Gems or Germs

Starting last year close to the IMF conference in SG, government had strongly promoted GEMs campaign. Don't ask me why it names GEMs or what it is stand for as i had no idea. The idea is to get the locals especially in the service lines to provide better services. With the slogan of "One Movement, Many Initiatives". It hoped to result in great service begins with me and go for the extra mile. This campaign is especially dedicated to the transportations, retails, dining, and etc. However, recently they rerun the campaign again by stating that certain places that you visited is guaranteed GEMs quality.

Needless to say how effective nor successful the campaign would be, you still get the same quality of services. I have to admit not all of the places offer bad services but majority the services are just unprofessional and below the standard. The worst are the ones in the transportation industries.

How could the GEMs campaign work while the citizens itself are not friendly enough and with the certain attitudes they carry around and proud of. Basically they just like never study any etiquette nor moral. Everybody is just selfish and don't care about the rest. (PS. I am not saying all sgans but majority that is the impression in my mind).

It would be no end if i have to talk about how many problems and the culture shocks i had when i just moved back to here. Slowly, i just adapted to it.

It's right to say that how could you offer a good service or being a well mannered person while your people are not educated enough on etiquette and hospitality. I acknowledge a lady who used to be ex- Ms. Singapore and currently teaching propriety class doesn't even have a etiquette. So you can imagine the results and how the students who enroll the class behave ckckck....

It is such a shame that you live in a city whom thirst to be hub of asia with good image and high quality of living standards but the services and the people have not met the standards.

Basically, when i am pissed of the service, i would just say "instead of promoting GEMs, they are spreading GERMs" ckckck....

Jakarta

After 6 or 7 years not visiting the city, there wasn't much changes as it is more jam. It's maybe due to the fasting season as well. Aside to that, there are more malls built, int'l hotels, better transportation.

Surprisingly, i found the city has improved a lot except for the traffic jam. The malls are even better than SG, probably because of newly built. Basically, you can find all the stuffs from fashion to restaurants in sg as well as in jkt. Some of them, they even had it before sg started with it. The interior, ambiance, atmosphere of the restaurants are better than sg. My cousin told me that ambiance has taken a crucial role recently, those who are actually in interior business has earned a lot ^^ She mentioned as long as there is a nice atmosphere, people won't care whether the food is tasty or not.

So far, i found the services are way much better than the ones in sg. I think they're the worst i had encounter so far.

The visit was quite memorable coz aside to visit Rina's wedding. The other highlights are i got to meet my granny and friends. My granny has aged a lot since the last time i saw her. She is really getting old and weaker. Somemore, i think it's quite hard in her position due to the family feud. Sometimes, i am even wondering if all of these are the results of big family. I could tell that she is very happy to see me again. I wish I could spend more time with her. I could feel her peaceful mind by just having me accompany at her side. I wish her well being and longevity.

Aside to that i got to meet few of my high school friends and catch up with them. 8 years after our graduation, a lot of things had changed. Some of us are married and even with kids. Within this year itself, i think there are at least 5-6 couples who are getting married.

Of course, i would not forget to mention about the food i had while i'm jkt. You'd amaze of the food i ate on the next day once i arrived. I had nasi uduk as breakfast, nasi padang as lunch, and padang food as dinner. heheheehehe...... For the rest of two days, of course i was having delicious food and good time.

On our returned journey, we arrived airport quite early coz afraid of stucked in jam. Thus, we're fooling around in the airport which my colleagues think that the airport looks more like ferry terminal. ckckck......

wat a hectic week 2...

If you read my previous post, you'd know i had a hectic saturday morning. The weather was so hot that sun was glaring with no grace.

I was sweating and just want to quickly return home to sit in an aircon room.

Almost reaching home, i witnessed an accident @ Shangrila. There was a CRV coming out and a mini lorry turned in. The lorry just hit the mid (front and mid door) of the car on the passenger site. CRV was an caucasian (think he's either oz or europeans with heavy accent - was with my ipod so didn't really pay attention) with his sgan wife (but doesn't look like SPG, indeed she looked well mannered). Lorry is an indian.

Then the caucasian came down and started to scold and said it's lorry's fault and kept repeating that it's all nonsense, don't talk nonsense, you're rubbish and etc. The wife is even fiercer by saying all the same thing as her husband and even speak in malay to argue. The lorry driver just kept quiet.

To my point of view, it's a both parties fault, so both have to be responsible. But they just blame it to the lorry driver. I'm not sure if they're taking advantage of him. Well, i had no right to say. Generally, as a human being, it's just natural for us not to admit the mistake during accident unless you're under certain circumstances. Still, i think the way the couple scolded is a bit too much. Since the accident already happened just call the police, it isn't necessary to curse. i felt pity for the lorry driver.

