Service & such...

What a journey...

2012-01-12T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well well well, what do you know...already we'll be going into the middle of January 2012, and this is just my first entry for the year! The last one was, whoa...in June of last year.

Many events have taken place since...the more known ones being my formal foray into the world of home-baking and home-cooking. Opps, that didn't really come out right. Of course I have been baking and cooking at home for so many donkey years, what I meant was, as a business, income generator, money making...you know.

I have to say big chunks of thanks to an ex-colleague for actually giving me that first break. Apparently she has been following my home-cooking posts on my facebook page (where else, eh what?) and sent me a private message asking me to cater food for a function she was organising. I immediately said YES although I have not done that before - plan the menu, quote a price, cook the dishes, and deliver them to be in time for the function.

Boy, am I glad I did. And since, I had been trying out various recipes that I came across on-line and on food bloggers pages, giving them tweeks to suit my style and taste. Orders did not came rolling in non-stop but I didn't expect them to. Rather, that friend's order put me in a position to re-look at my home-based business(es) more clearer.

When I think about it, I have always been in the 'food' business. As a little girl of Primary 3 in Kota Kinabalu, I helped sell friedn bihoon and nasi lemak at school during recess...the school didn't have a canteen then, and the 2 food vendors who came to sell snacks during recess time did not sell halal food for the Muslim students.

That stint did not last long for the vendors lodged a complaint to the school principal, I was called up and told to stop. Sigh...no regrets though.

Then when I was working way back in the '90s, I baked and sold chocolate chip cookies for aidil fitri and aidil adha. Business boomed and all thanks to my husband who appointed himself as the Marketing Head. Mum helped get ingredients that ran out so I would not have to interrupt my baking to run to the stores. And working out of my parents Taman Tun kitchen, I got to know Bake With Yen who started their operations from 2 stalls out of the Taman Tun wet market. They now operate a pretty busy shoplot in Taman Megah...the wet market lot is still in operations but kept to a minimal.

Of Bakes & Cakes...

2011-06-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Of late I seemed to have picked up a new interest where baking is concerned, and that is macarons. Some spell the word as 'macaroons'. It doesn't matter, we're talking about one and the same item, a French meringue cookie.

Though the ingredients to make a mac (as it is also fondly referred to) are simple - whites of large eggs, icing or confectioners sugar, caster sugar and almond flour (grind almond), the skill and technic that go into turning out a fine mac is not as simple.

Mac-making requires a lot of patience, and I mean A LOT! If the hens that laid those eggs see where most of their hard-boiled...errr, hard-pushed eggs ended up in...my oh my, how they would cry!

My passion for macs began late last year...but of course, my love affair with the said began earlier. Then, I was more interested in buying all those flavors offered by the mac experts. One day, I happen to find out that a good friend who is into baking while managing a household of 6 children maid-less, started her love affair with macs and mac-making. And successfully at that. So I figured, if she can why not me? Oh, as it happens, she is a lawyer by day.

Hence, every free time I have, were then (and even now) spent on searching the internet and cookbooks and journals on mac-making. Not contented with recipes and photographs, I googled for videos of mac-making. And my, there were bountiful!

Well, I have tried most of the recipes that I have copied...most didn't work, some did...and I find that David Lebowitzs' work well for me. My friend was also kind and generous enough to continuously give me hints and tips on how to improve on my skills and technics, and of late I seem to generate more success than failures where mac making is concerned. I have even baked on order...and gotten several more enquiries.

Now, am perfecting my skills and technics even more since I am planning to make it with my cakes and bakes!

Start Walking The Talk...MUST!

2011-04-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

WooHoo...my daughter is more active than me in updating her blog!

That is good...that is great! And that I take as a personal challenge to be as active if not more...and to think that there I was planning on launching a food blog! Well, that is still in the pipeline and is a must-have if I want folks out there to know I am serious about my personal kitchen service!

This coming week of not-so-busy is a great opportunity to restructure all my strategies...after all, by week end, it would have been a third of the year gone!

So dear friends (and non-friends), talk to you later!

Make this a great week for all, okay?

HAH!

2011-01-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

There, I did it...I stopped ignoring my blogs. Both of them. This may not be much, only a few lines and sentences, but I did it. I started writing my blogs again and that is what matters.

As usual with any year, my new year officially starts on my birthday which is in January. So, till that day comes, I allow myself to just be as chaotic as I was the last few weeks of the year. I allow my children to get themselves adjusted to the "new" environment they find themselves in, with new and different learning experiences and all. And I allow the house to "go"...

Heck, its my life so let me run it my way...:D

From Madam Rozita

2010-09-07T02:08:00.000-07:00

This is a special dedication to Madam Rozita's much loved students from Group 27 UNIMAP:

A) WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

DATE LINE: 28 SEPT. 2010

Choose ONE of the following topics given below, and write an essay not less than 500 words.

Topic 1 : Write your view on the newspaper article given below.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

U.N to deliver Gaza cargo on ships seized by Israel

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has agreed to

deliver cargo aboard three aid ships seized by Israel on May 31

and has won the consent of Israel and the cargo's Turkish owners

to do so, a U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

Israel's navy took control of a six-ship convoy trying to run the

Jewish state's blockade for Gaza and forced it to dock in Israel

ports. Nine people were killed aboard one vessel, the Turkish-

registered Mavi Mara, provoking an international outcry. Israel

said its commandos acted in self-defence.

Topic 2: Begin your essay with "The sun was shining brightly as if..."

Topic 3: How do we solve the sugar supply shortage problem in Malaysia?

Topic 4: Malaysian made car is the best for Malaysians. Do you agree or disagree?

State your reasons.

B) ORAL PRESENTATION

DATE LINE: 5 OCTOBER 2010

1. Put together a group of FOUR or FIVE. (maximum 5 persons in a group)

2. Each group need to come up with a NEW product, which means a product that is not in the market yet.

3. The task for the Oral Presentation is to PRESENT & PROMOTE the product to the 'Possible Buyers'.

4. Presenters are encouraged to bring along Visual Aids, eg: Model, Powerpoint Slides, Posters, and Pamphlets.

5. Each group is given 20 TO 25 MINUTES, including QUESTION & ANSWER Session.

6. Each group will be evaluated INDIVIDUALLY. (Criteria and Evaluation Form are as attached in the Module Book).

FOR ENQUIRIES ON THIS, PLEASE E-MAIL MADAM ROZITA at atizor_rushit@yahoo.com.

Good Luck!

7 year itch...

2010-07-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 7th year I have been working from home. Exactly 7 years ago today, was my last day at the financial support institution.

So how has it been? What have I achieved and where am I now?

Well, I have been feeling under the weather for the past few days. And I guess it has to do with the fact that at this stage of my income-earning life, I am back to the days of struggling and uncertainties.

Where other people like me would already be basking in success, expanding their businesses and networks, taking time off for holidays with the family, paying for their wants with no worries, me...I am back to trying to find ways to stay afloat. I am back to that stage when I started 7 years ago.

If it were true that life experiences moves in a 7-year cycle pattern, then I must now be at the bottom again, trying hard to again turn the wheel to move up to the next phase, and the next and the next until the end of this 7-year phase, or until only God knows when.

And this time, unlike the depression of a few months back, I really feel like I have come to a cross-road ~ should I finally opt out and go back to employment? Or should I persevere and give this a real shot, really work to make this line a success?

Lets see, if I opt out, I would have some assurance where money is concerned for that is what this depressive mode is about, really. Money, the root of all. BUT, I will have no freedom to work as I please, when I please and how I please. I will have to conform to following instructions and directions even those I may not agree to. I will have lesser time to interact with the family, especially the children. I may have to be away from them when duty calls for me to travel on business, alone without familiar company.

But if I do persevere, there may be a lot more challenges, heartaches and frustrations. With LS ending the year's season last month, no more steady income - it will purely be "got jobs, got pay"...and as of now, the few confirmed jobs in hand can barely meet my own personal needs what more contribute to the family's. And this could lead to more heartaches and frustrations. And stress...ohhhhh...am already feeling a throbbing in my head. And will I really have more time to be with the children then? Or space out the jobs according to my whims and fancies? Who am I kidding...looking at what most up-there business women share, it is usually the reverse. Often we hear of them sharing their experiences and sacrifices their families have had to make "before they can sit back and enjoy..."

But then, perhaps I have been too complacent with the LS project to really give my all even from the start. Perhaps if I had done that, I wouldn't be in this state of mind. It is tiring, at this stage and age, that I even have to start re-considering again. And it is even more tiring because I am doing this alone. Its not fun when I have to be the main (sole) contributor to the family by force.

Suddenly, I am hating the situation I am in.

Stock take for the day...

2010-03-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

Today is one of THOSE...you know, THE day that events don't go as planned or as you want them to.

Came out from the half-day briefing with uncertainty...so many "what ifs", so many "how comes"...am sure there are some news that were not disclosed to all of us. And specifically to those not directly linked to the primary contractor.

While waiting for my transport, was again presented with another uncertain news. This one involved Raziq's (and my parents and brother's) planned trip to Makkah and Medinah for umrah next month. That was upsetting ~ the agency had known of their intentions for a month already, and til now they are still "working on the request...". And now we hear "applying for visas is now a hassle..."...why weren't we told all these when we met them 2 weeks ago?

On the way home, another bummer...an sms from a consultant to inform me that the client had elected to work on their program with the other trainer. I console myself with the thought that perhaps the client had reservations about my capabilities since it has been a while since I had conducted trainings specifically on this topic. But deep inside, I am sure my instinct is correct...it must be my eyes and my nose!

Then at home, a follow-up sms to another consultant proved my suspicion correct ~ yet again, the "sorrylah, the client's budget is small even for a trainer like you, so..." but then, what of the course outline I had submitted? You gave me the assurance that this was a done deal when you asked me for the course outline. The only issue then was the date of training. You had also known what my rates were ever since you asked me for another course outline many months before. So where did this come from???

This has been a very slow moving start to the year in comparison to the hectic helter skelter of last year. I need to take stock of things...I must have not done something right, somewhere along the line...God help me...

Eeeeessshhhh...

2010-02-10T01:35:00.000-08:00

Its disheartening when the ones who should defend you are the ones who think less of you. And see no qualms in making their opinion known.

Its even more discomforting when they who should walk the talk and lead by example are the ones who openly defy the rules.

We were again at the MOE to get the standard formality so we can proceed with the annual free programs to our secondary school teens. This time, we also bring with us an additional favor to as - permission in writing for us to enhance the professional skills of our educators, free. No need for the MOE to utilise any money from their coffers...everything will be borne by the group that funds our youth program.

Yet again, we were given the run around...and strangely, or is it? by the management. By the people who blab in the press that service of our public service has improved, that go to any government agency and we will be assisted by anyone we bump into, regardless of which department or unit they belong to.

"Don't you know, here we are very departmentalised..." "This is actually not our department's...we are only in charge of 2 schools..."

But hello Madam Pengarah, you are the Pengarah of Bahagian Sukan, Seni AND Kokurikulum in the MOE...and what we're doing for the students and teachers fall under kokurikulum, so aren't they your babies per se??? Yeah, so you are in charge of the 2 Sports Schools in the country but that isn't all you and your department are in charge of. By the name of your department, all schools come under you as long as it involves kokurikulum activities...and please, for the past 5 years the letters sanctioning our programs have come from this department so why should there be any difference now?

Oh excuse me for my ignorance...you are new. NEW? To the department, maybe but certainly not to the Ministry. And new to this post is a very stupid and lame excuse for not wanting to do your job.

So just do it...

Yet at a crossroad, again...

2010-01-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

I find myself at a crossroad. Again.

Somehow I have a feeling that the decision will remain the same so why do I even bother to work out the options.

My coming to a crossroad seemed to be an annual affair, usually when I am about to or have just turned into another chapter of my life on God's beautiful planet. Could it be the hormones acting up? Or am I reaching THAT stage of a women's life when she is crankier and fickle than usual?

