MEL

Another day of work. It’s been such a long time, but retirement seems such a distant thing.I remember the day so very long ago, so long that I have lost count of the days, or rather, weeks, or months, maybe years, decades would be the word to use probably, when I first arrived here in Singapore from the Volvo factory. The ride on the ship across the Pacific, with the old pals who have probably been retired and even reborn as drink cans or part of a pillar or something…

The last time I saw her was also such a long time ago. She was from a later batch, the one they call the motorcar. People here in Singapore are weird. They give us weird alphabets and numbers for our names. When I arrived they put my name on my face & my back, and from then on I was called the "SBS 1810". I think it’s weird that they called my younger brother the "SBS1809". He has a smaller number although he is my twin brother, born just minutes after me.

But anyway, they gave her the name "EZ 888". Wonder if that is related to this thing they fixed on my recently, called the EZ Link. I remember being so mesmerised when I saw her near the Orchard Road. She came up behind me and I was so excited my wheels went numb and I slowed down so that I could steal a few more glances at her. To my surprise she actually could read what I was doing, and she winked at me a couple of times and gave a few hoots too! I always knew I had a sexy butt. But unfortunately she has gone. I had she has been re-incarnated as a pillar at this place called Suntec City. WOnder where it is. Have never been there. Last time I saw her was when I was 10 years old, a long time ago. How I miss her so!

Anyway ever since those younger chaps with internal cooling systems inside them appeared, I have been made to ply this route they codename 151. Seems a very popular route I must say, because much of the time I am filled to the max, and much of the time the fella driving me has to wave people away because there is no more room in me for them. When I first started serving on this route I thought I must be important to be assigned such a popular route. However soon I did not feel so anymore…

Those people who ride on me are mostly what they call the students here. Heard that it is the equivalent of what we used to call scholars back home. Here in Singapore it seems that what they call scholars don’t ride on me because they ride airplanes and go study in Universities that are much closer to my homeland. These students love to complain and whine it seems. They call me names like old, ricketty, ancient, stuffy, slow, junk etc. Nothing good about me it seems, from their point of view. They even keep wishing I were quickly dead so that the young guys with the internal cooling system would take over my job. Little do they know, however that we are all still going strong. My brother and our childhood friends are not going to die soon. I think that our owners have been great to us by assigning all of us on the same route, though the rest also get called the same names. Ungrateful fools those students are!

Anyway later I realised the real reason why all of us veterans were assigned on the same route. It is to teach those fools a lesson for all using concession passes. It seems they pay a certain amount of money each month and they get unlimited rides on the public buses. Since they all do that, resulting in less revenue for my owners, they have decided to teach them a lesson by maintaining a low frequency along this route, and also having all the non-aircon buses. Revenue is the same regardless of the frequency, and of course the smart thing to do here is of course to make them wait 15 minutes between each bus, and more when they can’t get on the over-crowded bus and have to wait for a few buses to drive past before they manage to squeeze on! Furthermore since air-con buses generate more revenue from pay-per-trip passengers, it would be a waste to deploy them here! What do they think? Bus company serve the country means no need to make profit? Does SBS stand for School Bus of Singapore to them?

Haha serves those ungrateful fools right. I always get a kick when the driver, or what they call the Bus Captain, waves those bastards away and passes the bus stop without stopping.

Anyway not only my owners, but even I have a bone to pick with those people. Somehow along this route I get to pass by several schools, therefore the bulk of my passengers are students. These people I don’t know why have got very long legs. They are always complaining about not having enough leg space and pressing their knees against the back of the seats in front of them. Don’t they get sore knees from doing that? If so why don’t they just stand instead of try to squeeze into the seats? What I know is that it causes me to hurt. Furthermore so many of them squeeze into me each time that my insides get so hot, and they all start perspiring and making my seats wet and sticky. Don’t they know how gross it is? Why do they have to squeeze in? Are they in such a hurry everytime that they all have to squeeze into me instead of wait for a few more buses? After all I am leading such a meaningful life anyway although I have never done any exams or attended any lessons. So why do they behave like it’s such a big thing when they don’t get to lessons or exams on time.

