matilda!

with so many possible things to watch at the west end, so few days, and so low budget for that matter.. i have selected the show im gonna watch!

sneak preview of what's to come

for the past 2 weeks, my colleagues and i had to take turns to head to rws to survey the people there over lunch time or dinner time. after spending some time there, i realized that this alone-at-a-touristy-spot situation is good practice for what is to come. surrounded by groups of happy and excited tourists, i have to decide what i want to eat for lunch or dinner, where to stop and grab a drink and relax. with so many restaurants to choose from, and a limited budget, would i choose to dine in? or will i grab a sandwich from somewhere, just like what i have been doing at breadtalk?

i suppose it would be different when it is a brand new place, and i'll keep myself occupied exploring new places, and i'm sure i wouldnt mind spending a little bit more on food. for one, i'll be there on holiday and not for work purposes. im really looking forward to it, and im sure ill enjoy myself a lot, but i guess i cant help wondering how differently i would enjoy myself if i was there with someone else...

customer service

currently working closely in customer service, I'm seeing how hard customer service is, especially dealing with unhappy consumers. I keep telling myself that if I find myself in a situation where I had to complain, I'll do it nicely.

so last thursday, I had to make a complaint to Singtel about their ILoveDeal app which is showing wrong information. in short, a customer saw that my company was having a promotion via DBS, and came to dine expecting to use the promotion. however, the truth is that we have no such promotion and the customer had to pay in full. so i wrote in to Singtel trying to find out and today, 2 working days later, a customer service operator called me and in short, he was trying to say that the information was provided by DBS and I should go find out from DBS what is going on. This is by far the most ridiculous thing I ever heard, I could barely contain my anger at such a stupid answer, though I did reply in a calm, but obviously unaccepting of the reason. it's like telling chicken rice stall owner telling me to go contact the raw chicken supplier when I get food poisoning from eating the chicken rice. Isn't it the responsibility of the chicken rice stall owner to ensure the chicken supplies are fresh? Likewise, if Singtel's app choose to display other banks' promotion, isn't it their responsibility to ensure that what their app is showing is correct? Or if they choose to not care about whether the information is correct, their they should indicate in their T&C that "Singtel is not responsible for the accuracy of the information. Basically our app is not reliable, please check with the individual banks".

so the operator tried so hard to get himself out of trouble by saying it is between the two marketing teams, which is fine, cause I don't think the operator has anything to do with this. so i requested for him to connect me to the marketing team, and instead, he asked me to call a hotline instead! like hello? i'm the customer, shouldnt you be getting your marketing team to call me?

i came home very disturbed by the whole episode, so I decided to write a really long feedback to Singtel again, and I cant wait to hear from them really.

(that didnt really took away the... angst in me.. so i decided to write in to breaktalk to complain about something I saw on saturday, and to blog about it.... hahaha.. guess I feel better now.. heh)

knight or knave?

my first encounter with the logic reasoning question with regards to knights and knaves happened in 2004, during my compulsory analytical skills module in university. the questions always revolve around the knight telling the truth and the knave telling lies, and one had to figure out which is which.

as much as i hate telling lies, i am a knave sometimes. i cant imagine a single person who had not lied before. i hate telling lies because part of me know it is wrong as represented in not just society but in God's view as well. the other part of me hates dealing with the guilt that will live with me for a good long time more as you all would have known by now.

so last friday, i discovered i made a mistake at work. a $40 mistake at work which is a very small amount compared to the millions of dollars some bankers lose with their mistakes. i could have easily not told anyone, and make some "changes" and cover up the mistake. not that i really analyzed my odds but i think i can possibly get away with it. some people will say, "come on.. it's only $40" which is true.

on the flip side, is it worth telling a lie or doing something wrong over such a small thing (not that I'm saying we can lie if it is a serious problem), but having to live with the guilt and possible consequences are just not worth it.

so i decided to put it off till today, and by this morning, before the typhoon-like weather struck outside, i have already made my decision to admit my mistake. now mind you, my superior is known to be quite short tempered, that sometimes, at the ripe old age of 29, i still feel like a primary school kid being scolded by a teacher, whimpering in fear. amy once said, "when i'm back at home with friends, i feel like at work i just pretend to be grown up...", i dont even think i get to pretend to be a grown up at work sometimes.. but anyway, so yes, i decided to walk into his cubicle (a total of 2 steps!), and told him what happened. turned out, he didnt even bat an eyelid, and acknowledge it without saying anything. my asst finance manager also didnt say much, and neither did my lady boss.

to think, i actually thought of putting me through guilt for nothing!

Exodus 23:1 says "Do not spread false reports." im thankful that God continues to teach, to keep me on track..

Conquered the battlestar!

as part of the company's cost reduction plan, rather than rewarding the long service award winners with cash as per the previous years, they were rewarded with a trip to USS (universal studio singapore). as part of the recreational committee, i had a free ticket to go too, sort of to reward us for the hard work as well as to look after the rest of the staff.

this is my maiden trip to USS, having found no previous occasion to do so. it isn't a very big park, and the place was completely empty yesterday. i didnt have to queue for more than 5 minutes at any of the rides, (some of them are 2 hours wait during the weekends) which is an awesome thing. within a short time, with no opportunity to wait for my legs to get less wobbly, i took on all the rollar coaster rides. the mummy, battlestar, transformers. done them!

i came to realize that fear to a large extent is self inflicted. i have always a fear of height, and especially the drops on rollar coasters. but having taken the mummy ride (and the star mountain in HK disneyland) whereby both rides are in the dark, i took them on with almost no fear. what i cannot see doesnt scare me it seems.

all in all, it is an ok day, though ocean park and hk disneyland are still better by some distance. but i guess beggers cant be choosers. the only theme park around here, till Legoland comes along in JB.