Well, if what some wise women say is true, the latter is a possibility. They say if you "mature" early, then you "pause" early. Counting the years, I have been at this for almost 40 years now. So it is possible that I am getting to that stage of my life.

Yet, many more events are taking shape in my life now that could also have an impact on me coming to this crossroad this time round. I mean, whats happening to the family - Hanafy's status, Raihanah taking her first major exams, the maid not continuing her services, our source of stable income coming to an end...and most of the events materialising at about the same time this year.

Wouldn't you be deliberating on your future, given that situation? So should I or should I not proceed with the way I'm going now?

Only He can show me the way...

Life of loneliness...

2010-01-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

It was breaking news. We heard and saw the news broadcasted on national television at midnight.

Hanafy was the first in the household to raise the alarm. He was listening to the radio when the programme he was tuned in to got interupted and the radio station started airing Quran verses instead. Runnig downstairs while asking me to turn the television channel to our local channels, he shouted "...a head of state must have passed away". "The radio stations are only playing Quran verses."

True enough, the by-lines on TV3 announced the passing away of His Highness the Sultan of Johor. We utterred a silent prayer for his soul, Hanafy stayed on to watch the rest of the news while I turned off my laptop and went up to sleep.

Early this morning, just after we prayed subuh, the house phone rang...angrily, I must say. Hanafy turned and asked me to answer the call. I in turn shouted to Raziq to pick up the phone, suspecting my sister-in-law in Singapore calling to speak to him as she normally does on Saturdays. But Hanafy was confident it would be his mum - and why.

Sure enough, Raziq called for daddy to pick up the extension upstairs - opah wants to speak to him urgent. He pushed me to answer on his behalf and I stood my ground...nope, not for me, dear! I can hear his short and abrupt responses to his mum's queries (I guess!) and when he put the receiver down soon after, very smugly turned to me and said, "I told you...she wants to tell us about the Sultan's passing away...she just heard of it on tv." All the way from Singapore. Not that he is family or in any way related to us...but all the way from Singapore? And so early on the morning? Wouldn't we be the first to know of this, you think?

I Thank God for not letting me answer the phone...!

...and when the third one comes a-calling...

2010-01-21T22:14:00.000-08:00

I heard somewhere or from someone, bad news always comes in threes. Am not sure if the bad news should come in the same day, or if they should flow in over a specific period or how...what I do know is that they must be the type that will shock you of your pants, skirts, boots and whatever else held tightly on your being.

In any case, I have already utislised my quota of bad news, for the time being anyway.

The first was a real bummer shocker, and although the news was pertaining to my husband specifically, it rippled out to the rest of the family members. That piece of news was a stand-alone and gave us some time to digest and consider options to face that. We were expecting the news anyway, yet when it did materialise...well, was still a bummer in our lives.

The second and third came knocking on our doors in the same day ~ one in the morning and the second, in the afternoon. I wasn't prepared for that, to be double dosed in one day. And they couldn't have come at a better time. Already I was feeling rather low and miserable for some reasons. And to be hit twice with unpleasantries...one can only imagine how much lower my emotions dropped.

I needed time alone so I practically "locked" myself in my own self. Doesn't make sense? Well, I can't lock myself in my room since I share that with Hanafy. And the kids come in to solat in our room whenever we are home. So how do I be alone at home? I decided to just keep to myself the rest of the day and night, laying on the bed in total darkness. And let the tears run freely down my face...all the bottled up emotions suddenly seemed to open up a flood gate of tears that even I didn't know about until then.

And how did the rest of the family reacted? Hanafy respected my need for "aloneness" and crept in and out of the room when he needed to. Raihanah, too...she kept to her room most of the time. Raziq? Well, being mummy's boy, he just can't leave me all alone or fathom that mummy doesn't want to talk to anybody, and especially him. I sensed him walking in and out of the room several times, pausing at the end of the bed, coming over to me and quietly rubbing my head, my arms and dropping little kisses on my face.

Then just as quietly, he assured me that things will be okay, mummy...

Not wanting to say goodbye...

2009-12-27T06:44:00.000-08:00

The year has been a very challenging and exciting one for me, for Hanafy and for the children. In other words, for the family. More so from the middle of the year when we started to pick up speed and momentum with our trainings...

We, and me especially, practically lived out of a luggage bag or two. There were times when we had to pack two sets of luggage to meet back-to-back engagements ~ back home one day in time to drop off a bag and pick up another for the next day's travel. It wasn't just about Time Management anymore; it was also about Laundry Management. Making sure we had THE correct set of clothes for the right sessions.

Then there's the in-between translation and writing assignments. Thank God for the internet and Thank God for my new (then) Vaio...and Thank God for my Celcom broadband! Connected everywhere ~ cool technology.

While the travel could be exhilirating and tiring at times, the rewards more than made up for them, both financially and emotionally. The children? Well, sometimes they do raise the matter of mummy not being there especially during their exams, but they soon got used to seeing and not-seeing us. I on the other hand, sometimes was and am haunted with guilt for having to leave them during their needful times, and for having to defer and postpone agreed time-outs for those last minute changes to my schedules etc.

And now, as the year is fast approaching its end, I reflect on what had taken place in the year. And you know what? I am hoping for the momentum to continue, if not at almost the same pace then equally spaced out AND of course, better managed. And I hope that at the continued speed, I would be able to brake and take a pit stop at the needful moments. I have to ~ Raihanah is in her last primary year and that means, a major exam year for her. I want to be around with her for this.

And I want to continue experiencing the high of these past few months. I hope and pray I am not asking for too much. I hope and I pray that what I ask for is for the good of my family and I. And more than ever, I hope and I pray that I will always be thankful for what I got and get. Thank God for everything!

Like children for children...

2009-09-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

Retailers should know their market better. But then I guess with the current situation in regards to the availability of quality manpower, maybe they don't have much choices.

We went shopping yesterday afternoon for the children's non traditional clothings for Aidil Fitri. Traffic was not that bad, maybe because pf a 3 day weekend in most states and in Selangor, many had chosen to "balik kampung"...

First it was for shoes...Raziq almost blew his entire budget on a pair which everyone of us liked, and especially him. Thankfully, on trying out both sides of the shoes and walking about in the store, we realised it was 1 1/2 sizes too big. The sales personnel were helpful and friendly and equally apologetic when we had to hand back the shoes and depart...

Then it was tops and this is not an issue with either of them. When it came to pants...ahhh...here we go...

Raziq had issues with the waist line and thighs...Raihanah was more of a length matter. We finally got them the right match from a shop that specialises in children's clothings. Unfortunately, the sales girl who attended to us for Raziq's pants wasn't child-friendly. Raziq only tried on 2 pairs and already she was grumbling about how difficult he was! He actually asked for a pair that would have fitted him but she had insisted on a size smaller...when that didn't fit him comfortably, of course he had to ask for another, which fortunately did fit him.

And in his usual way, he had been a tad playful when he was trying out the pants, with his witty comments...more to downplay the fact that he had to buy pants 2 sizes bigger than his age group would! And there were no other buying clients in the store, either so she shouldn't have to grumble about having to wait a bit when he changed back to his own pants...

Fortunately, Raihanah had a sweet and obliging girl attending to her; else I would have walked out the store, pantless...for Raziq, anyway!

Hooked - line and sinker...

2009-08-14T04:02:00.000-07:00

I got hooked. On facebook. Am still learning and enjoying every moment I could get to update, upload and the likes on my page.

Not bad, actually. For a forty something heading fast towards the fifties, and able to pick up new technology and play with new toys. Still yet to get a blueberry...I mean, a blackberry...or any berry for that matter. Now that I don't yet see the need for, unless someone would like to give one to me as a gift...

Through facebook, I reconnected with friends from school, friends whom I seemed to lose touch with for so many years. On facebook, I caught up with their latest goings on with their families, careers and fave past times. We "see" how we have grown and grown gracefully into matured and elegant women from our scrawny teen-age looks of thirty years ago...yeah, right!

I also make new friends and new discoveries...and maybe, just maybe I will achieve my dream state sooner than I imagined. Yes, giving a face to the book of networking...

And this is only 3 days...

2009-07-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

Raihanah had her first real away-from-home experience when she participated in a community programme organised by the District Education Office of Gombak. It was an activity of the Pandu Puteri Tunas or Junior Girl Guide and participated by 6 primary schools under the district.

She was among 4 guides selected to take part - in fact, she was thrilled and had insisted on going when the teacher in charge asked if she would like to take part. As parents, we had to subsidise some of the costs involved in this excursion, which was not an issue for me. As long as Raihanah wants to take part, is eager to take part, we will encourage her with whatever means we can. We hope she would gain valuable experience from this activity, and of course, this would also look god on her resume!

I felt sad, though for not being there to help her pack and send her off. Coincidently, Hanafy and I were away in Seberang Jaya, Butterworth delivering a programme to a corporate client there. It so happens that the community service activitiy involves an Adoption programme where the students have to stay with families of the local community for the 2 nights of the programme.

2009-07-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

Tiny's mum gave birth to a litter of 4 kittens about a week already. And she is such a devoted mama cat. This time round, all 4 are male kittens and she is making sure they all survive.

The last time she gave birth to 3 kittens, only Tiny survived. And to think that Tiny was the least that she cared about then. One of the kitten died of suffocation - mama wanted to keep them warm so she had cuddled them close to her body. The next day, one of Tiny's siblings stopped breathing - mama cat had accidently slept on it the whole night. Tiny's other sibling died from undernourishment.

With only Tiny to look after then, mama cat made sure she wasn't out of sight. And we helped in any way we can, including building a shelter for them to sleep in right outside the kitchen door. On cold and rainy nights, we moved the basket of mama cat and Tiny, then an odd looking scrawny fur ball, to outside the front door where it was warmer.

I had not wanted to start the habit of keeping them indoors - they were after all still 'strays'. And I'd like to keep to the relationship we have with them now. In the day time, we feed them. Sometimes we allow them in to play around, But night time, its strictly outdoors.

The cats that seemed to favour our house and taken to us, and vise versa, somehow know not to soil the house inside and outside. If there are droppings found on the front lawn, that would most probably be the work of other strays or cats owned by others in the neighbourhood or some of the 'tame' cats' "friends"...

Jogging shoes in use...

2009-07-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

Upon our return from our short 'balik kampung' holiday to Singapore during the recent school holidays, the first outing we did was to a mall to get running shoes for Hanafy. As promised.

Today, 1 July, marks the second time the shoes were worn and for the purpose of the purchase. The first time was last Saturday when we were in Penang to deliver our talk to a few schools there. We stayed at the Gurney Hotel along Persiaran Gurney, fronting the sea and with a wonderful stretch of concrete walkway point to point, connecting the hotel to Gurney Drive, and suitable for avid joggers and brisk walkers alike to partake their interests mornings, evenings or nights.

We brisk walked point to point and back. I am very sure we covered an area of about 4 km in total, judging from the amount of sweat that poured out of our pores. Once we got back to where we started, that is right in front of the hotel, we walked right up the 1 flight of spiral stairway to the coffee house for breakfast. A healthy one, mind you.

Ahhh....I had 2 bowls of their oatmeal and mixed dried fruits in milk plus yogurt, chilled and ready to scoop. Have always wondered how they did the mixture - whenever I tried to concote this tasty serving, it just did not come out the same delicious way! I had a few crackers with cheese. I had coffee and a glass of manggo juice. I had 2 half-boiled eggs, grade C in size.

The Gurney...I am sure their buffet breakfast spread is one of the best I have ever tasted. But then since we have been staying here regularly for the past 3 years, the spread never seemed to change. Not that I am complaining; as long as the oatmeal and mixed dried fruits in milk plus yogurt is there...eemmmmm...

50 years together, and still going strong

2009-06-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

May God always be with the two of you and the all of us.

Love you both smuch!

Happy birthday, Raziq

2009-06-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Raziq turned 10 today, 8 June 2009. We have been in Singapore since Friday, 5 June 2009 and I had gotten him almost all on his wish list. Well, the list according to me, moir, mummy.

