and the cover out for a wash on Wednesday and completed doing laundry today. I like to soak the clothes to remove all smell and dirt. The quilt was washed according to the instructions on the label - gentle wash, low tumble dry. I also saw it was made in China.
Alas, the mesh covering of the quilt was tore as I removed it from the clothes dryer.
I did not see any damage when the quilt was first fitted into the cover, during or after the wash, and before I put it into the dryer. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was torn because dry quilt was fluffy and everything was "huge and white, clean and bright."
The tear was not structural. One would expect to see the expanded herring bone structure of the knits if indeed the mesh covering was overstretched. But it wasn't. There were two holes, which I can best attribute to material fatigue. The mesh was constructed using iffy materials and the manufacturers probably expected the guarantees to run out when the damage is seen.
Took the torn quilt, marched to Ikea and got a refund. When giving the refund, the service counter guy reminded that such items had to be done in this way and that, giving stricter conditions that was prescribed by the label on the item. Looks like there is a deeper problem than this.
Moral of the story for Ikea: Outsource to China by all means; screw your own bottomlines.
As the quilt was returned, I reminded Ikea of their other product, a towelette, also from China, which was padded with small "cotton balls" to make it fluffy. But in the end, the balls came off during the laundry cycle and my entire laundry load was rendered useless because the balls stuck to the entire load. Some of my whites turned slightly greenish.
Moral of the story for consumers: If you can tolerate nonsense and have lots of time, buy the Chinese items. Quickly use and make sure they are spoilt by the end of the first use (and before the 100 day guarantee) and then return to Ikea to get your money back. Remember to stress that that was the first use.
I didn't expect free warmth to be most heartwarming. :)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Toes or Toast
Just went shopping with a friend for massage equipment for his school.
For the upcoming Valentine's, the equipment outlet sent out flyers entitling customers to a $50 discount if this flyer is presented.
We went to the shop and then asked if the discount could be extended to two pieces of massage equipment. After all, it is a matter of collecting another flyer. Furthermore, there is a minimum spending condition before the discount can be given. Both pieces of equipment are independently above the minimum cost that qualifies for the discount.
The salesgirl, whose eye lashes were painted like a pigeon just shit over the middle of each eye leaving a white streak, attended to us and we asked if we could have a discount on each piece of equipment. She checked with her supervisor and returned with the news that the discount is applicable.
Then when we asked to buy both pieces, she insisted that the discount is only applicable to one particular item. I pointed out to her that if the discount applies only to a specific item, then it would have stated "Only Applicable to Black Hearted Not Me Scared Scared Non amateur". (Trust me on the random capitalisation.) It would not have gone to state simply, "Minimum Spend (sic!) of $250."
After some exchange with her colleague, she relented that the discount can be given to any item. But now, she cannot allow the discount to be given to both items because her supervisor only allowed the double discount on two Black Hearted Not Me Scared Scared Non amateur non-hand muscle manipulator with negative enthalpy. Oh, come on. If you did not pay attention to our widespread hands pointing to two different items when we asked for the discount, then at least ask us what we want exactly. Don't assume we want two pieces of that equipment. Anyway, neither of us had a package that is protruding excessively between our legs that might attract any attention of anyone, unlike some porn stars. If at all, my paunch would be the attention grabber.
In any case, Miss Shitty Eyed Dumb Ass (or if you prefer the more endearing Miss Dumb Assed Shitty Eyes), it is not as though your Black Hearted products are flying off your shelves that you've hardly had enough to sell to customers like us. Your pathetic company had to offer this discount because its products are dragging ass when it comes to sales!
So, I simply said, "Fine! You are not the only store selling this. We certainly can get them from another shop." And she went, "My supervisor approves all these requests from all the outlets."
"Really? So what? Let's go." Why should I tolerate such nonsense? If I have the cash to buy things, I certainly won't tolerate such "excellent" customer service. For good measure, Watsons at Marina called me when an item I had wanted went on sale. She urged me to pick up my reserved items at the sale price. That is what I call good customer service.
Of course, the person who has to buy from the school has to be more tolerant. I simply walked out of the bloody stupid shop after verbally toasting her.