Complain, complain, complain… Not happy don;t take the bus lah! Can’t get on the bus, complain. Bus too slow, complain. Bus too stuffy, complain. Have to stand, complain. Like that they go set up their own bus service lor. Maybe name it the Association of Tertiary Aircon Schoolbus (ATAS) or something.

Talking about that I have realised that it is not only the students, but most of the Singapore people who are like this. What can go wrong from being half an hour late? I heard that once a year in August the high-ranking politicians in Singapore all gather at this place called the NUS UCC which I pass by everyday. the leader among them makes a speech it seems. Perhaps next time to get them to set a good example they shoudl all take the 151 to the venue. Many of them will be late and they will all arrive soaked with sweat. Then they will learn that life goes on even though you are late. Hopefully everyone will then get the message and the people will learn to take things easy.

Going off to rest soon. Time for my daily replenishment of fuel. Maybe my time is really up soon. Nowadays either my stomach is getting smaller or I’m burning calories faster. Maybe soon they will find me too much of a burden to feed. Wonder what I will get reborn as by that time. 1 thing I think will be apt for me is to do something similar to what I am doing now, to be reborn as a sardine tin. Wonder if it will work out. Well, going off. Another back-breaking day tomorrow ferrying those idiots again…

The writer is taking a break and therefore got a guest-blogger in his place. He re-iterates that his blog is not meant to be taken seriously and no offence is meant to anyone in particular. Any resemblance to any person or thing, living or alive, is purely coincidental. Lastly, something funny to share with everyone:

http://www.bigad.com.au/

Another New Year coming… The Chinese New Year. Any difference to us anyway? I guess probably not. Think I’ve grown out of that phase when every festive occasion was such an exciting thing that we looked forward to with relish months before. Nowadays everything seems to be greeted with apathy. The feeling of being jaded. Too stressed with life to take a break and smell the flowers? Too busy for a proper break?

No more Christmas/New Year parties in town (minus the spray foams, & we kept our hands to ourselves of course). No more looking forward to things. Period. What am I becoming? An unfeeling, mechanised creature? Sometimes I really don’t dare to think of the future.

Picture taken at Harry’s one of the very few pubs that I frequent. Yes, I’m becoming anti-social too. No chionging, drinking sessions with the buddies, etc… Finally had time to squeeze in some leisure in the weekend with The Wife, and we did 3 full days of shopping, with a movie and drinking at Harry’s in between.

Anyway, saw the WP manifesto controversy in the papers. I think it was a very cool trick by them man! They had the ruling party cornered with that, in my very humble opinion. Just before I continue, I hope to clarify that I am not trying to dafame anyone or whatever. Just my very humble views on the developments leading up to the General Non-Elections in the near future.

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/96784.asp

My personal favourite is that part about doing away with the Elected Presidency. This is a masterpiece I think. If the PAP kept quiet about it, people will think that was the plan since long ago anyway, as seen by the 2 most recent Presidential Non-Elections. The WP manfiesto is just making it official. However, if the PAP speaks up about it, then people will feel that they are just paying lip-service. Saying that it is necessary etc, but contradicting what they say from the recent events. The general feeling will probably be that the actions contradict the words. Either way it seems a lose-lose situation, unless of course, they come up with some other solution. Not realy unlikely if you think of it, otherwise if even I could think of it then I also can be Minister liao lor!

Anyway the build-up to the GE is getting exciting again. However seems again that there is no part for me again, unless the SDP decides to contest for the Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC or if the election boundaries are redrawn to include Bukit Panjang as part of Ang Mo Kio, Potong Pasir or something. Again, not unlikely considering how Bukit Panjang and Holland are associated despite the 20-minute drive between the 2 places. Or maybe there could be some surprise: Mr Low & Mr Chiam co-leading a team to contest for the Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC. That would be a blast man! Haha

Ok going back to my dreams again. Maybe that would be possible if I tried harder, to dream harder haha. Have a great week everyone. Happy Chinese New Year in advance too!   :)

Dear people, I received feedback that it is very troublesome trying to post comment on my blog. Somehow friendster has a knack of screwing up and you have to repeat a never-ending cycle of going to my blog, clicking on comments, signing in, going to my blog, clicking on comments, signing in etc…