He got his sports shoe, sweat pants (and a couple of normal pants), a couple of plain colored t-shirts AND he got his football. And we as a family have been going down to the park in front, or could that be behind, Aunty Chah’s house for our 45 minutes brisk walk cum light jog EVERY day. Great, huh? Lets’ hope this continues when we get back to KL this Wednesday.

According to Raziq’s list, I still have to get him a football jersey – which I always referred to as t-shirt, pardon me. The GSS is on and we got some good bargains on his other stuff so perhaps we could get his ‘jersey’ at bargain prices. I did find a cool t-shirt that has a football club name printed stylishly in the front and at the back, ‘The Next Number 10’. He didn’t fancy that so it went to Raihanah, lucky her.

And according to HIS personal list which I specifically told him I am ignoring, there’s a super cool toy car top of the list. Dream on, dear…

The family that walks together...

2009-06-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we shopped around for sneakers or jogging shoes. The family aspired to start jogging together at least 3 times a week to stay healthy. And loose unwanted weight, if possible and of course! Worst case scenario, if we can’t jog then take brisk walks BUT as a family!

We figured, since we all love food and eating out at fancy spots, and we wouldn’t want to give all those up, then we’d start exercising to help us maintain healthy physical presentations, if you know what I mean. Over the past few moons, I noticed my pear shape turning very peary and Hanafy walking with his head forward to balance his, ehem, pronounced tummy.

Raziq, too has become very rotund – well, with the last few weeks of no prancing around the playground due to the mid-year exams and all, he hasn’t been able to turn those babyish fat into healthy sweat. The only one who has remained slim is Raihanah, and that is equally worrying.

Raziq spotted and fancied a pair of Puma’s and the cost was something I could afford for him, considering his birthday is just a few days round the corner. However, the lack of service (read: attention) from the many sales assistants loitering around the shop floor trying hard to look busy made us walk out with a loud “well, if they don’t want our money, we’ll go elsewhere”. And we made sure some of them noticed us walk into the sports shop just next door!

Poor dears, what they desired didn’t come in their sizes so I strike a deal with them. We’ll get ourselves ordinary no-brand running/exercising shoes. And if we remain true to our family pledge of 3 times a week of brisk walk and or jog, we’ll treat ourselves to those oh-so-very-branded shoes. Every one of us.

And mummy will throw in a pair of branded sweat shirt and bottoms for herself! Hey, I’m paying maaahh…

More goodness than un-good...

2009-06-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of more good than un-good, for wanting of a better term.

We took the kids out to a movie at our favourite theatre in 1U – watched ‘Night at the Museum 2’. True to its critics, this sequel to NATM is better and more hilarious, with little resemblance to its predecessor. The kids had fun and so did we the grown ups.

The movie started at 2pm which meant we had a good 2 hours to have lunch and perform our zuhur prayers. As a treat to Raziq, a pre-birthday celebration, we left the choice of restaurant to him. And so it was at The Gardens we sat and enjoyed a sumptuous luncheon amidst ‘lush greeneries and wild flowers’, all plastic, of course.

We were served by Laila – superb and fantastic service indeed. The others, including the Floor Supervisor (I assume) also ensured we were served and waited on. I noticed this superb level of service is standard for every patron is treated the same. Laila was such a fantastic service provider that we ended up ordering dessert even though I had not particularly budgeted for that!

The ambience of The Garden really made us felt like we were at a garden wedding; who would believe this place is in fact on the lower ground level of a shopping mall, nestled behind some known labels.

After the movie, Raihanah and I went shopping for linen to be given as a wedding gift. Again, we were treated like royalty by the sales assistant who, from his physical appearance, should be resting at home playing with his grandchildren and not here, attending to people like me. Because of his warmth and friendly nature, I ended up buying more than what I had planned.

Ahhh…all good things must come to an end. This string of ‘goodness’ ended with deplorable service from a very rude store-owner where my children had walked in to buy computer games. Original ones, mind you.

I guess the store-owner didn’t think we could afford the more than RM150 games sold at her shop…well, pardon me for not carrying my original designer hand-bag. But after spending more than RM200 on lunch, what is RM150 for a computer game, eh?

It feels like the pits...

2009-06-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

My jubilant mood on getting word that payment for some jobs I had done turned turtle just as fast. It seemed the end clients were not thrilled with what I had produced. Now that was, is, a balloon deflated.

I had been concerned and anxious with the assignments – I suspected some of what I had done may not meet clients’ expectations. But to have one of the assignments totally rejected…well, that certainly is enough to more than bruise one’s ego.

Another one of the assignment I’ve been told is being reviewed and revamped here and there. Which part or section exactly – I wasn’t informed. It did not help that I was only told of this when I text message the middle party for notifying me of my payment.

Somehow, it didn’t feel right; that I was not told of what or where I did ‘wrong’, and that I was not given the opportunity to correct what might have been my ‘wrong-doing’. The manner of this all seemed so ‘wham bam thank you, maam’.

And I do feel so bad, a tight knot in my tummy in fact, thinking that this could have an adverse impact on the career of the parties that got me the assignments.

For now, I can only pray that everything will turn out right. Eventually. Hopefully. For everybody. Don’t I always believe that everything happens for a reason?

Pants and under pants

2009-04-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

So many years ago, I attended a training program on personal grooming conducted by a well known social figure who also writes for a local English newspaper. Her columns provide tips and guides on personal etiquette, manners and such.

I remembered distinctively the esteemed presenter giving us all a tip that I have since been sharing with my classes. We were told that in order for our shirts/blouses to stay neatly tucked in our pants or skirts, we had to first tuck them into our…under pants!

In other words, the order of dressing up is to first put on our top garments, then our underpants – pulling the waist band on top of our blouses/shirts, and then only do we put on our pants/skirts. That way, regardless of the number of times we move about in the office or wherever, our blouses/shirts stay neatly tucked in our pants/skirts.

Today, I again had the good fortune of being given some more tips and guidelines on personal grooming, or rather, professional corporate grooming. And today I learnt that the rule of thumb in tucking in your shirt/blouse into your pants or skirts is to ensure that the portion of your shirt/blouse that is tucked in is about 6 inches from your pants/skirts’ waist band.

In other words, NEVER TUCK IN YOUR SHIRT/BLOUSE INTO YOUR UNDERPANTS! Remember, waistbands of pants nowadays are not what they were during the first grooming class I attended. And what do you know; underpants of recent years are certainly not what they were before, either…

Imagine trying to tuck in your blouse into flimsy strings and what-have-you…now, wouldn’t that be challenging?

In a bit...

2009-04-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Good golly miss molly...it has been a long while since I last penned my few cents worth here, hasn't it?

Not that I have not been dropping by; every day or so when I do, I tell myself this is the day I am going to share what's been going on in the past few days...and the days got longer and more spaced out.

I eventually started my field work again, going round the country on business...and before you know it, the country has had a change of leadership (power is too strong a word in this case, for me...and power is almost always associated with abuse. Heck, maybe thats why the media and our leaders kept on using that word! Go figure...)

Anyway, I went for an out-of-the country holiday, and this time am not refering to the usual trip back to Singapore. The children and I went to Indonesia; more specifically to Bandung, Puncak and Jakarta during the 1 week school break. All of 5 days and 4 nights. And we flew on Garuda Airlines. Which means, we went through KLIA, real international travel, if you ask me.

We had a ball - the sightseing, the hospitality, the food, the excitement and of course, the shopping.

We all felt like millionaires; you would too, if everytime you spend, you have to take out their currency in the thousands and millions. And usually when you convert the price of an item back to Ringgit, and you realised how much lower priced that item is in our home country, a sudden rush of guilt envelopes you - even then you still haggle with the seller for a much bigger discount!

Ah, well...I need to re-install my bluetooth thingy in this laptop so I could download the pictures taken on my hand-phone. Then we'll share more of that. Meanwhile, we'll chat on other issues...in a bit.

Silver state

2009-02-22T04:20:00.000-08:00

Almost a year since what was termed the tsunami that shook the nation, we are again faced with some turn of events that again, altered the course of history in our country.

Early in the year, we were in Perak courting schools to our financial education program that is funded by a known foreign bank in the country. Last week, we were in the silver state again to deliver the program to a residential school in the state. In a matter of that few weeks difference, the state administration seemd to have changed hands.

One minute we were meeting the school Deputy Principal in PR-led Perak and the next time round, we were delivering the program to their students in BN-led Perak. Woosh...just like that.

Can't recall if the school had hung pictures of the Menteri Besars on their office walls, like most other government funded shools...now it would be pretty challenging if they had to keep on changing pictures every other month, eh!

The makings of a great person...

2009-01-12T17:55:00.001-08:00

Thursday nite before her bed-time, Raihanah was busy finishing a poster she wanted her class-mates to read about the next day. I took a peek at what she was so bent on finishing way past her bedtime, and my heart stopped a beat for a splint second. I felt so touched and proud of my little miss muppet's mission!

She had read of the sufferings of the people of Palestine and especially of the violence taking place in Gaza. She saw pictures of young children with blood streaming down their faces, agonising over the pain inflicted on them and their people. Senseless, terribly unjust...and she read of what the international communities are doing to try and stop this carnage from continuing. She also read of the drives to collect as much as possible so the people of Palestine can be aided.

And she decided that she must do something, anything that she, at this tender age of 10 years going on 11 in a few weeks, can possibly do. So she intended to rally her friends on a fund raising drive for the chiildren of Palestine. And that was what her poster was about. Urging her friends to donate. Campaigning for her friends to put aside some money for these children who have nothing compared to her and her friends.

So how did it go? Her bff and family had planned to contribute over the weekend. Other friends claimed they don't have any money to do so (uhuh...and they can afford to buy expensive gadgets, observed Raihanah). Yet there are a few who claimed no knowledge of whats happening in Gaza...pretty sad, isn't it?

Yesterday, we went to the bank and she proudly took out her RM50; one hand holding her poster, she punched in the account numbers of the Gaza Fund as advertised in a major newspaper. When the machine printed the receipt, I couldn't help feeling proud of my little angel again, for that is what she is to me and hopefully to those suffering children in Gaza, an angel.

And I am proud for I see in her the makings of a great and wonderful and sensitive person. Beautiful. Thank you God for this precious gift.

Oh, as we were about to walk away from the ATM, her brother decided that he too, wanted to contribute. And he did, with RM10 he borrowed from Raihanah...

Endurance test for real

2009-01-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

Today starts the real test of endurance for our family. Today, this morning to be precise, we sent our maid off to Kangar, Perlis on the 9:15am Transnasional bus with my dad. There after, our family is again without a maid for another three weeks, give or take a few days.

Unlike in December of last year (yup, that was last month...) when she went back to JaTim (Jawa Timur) for a months' holiday, this time round, school is on, my husband and I have some training programmes on, I am into my 2nd month as a full-time freelance translator with tight deadlines and both Raihanah & Raziq are in the morning session.

This time, it will be a real test for all of us as I attempt at being a wife + mum + home-maker + entrepreneur, at the same time, full-time. Today is not a good measure, though; it is after all a Sunday and a day where we can take our time in all that we do.

Now, tomorrow, Monday, first day of the week...well, that is a different ball game altogether.

2009-01-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

This school year, both Raihanah and Raziq are in the morning session. For Raihanah, the more experienced one, the year is no different from last year except that she is now in a higher grade.

But for her brother Raziq, well its something else altogether. He's not just moving up to any higher grade but a higher grade in Level 2 (Tahap 2). Translation - tougher subjects, UPSR oriented exams questions, tougher and more serious (and stern) teachers, more writing subjects...yup, writing essays, writing narratives, writing...long sentences, punctuation marks...

Already subjects like Bahasa Malaysia (Penulisan) is a challenge for him since he was in Primary 1. Now, to have to write essays and karangan, and maintain a journal. Phew! Enough to freak him out, and freak him out they did.