What's wrong with saying, "Oh, I made a mistake in thinking that you wanted two of Black Hearted Not Me Scared Scared Non amateur non-hand muscle manipulator with negative enthalpy. Let me call my supervisor again and check." I would have let that go. We all make mistakes. If you are interested in my business, you would definitely go out to check it out for me. Who the hell cares if your supervisor is so great? I don't mean to brag but if our consumer dollars all go to the non-Black Heart brands, your supervisor will be approving all your layoffs!
Moral of the story: If you are in sales, be on your toes or you're toast.
For the upcoming Valentine's, the equipment outlet sent out flyers entitling customers to a $50 discount if this flyer is presented.
We went to the shop and then asked if the discount could be extended to two pieces of massage equipment. After all, it is a matter of collecting another flyer. Furthermore, there is a minimum spending condition before the discount can be given. Both pieces of equipment are independently above the minimum cost that qualifies for the discount.
The salesgirl, whose eye lashes were painted like a pigeon just shit over the middle of each eye leaving a white streak, attended to us and we asked if we could have a discount on each piece of equipment. She checked with her supervisor and returned with the news that the discount is applicable.
Then when we asked to buy both pieces, she insisted that the discount is only applicable to one particular item. I pointed out to her that if the discount applies only to a specific item, then it would have stated "Only Applicable to Black Hearted Not Me Scared Scared Non amateur". (Trust me on the random capitalisation.) It would not have gone to state simply, "Minimum Spend (sic!) of $250."
After some exchange with her colleague, she relented that the discount can be given to any item. But now, she cannot allow the discount to be given to both items because her supervisor only allowed the double discount on two Black Hearted Not Me Scared Scared Non amateur non-hand muscle manipulator with negative enthalpy. Oh, come on. If you did not pay attention to our widespread hands pointing to two different items when we asked for the discount, then at least ask us what we want exactly. Don't assume we want two pieces of that equipment. Anyway, neither of us had a package that is protruding excessively between our legs that might attract any attention of anyone, unlike some porn stars. If at all, my paunch would be the attention grabber.
In any case, Miss Shitty Eyed Dumb Ass (or if you prefer the more endearing Miss Dumb Assed Shitty Eyes), it is not as though your Black Hearted products are flying off your shelves that you've hardly had enough to sell to customers like us. Your pathetic company had to offer this discount because its products are dragging ass when it comes to sales!
So, I simply said, "Fine! You are not the only store selling this. We certainly can get them from another shop." And she went, "My supervisor approves all these requests from all the outlets."
"Really? So what? Let's go." Why should I tolerate such nonsense? If I have the cash to buy things, I certainly won't tolerate such "excellent" customer service. For good measure, Watsons at Marina called me when an item I had wanted went on sale. She urged me to pick up my reserved items at the sale price. That is what I call good customer service.
Of course, the person who has to buy from the school has to be more tolerant. I simply walked out of the bloody stupid shop after verbally toasting her.
What's wrong with saying, "Oh, I made a mistake in thinking that you wanted two of Black Hearted Not Me Scared Scared Non amateur non-hand muscle manipulator with negative enthalpy. Let me call my supervisor again and check." I would have let that go. We all make mistakes. If you are interested in my business, you would definitely go out to check it out for me. Who the hell cares if your supervisor is so great? I don't mean to brag but if our consumer dollars all go to the non-Black Heart brands, your supervisor will be approving all your layoffs!
Moral of the story: If you are in sales, be on your toes or you're toast.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
"I'm here so that, hopefully, I can have a good tea"
A friend was "invited" to attend a timeshare presentation. He was enticed with lots of gifts, such as free hotel stay, online vouchers, and cruises, for attending the session. I tagged along because I really want to update myself on the cupidicious behaviour of these marketeers, or if you would indulge me, profiteering chalatans.
(Another reason was the fact that I needed to vent after having marked Assignment One and knowing that Assignment Two was coming in on Monday. But this was not the main reason.)
At the door, my friend was asked to register and I had to be registered as well. I pulled my friend aside and told him to report his salary as half of what he was receiving now. I had asked him to go for the lowest option but he thought it was not realistic.