Well, the highlight of the story is just started, i decided to leave and one auntie passed by and asked what had happened so i explained and then she ask me to check out the license plate of the lorry and i told her. After that, she said don't bother, let's go to buy lottery in mandarin. She even asked me twice hahahhahaaha.... isn't it hillarious?

Oh yeah, it's sgans practice, when there is an accident, the first thing you pay attention is to check out the license plate and hope to strike lottery. Not sure if the number did turn out in the lottery ckckck.....

To think about it, i should had taken a picture....

dumb, dumbfounded, or daze...

I've always said if i stay in the industry longer, my life will be shorter or i will end up having heart attack or high blood pressure. Needless to mention the countless joke and stupidity i had encountered during my 3 years working.

I just feel like sharing today when i called one of the media owner to request for media kit and she agreed to send via email and requested for my email address where i spelled it out for her. I don't know if the phone is not clear or is it because it's friday where she already switched off. Maybe she is simply dumbfounded or daze....

I kept repeating my first letter of my first name is V V V V as victory for several times and she mentioned b at the beginning and changed to G, where on earth is gictory..... I've always thought victory is the best example to pronounce V. Maybe i should start to change to another word to describe 'V'.

Follow what they said... can die arhh......... ckckck...

deroll

Well, last week i was calling Citibank - phone banking to cancel the e-statement which i accidentally sign on when i was browsing statement on the internet.

So after a few rounds of talk, the reps told me that they will proceed to deroll the statement and it might take a few days blah blah...... As i was in the office and didn't pay full attention so i thought there are things i need to explain before they could cancel for me so i was asking the question and she kept mentioning about 'deroll' which finally i got wat she meant was she has managed to cancel the e-statement for me.

So, basically i learnt a new Singlish - deroll, isn't it amazing? ckckck.....

barbarian and gentlemen

Well, how do you define if you are a gentleman or a barbarian? Yesterday, for an instance during lunch time, i felt like i was secluded in barbarian area. This has been quite weird. I thought i have adapted to the city after almost 3 years. However, recently complaint has been aroused. Back to the story, it's about 3 OLs having lunch in one of the market hawker center in crowded lunch hour.
We know it's a rush hour and we do show some respect to each other and to give ways... however a bunch of guys in the market was practically have never learnt 'etiquettes'. Trying to find a spot for lunch was horrible enough when the guys just don't give way and in fact trying to bump you even though you're carrying your food. I started to understand why we should appreciate the gentleman attitude from caucasians....

This city would be great if they learnt how to give ways and be more gentle or even say sorry when you accidentally bump into someone.

Bee Hoon

Well, i know it's bad to laugh about people name, but this is something i would like to share. Recently i made a call to one of the administrative office and they referred me to a lady called Bee Hoon. She even spelled out the name for me.

Since the incident, i kept thinking of her name, Bee Hoon. When i told my colleagues, their first response was, 'where is Cha Kwue Tiau..... ?'

Afterwards, we were started to think what would her chinese name be while her han yu bin yin is Bee Hoon. So we came up a few names as Mi Fen (real bee hoon), Mei Fen, Mei Hun, and etc... We suddenly just stopped as it got worse......

This lead me to think a scene that she would have made if she went to food court or hawker center to order a Bee Hoon.

The scene might be as follow:

Food court while uncle was busy taking order at the same time frying his wok
Uncle: "What would you like, miss? Please leave your name as well."
Bee Hoon (BH): "Uncle, i want one plate of $3 bee hoon and i'm Bee Hoon."
Without paying full attention, the uncle reacted
Uncle: Miss what's your name?
BH: Bee Hoon
Uncle started to arkle and agitate
Uncle: Miss, your name please
BH: Bee Hoon
Uncle: Miss, i ask your name not your order lah
BH: Bee Hoon
Unlce: Miss, are you kidding me? Don't play play here, i have lots of order to take, do you know it's lunch time hour now? (started to screammm......)
BH: Uncle, i ordered bee hoon and my name is BEE HOON.

Then my friend cut it off as, do you think it's a Starbucks or Coffee Bean where you actually left name for your orders. This is hawker center. hahahahaah.... isnt' it hillarious?

Well this thing did happened to my friend whose name is Li Li where she has problem to give her first name and last name.

Once, when i was OT at the office and called for takeaways. I told the waiter i would like Sin Mi (SG Bee Hoon) as written in the menu. The waiter replied: What? Sin Mi, we don't have it wat is sin mi? I have to reply that is in your menu it is written as Sin Mi, to which i think is SG Bee Hoon..... ckckck....