He had an anxiety attack...that triggered an asthma attack. He started coughing, caught a flu and was feverish when we dropped them off on their first day in school. By the time he came back, he had thrown up and was wheezing so bad we took him to the doctor's where he was given his dose of vantolin gas (nebuliser)...

That night, he slept early due to exhaustion and from the effects of his medication. But at 2:45am next day, he woke me up for a glass of water and just couldn't go back to sleep, thinking of his new teachers (cekgu BM garang, class teacher garang, science teacher garang...) and friends who now are no longer in the same class...

We know but...

2009-01-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

10 days into her new, healthier diet of white meat (fish mostly and skinless chicken, steamed, souped or poached, low salt and low sugar), vegetables cooked in the same manner and one scoop of rice per day, my mum lost 4 kg.

And judging from the way things are going, we are pretty sure she'll discipline herself to eat healthily for the sake of her hypertension, cholesterol and aching-joints conditions. The trigger? That hospital stay which saw her diagnosed with a heart condition.

I don't know about the rest of the family, but for me this was also the motivation for me to start and stay on a healthier life-style, especially in regards to my eating habits and perspective on life.

Human nature, I guess. This trait of knowing how not good things are but not doing anything about them until something happens...well, I plan to stay on this path if not for my own sake, then to cheer mum on.

A window opens

2009-01-04T01:38:00.000-08:00

The window into 2009 opened 3 days ago and will remain so for another 361 days or so.

Here's hoping and praying for a breeze that brings all things good for all of us in every aspect of our lives, to blow in through the windows.

I stopped listing down resolutions for the "new" year a long time ago; not that I stopped having resolutions. Only nowadays I don't wait for a new year to begin, to start having one.

And if I ever need a time frame to measure the "start" of any of my resolutions, well, I now would rather use the Hijrah year if not my turning of age which falls in January, anyway.

Hijrah in every sense

2008-12-30T07:29:00.000-08:00

Monday, 29 December 2008 coincided with 1 Muharram of the new Hijrah year of 1430. It was a day the family will remember for a long time.

True to the meaning of Hijrah (Migration), the time for one to assess oneself and resolve to migrate to be better, this particular Hijrah day for me at least, really hit the nail on the head.

Mum had a heart condition referred to as angina...and that scared the hell out of me, my sister, my brothers (I think!) and though not obvious, our dad. This is actually a gentle tap on our shoulders, reminding us of so many things.

More importantly for me, is of how precious this being called MUM that most of us take for granted.

That Monday, 1 Muharram 1430 Hijrah, as mum came home after 6 days in the hospital, I feel so much for her I pray God give me every means possible to provide for her, and my dad, more than she did for me.

Mak, I love you as I know you love me, too.

When push comes to shove...

2008-12-04T01:01:00.000-08:00

It goes to show how much the average Malaysian family comes to depend on the services of foreign maids in their daily lives.

Our Indonesian maid returned to her home-town of East Java for a month's holiday after more than 2 years of her stay with our family. While my in-laws offerred to help out - mum-in-law especially was all prepared to come over from Singapore to ease our burden in Bibik's absence - I figured this would be an opportune time for our family to be independent.

We have been pretty dependent of the services of maids since our son was born in 1999. The first one was from Pattani, Southern Thailand, the second from Acheh, Indonesia and now, this one from East Java, Indonesia.

So it was that we all now have to chip and put in our two cents worth around the house. Well, we still haven't really gotten the hang of total independence yet; hardly a week into Bibik's leave from duty, we will be travelling down to Singapore for a 10-day vacation.

But in these few days of being maid-less, we seem to be doing pretty well...goes to show that push comes to shove, anything can be achieved!

Wan (One) Thai, anyone?

2008-11-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

Our first night in Langkawi, my brother took us out for dinner. He had wanted to take us to this fantastic Chinese restaurant but then it was closed to public - a party had booked the entire restaurant for a private function. Well then, maybe next time.

Next option was a Thai restaurant nearby, by the name of Wan Thai. Thankfully, this place was not yet packed although a few tables had been reserved. Ah, the school holidays...and from what we understand, the island was also packed with government officers there attending seminars and all.

The service provided as good - we were seated and handed menus promptly. The food came fast and one can see through to the kitchen so you can see the cooks busily cutting and stiring ingredients in woks, with flames from the burners occassionally rising high over the woks as the chefs turn up the gas.

In the centre of the restaurant, a pretty young server was kept busy mixing ingredients for a famed Thai salad called Som Tham. It seemed almost every table ordered that particular dish, except for us.

The house specialty I haveto say must be their Otak-otak served in a young coconut fruit with its flesh intact. The children loved their Chicken in Pandan - I managed to take a bite from my daughter's plate and yes, tasty!

So if any one of you out there has plans of a vacation in Langkawi, the Wan Thai is a food outlet not to be missed. The prices of every dish are also reasonable, by KL's standards. And the owner @ boss lady comes out to greet every patron at every table, ensuring orders were served briskly and asking for feedback on their food quality. Fantastic...

Langkawi Today

2008-11-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

Baskin Robins at Jetty Point, Kuah, Langkawi

If I can remember, the last time we were in Langkawi was more than 3 years ago. And so it was that when we found ourselves on the legendary island again last week, what we saw surprised us.

This island paradise has developed significantly where buidligns are concerned. We were there for 3 days and that to visit my brother who had just relocated there on account of his work. My husband and I had just completed a series of back to back training programs the day before, we were pretty tired and had not really planned to zip off to Langkawi soon after.

But my brother was pretty insistent and there's also the question of needing someone to bring over his daughter, Nena to visit him there. So we figured, why not and so there we were - Hanafy, Raihanah, Raziq, Nena and I, on a 3 days and 2 nites stay at the CHOGM Villa in Kuah, Langkawi.

The apartment that my brother's employer rented for him at CHOGM Villa is one of those 3-bedroomed units with all the services provided. Maintenance, security, gardening and a beautiful pool with life guards. The landscaping work on the place was tastefully done and the gardeners that the management employed take great pains to ensure each unit's lawns are kept that way. The only setback, albeit a minor one, is that the apartment blocks - built at the foot of a hill and surrounded by nature's green, was frequented by our sometimes friendly and sometimes not "cousins", the monkeys.

And so for the next few months, tenants will have to walk a bit to the guardhouse to throw their household refuse. The management has taken away their internal refuse collection bins as a means to discourage these primates from entering the premises in search of food.

Its about the challenge

2008-11-12T01:08:00.000-08:00

This is the last year my son will be Level 1 of primary school. Next year, he joins his sisters’ rank of the morning session in level 2. Next year, he will be the junior amongst the seniors. Next year, he starts a tougher part of his primary school days.

Nonetheless, he ended his level 1 academic life in a very commendable way.

From the beginning of the year, he has been asking me to get him an X-Box…or a PS3…or a PSP slim 3000. He began the year pretty good, getting good results in his 1st monthly test…and the 2nd monthly test. Come to the mid-year exams, his results were rather deplorable. He dropped to the bottom 10 of his class! That didn’t rattle him much for come the next monthly test following the mid-year exams, his results dipped further.

Now, under normal circumstances, I would have freaked out and screamed my head off at him for this state of affairs. But I became realistic and have to admit to some degree of responsibility over his showing. It so happened that the past 2 assessments coincided with a period when my husband and I had to be out of KL. Hence, we were unable to sit through with him on his revisions; we also did not pay much attention to his dietary needs as we had done for the previous tests in previous years.

So this time round, I decided to play his tune. I challenged him to beat his own “record” and dangled the carrot for him to bite. Top 5, he gets his PS3, top 10, an X-Box and top 15 he gets the PSP slim 3000 model.

However, we couldn’t wait for the results to be tabulated as we had taken both he and his sister with us outstation. So our communication with their class teachers were limited to short text messages on our mobile phones. Thank God for technology.

A week into their early school holidays, I contacted his class teacher, a young single male teacher who taught him Math. When I didn’t get an immediate response, I grew apprehensive. It wasn’t until late evening the next day that I finally got a reply to my query.

Guess who now has to go get a certain young man his PSP Slim 3000 model? Let you in on a secret, he traded the earlier promised PS3 for the PSP….

Standards of service

2008-10-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

Last week, we accompanied my father to the Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. He was in town for a meeting and was checking in to the hotel where the meeting was held.

At the check-in counter, my father (and his “entourage” consisting of my husband, my nephew and I) were led to the Executive lounge for VIP registration. It seemed as a Board member of this statutory body, my father was entitled to an Executive suite on their Executive floor, hence his registration in their Executive lounge.

My husband and nephew followed close behind my father while I lagged behind, busy responding to a sms from a consultant friend. Also a bit hesitant about stepping in to the room but the young man at he door kept them opened and seemed to be waiting for me, so not wanting to disappoint him, I followed suit.

This is supposed to be service at its best. The guest relations person never forget to refer to my father by his designation, “Dato’” this and “Dato’” that. I guess she was trained that way but I can’t help thinking she could have been a bit more warmth in her service delivery. Term of reference is one thing, but to smile graciously AND genuinely is totally something else. It shouldn’t have been hard to do.

Or did she perhaps feel that it is a burden to attend to people with titles, especially one as old as my dad and obviously not in the same league as the CEOs of the nation’s top corporations. Well, excuse us if my dad had on his less expensive wrist watch – his gold Rolex is undergoing its scheduled maintenance service.

Real Achievers

2008-10-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

Recently I was invited by AmCham to be one of the judges for their Young Achievers best selling product final competition. We were to score not only the products but also the reports submitted together with the products, and indirectly the Achievers’ commitment in ensuring sustainability of their enterprises.

These are 16 year old Malaysian secondary school students, venturing into the “real” world of business, with guidance and support from the Advisers – representatives of their sponsors. The school administrators play an equally important role in determining the success of their venture for these Young Achievers actually represent their schools.

The 4 of us judges were unanimous in our decision when it came to which groups deserved high scores….we were allowed to discuss the products and air our views on the reports, but scoring was an individual decision. Yet, the 4 of us were of the same opinion when it came to the top 3 scorers.

While I will share more of this in a later post, what I want to put down here is, in whatever that our young people do, given the proper guidance and support, they will shine. It was obvious from the 3 groups that they had the strong support of not only their sponsors, but more importantly their school. From their Principal, their teachers and down to their fellow students.

2 of the judges were Achievers themselves so many years ago. Look at them now, successful in their careers and very positive in their outlook. And they attribute this program as one of the platform that helped make them what they are today…

Well served, deserved well

2008-09-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

I bake cookies to sell during the month of Ramadhan, chocolate chip cookies to be precise. About 4 years ago, I did this on a grand scale with great promotional strategy. My husband, cousin and close friends were my agents. And business was very brisk. Back then, I trained my then maid to help me out and eventually, she masterred the trade and would bake these cookies in my absence.

Sadly, she left my household and I would not trust her replacement to even mix the dough for me - she lack the passion and finesse that one should have in mastering the art of baking delicious, crispy and good looking cookies. And since I became busier with my training and writing asignments, I cut back on my chocolate chip cookies sales. After all, there's only me to help me...

E(i)n-glish, please

2008-09-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, the debate on whether Math and Science subjects should continue to be taught in English or not. And what do you know...we'll be using the results of the recent UPSR exams as an acid test of sorts, although the Honorable Minister had said this is not so.

Let the subjects be, give them time, I say. The students, the subjects and of course, the teachers teaching these subjects. One batch of students is not a good benchmark for matters as serious as this.

Please refrain from taking the views of the language teachers, more specific the Bahasa Malaysia language teachers and professors, and the activists who accuse us of becoming less patriotic, less appreciative of the national language if we continue to pursue Math and Science in English. Please also do not just listen to the views of political leaders - Malay, Chinese, Indians alike, who claimed concern over the plight of their respective cultural groups if these 2 subjects are taught in English.

Get the feedback of the "correct" market segment, do. Be comprehensive and open - ask students of colleges/univercities local and abroad, those who sat for their Math and Science SPM papers in BM and scored excellent results, how did they fare when they now have to learn Math and Science related subjects in English? Read up research materials in English? Hold group discussions with other students in English? Ask their lecturers for clarification on the subjects in English?