For me, I wrote "unemployed" for my occupation and was dressed for my role. He then submitted the form.
Then I told my friend that I had prepared my speech in case the con asked me what I was there for.
"You see, I'm unemployed. Since my friend was invited here for a presentation at this time, I hope that if I'm here, hopefully, I can have a good tea."
My friend, of course, nearly flipped when he heard this. Then he asked me to go easy and not say anything if we were invited to the presentation.
In less than 3 minutes after the form was submitted, the receptionist called him and handed him the vouchers for the gifts, with the message that we did not have to sit through the presentation as the con-sultant was very busy.
See? We portray ourselves as paupers and we got off with the gifts without any time wasted. They must be kicking themselves for not doing their market survey properly.
Me? Have you heard the maniacal laughter of a genius in the lift down from the penthouse of the Rolex Building to the ground floor? Priceless!
(Another reason was the fact that I needed to vent after having marked Assignment One and knowing that Assignment Two was coming in on Monday. But this was not the main reason.)
At the door, my friend was asked to register and I had to be registered as well. I pulled my friend aside and told him to report his salary as half of what he was receiving now. I had asked him to go for the lowest option but he thought it was not realistic.
For me, I wrote "unemployed" for my occupation and was dressed for my role. He then submitted the form.
Then I told my friend that I had prepared my speech in case the con asked me what I was there for.
"You see, I'm unemployed. Since my friend was invited here for a presentation at this time, I hope that if I'm here, hopefully, I can have a good tea."
My friend, of course, nearly flipped when he heard this. Then he asked me to go easy and not say anything if we were invited to the presentation.
In less than 3 minutes after the form was submitted, the receptionist called him and handed him the vouchers for the gifts, with the message that we did not have to sit through the presentation as the con-sultant was very busy.
See? We portray ourselves as paupers and we got off with the gifts without any time wasted. They must be kicking themselves for not doing their market survey properly.
Me? Have you heard the maniacal laughter of a genius in the lift down from the penthouse of the Rolex Building to the ground floor? Priceless!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
This goes to the press next
- Stock reply -
Dear Tan Eugene,
Thank you for contacting PayPal with your concerns.
After review all the information on your account,we still couldn't find anything that you claimed.So we could't help you to cover the loss due to currency exchange.
I do apologize for any frustration that you have experienced.
Thank you for being part of the PayPal community.
Sincerely,
Hui
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal, an eBay Company
- "I've got enough" response -
It's not frustration. No, it's disbelief. Utter disbelief that Paypal would hire staff who cannot figure out what is wrong even though I have already sent you the supporting document. I reattach the document so that you don't have search for it again to do the simple exercise below. (Document not attached because over here, I do not have to prove figures below.)
Let us try one more time.
Before I begin, let me remind you that I've already informed Paypal that my credit card transacts in Singapore Dollars (SGD) and therefore, when forex rates fluctuate, what I am charged in and what I receive may be different even though the foreign currency amounts in question are identical. In other words, regardless what happens, the credit card company will do the conversions and then I am billed and refunded in Singapore Dollars (SGD). Another way of looking at it is that all currencies will be converted to SGD when I am billed or when I receive refunds. If we have an understanding here, let's proceed.
Fraud cases 1 and 2 - case 1 and case 2 present identical scenarios.
When my account was fraudulently charged for USD 600, the credit card company billed me for SGD 883.10.
When Paypal reversed the charge for USD 600, the credit card company credited me SGD 838.40.
What has happened to me with regards to USD and with regards to SGD?
What can you say about my financial position? Is what I got back MORE or LESS than what I paid?
Do you see the difference now in SGD? Can you calculate the difference that I lost?
Fraud case 3
When my account was fraudulently charged for USD 100, the credit card company billed me for SGD 147.18.
When Paypal reversed the charge for USD 100, the credit card company credited me SGD 139.74.
What has happened to me with regards to USD and with regards to SGD?
What can you say about my financial position? Is what I got back MORE or LESS than what I paid?