Well I think it’s true that sometimes friendster can be quite cocked-up. Anyway I found ways of resolving that problem. 1 way is to leave your friendster on, logged in & then access the blog on another window. The 2nd method is after you click on comments & sign in, then you click on <Back> on your explorer. Haha. Now you can try… Have a good weekend all! Take care! Cheers!   :)

Feels like I’m talking to myself nowadays, which might not be a bad thing after all. As mentioned before at least there might be a technicality to use in case I get hauled up by anyone: that my blog is indeed a private space because nobody reads it! Haha. Anyway here’s something to share with you guys. Glad that my blog has not received so much "popularity"!   :P

http://www.petitiononline.com/BanXX/petition.html

Anyway just an update on the previous posting, TODAY has not published my letter to the Forum. So there goes my chance of getting clarifications from K Box/ UOB. However anecdotal evidence suggests that several people have had similar experiences and coincidentally they all seem to have been with K Box only!

If that is to be taken as the truth, then I guess I can conclude which party it was that valued simplicity in their internal paperwork over the customers’ satisfaction. I guess also then that those people I have spoken with have realised the same fact because they have also discovered they are not the only ones with similar experiences with K Box. Most of us have already resolved to further lighten their workload by not patronising them again indefinitely into the future. After all they have more than enough worthy competitors to choose from, and who might be more than happy to do business with us!

I am not advocating for anyone else to do the same. Go ahead and visit them if you wish to. That is not my business. There is no point I start a campaign against them. This is a problem between these people among us who have had bad experiences with them and who wish to avoid them and also share our experiences with anyone who wants to listen. If you have been happy with them all this while, by all means go ahead. After all they have done nothing to incur your wrath… yet.

Alright, enough about them. They don’t deserve publicity on my blog. To my friends (and not so friendly people too) out there, Happy Chinese New Year in advance! But anyway, what was that for? Nobody reads my blog anyway… Right? Haha. Enjoy your festives, people! Even if you don’t celebrate Chinese New Year, just relish the chance to take a break and slack at home lah!

The writer apologises for these lacklustre and incoherent posting recently. He knows this is the reason why his blog has not been generating responses, resulting in this streak of "comment-less postings". He feels he has lost his sense of humour and also the motivation to write something more interesting. Please give him some time and encouragement. In the meantime, he feels that people may be adequately entertained by the "Menstruation" controversy over the Foreign Workers…

On Saturday (14th January 2006) my friends and I were at the K Box Paradiz outlet in the afternoon. When it was time to settle the bill we were informed that we could not use my gift voucher from UOB because we had not declared upfront that we were using the voucher.

The person at the check-in counter said if we wanted to use a gift voucher to foot the bill we had to declare it during check-in. Since this was not done so we had to pay the amount in full. When asked for the reason why this was so, she explained it was because this was a rule set by the K Box management. The rationale behind the rule: processing the gift voucher only upon payment would affect the internal paper work of K Box. She further explained that by making changes, she ran a risk of being accused of being negligent in her work by the management, which involved a $100 penalty.

When I expressed my unhappiness, a gentleman introducing himself as the person-in-charge of the outlet came to speak to us. This time his explanation was that this was a requirement by UOB. As we were using the UOB voucher, UOB’s regulations dictated that my voucher had to be processed upon check-in. Processing it only upon checking-out would cause a discrepancy in the registration times and the voucher would not be honoured by UOB. He summed up by re-iterating that because this involved changes in paperwork he could not make an exception.

He then suggested that we used the voucher on our next visit. When I explained that the reason we were there was to utilise the voucher, which was expiring soon. As such we did not have time for another visit. He then offered us a jug of drink to "compensate" for our "loss". However even before the drink was served, a waiter reminded us that our session was ending in 5 minutes. After another round of debate we were finally "generously" allowed a 30-minute grace to finish up the jug.

Just wondering, whose rule was it actually that the use of vouchers had to be declared upfront? UOB’s or K Box’s? We got two contradicting accounts from two people. Maybe we could get some clarification here. Also, maybe the party who set the rule could also enlighten us on the rationale behind it, as well as make measures to clearly inform customers of the rule? A prominently-displayed sign at the registration counter could be helpful I believe.

