Road To NS Part I

Had some time off, so decided to write another post even though I doubt few would read it hahaha, but for those who are reading it, it means a lot to me :)

After my first post, I began another stage of my life that very few had a chance to go through (not even sure if it was good news or not). Long story short, I was chosen for the second batch of the National Service and had to spend 3 months in a far off place, few hundred kilometres away from home. Well,  I barely lasted a week there but it seems people say that would be the toughest stage. For starters, shaving bald there is not something I'd be proud of but seriously, it's hard to locate everyone behind all the baldness. Well, besides waking up at 5 am every morning (the latest time u can get up or you're gonna get hukuman) and having class at 8-12 am every morning, everything else is quite nice....got 6 meals a day and some free shirts and shoes ^-^

         They're all pretty much covered up in a schedule, waking up 4 45 am and wash clothes that are starting to smell, go for a jog and morning exercise at 5 45 and have breakfast at 7 am. Then it's back to dorm in preparation for class (the things they teach in classes are strictly confidential hahaha) then, its lunchtime...meals there are normally better have with companions and thankfully I made some new friends there.

I've only been here for a week but it's been like a year, just trying to keep alive until the second week and see if things get any better

Face to Face with Society

My first blog and I hope you can continue reading if it's not too much, who knows...you might gain something from it

Months ago (December '13-February '14), I had the opportunity of trying out something new and random that is to apply for a part time job. At that time, the first thing that comes into my mind was..."I could earn a few hundreds this way so why not, since I'm not doing anything important during the holidays".

 Nope, I'm not about to share my experience of my entire part time job (Will do so if requested and God willing) but just a fragment of what I learned from those few months. 

       I worked as a part time cashier in a food court and I arguably has the most exposure to the customer (no idea how to put in words but I communicate more with customers compared to most of my colleague), and as a local, I guess I bonded with them more effectively (not to disrespect my foreigner colleague but customers always look for me when they want to complain regardless if the complain had to do with me or not) Long story short, I find that most customers are giving the most absurd complain that I never thought was possible. 

     What's more, the things customers said were not all that different (I refuse to categorized them as complain any more as 90% of them were just simple whining of customers), I normally get several identical trivial matters being tossed to me by customers (and frankly, they'd really tested my patience), and so..I decided to list out a few examples (which are ranked from the least annoying to the most) and I would insert my thoughts when dealing with these sort of none sense

5.  Customers:  So I'll give you this extra 5 ringgit so you should give back the change with one 10 ringgit note and five one ringgit note and 5 twenty cents coins, make sure you give me the old coins
       Me          : (Now you listen here, I don't need you tell me how to do my job and I'm not a money changer so whatever note I'm giving you as change, you better accept it cus there are people waiting for me to charge their bills and not standing here exchanging notes with you)

4. Customers :  Eh, how come she pay first, I was waiting here before her ?!
    Me           :  Okay, sorry (First of all, there is no line here and I can hear you even without u shouting..and thus I decided to accept her bill first because she was quiet enough to wait unlike you...PS...shouting at me only slows me down so I suggest you keep it down until it's your turn)

3. Customers:  What, 5.80 for a cup of tea, you crazy or what?!

     Me          :    (Nope, I'm just a part timer trying to follow the rule, and I'm certainly not the owner of this eatery, so just pay for your cup of tea and let me do my job)

2. Customers : *says some Mandarin stuff

    Me            :  dui bu qi, wo bu hui jiang hua yu [ it means, I'm sorry, I don't speak Chinese]

    Customers :  Apa, u orang cina tak tau cakap cina, u mau saya cakap apa ?! 

    Me            :  (you think i care what  language you can speak, despite barely able to understand mandarin, unlike you, I speak bilingual language well which I doubt you can understand and btw, isn't that's what the national language is for, learn it well before ordering from a local eatery)

1. Customers :  *Starts arguing with me after seeing the bill What, why are you charging me 15.20, the price says it's 13.00?!

    Me :              There's service charge and tax (Nope, the price says 13.00++, you've been living in this world for so long and you've never heard of tax?! -_-Wow you need to get out more)

Yea, some of them might seemed laughable but I deal with them dozens of times already ( I've faced customers #1 about 3-4 times everyday for 2 months) And of course I don't actually use the statements that I thought of as a reply not because I'm afraid to use them but I'm only a part timer and I don't want to put the food court in jeopardy because of my pride. However, I urge all of the customers who are reading this post to spread the message to think before complaining to the cashier because he/she is not a servant but just another person who wants to do the job well or at least earn a living...and I found this picture which states a fact that I know understands

                                        However, I still find some joy in my part time job ^-^