Do you see the difference now in SGD? Can you calculate the difference that I lost?
Fraud case 4
When my account was fraudulently charged for GBP 180, the credit card company billed me for SGD 468.36.
When Paypal reversed the charge for GBP 180, the credit card company credited me SGD 441.81.
What has happened to me with regards to GBP and with regards to SGD?
What can you say about my financial position? Is what I got back MORE or LESS than what I paid?
Do you see the difference now in SGD? Can you calculate the difference that I lost?
Now, can you calculate the TOTAL amount in SGD that I have lost?
This is clearly simple enough that 10 year old kids who have learnt money and decimals can work out.
Let us check if we arrived at the same answers. Did you finally manage to figure out that:
(i) although there *seems* (operative word) to be no difference in my foreign currencies standing,
(ii) the reality is that I have lost SGD 123.39 ARISING FROM CURRENCY EXCHANGE from USD and GBP to SGD?
So what is it that you do not find?
Making good this loss is what Paypal has promised to its users, who had been fraud victims, in your rules and regulations - Paypal promised to honour all losses arising from the fraudulent charges. In this case, the losses in SGD are SGD 123.39, even though on paper, it *seems* like all charges have been reversed. What you see on paper is NOT accurate in my case because the reality is what costs me in the end. According to Paypal, it should cost me NOTHING because I had been a fraud victim. However, based on Paypal representatives' repeated failure to understand my requests, it seems like Paypal's promise is no good because nobody at Paypal will honour it.
If this happens to you one day, what would YOU do?
By the way, I have cc-ed a representative from my credit card company, Mr X, in this email. I am sure Mr X would be able to teach you a thing or two about non-US credit cards and how foreign currency transactions are handled. He may also be able to teach you how to read the statement from the credit card company, if my explanations are insufficient.
Best,
Eugene
>> X, thank you for the follow up phone call yesterday highlighting Paypal's responsibilities to its customers. Looks like Paypal's folks do not understand what I'm trying to tell them. Could I trouble you to speak with them if needed? Thank you for your kind assistance.
Dear Tan Eugene,
Thank you for contacting PayPal with your concerns.
After review all the information on your account,we still couldn't find anything that you claimed.So we could't help you to cover the loss due to currency exchange.
I do apologize for any frustration that you have experienced.
Thank you for being part of the PayPal community.
Sincerely,
Hui
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal, an eBay Company
- "I've got enough" response -
It's not frustration. No, it's disbelief. Utter disbelief that Paypal would hire staff who cannot figure out what is wrong even though I have already sent you the supporting document. I reattach the document so that you don't have search for it again to do the simple exercise below. (Document not attached because over here, I do not have to prove figures below.)
Let us try one more time.
Before I begin, let me remind you that I've already informed Paypal that my credit card transacts in Singapore Dollars (SGD) and therefore, when forex rates fluctuate, what I am charged in and what I receive may be different even though the foreign currency amounts in question are identical. In other words, regardless what happens, the credit card company will do the conversions and then I am billed and refunded in Singapore Dollars (SGD). Another way of looking at it is that all currencies will be converted to SGD when I am billed or when I receive refunds. If we have an understanding here, let's proceed.
Fraud cases 1 and 2 - case 1 and case 2 present identical scenarios.
When my account was fraudulently charged for USD 600, the credit card company billed me for SGD 883.10.
When Paypal reversed the charge for USD 600, the credit card company credited me SGD 838.40.
What has happened to me with regards to USD and with regards to SGD?
What can you say about my financial position? Is what I got back MORE or LESS than what I paid?
Do you see the difference now in SGD? Can you calculate the difference that I lost?
Fraud case 3
When my account was fraudulently charged for USD 100, the credit card company billed me for SGD 147.18.
When Paypal reversed the charge for USD 100, the credit card company credited me SGD 139.74.
What has happened to me with regards to USD and with regards to SGD?
What can you say about my financial position? Is what I got back MORE or LESS than what I paid?
Do you see the difference now in SGD? Can you calculate the difference that I lost?
Fraud case 4
When my account was fraudulently charged for GBP 180, the credit card company billed me for SGD 468.36.