The issue here is not trying to improve the command of English by having these 2 subjects in English. The issue to me is, getting our young to master Math and Science to be equally competitive at the international level.

And for that, we have to master these subjects in the language of the world, English. If I may say so myself...

Be comfortable in whatever

2008-09-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

We had sahur at the McDonald’s near our house this morning. Raziq had been asking for a McD meal since last week. And so it was, after 2 weeks of fasting and having exhausted my brains for ideas on what to have for sahur (early morning meal before subuh prayers), we were at the McD’s.

They had a special packaged menu for Ramadhan, and had extended the normal menu in the wee hours of the morning to 5am. So if anyone wishes to have their Big Breakfast or any breakfast size meal, wait till the clock strike 5am!

It was fun, bundling the 2 and my husband into the car at 4:45am to drive for burgers at McD’s. What is more fun is that, many other Muslim families with young children had the same idea as us. Or perhaps this is the norm and since we have not been eating out much in the month of Ramadhan, we were ignorant of this.

In any case, the other families were all dressed to eat out, with their young children in jeans, t-shirts or shirts and well combed hair. And my two? They were very comfortable in their PJs and tousled hair. Of course, they brushed their teeth!

After all, we were still served in the same standard as the others were…

Know who your real customers are

2008-09-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of days before the nation celebrated its 51st Merdeka celebration, I was informed that a client whom I had just delivered a program to is having second thoughts about continuing the program with me.

The feedback from them was thank you for the learning but for the following batch, we might not want you to do it … Well, not exactly in that manner. As professionals, we want to know what motivated them to this action and to know how we can then work on making things better for everyone. This provides an avenue for self improvement.

The consultant who got me the job had sent me an e-mail listing some of the feedback on the program provided by this client, which may have triggered their actions. Going through the e-mail, my immediate reaction to its content was one of disbelief. The areas of concern listed were not ones that I would consider to have a detrimental effect to the overall program.

I re-read the assessments of the participants. Most rated my delivery and the program good; a few noted that the examples given were practical. There were, however 2 who felt that their specific needs were not met, and that I could have done better. This was to be expected – in every programs that I have conducted, there will be some sessions where I was not able to please everybody.

I am pretty sure other trainers go through this situation. And we view all feedback constructively, taking the less commendable ones as opportunities to improve. The level and quality of service, as I always point out, is in the experience of the customers.

However, if the client chose to discontinue my services merely on the unfavorable words of a few as compared to the positive learning experience gained by many, then I have nothing much to say of them.

Signs of time

2008-09-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

I have begun to feel “unsettled” again these past few months. Somewhat similar to that feeling 3 years ago when our household’s financial situation was at its worst. And this time it has got to do with money, too.

And so it was that I began to apply for jobs that come my way via this free on-line job search company (of which I had not de-register when I decided 5 years ago to start my own business). Of course, I had been very selective and only applied for jobs that I know I would be able to perform well at. And of course, jobs that are of interest to me, in fields that I am passionate about.

This morning I received the monthly summary of my application status from the on-line company. This is part of their service to their customers, one which I appreciate. Because of my feelings, I always asked God for signs, clearly defined ones, every time I respond to a job vacancy. Signs if I should proceed with what I am doing, signs that if the job I applied for will be good for me body and soul, then let it be mine.

And in this morning’s summary of this company, there listed beside all my three applications made in the month of August 2008, were the status of my applications. “Unsuccessful”…what clearer signs could I ask for?

Weddings, a below 12's perspective

2008-08-16T23:21:00.001-07:00

My daughter, Raihanah, her brother, Abdul Raziq and their cousin Nena, who is 9 had been to many weddings these past week. It seemed the weekend of 8th August 2008 is a busy weekend for the kadis (Muslim marriage solemniser) and priests and the likes. Ahhh...080808 comes but once in a lifetime, many claim. Well, they must have overlooked 8th August 3008, 8th August 4008 ...And now its a week of school holidays, again a busy week for Muslim couples to get hitched before the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Thing is, the kids have mostly been attending these weedings without my husband and I - we had been busy travelling out of KL on business.

After attending one grand scale wedding held at the garden (play ground) of our neighbourhood, Raihanah and Raziq did a post-mortem of the function in the school van on their way to school the next day. They roped in the other neighbourhood kids on this and decided that weddings of such nature should just be left to the grown ups to attend. Or have anything to do with.

Today, they were again at a wedding. This time a traditional kampung wedding, accompanying their grandparents. It must have been another grand one, and they may have not enjoyed the reception for during the wedding, they were heard discussing their own plans for their own wedding.

They decided that they will have their reception at a surau, or the most in the living room of our house. And as for food? They will only serve their favourite - mee, friend mihun and friend instant noodles!

What's with me and McD

2008-07-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

I had my first experience with McD’s black pepper sauced burgers during the CNY of so many years ago. It was in Singapore and the first time the burger was introduced. I came back to KL a few days later and went looking for the same burger here, having acquired a fondness for the spicy peppery taste of the gravy coating the beef/chicken patty. High and low I went searching but to no avail. That particular burger has not been introduced here in Malaysia yet!

Hey, aren’t franchised food outlets like McD supposed to feature the same food choices on their menu wherever they operate? If not worldwide, at least, countries in the same region. I mean, how far off are our food varieties from that of our neighbours, such as Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand?

It was almost 2 years later that we Malaysians finally get to taste McD’s special sauce burger that only appears on their menu during the Chinese New Year period. And whenever this burger surfaced, I would be one of the many queuing up to get a set or two. That’s right; we are talking about the Prosperity Burger here…known by a slightly different name down in Singapore.

Early this year, we were down in Singapore for a short break. And as usual, Orchard Road is on our list of must-go places. When we walked down Orchard Road, weaving in and out the super cool malls and shops, we made a stop for lunch at the McD located in the Robinson’s building. It is common to find this particular McD packed with people at all hours of its operations. They renovated the place and it now seemed a cozy place to hang out at.

But what attracted me this time was, there at the end of this outlet's ordering counter, a dessert kiosk. Yup, a McD dessert kiosk displaying cakes, muffins and spicy chicken wings. And, my fave, latte as well as ice blended drinks. Super cool…

Well, I know better than to come back to KL, all excited and looking for similar offerings at any of the McD outlet here soon after…

Whats with "dis"connection?

2008-07-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Technology…can’t live with them, yet can’t live without them!

Man’s relationship with technology and anything remotely related to technology is a unique love affair of sorts. And when I use the term “man”, I also referred to “woman”.

Over the past few weeks, we have been traveling a fair bit to the northern island state of Penang and then to Terengganu. In between, we’ve had some corporate training in town – some of the government agencies mad rush to cram as much off-site programs as possible into the month before being forced to hold their functions on-site. A directive that came within such a short notice to try and “combat” the evils of upgoing costs. I’ll get into that later.

But we’ve not complaining; hey, whatever that helps put bread on the table (no pun intended in the wake of us being reminded to reduce our intake of rice…again, another tale I will take up later).

In our travel, we take the Acer laptop provided for by our sponsors as this is the fair and right thing to do. While the hotel in Penang provides complimentary use of their wireless connection, for the one in Kuala Terengganu, we have had to pay a reasonable price. I don’t know if using many different outlets is the reason, but when we finally get back home, we just couldn’t get our laptop connected.

And to make matters worst, even the IBM laptop that we had left at home wouldn’t connect to the virtual world! Perhaps it felt hurt being left home alone…I can only imagine.

And so it was that we had to call in our usual maintenance support guys; unfortunately they were only able to come in the nite time since they work elsewhere full time. After a few hours of “tryings”, and checking and re-checking of all laptops, connections and router, only the Acer decided to get itself connected. Sigh, better than none at all I should say so.

Somehow in the few days we were "disconnected", things seemed to come to a halt. I didn’t even have the frame of mind to work on stuff that didn’t need internet connection. Not even to draft materials so I could just paste these on when the connections are back. I even started using the “disconnection” to disconnect myself from socializing with my coffee gal pals…duh!

Hmmm, now that we are somehow connected again, things are coming back to normal…well, not fully. The IBM is still in limbo…

New breed of service

2008-05-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

Most of our training programs for this particular government agency were conducted at hotels in Kuala Lumpur. Since we train low rank staff, the hotels used are usually boutique hotels or those rated 3 star status ones. And these are hotels located usually in the heart of Kuala Lumpur where participants, especially those from out of town, can easily walk out and shop for souvenirs to bring back to their loved ones after the program is over.

We had the opportunity of working at three such hotels on a frequent basis; while their standard is almost the same, their service levels differ. In some areas, the difference is great and in others, marginal. And in the almost four years of training for this government agency’s rank and file personnel, we have experienced these 3 hotels go through many changes – restructuring exercises, so they say. But in essence, change in management and or ownership.

No matter who the new owners or managers are, they will always try to retain the staff from the previous management. This is not easily achieved since movement among the rank and file in this industry is high, and any signs of an “uncertain” future could easily trigger an outflow of staff from one hotel to another.

In the same manner, since hotels work by a standard set of operating procedures industry-wide, regardless of who runs the hotel now, at the least the basic standards are maintained. Or so that should be the case.

So it was that we had a 3-day program at this particular hotel which we personally rank 2^nd in the line-up of the three hotels we always work from. The last time we were there some months back, they were going through a restructuring exercise. By this program, things had settled down. We noticed a few familiar faces on the floor that recognized us. The rest are relatively “new” and foreign.

We had somber and serious Malaysians greeting us at the reception, friendly and smiling nationals from Myanmar serving us our breaks by the hotel pool (the seminar room is located by the pool…a refreshing challenge) and now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t Bangladeshis at the coffee house waiting on us for breakfast and lunches. We were told the cooks are Indonesians and Malaysians (Chinese, Indians and Malays). The new breed of Malaysian service culture!

Which brings to mind an interesting issue, since this new breed of service providers cannot even speak or understand a word of English what more Bahasa Malaysia, how were they trained to deliver on the basic standards of the hotel? It is not enough for them to smile and nod their heads as signs of respect to a guest. Or to hold the elevator doors for us while they patiently wait to let us take our time to get in or out of the elevators.

They must demonstrate that they understand what is required of them to comply with the basic standards – and the hotel must also be equally responsible to its guests and show that they care enough about their service providers’ ability to perform the basic duties so as not to tarnish their own image.

When hotels take in this new breed of service providers under their wings, they cannot be lackadaisical about how these persons are going to perform. A check and balance is needed. The hotels got in cheap labor; don’t be stingy with their training. These human resources from abroad are not classified as “expatriates” – these are skilled “manual laborers”. And back where they come from, most probably they would not be allowed into a hotel unless to work. Chances are they would not know the difference between a soup spoon and a dessert spoon, and that you stir sugar in your coffee/tea with a tea-spoon. To them, a spoon is a spoon is a spoon!

Obviously, this hotel that we had our program at did not think such matter matters. And so it was that during our coffee/tea breaks, we had to stir our hot drinks with plastic table-spoons and use the plastic eating forks to pick our kuihs.

Tapes and colors

2008-05-19T02:17:00.000-07:00

In 2006, into my third year as an Independent Trainer, I was appointed as a Program Trainer by a NGO which is based in Singapore to run one of their programs here in Malaysia. The NGO is a learning partner of Citibank and runs financial education programs aimed at the younger generation, and the public in general.

The requirement is for me to deliver their program to students from secondary schools in our country. Students, schools and parents need not pay for the program – it is given free. On top of that, each student is given a free copy of a book with the same title as the program. The book is written by professors from NUS as well as Monash University KL. For Malaysia, the book comes bilingual, in English and BM all in one book. And our very own distinguished lady of language, Adibah Amin edited and proof-read the BM version.

As the job involves some bit of traveling within the nation, I got my husband to help me full time with this part of our service. This would be the 3^rd year we will be doing this program under this NGO, and while the program provides us with the opportunity to fulfill our personal social obligation, it is not without its fair share of heartaches.