To sum up our day, we later realised that we could claim gifts from K Box using rewards points we had accumulated from our visits, and asked what gifts could be exchanged. The reply then was that there were only movie tickets that we could redeem and there were no other choices. Resigned to that fact, we then asked to redeem for the tickets using whatever points we had, only to be told that the tickets were out of stock till further notice.

I understand that K Box had been awarded the Super Brand recognition (something they have gone to great pains to boast about), and I congratulate them on that achievement. However perhaps something can be done about the service standards, since more accolades probably brings about higher expectations from customers?

Also for UOB or K Box (depending on whose explanation was the acurrate one): if less complicated administrative work takes priority over customers’ convenience- as in this case of the voucher registration, then we have decided that we will do them a favour. Less customers imply less paperwork, and we will resolve to stay away from them to save them more paperwork in future.

Just by the way, the voucher has not been utilised and I don’t mind selling it at below cost simply because I’m not interested in going back again. Anyone wants quickly contact me k? Also, wonder if TODAY might publish this. Keep your fingers crossed…

Must say the people in NUS, especially those in CORS are geniuses. No need for me to talk too much. Just look at the following exchange of emails and you will understand why we the students always get frustrated.

From Me:

Appeal for LAM1201 (Malay Language Level 1)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have been unable to bid for this module for my Breadth as my 921 General Account points are insufficient to secure me a place. This is despite my "saving up" of points from my previous semesters.

I would really like to take this module as I am very interested in picking up the Malay language, and I am even considering taking Level 2 Malay in my third year, which is why I urgently need to take this module now. If you would be kind enough to allocate me a place in the module I would gladly drop "Introduction to Psychology" which I have bid for as an alternative.

Thank you for your kind attention and have a happy New Year ahead.

The reply:

Dear Melvin

You need to monitor the bidding and adjust your bid points accordingly if you wish to ensure that you are successful in your bid.

If you are still unsuccessful after Round 3D, you may wish to send an appeal to your Home’s Dean’s Office.
Appeal Result      : NOT APPLICABLE

Aren’t they geniuses? If I had been able to secure myself a place by doing what they had said in the reply in the first place, I wonder what I would have appealed for. To keep them busy? Hadn’t I stated clearlyenough that the reason I was appealing was simply because I had tried all that & had failed due to the lack of points? Words of wisdom from them I must say. However after this experience I am really glad these people are just school administrators, and not in other more "critical" positions. Imagine if they were the judge in the Court of Appeals or something;

Defence Lawyer: Your honour, I would like to make an appeal on behalf of the accused. He had obviously no intention to kill. He was trying to protect himself and his family against the deceased, who was threatening them with physical harm. It was in the course of trying to resist against the deceased that he had accidentally caused the death of the deceased. Due to the circumstances he had unintentionally caused the aggressor to lose his life, and the accused has been feeling remorseful ever since though it was due to no fault of his to begin with. As such I beseech your honour to lighten the sentence and reduce the period of time the accused has to spend in prison.

The Wise Judge: You need to refrain from taking a human life, as the law forbids it. You need to ensure you do not break the law if you want to keep out of prison. Verdict: Appeal dismissed.

Guess I better not say more. Later kena some shit, I don’t know what. Anyway just words from wisdom from Mount Kent Ridge for anyone perusing this posting, something for you to reflect on during the weekend.

Oh yes, by the way, I made a discovery a few days ago. I realised that the clothes in G2000 are actually made in China. As The Wife said after we made the discovery,"Now that we know, the prices don’t seem to justify the value of the product anymore." I agree. I wouldn;t mind paying that kind of prices for something made in Malaysia or Thailand or Singapore, because it would be pretty reasonable. But made in China…

Anyway for me, there is a simpler reason why the both of us might not be seen making purchases at G2000 for some time to come; I don’t want to contribute to funds meant for acquiring missiles aimed at Taiwan, Japan, & almost any other place in the world where people are more civilised than the PRCs & who refuse to bow down to them.

The writer has begun pretending to be a student for yet another semester. Just like in previous ones, this semester has not begun well for him. Also just like in previous semesters, the source of the problems is the same: The Cock-Up Online Registration Shit, aka CORS. Wonder if he is the only 1 who has been "victimised" by CORS…

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=119158