When Paypal reversed the charge for GBP 180, the credit card company credited me SGD 441.81.
What has happened to me with regards to GBP and with regards to SGD?
What can you say about my financial position? Is what I got back MORE or LESS than what I paid?
Do you see the difference now in SGD? Can you calculate the difference that I lost?
Now, can you calculate the TOTAL amount in SGD that I have lost?
This is clearly simple enough that 10 year old kids who have learnt money and decimals can work out.
Let us check if we arrived at the same answers. Did you finally manage to figure out that:
(i) although there *seems* (operative word) to be no difference in my foreign currencies standing,
(ii) the reality is that I have lost SGD 123.39 ARISING FROM CURRENCY EXCHANGE from USD and GBP to SGD?
So what is it that you do not find?
Making good this loss is what Paypal has promised to its users, who had been fraud victims, in your rules and regulations - Paypal promised to honour all losses arising from the fraudulent charges. In this case, the losses in SGD are SGD 123.39, even though on paper, it *seems* like all charges have been reversed. What you see on paper is NOT accurate in my case because the reality is what costs me in the end. According to Paypal, it should cost me NOTHING because I had been a fraud victim. However, based on Paypal representatives' repeated failure to understand my requests, it seems like Paypal's promise is no good because nobody at Paypal will honour it.
If this happens to you one day, what would YOU do?
By the way, I have cc-ed a representative from my credit card company, Mr X, in this email. I am sure Mr X would be able to teach you a thing or two about non-US credit cards and how foreign currency transactions are handled. He may also be able to teach you how to read the statement from the credit card company, if my explanations are insufficient.
Best,
Eugene
>> X, thank you for the follow up phone call yesterday highlighting Paypal's responsibilities to its customers. Looks like Paypal's folks do not understand what I'm trying to tell them. Could I trouble you to speak with them if needed? Thank you for your kind assistance.
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Worst of Best Denki
Was at the Vivocity Best Denki last Sunday with my mum to a telephone set.
The service in Best was the worst I had ever experienced in the whole wide world. Not only were the sales people extremely unhelpful and unwilling to help, they even treat their customers as transparent.
After getting their attention by tapping my hand on the table, a salesguy with eye bags the size of Texas came up and asked, "What you want?" in a rude enough tone that one would have loved to put a hole in his face.
In all, the service was so poor and his attitude was so bad, his product knowledge was so lacking that I told my mum that our business was too little for Best. We weren't buying already.
On our way out of the store, I changed my mind and we went to complain to the useless Japanese manager of the store.
I won't waste precious health points recalling the pathetic experience. But I hope they close down soon.
The service in Best was the worst I had ever experienced in the whole wide world. Not only were the sales people extremely unhelpful and unwilling to help, they even treat their customers as transparent.
After getting their attention by tapping my hand on the table, a salesguy with eye bags the size of Texas came up and asked, "What you want?" in a rude enough tone that one would have loved to put a hole in his face.
In all, the service was so poor and his attitude was so bad, his product knowledge was so lacking that I told my mum that our business was too little for Best. We weren't buying already.
On our way out of the store, I changed my mind and we went to complain to the useless Japanese manager of the store.
I won't waste precious health points recalling the pathetic experience. But I hope they close down soon.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Loan Offers
I've been receiving calls from banks offering me loans at special rates. These banks are fair weather friends. They will offer you all sorts of things to induce you to take a loan and get in debt.
As long as you can pay, they are fine. But wait till you miss a payment or two.
So I told the umpteenth telemarketeer that I wanted only free cash. Any loan that I needed to repay (i.e. non-free cash), I am not interested. Neither am I in need.
She asked for friends or colleagues for referrals. In response, I told her that my friends and colleagues are also only interested in free cash.
You could hear her enthusiasm after my response. Comparing to the initial chirpy self, she sounded like a deflated ballon dumped to the floor with a thud.
How I love giving it to these unsolicited calls. The worst ones go, "Mr Tan, are you a customer of XYZ Bank? Can I know what services you are subscribed to?" They have absolutely no idea what relations you have with the bank, the client they are acting for.