Dealing with schools meant we had to deal with a lot of red tapes. And I mean a lot. There’s the formality we need to clear with at the ministry level, then at the states level. Certain states require clearance from district levels before we can go knocking on school doors. At the schools, we first must convince Principals or their second in line before being referred to the “correct” teacher to coordinate the schedule for our free program, if the Principals agree to have the program at their schools.

You’d be surprised to know that, in spite of the ongoing campaign by the relevant agencies, in spite of reading about the poor financial planning skills of our younger generation, in spite of numerous proposed plans to introduce more life skills based activities to our students, there are still Principals who do not see any value in educating their students on wise money management, an important element that form the basis of life skills if I may say so!

Never mind school principals – one state education department down South went so far as to restrict co-curriculum activities to only those that are academic in nature! As a result, school administrators keen for their students to benefit from our program have to miss out on this opportunity. I pity school leavers from that state for they could end up “empty” in spite of achieving high academic excellence.

With this mentality among those we entrust to educate our future generation, should we then wonder why we are still driving our children to be very academic-oriented. To be very exams/results oriented?

World class service

2008-05-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

“Budi bahasa budaya kita” so goes the age old Bahasa Malaysia adage. In English, that means being courteous is our way of life.

I hold firm to that belief and believe they form that basis of every Malaysians’ lives, regardless of race, culture or religious faith. In each and every diverse culture of us Malaysians, how we were brought up is pretty much the same. We were taught by our elders to be mindful of our bahaviour towards others - what we say and do to others, how we say and do them.

In fact, if we were to scrutinize each and every principles of good Customer Service, we will find that the root of all these is courtesy…good common sense courtesy.

How often had we been reprimanded by our elders when as a child, we hang around the “grown-ups” when visitors come over? Or told to keep our mouths shut and listen when a grown-up is speaking to us? To look down and stand still when we are being scolded? To bow slightly and acknowledge their presence with a slight nod when we overtake others walking slower than us, regardless of race or religion. And a classic, to let others enter a room first, start a meal, take the first helping, take the best of the lot – in other words, “after you”.

But these common sense courtesy is slowly eroding from our society in our beautiful country, specifically among those in the frontline. And why should that come as a surprise to any of us who care? Now, more often we are served by those who do not speak the same language as we do, practice the same cultural tolerance that we do, or share the same moral values as us.

Step into a restaurant and order food, chances are you will be served by a Bangladeshi or an Indian national or a Myanmar or Vietnamese. Order any of the basic and favourite dishes, nothing will go wrong. Ask for something more, you will get an “Okay” and a nod but not what you ordered. Repeat that request to someone else, same scenario. By the time you catch a third waiter, your temper would start rising. And it is not until a supervisor is called over that you find out what you asked for is not available that day!

Shop at your local pasar tani and don’t be surprised if the guys selling fish or poultry speak any one of the Indonesian dialects among themselves as they weigh your haul, process them, collect your money and hand over your purchase with a thank you that is laced in Bahasa Indonesia.

Drive into a neighbourhood petrol station and you will be swarmed by Indian nationals or Bangladeshis offering to wipe the windscreen of your car or even pump the petrol for you. And when you ask them if the latest offer is still valid all you get is a nod in the direction of the cashier. In other words, “please ask them and not me”.

Where have all the Malaysian frontliners gone to? If this is what we give to ourselves and those in Malaysia, then how can we Malaysians be rated for giving first class service?

At your service, ibu

2008-04-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

How ironic. While we import their countrymen into our country as manual skilled workforce, Indonesia too so it appears import our fellow countrymen to their country to help toil their land. To be more specific, our young teenaged girls!

In the past 2 weeks alone, a local Malay tabloid had been highlighting at least 2 cases of families reporting “losing” their daughters to men from our neighbouring country. Both cases involved teenaged daughters, one only twelve while the other 17 (when she followed her “man” three years ago) and men far older then them – one man in his twenties and the other in his forties. And both men are from Lombok, which is in a remote and quite backward area in Indonesia.

They had their identities changed; faked passports and identification cards made and were taken out of the country illegally, by sea. Once in Indonesia, they had to master their “men’s” mother tongue to perfection, were then married off to these men and left with their in-laws to be dutiful daughters of the respective houses.

While back home in Malaysia, they would probably balk at the idea of doing housework at such ages, now in Indonesia they form part of the daily workforce that keeps the household going. Up at the break of dawn and off to the padi fields to manually plant and or harvest, depending on the season, until the sun’s rays hit their backs.

From the padi fields, they returned home not to home-cooked food but to cook food for the home before taking a break for noon prayers. Soon after, it’s off again to the fields for more back breaking chores until late evening. Then, back home, to put food on the table for the family. Once all the chores are done, they have some time to relax before calling it a night. Relax means going to friends houses to watch t.v. (their own homes do not have any) or to just chat the tiredness away.

Thankfully one of the girls, the one aged twelve, was found and returned to her family about six months later. Her family, in particular, her father wouldn’t give up on her. Unfortunately, the seventeen year old is now twenty, had become a mother (her child died when he was one year three months old) and is still there.

When the case of the twelve year old came to light, the twenty year old decided that she too wanted to come home to Malaysia. That she was sorry for doing what she did. That she had missed her mum….yup, now she remembered that she has a mother, a frail old woman left to fend on her own when her daughter walked out to follow her heart’s desire. Only she doesn’t have the means to do so, financial or otherwise.

In both these cases, there were strong speculation that these girls were charmed into falling for these men and following their every wish. If true, then this is not the first that we have been “warned” of such incidences. But that does not excuse the girls and the men involved for acting in the way they did. What is it about foreign men that so attracts our local girls to behave in such manner? Running away to be with the men is one thing; what about those who would “sell their souls” to become drug runners for these men?

We have got to do something about this before our country becomes known for providing a new service to the world, the corrupted one. And on hind sight, how did these girls get through our Customs & Immigrations at exit point?

Closed-eyes surveillance

2008-04-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

I had a meeting at the KTMB Head office this morning and was running late for that appointment. My husband dropped me off at the back entrance unknowingly to the both of us. As is customary on seeing a guard house at the entrance, I approached with the expectation of being asked to leave my license or MyKad in exchange for a Visitor Pass.

The guard house was a concrete one with dark tinted glasses for windows (they are not governed by the JPJ ruling to maintain clear glasses, obviously, being a building and not vehicle). Visibility from where I was standing was poor so I peeped in to see if there was anyone inside. What I did see made me do a double take!

With his head resting on his crossed arms that were placed on the counter top, a guard slept comfortably, guarding the premises from any unwanted elements (guess the management hopes his snores would do just that). I knocked on my side of the counter-top – not too loudly for I didn’t want to startle him, polite of me! (He could be holding a loaded gun on his lap…of the metal exploding bullet type). When that didn’t produce any response, I knocked a tad louder and at the same time called out for him to excuse me. That did it.

However, if I had expected a look of guilt or even an apologetic one, I was disappointed. He looked up, yawned, stretched and rubbed his bleary eyes. Not a sound, not a look of embarassment. And blinking back sleep to try and keep him awake as he looked at this person who dared disturb his sleep. I had to ask him twice, directions to the department where my meeting was before he responded. And that was to tell me to walk over to the security counter at the lobby to get my visitor pass.

I passed by many employees in uniform who did not seemed bothered about me walking about on their premises with no official tag. Had my intentions been anything but good, and had I been carrying weapons or explosives in my bag, I would have succeeded in carrying out my mission.

Even at the security centre, they didn’t bother to check me up as I casually walked into their waiting area and sat down. I observed that visitors need only leave their license or MyKad behind in exchange for a Visitor Pass. And for group visitors, only 1 person need sign in. Neither are visitors asked to write anything more than their names and from where they are. Makes me wonder then, why the need for visitors to sign in.

But then that is how we Malaysians in general view matters related to security and safety. Very lightly. Seldom do we try to understand the issues and reasons behind why we have to perform certain tasks. Always it is because “we were told to do so”….until something bad happens and we start playing pool, hitting the blame from one end of the table to another until it falls into the holes at the corners, and stays there.

Service overlooked

2008-04-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

My son came back from school last week and announced he was bored of going to school. “Bosanlah pergi sekolah” were his exact words. Now this is my young hero who would find every ways and means NOT to go to school, not because he doesn’t like to study or hates the teachers or is being bullied by friends (that’s another story altogether!).

Nope, this is my young man who likes to NOT GO to school simply because he prefers to stay home and draw race cars and footballs teams and football fields while his favourite programme is aired on Astro’s Disney Channel. And every 10 minutes or so he would walk into the kitchen looking for a favourite chocolate bar to snack on, then walk back to his drawings.

So when he made that announcement last week, the whole family including his grandparents and aunties and uncles in Perlis and Singapore (news like this travel within the family vines like the speed of light in our household) laughed it off, teased him about his favourite past time and called him names like Mr P For Ponteng etc.

Later than night, as I was tucking him in bed, he again uttered his reluctance to go to school. This time, not as adamant as earlier and his body language somehow made me want to know more. The room lights were turned off but I could see vaguely from the lights of the bathroom shining through the open door that he had an unhappy facial expression on, which is not made up.

So I asked him what was bothering him – we try as much as possible not to interfere in matters of the school especially if it involves the children being penalised by teachers for their own carelessness. His response stumped me – everyday in the week, teachers don’t seem to be attending classes! Students were pretty much left on their own to do their own stuff and he doesn’t like this. So why should he go to school? Well, he does have a point there…

It seems that for that week in particular, the school played host to some annual schools sports events at the national level. Such being the case, almost all teachers were involved since this is a high profile national event and there were a lot of VIPs in attendance. Not to mention participants from other schools and other districts. And as host, their school aimed to provide the best of service possible to these guests.

Well, I guess they overlooked their internal customers in their quest to deliver exceptional service to their external ones, didn’t they? As for my son, I exercised my power of autonomy and excused him from school the following day.

And did I mention he and his friends categorised VIP into 2 levels? So choose if you are VIP1 or VIP2 ….and choose wisely!

Coffee to go

2008-04-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

My husband and I were in a rush last Monday. We had decided at the last moment to bring along our 2 young broods with us down South where we were to deliver a talk to an all-girls boarding school. Instead of staying at a hotel in JB we thought it would be great to drive into Singapore and stay with his family. It had been a while since we had been back there. The kids claimed the week they wouldn’t be studying much, what with teachers being away and all. And it was only for 2 school days.

So there we were, rushing through with the extra packing, picking up some stuff my mother-in-law asked us to get from here and of course, a pit stop at the money changers. We hadn’t had breakfast and thought it would be novel to have brunch at one of the stop areas along the way. To allay our hunger in the mean time, we would buy some croissants and puffs from Deli France at Carrefour.

We were early; and were the only customers at the famed deli. Freshly baked croissants and puffs lined the trays, still wrapped in plastic clings. It was an honour to be given the privilege of tearing the plastic clings and have our pick of the litter, so to speak. Having accounted for everyone’s orders, I walked up to the cashier to pay and at the same time decided to add in an order for coffee, to go.

The staff attending to us were all trainees – 3 girls and 1 young man. I guessed they were not trained to deliver on this type of an order but they tried. One found the right paper cup and pumped in the coffee. She was about to tightly press shut the cup’s cover when I decided, again at a whims notice, that I wanted my sugar and cream to be added in for my travel convenience. Another girl took over and put in 2 teaspoons as my instruction.

When it came to the cream, all four had gathered at the sugar counter/creamer counter. A more senior looking girl got hold of a pot of fresh cream, poured some into a small measuring jug and handed that to me. I had also by then gathered at the said counter with them. So I took over, poured in the exact amount of cream that I wanted and handed the small jug to them. I made a mess, spilling some cream on to the counter top and accidentally knocking over some sugar, too. They were all apologetic for not acting fast enough, and wiped the mess left by me.

Carefully the young man packed my coffee in a paper bag and handed me my coffee to go, thanking me for my patronage and wishing me and my family a pleasant day.

