Further Drop in Petrol Price

Finally the price of petrol is once again at RM1.90/litre, after a further drop of 10 sen.

Is it me or do most of them act like this?

Sometimes I do not know whether the male species of the predominant race in this country are all the same or is it because of how I look that I am treated the way I am treated as described below.

Besides during work, I seldom have these kind of encounters with them.

1. When I was working as a computer supervisor in my uncle-in-law’s computer centre in Tg. Malim, the computer centre offered typing services for those who wanted to type any document. Most of the customers for this service were men from the nearby institute of higher learning for teachers called Institut Perguruan Sultan Idris (IPSI). One typed essay can cost them RM50-RM150 depending on its content.

The majority of teachers who studied in IPSI were mature students. Majority of those men were married men. I would not be surprised if some of them have up to four wives.

But while they were away from home, I guess their wives would not have any idea of what they were up to.

They would drop by the computer centre and checked on me. They knew that I usually finished work at 10p.m. Some eventhough during the fasting month would invite me to eat or have a drink with them after work. I received many of these kinds of invitations but I never take up on any single offer. But these men were so persistent.

(I digress - Once a Chinese man working for a nearby construction firm brought his company's printer to the computer centre for repair. On the same day, I received a call from his superior asking me out for dinner on the same night. Goodness gracious, I did not know what his employee told him but this fella said he did not care whether I am married or not; or even if I have a child, I can bring my child to meet him. I told him gently I had no intention in meeting him and put down the phone).

2. Besides the office boy TI, now I have two other colleague of the same race as TI. Both of them are based at the project site. Both are married as well.

a. The first one YK started working in the company since beginning of last month. His project has not begun yet and therefore he has been hanging out at the temporary site office. But recently he has been coming to the office everyday.

Among his one-liner so far are as follows.

i. YK: ‘Jo sun’ (morning in Cantonese).

ii. YK: Can I borrow your calendar?

iii. YK: Can I borrow your stapler?

iv. YK: Can I borrow your hole puncher?

v. YK: I pity you.

Spinxie: Whatever for?

YK: You do not have any assistant to help you in your work.

Spinxie: *speechless*

6. YK: Do you have anything for me?

Spinxie: Nothing

YK: Notice of meeting for me to attend?

Spinxie: Nothing

YK: Letters for me to read?

Spinxie: Nothing

I think he is suffering from ADS – Attention Deficit Syndrome.

b. When the second one JM came to the office to collect his salary yesterday, he looked at me and then my hair. Btw he is bald.

JM: I wish I have beautiful hair like yours

Spinxie: *speechless* (thinking to self: yeah right you are bald, remember?)

None of my male colleagues of the same race as I am ever talk to me like they do.

DiGi to Maxis?

* Maxis mobile phone users: Please do not be offended by the following post.

Today at 4.46p.m. a person (I’ll call him Mr. M) working for Maxis (M) Berhad called my mobile phone and asked if I was interested to switch from DiGi to Maxis while retaining my existing mobile phone number. I wanted to cut the conversation short and told him ‘No, I am not interested.’

Just like most salespersons, Mr. M did not give up so easily. He said that Maxis rates are lower than Celcom and DiGi. He must be thinking of how stupid I was for declining his better offer. I repeated the same statement to him ‘No, I am not interested.’ Mr. M still did not hang up the phone. He wanted to know my reasons for declining his offer.

Oh man, will you just leave me alone, give me a break and get off the line?! I really wanted to shout at him. Don’t I have the right to choose whatever I want without having to tell him the reasons? But he insisted. So I told him I hardly make any calls and am happy using DiGi. Most of all I want to support my company’s client. He still did not want to give up but I ran out of patience and hung up the phone. Some people are really so thick face!

Dinner at Home

'Nam Yue' Fried Chicken Wings

Lettuce with Sliced Pork

Clear Noodles ('Fan Si') with Shredded Carrots and Meat Balls

Loan Repayment

For the past few months I have been praying that God would bless those people who owe me money so that when their cup is overflowing, they can return the money they owe me back to me.

Yesterday I plucked up the courage and talked to TI. I suddenly had become more 'thick face'. I asked him if he has a plan on how to repay the money back to me. He went away for a while and came back with a piece of paper detailing the target with corresponding period he wants to return the money by.

When I looked at the piece of paper, I was skeptical of the amount he wrote to be returned today.

Today TI returned about 20% of what he owes me. But I am not nasty to the extent that I do not care whether he could provide food for his family. He mentioned his wife started working in the Housekeeping Department in one of the newly hotel converted from a house near their home. As a result, his wife has been able to contribute to the family’s financial position and therefore help to ease the financial burden.

TI kept on thanking me for all the favours I had given to him and kept on apologising for taking such a long time to repay his loan.

Of course I am happy to finally see some money being returned to me. Some people would say I have become richer now. Well, the money is mine in the first place, so I am not richer by any measure.

Everyone is Different Part 2

Ex-colleague did not show up again and boss did not call or ask me to call so I just pretend I do not know anything.

The university student attended a meeting with boss and went out for lunch by himself today. At least he ate something. I do not want his mum to tell me we are exploiting him.

Supposedly new colleague handed in his resignation letter during lunch time.

Internet Access

When I switched on the modem at work this morning, not all the four lights on the modem were blinking. Therefore we did not have internet access the whole day. The lady boss and I thought that it was modem problem but later on the day, Telekom Malaysia Berhad confirmed that it was line problem.

Normally if I do not have internet access, I would have withdrawal symptom but thank God I finally conquer this addiction of mine. I did not miss it one bit.

Irony of Life

1. I did not go to dreamland until about 1a.m. I have only myself to blame for over eating at Pizza Hut. For one of the shortest time I slept on a weeknight, the dogs had to howl and bark the most. I was not dreaming ok? I was tossing and turning the whole morning.

Despite of insufficient sleep, I only yawned once the whole day.

Less than 5 hours sleep - one yawn

About 8 hours sleep – multiple yawns

Beats me.

2. Upon request from my brother’s business partner, Mr. Chang, I will address him as CTY from now henceforth. During dinner time at Pizza Hut, he asked me for my blog address and I sms to him. We chatted in Yahoo Messenger for the first time last night.

Now CTY knows me more than someone who is supposed to know me more but is not. Sad to say this is a reality and I know about it long time ago.

Happy Birthday Barnabas

Today is Barnabas's 12th Birthday.

Tonight the whole family went to Pizza Hut in City Mall to celebrate his birthday.

Everyone is Different

Ex-colleague did not turn up for work eventhough he promised the boss a couple of months back he would come back today. Most of us were relief. Even one colleague mentioned that even if he came back, there is no much work for him to do.

A university student started his 3 months internship today. He was so hardworking until he did not have lunch. When I told him to go for lunch, he said he was not hungry. This guy is a very smart guy. He scored 9A1 in his SPM exam a few years ago. I know his mum through work.

A new colleague joined the company today and left on the same day. This has to be a record for the company. He is supposed to be based at the project site but he did not show up again after having morning tea.