Given this age of illegal data mining, no way am I going to divulge such secrets. I'm no rich man but still, my privacy remains private.
If you think I was mean, wait till I tell you the time when I told another telemarketeer to pass me the $50 000 insurance payout immediately. I'll just make sure something happens to me.
As long as you can pay, they are fine. But wait till you miss a payment or two.
So I told the umpteenth telemarketeer that I wanted only free cash. Any loan that I needed to repay (i.e. non-free cash), I am not interested. Neither am I in need.
She asked for friends or colleagues for referrals. In response, I told her that my friends and colleagues are also only interested in free cash.
You could hear her enthusiasm after my response. Comparing to the initial chirpy self, she sounded like a deflated ballon dumped to the floor with a thud.
How I love giving it to these unsolicited calls. The worst ones go, "Mr Tan, are you a customer of XYZ Bank? Can I know what services you are subscribed to?" They have absolutely no idea what relations you have with the bank, the client they are acting for.
Given this age of illegal data mining, no way am I going to divulge such secrets. I'm no rich man but still, my privacy remains private.
If you think I was mean, wait till I tell you the time when I told another telemarketeer to pass me the $50 000 insurance payout immediately. I'll just make sure something happens to me.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Is it my fault?
I cannot imagine that the d*ck head of a cab driver was so rude during my ride from home to the airport.
I got on the cab after loading up my own bags in the boot. By right, he should at least customarily step out of the car and ask if I needed help - yes, such pretense would mean good service. I wouldn't need help, of course, since my bags weighed but 16.1 kg and 3.9 kg - this one is empty really, and I would have been able to handle them myself.
My principles are simple - if the bags are too heavy for you to handle, then don't expect the cab driver to handle them for you. If your bags are not too heavy for you to handle, then handle them yourselves. Leave the cabbie to do his job, which is to drive you from point to point safely.
Sure, this morning's traffic a b*tch. Hey, it's 7 am in the morning and all the office workers needed to drive their cars to work. How else can they justify spending so much money on the cars if they are not going to take them out and contribute to the traffic gridlocks and congestions.
Ok, I got on the cab and I greeted him good morning. He did not even reply. Oh, my god. This is going to be one ride.
Along the way, I decided that I needed to teach him a lesson. It's peak hour, I'm going on a trip that I am *so* looking forward to, and I get such sucky treatment from you. So, I took out my dollar coins.
The final bill came to $11.90. Not a princely sum but I live but 4 km to the airport. So I unloaded 10 dollar-coins and a two dollar note on him.
I wouldn't have given him even that 10-cent tip but I don't see it as a tip. I see it as a means of relieving me of a $1 coin which I otherwise have to lug to Perth and back.
He was such a mannerless id-10-T that he did not even say thank you when he got the money. He quickly checked if I would have passed Indon lookalike coins (a tenth of the value) in the car.
What a sh*t head and what a *great* way to begin an otherwise *dour* morning.
I am *so* looking forward to this trip...
I got on the cab after loading up my own bags in the boot. By right, he should at least customarily step out of the car and ask if I needed help - yes, such pretense would mean good service. I wouldn't need help, of course, since my bags weighed but 16.1 kg and 3.9 kg - this one is empty really, and I would have been able to handle them myself.
My principles are simple - if the bags are too heavy for you to handle, then don't expect the cab driver to handle them for you. If your bags are not too heavy for you to handle, then handle them yourselves. Leave the cabbie to do his job, which is to drive you from point to point safely.
Sure, this morning's traffic a b*tch. Hey, it's 7 am in the morning and all the office workers needed to drive their cars to work. How else can they justify spending so much money on the cars if they are not going to take them out and contribute to the traffic gridlocks and congestions.
Ok, I got on the cab and I greeted him good morning. He did not even reply. Oh, my god. This is going to be one ride.
Along the way, I decided that I needed to teach him a lesson. It's peak hour, I'm going on a trip that I am *so* looking forward to, and I get such sucky treatment from you. So, I took out my dollar coins.
The final bill came to $11.90. Not a princely sum but I live but 4 km to the airport. So I unloaded 10 dollar-coins and a two dollar note on him.