First impression

2008-04-07T07:19:00.000-07:00

The first contact any visitor or locals returning to the country has is with our Immigrations personnel; and it is from these that impressions of our hospitability are made. For those leaving the country, these persons are the last official human contact with our nation.

Since our marriage more than 16 years ago, we have had to pass through the JB immigrations check point at least twice a year whenever we drive to Singapore for holidays. And every time, the reception we receive has always been the same – we need to stretch our hands to hand over our passports (the counter tops are build higher than the car windows), peer and peep into the cubicle window to get a look at who, if any, is inside the cubicles (they don’t bother to look up or out at us).

When they’re done flipping through our passports, they just place them on their side of the counter tops. So we again have to stretch to get back our passports. Not a nod or any signs of acknowledgement of our existence. And IF there should be anyone else in the cubicle with them…well, you don’t have to guess where their attention will be at!

Wouldn’t it be a wonder then, that with such “tidak apa” attitude in performing their job, many people with unhealthy records can just easily slip though and travel the world over without a hitch? I wonder of they realize their jobs are related to the country’s security matters…

Did I mention that our immigration personnel prefer to stay in the dark? Or is this part of being efficient in managing their operating cost…go figure!

Mistaken identity, mistake in identity

2008-03-18T02:40:00.000-07:00

Remember my take on this international financial institution known for its customer service?

Well, following my recent experience trying to activate my on-line facilities (hey, you got to keep up with technology, ya?), I thought matters were resolved when I received my card statements on-line for the first time this month.

The instructions to open the statement in pdf format were simple enough. So I thought. But try as I might, I failed to get to read the statements, what more get past the window asking me for the password statement identification. I checked and re-checked several times the information asked. I was sure I keyed in the numbers and data correctly.

Finally, exasperated with the situation, I called their customer care line. Fast forwarding through the steps instructed by the voice that sounded like Ramona's, I finally got to speak to a human personnel. No complains there - she was polite and courteous, andn she did all the required background checks before proceeding to help me with my issue then.

No problem, she graciously said. She will walk me through the process and verify data I needed to key in against what is in their system for confirmation. And then, when it came to my birthdate, there was the confusion. She quoted me numbers that would age me 10 years more than what I am now! Good golly miss molly...there we have it. No wonder I failed to activate my on-line account and all other on-line stuff. They have all these while recorded my birthyear as 19xx+10 instead!

I asked her to reconfirm if this is the case, and she did. Apparently from a typing or data entry error made since the time I applied to be their cardmember almost 20 years ago. But she can't do anything to change the information unless I fax her a clear copy of my MyKad with an instruction for her to rectify the mistake. Not much in terms of an apology. And to think that since then, I have updated them with my MyKad number, which bears my birthyear as the first 4 digits. Yet, no one bothered to verify and contact me to enquire which of the data is correct.

Well, I still have faith in this institution. Every customer focused institution is entittled to a service mistake once in a while. Weighing this unpleasant incident against all the good experiences I have with them, I will still be a good client.

I mean, what is but one mistake? You think?? Well, let me get into that in another posting.

By the people for the people

2008-03-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

Even politicians must do it. Deliver the best service and adopt the very basics of customer service, the very least.

Okay, so the Malaysian 12th General Elections are over. The results are out and we know who won and who got the boot. I am not here to debate on that; although I must say that now with more voices in the opposition, I hope for better check and balance in the administration of the country.

What I do want to touch on are the few reasons given for the major losses suffered by the ruling party. Mind you, these are not my hearsay – these are what I got from reports in major newspapers, watching analysts discuss this on talk shows and television interviews of veteran politicians, The Tun included.

Service, or rather the lack of it, from elected representatives. From the man in the street, it appears that their elected reps only make an appearance about a week before an election and the day after. From then on, most would have forgotten how this person looked like for lack of contact with him/her.

People-friendly and approachable are the 2 criteria cited as important must-haves of elected reps. So said Tan Sri Mohamad Rahmat, a veteran politician, and he never stop reminding his son who was elected for the 2nd time, of this. Ironically, this is also what The Tun replied, asked what his advice was to his son, when it was made known that Mukhriz was vying for a seat in parliament.

And it would appear that the lack of these traits in past elected reps cost them their seats. For when you decided that you don’t need to be service oriented and approachable anymore, the people concluded that you have become too big for your shoes. Then they too, decided that they don’t need you anymore.

Goes to show that what goes around, comes around.

Shop till you drop

2008-03-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

My husband was born a Singaporean and except for his eldest sister, the rest of his family are still Singaporeans. And they are all living in the island republic. As for my husband, he is now a Malaysian citizen.

With all my in-laws in Singapore, we get the opportunity to travel to the island republic very often in a year. And when my father-in-law passed away almost 2 years ago, the trips back South have been more frequent since my mother-in-law is literally alone most days. She stays with 2 of her daughters, both unmarried and are busy with their own work commitments during the weekdays.

The trips to Singapore to visit the family (in-laws) doesn't bother me. In fact, I rather enjoy them. Hey, how many people get the chance to travel "overseas" as often as my children and I do in a year? Well, the island republic is across the Malacca Straits, isn't it? And it is NOT part of Malaysia anymore, right? One needs to have an international passport to enter the country. And lets not forget the ever strict security checks each and every time...honestly, my children are the envy of their friends.

While we split the religious festivities and alternate between Singapore and Perlis (my kampung), the 2 periods that going down to Singapore are musts are in July and December. Yup, during the Great Singapore Sale. Currency exchange included, it is still worth the trip to go down there and shop till you drop!

Besides the price cut, retailers on the island seemed to work together to make this season work for them AND the island. You can feel the excitement in the air the moment you step onto the island. Everyday you read in their dailies of sales, sales related activities, happenings in and around tourist attraction spots...some known outlets even have special discounts for Malaysians, on top of their sale prices!

It has come to a stage that I have forgotten what it feesl like to shop in Kuala Lumpur, since the past few years our family shopping sprees are centered on the island republic. Even friends who used to be cynical and don't have a positive opinion of the country, now slot in a few days trip down south in their annual holiday planner.

Talk about Halal Hub...you find more tourists from the middle east countries, too. Many food outlets realise this segment is a profitable market so they ensure their outlets are certified Halal by their Islamic religious authority. I can attest to this for my husband's oldest brother is the one who goes around checking out these spots to ensure compliance. New malls provide modern and clean suraus; otherwise walk a short distance to the nearest mosque in the area. With all these concerns taken care of, you can really shop till you drop!

I always do that...every time.

Personal social service

2008-03-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

The elder generation believes that if your house is often frequented by domestic animals especially cats, it means your house is filled with good aura. And chances are, you and the rest of the household will always be blessed with good fortune.

Our house seems to be the favourite hang out pad for the neighbourhood cats - to be more specific, in the compound of our fenced up backyard. Strays, pets, pests (???), very furry ones, fat cuddly ones, mono coloured, spotted, with stripes, blue eyes, grey eyes, bi-coloured eyes…and the list goes on.

My husband decided since the visitor list from this visitor group doesn’t seem to cease, we might as well learn to live with the situation and just manage them better. So he (and the children, outvoting mummy dearest) adopted the 2 most regular of the lot. 1, an orange + white male while the other a very cheeky dark grey + white.

Since the adoption became “official”, it has now become one of our Bibik’s duties to feed these kittens-fast-growing-up-to-be-cats in the mornings. I managed to have my say heard on one matter – no more cooked food for them (hubby dearie at one time would steam or boil fish and de-bone them before serving the flesh only to his adopted kids!). So it was that our grocery list now includes cat food…

The kitty cats somehow are pretty well behaved; they litter outside our house compound. Accidents do happen and often in our front yard, but then, we usually find out that these “accidents spots” exit from non-residents. Our lot seems to know meal time very well; or rather our meal times are now dictated by their timings. Occasionally, dark grey + white dared to bring back guests…and so Bibik now have to set aside a bowl for these guests’ food.

I don’t normally take to the idea of keeping pets; the only exception being the gold fish that used to swim happily in our aquarium. Now all that’s left in the aquarium is water, waiting for us to release a new batch of fish after the sudden death of the previous occupants. But that is a different story...

Yet I have grown to accept the kitty cats as part of our household. I now look forward to their gentle meows as they both sit by the kitchen door waiting for food to be served. I enjoy moments of light banter with them – pretending to shoo them off with a stern voice, then letting them twist themselves playfully around my legs as I walk back into the kitchen.

These short moments are therapeutic and for that short span of time, I can just relax and not think of work related matters. On a positive note, too our house fail to attract guest-house from the rodent family – at least, those of the unhygienic type, anyway. We do get occasional visits from the neighbourhood squirrels, though! But that too, is a different story.

Now, while large corporations have their publicly announced CSR initiatives to make their peace with to the society they serve, I think a higher power has made the kitty cats mine, my own personal service to society, my PSR (personal social responsibility)…

As for good fortune, well that same high power has been great to us in that respect, too!

This is the way

2008-03-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

I always benchmark this American bank for excellent customer service - touch and tech-wise. And I have yet to be disappointed.

Last week, I finally decided to fully utilise and activate my account, on-line. Everything went well until I got to the part where I had to verify my personal details. I completed the blank boxes as specified, or so I thought. Somewhere along the line, I must have misunderstood one of the requirements and incorrectly filled in that particular box. My submission could not be accepted as one of my particulars did not match what they had in their database...after the third attempt, my account was deemed "locked".

I wrote to their customer care and sent that via e-mail, using their normal e-mail address. Their web-site cautioned customers against disclosing confidential information such as account numbers, credit limits and such for security reasons when using this e-mail. They offerred other options of communication for such issues. Since my query was not of a confidential or personal nature, I threw caution to the wind and typed out my account number as the subject matter - how else could they help me with my query otherwise?

Within 24 hours, one of their customer care personal replied my e-mail. I felt appreciated for the e-mail was signed off with a name and designation of a real person; not "xxx company Customer Care"...the reply was a mix of a standard reply format, added with one specific to my general query. She also reminded me about disclosing my account number in my e-mail to their general e-mail address.

I wasn't clear on her response hence I replied to her reply, asking for further clarification. I got her feedback by end of the day - quick and efficient, yet still maintaining the warmth in the composition.

And yes, I got my answer.

Great combination

2008-02-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

A good friend was recently bestowed with a well deserved good fortune and took me out for dinner along with another good gal pal. The three of us would sometimes take off for a "girls nite" out, leaving our spouses to spend quality time with the kids.

We decided on western and picked to have our nite out at TGIF. It was a Saturday and we thought it would be cool to head on to The Curve and experience the excitement and happenings there. So there we were, headed to TGIF at The Curve, all the way from Ampang. Traffic was heavy yet smooth and it tool us a cool 20 minutes to get there from our homes. Good fortune must have been smiling at us that nite, too for we found a parking space pretty easy, and right in front of the stairways that literary lead us to the front doors of the restaurant.

We weren't all particularly hungry so we decided to do a little bit of shopping first - the stalls and their products all seemed to be inviting us to go to them first...ahhh....the thrill of being a woman. By the time we headed to TGIF, it was already past 9pm and there was a wait list of more than 8 names when we checked in at the concierge. Seeing our look of dismay, one of the staff suggested we try their sister outlet down the corridors, an Italian concept restaurant. Western nonetheless.

We still had to wait, though not as long. The service was excellent from the moment we were led to our table. The waiter handed us their menus, gave us time to go through and promptly came by when we called, ready to order. Each of us ordered a different type of meat dish - salmon, beef and chicken. We ordered a salad to share, and their salads are portioned for sharing between 4 to 6 people. Then the drinks.

The waiter, a Filipino (by the name-tag on his shirt and his accent) patiently took down our orders, then scrutinised what we ordered and then, made helpful suggestions based on the variations we ordered. He described our dishes and gestured with his hands to show us the serving portions; then he offerred alternatives while being careful not to offend us ("I think you may have ordered too much....the starters is almost a main dish by itself....why not try this dish instead... the portion is just nice...it is RM(cheaper), if you don't mind....).