I wouldn't have given him even that 10-cent tip but I don't see it as a tip. I see it as a means of relieving me of a $1 coin which I otherwise have to lug to Perth and back.
He was such a mannerless id-10-T that he did not even say thank you when he got the money. He quickly checked if I would have passed Indon lookalike coins (a tenth of the value) in the car.
What a sh*t head and what a *great* way to begin an otherwise *dour* morning.
I am *so* looking forward to this trip...
Friday, December 21, 2007
Cold Storage Meets Hot Dude Part 2
My complaint letter.
Cold Storage Online has provided me the single, most unparalled, and defintely most imbecilic service I have ever experienced.
After my order on 12 Dec, there were many calls between then and 17 Dec regarding items which were not available. I had to agree time and again to wait but still the items were not available. I really question the inventory control processes of the company.
During the first delivery, the delivery guy left my stuff in the rain and stepped into my place without removing his shoes (he did not ask for permission). Your manager, Kelvin, called to apologise and promise that everything would be settled today (21 Dec). The "things to be settled" include exchanging the wet items for dry ones and delivering items owed to me.
Even on 19 Dec, I got calls that a certain replacement item was not available. What? Is Cold Storage a mickey mouse company that I'm dealing with?
This morning (21 Dec), customer service called me and said I provided the wrong address to their delivery guy. How can this be when the first delivery was done successfully?
I checked for your delivery van from my corridor but I don't see anyone. I tried calling your hotline and time and again I could never get through.
Finally, your driver called me and told me he had trouble locating my block, "Block 233 Pasir Panjang". I nearly died - of shock, disbelief and amusement. Never expected my heart to hold out but it did. I am at Block 233, Pasir RIS.
I read and laugh about your CEO's comments about providing service. I quote "“In this highly competitive world, we all need to remember that there is always someone willing to delight your customer if you don’t.” Cold Storage CEO " - (http://www.ps21.gov.sg/challenge/2003_07/focus/services.html)
I guess making innocent customers like me angry and providing us with untimely humour is part of your unbelievable service.
Would I ever shop with you again? Probably after the shock and disappointment wears off, but not before bad mouthing a whole lot about you during my upcoming Christmas parties.
Cold Storage Online has provided me the single, most unparalled, and defintely most imbecilic service I have ever experienced.
After my order on 12 Dec, there were many calls between then and 17 Dec regarding items which were not available. I had to agree time and again to wait but still the items were not available. I really question the inventory control processes of the company.
During the first delivery, the delivery guy left my stuff in the rain and stepped into my place without removing his shoes (he did not ask for permission). Your manager, Kelvin, called to apologise and promise that everything would be settled today (21 Dec). The "things to be settled" include exchanging the wet items for dry ones and delivering items owed to me.
Even on 19 Dec, I got calls that a certain replacement item was not available. What? Is Cold Storage a mickey mouse company that I'm dealing with?
This morning (21 Dec), customer service called me and said I provided the wrong address to their delivery guy. How can this be when the first delivery was done successfully?
I checked for your delivery van from my corridor but I don't see anyone. I tried calling your hotline and time and again I could never get through.
Finally, your driver called me and told me he had trouble locating my block, "Block 233 Pasir Panjang". I nearly died - of shock, disbelief and amusement. Never expected my heart to hold out but it did. I am at Block 233, Pasir RIS.
I read and laugh about your CEO's comments about providing service. I quote "“In this highly competitive world, we all need to remember that there is always someone willing to delight your customer if you don’t.” Cold Storage CEO " - (http://www.ps21.gov.sg/challenge/2003_07/focus/services.html)
I guess making innocent customers like me angry and providing us with untimely humour is part of your unbelievable service.
Would I ever shop with you again? Probably after the shock and disappointment wears off, but not before bad mouthing a whole lot about you during my upcoming Christmas parties.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Cold Storage Meets Hot Dude
Cold Storage delivery made me wait from 2 pm to 5 pm before their guy came.
It was raining and guess what?
He took his time to unload and left my items under the rain.
When he came up, many things were wet. The delivery guy entered my place without removing his shoes. He should have at least asked if he could do so. I would have said ok and not made a fuss of it.
The items in carton boxes were relatively unscathed from the rain but items such as my Coke and Coke Light and Pringles were all wet. It's worse than that, but I don't need to bother about stuff in plastic wrappings. That I can accept but not cardboard-y stuff. How do I store them if the cartons are wet? These will make the larder unnecessarily humid and there will be mould!
Hands-up those of you who would like mould to go with your coke!
Eh, hurry up! How come I still see no hands? So you don't like mould with your coke? Neither do I. And so guess what? If you want a mould free can of coke, I would have to wipe them down because some fellow did not keep my goods dry when he delivered them?
No way, Jose! I am so not going to take this lying down and of course, I blasted at the manager for the delivery section.
Wow! It certainly feels good to unload. How unprofessional to mess up the entire delivery. And how incompetent is their inventory control - the supermarket changed my delivery from Friday to today because they were out of stock.
Even at noon today, they called me and told me that they were "only" short of my Olive oil. When I said I could wait for that single bottle of olive oil but they should send the rest of the items, suddenly, they were also short of carrot juice and green tea.
Oh my god! "How do I live life when the convenience I need - which I actually pay for - turns out to provide me with more inconveniences than convenience?" I asked Kelvin the manager.
This is indeed one sucky experience that I'll gladly broadcast to the world - "open your ears, the Bitch has come, let Earth receive his news! (tune to Joy to the World)". This would be easy cos Cold Storage's recent advertisement says "You've got the whole world in your hands, you've got the whole world in your hands..." And the dancing green apple leads the grocery and greengrocery in a cartoony dance - and I thought the jumping cows had the mads - which makes me feel that my broadcasting ain't going to take too much effort.
Kelvin said that they will "settle everything by this Friday" between 9.30 am and 11 am. Let's see what happens then.
Open your ears, the bitch has come
I got the whole world in my hands
Let Earth receive his news
I got the whole world in my hands...
It was raining and guess what?
He took his time to unload and left my items under the rain.
When he came up, many things were wet. The delivery guy entered my place without removing his shoes. He should have at least asked if he could do so. I would have said ok and not made a fuss of it.
The items in carton boxes were relatively unscathed from the rain but items such as my Coke and Coke Light and Pringles were all wet. It's worse than that, but I don't need to bother about stuff in plastic wrappings. That I can accept but not cardboard-y stuff. How do I store them if the cartons are wet? These will make the larder unnecessarily humid and there will be mould!
Hands-up those of you who would like mould to go with your coke!
Eh, hurry up! How come I still see no hands? So you don't like mould with your coke? Neither do I. And so guess what? If you want a mould free can of coke, I would have to wipe them down because some fellow did not keep my goods dry when he delivered them?
No way, Jose! I am so not going to take this lying down and of course, I blasted at the manager for the delivery section.
Wow! It certainly feels good to unload. How unprofessional to mess up the entire delivery. And how incompetent is their inventory control - the supermarket changed my delivery from Friday to today because they were out of stock.
Even at noon today, they called me and told me that they were "only" short of my Olive oil. When I said I could wait for that single bottle of olive oil but they should send the rest of the items, suddenly, they were also short of carrot juice and green tea.
Oh my god! "How do I live life when the convenience I need - which I actually pay for - turns out to provide me with more inconveniences than convenience?" I asked Kelvin the manager.
This is indeed one sucky experience that I'll gladly broadcast to the world - "open your ears, the Bitch has come, let Earth receive his news! (tune to Joy to the World)". This would be easy cos Cold Storage's recent advertisement says "You've got the whole world in your hands, you've got the whole world in your hands..." And the dancing green apple leads the grocery and greengrocery in a cartoony dance - and I thought the jumping cows had the mads - which makes me feel that my broadcasting ain't going to take too much effort.
Kelvin said that they will "settle everything by this Friday" between 9.30 am and 11 am. Let's see what happens then.
Open your ears, the bitch has come
I got the whole world in my hands
Let Earth receive his news
I got the whole world in my hands...
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