He suggested drinks to go along with the dishes we ordered - excellent! I am always under this impression that one must order wines or alcohol to get this kind of culinery advise...but fruit juices and fruit punch, too? Fantastic, and what he proposed we ordered, just for the fun of it. Guess what? The fruit drinks really go well with our food orders!

We wanted a cosy setting so we could catch up on our latest development (since we last met at breakfast that morning...!!!). The restaurant gave us that. This person who waited on us really knows his stuff - and he was courteous, too. On top of that, the restaurant serves really great food. And drinks. Overall, the service was fast and food presentation good.

We ended the nite with orders of coffee - and a complaint from my friend. Her capuccino cup was too big.

A great nite out, indeed. Great friends, great place, great food - excellent service.

High tech less high touch

2008-02-21T03:01:00.000-08:00

Two days ago, I received a reply to an e-mail enquiry I had sent the sole supplier of some food supplements. This sole distributor is based in Singapore and distributes a food supplement from herbs that I found to be working for me. I bought a few bottles of the herbal supplement during one of those international trade exhibitions held in Kuala Lumpur, after being informed that the products then were only sold in Singapore.

Now, my e-mail enquiry was made when I began consuming the last bottle and I wanted to find out if they already have a local distributor appointed. They replied, to apologise for the delay in responding to me and to inform me that they have yet to appoint a Malaysian agent.

Now, their reply would not have been such an issue to me had it not been for the fact that my enquiry was made in July of last year! And I thought that e-mails were the fastest and most cost efficient way to communicate and maintain relations with your clients...

Did I mention that they were willing to deliver the supplements to me, all the way from Singapore, at a discount with some charges added in for freight?

Customer service is common sense

2008-02-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Customer service personnel were taught to match the emotions of their clients, in managing and facing difficult situations.

When a customer is angry, match that with confidence (please...not anger). Let them talk, pay attention to them and stay focused on their face, soften your own facial expression and your posture, acknowledge their emotions with nods in between their anger outpour (never, ever tell them to calm down, sir/madam!) and when there is a pause, put in your say.

When you think of this, try to remember a time at home when we were growing up and an adult (parent or elder sibling or relative) got angry or is upset over something....what were we told to do?

"Shut up and listen to me"..."Don't say anything"..."Don't interupt"...""Don't talk back, I'm not done" and such along the lines of "I talk and you listen". No doubt at the home front, the words sound harsh and they are,but don't they sound very much like what we are now (again) taught to do???

I knew they were reasons why mums, and dads, say they always know whats best!

We never loose a customer...

2008-02-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

It has become almost second nature for me to observe service providers in action, and mentally make notes of their service behaviour.

This incident took place at a posh fashion outlet in KLCC...one of those "open-concept" shops that sell one-off pieces per colour per size. It was late evening, and besides me, there was another customer browsing through the shop's products.

I supposed the other sales assistants must have gone off their dinner break for there was only 1 young girl attending to both of us. She was very discreet and chose to stay in the background while we each browse through the few hanging racks, with me selecting a few pieces to try out in the fitting room.

The other customer, a man, and obviously a foreigner judging from his accent and features found something he liked and called the sales assistant over to help him with his purchase. Immediately my service senses started tingling....and I moved close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation (am not embarassed about this!).

The customer is on a business trip and will be flying back to his home country in 2 days. Since this was his first trip to the country, he wanted to get his wife a gift specially made in the country and he had chosen a modern batik designed loose long blouse. I must say he had great taste, and can imagine his wife to be a pretty lady, too. However, while he liked the design very much, he wanted the blouse in a brighter colour than the one he was holding.

The sales assistant was all smile throughout their conversation; very graciously she informed him that the blouse did come in bright colours but these had been sold out. The customer was disappointed - his facial expression and body language showed this. The sales assistant was quick to pick up on this and proceed to offer the customer other options.

Very diplomatically, she escorted him to another rack of clothings and showed him several other pieces, almost similar in design, for him to consider as alternatives. In between, she took the time to look my way and thanked me for waiting to be attended to. Now, the customer wasn't a dificult customer but he still wanted the one design he had set his heart on. Then as if in exasperation, he asked her if she knew of other places where he could get the same blouse, and in the colour he wanted.

Remember that this is an upper class shop - the pieces sold here starts from a 3 digit figure, and you can almost calculate the commissions their sales assistants stand to earn from every sale they made. The girl was on duty alone, with 2 potential customers. So do your math if she were to close the deals with the 2 of us...yet, what she did was a pleasant surprise to me, and to the male customer.

She knew she wasn't going to make any sales from this man and she did not mind. But she was no sour grape; instead of telling him "No, I don't know", she casually told him of another shop at another mall where he could find similar designs. No promises but the colour of his choice may be available. She even proceeded to write down the correct name of the mall for him to show any taxi driver that will take him there.

You can immediately see the change in his facial expression - all smiles, he shook her hand and thanked her profusely before hurrying out to catch a cab to that particular mall. He also promised to return to her shop if he couldn't get the blouse from the other shop...which wasn't even a branch of this outlet!

Then it was my turn to be waited on - by now I had found what I wanted and simply proceed to make my payment. I commended her for her action and asked if she didn't mind losing a customer to a competitor. Her confident response confirmed my belief that she truly lives and breathes service - she said she didn't loose a sale, she merely made a customer happy and that is the main principle of great service!

Well, I wondered if the customer did eventually return to get the blouse from her...I hope he did.

Service recovery at its best!

2008-02-17T19:58:00.000-08:00

I love to complete the feedback forms given by most service providers whose services I had experienced. Be it at a fast food outlet or a fancy restaurant and especially hotels.

Many years ago, I had stayed at a 5 statr hotel in Penang, located atop a hill quite close to the Bayan Lepas International Airport. I was there on business, visiting the Penang branch of the company I was working for, then. I was travelling alone and travelling light.

The hotel had just started its operations there and during that time, the room accupancy was not at its peak. I was given a standard room, as I had reserved, which was on a high floor and situated at the very end of a corridor. My business dealings meant I had to return to my room at night or late in the evening, at the earliest. Although the hotel had security personnel patroling the floors every now and then, I dreaded the walk from the elevator to my room as I had to pass a lot of closed doors, making the walk eerie.

Aside from that, my stay at the hotel was great - great food, great service. On my first day, I was given complimentary fruits (an apple and a banana). I used up all the shampoo and foam bath and wrote a short note to their house-keeping for replacements. I also wrote a short note asking for additional writing paper with letterheads for my personal collection. When I came back to my room later that day, I could not help smiling to myself for there on the bathroom counter were bottles of shampoo, bath foam and a few other items that I did not ask for. And on the dressing table, a stack of letter-heads, envelopes and post-cards. All complimentary! Housekeeping even bothered write me a short note asking me if what they had provided met my needs...Wow, wow and WOW!!!

So before I checked-out, I completed their feedback form and left that on the dresing-table, sealed. I did not expect any action on this as usually when I left completed feedback forms on dressing tables or any tables, nothing happens. I strongly suspect these completed forms almost always do not reach the people concerned. And if they do, nothing much comes out of it.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I did get an acknowledgement from the General Manager himself a few days later, mailed to my house address. He assured me that what I had commented, especially my discomfort at being given a room away from the maddening crowd, was noted with regret.

Some months later, I again had to be in Penang for several days. And again, I made reservations with this same hotel. As before, I was travelling alone. And surprise, surprise...the hotel remembered me!

The original booking was for a standard room since in my position that was the entitlement, I was given a room on a lower floor and closer to the elevators. The room was bigger and more spacious - I was given an upgrade! Never mind that the upgrade was because that was the only room available, on a lower floor and close to the elevator. There was a card from the General Manager welcoming me back and hoping this time, my stay would be even better. I found 2 pieces of chocolate (imported) elegantly laid on the pillows with a stalk of orchid and given a complimentary fruit basket that was refilled the next day!

Talk about service recovery....and all they did "wrong" was made me feel unsafe. Now thats a Wow! element from a well deserving 5 star service provider.

Being exceptional

2008-02-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

An element that contribute to the "Wow" factor in customer service is when you as a prospect and client are given some form of recognition. Don't you just love it when the shop assistant refers to you by name or your designation; or suggest you get that nice sweater for your daughter whose turning 10; and then casually strike a conversation on a topic related to your business...WOW!

One of the things I always always reminded my subordinates back when I was a Manager in Customer Service & Training, was to be observant without being too obvious. In other words, be discreet when they getting information from a client. Or prospect. The moment a potential client walks into the office, discreetly give them a once over. And see and digest what you can of them in that short span of time.

I had the opportunity of being given this "once over" several years ago. I was with a friend and we happened to walk into this shop that sells accessories for teenagers (I guessed...since the majority of their clients ARE teenagers and girls young enough to be my daughters!); besides, the designs would also look out of place on anybody in my age group.

To continue, the shop was quite packed; it was during a lunch break, it was month-end and it was during the YES (Year End Sale) period. We went in anyway, with no intention to purchase, just to look-see. A pretty sales assistant immediately started following us around, and unlike any other instances, this time I didn't mind her because she kept a pretty good distance away from us. Well, what do you know - further in the shop were items that did caught the interest of my friend and I. Suddenly, we remembered another friend's birthday coming up and how this friend loved asseccories...

All this while we were busy talking and picking up pieces we thought would be suitable...before finally deciding on a lovely necklace and brooch set. At this point, the sales assistant who had been tailling us discreetly stepped forward, offerred to pack the item for us and casually asked if I wouldn't also like to also get that green pendant set for my 7 year old daughter...Wow!

At the cashier, I provided my credit card as payment and waited for my bill to be printed. She then returned my credit card to me, using both hands. The sales assistant wrapped the necklace and brooch in an elegant birthday wrapper....Wow! She then handed the item to me in a nice paper shopping bag and thanked me for the purchase, refering to me by my short name...Wow!

Wow! Exceptional...the outlet should pride itself for having such Exceptional service personnel. You can imagine I was very excited and honored - having personally experienced what I have been preaching all these while is very exhilirating indeed.

The girls in the shop were discreet yet very observant - they kept their ears and eyes open. They caught on my conversation with my friend and they observed our body language - a friend's upcoming birthday, my excitement at seeing the green pendant that my daughter would love though she's only 7 years (I remembered telling this to my friend). And when I handed my credit card, they bothered to look at the name on the card - which is actually a mandatory security check, but they also used it to their service advantage and made me feel like a friend!

I never stop sharing this experience with my trainees whenever I am called to conduct a program on Customer Service. To the shop's management, I wrote a nice appreciative letter, and yup, I actually did get my daughter that green pendant!

Wow!

Service lost

2008-02-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

Ever been in a situation where you finally found that piece of dress in the design that you've been searching for, all these while? Hanging in the windows of an exclusive looking store, inviting you to come in and try it on...

And you step in, act as polished as you can possibly be, picked up the item, check out the size (and a quick glimpse at the price tag)...ah, of course, it is not in the size that you want. It had to be like 3 sizes down. So you looked around for the sales person and asked if they have it in your favourite size...

The sales person was all apologetic when she told you.."Sorry, maam, this is the only size available", took the item gently from your hands and proceed to hang it back at the window display...gently swaying to the air flowing from the air-conditioner directly above it, enticing and inviting yet another unsuspecting prospect to walk-in and....the story goes on.

Then she discreetly walked away, leaving you in a daze before you could even ask her for anything else. And you do..you do want to ask her if she could suggest some other items of similar design or other colours or even if the store has another outlet where you could possibly get the design you so wanted.

But alas! that is not to be...so you walked out of the store and most probably would not walk in again. Ever.

Service makes Sense

2008-02-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

We give and receive service every day...we don't have to carry any title or designation that say we are "Service" personnel to do so.

For as long as we are doing something for someone, we are giving a service. And likewise, when we get things done for us, we are receiving service.

A classic case in point is at the home front. Think about this...