Saturday, August 27, 2005

Cameron Highlands, picture taken during my last trip in December last year with Nikon Coolpix 2200. Still looking forward to go there again sometime this year. There isn't much to do there, just a nice relaxing place to be to escape the hectic work life in Penang.

Friday, August 26, 2005

I'm starting to cough again! Damned! I've been coughing like for the whole year already. I'm so sick of it. I think I've been to the doctor for this cough for more than 5 times this year. It is that bad! And worst still, I'll be going to Singapore next week. Big boss is worried and told me to see doctor this morning. I went, doctor gave me some pills. Had it after lunch. Not sure what pills they are, but makes me feel high. Like I'm floating in the air. It's a nice feeling, a happy feeling.
In an unrelated case, do you know that Petronas gives you better mileage? I used to use Shell. But then one day, my credit card got screwed up in one of the Shell kiosk. That kid used my card to charge for someone else's petrol. Not only Petronas gives better mileage, you can use your credit card direct at the pump place. No one else is involved when you pump petrol at Petronas kiosk. So, there you go, two credits for Petronas.
I've got nothing else to blog today... feeling high high due to the medication.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

A little update on Mr X. To close the story actually. He has not called me back. I think he has decided on another brand. I feel that he is at a lost for not choosing us. I strongly believe that this company is the best and worth the price you pay for. Anyhow, I am not saddened by it. I am somewhat relief and feel sorry for him, for being the person like he is, super kiasu. For being the person like he is, I wonder if he has any friends. I mean, he is so particular and too detailed and he needs people's affirmation. I so pity him. I hope I don't hear from him again. If he calls in to another rep, I pity that rep from the bottom of my heart too.
Let me share another thing with you guys, whoever who is reading this blog silently without leaving any comments so that I know that you are reading my blog. You know, this month has been really bad for me. Sales is so down and I only hit I think 50% of my monthly quota. You know what I did? I prayed hard to God. I told him sincerely what I felt and he heard my prayers. This week, I'm doing better already. He heard me and he answered my prayers. This kind of thing is difficult to explain. It is God's miracle work. I believe that God will take care of you, when you go to Him. Just take life easy, and trust that God will stand by you. Life is more than just worrying. Why should you worry over the things that has not happened? For all you know, the thing that you worry your brains out, will not happen. Then your worries is just going to waste. Trust in God, and you will definitely have a beautiful life!

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

I woke up late today. My landlady thought something was wrong with me, she came knocking on my door. I was still sleeping as I start work at 12 again.
Nothing interesting happened today. There is nothing in particular to blog as well. Asked my colleagues for inspiration. Then one colleague, who refused to be named in my blog gave me an idea. Let's call her NATK. The issue happened to me before and it happened to her just last week.
You know, you can click on reply or forward on the e-mails that you received. Once, I had this nasty customer, he e-mailed me demanding certain free stuffs like I owned this company, and I can give freely anything that I feel feasible to customers. I was pretty pissed. So, one fateful evening, I replied his mail. My intention was to forward the mail to my boss. What I wrote was, "I'm sick of this guy already, let's just cancel, it's -ve by the way." And I clicked send. All this happened in less than half a minute. Right after the mail was sent, I realised what I had done, and I remember screaming, "Oh my SHIT!" But it was too late. The mail was sent. I quickly tried to recall the mail. It was too late. The customer replied my mail, "Is this how you treat your customers?" I called him to apologise and make lots of excuses that the mail is not actually for him. Well, I'm sure he knows that I meant him. He bought the system without any further negotiation. Case closed. I informed boss immediately in case there is any escalation.
So, what happened to NATK? It was similar. But hers was nicer. She clicked on reply instead of forward and wrote, "Damned chee bye, you still entertain her?" And unintentionally clicked send. As willful as she might try to recall the mail, again, same fate as me, it was successfully sent. Not long later, the customer wrote to NATK's boss letting her know that she recieved a disturbing mail from yours truly, NATK. And then, you get mails of apology flying around.
Another lesson to be learnt today: Make sure you click the right buttons, wrong buttons can cause serious injuries! E-mails are created to make your life easy, don't abuse it.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

12 - 9 again today. But I had to come in at 9 for ECP training. Today is not so bad, feeling better than yesterday. The training was about selling skills. I just do not understand about people being late. The appointment for the training was set at 9am. Some participants didn't even know that they are required to attend it. So, I started asking around. I gathered a few other colleagues to go. Was 9.05 when we reached, the hall was empty! I am so amazed. Then slowly one by one came in. Some even walked in leisurely at 9.15! Can you believe that? These people has no sense of time. For them being late, I was being punished to wait. It just isn't fair. I wish people had more sense of responsibility. Training was boring. The presenter was not very motivative. He sounds very cynical. I don't like him! I don't think I learnt anything from it.
Had a walk in customer in the evening. I went downstairs to greet them. When I saw them, I called boss and asked her to get someone else down to assist the customers. My first impression was that they are Indians. Oh Lord, please don't do this to me. Boss told me to try to assist them. Looks like I have no choice. So, I went on to greet them. OH, they speak good English and sounds educated. Not so bad. Two of them came actually. They asked for my suggestion which system would be suitable. They decided on the small unit. I upsold them each item and told them how good it was to have all those included in the system. They bought it! And you know what? They paid with cold hard cash. These people had the good intention of buying the system. And I wanted to shun them away at first sight. I was so ashamed of myself. Lesson for the day: never judge a book by it's cover!

Monday, August 22, 2005

I woke up feeling lousy today. Had the privilege of waking up late today as I start work at 12. But looks like today sucked. I am not sure why, I just feel like screaming at anyone who comes my way. I endured and tried to keep my cool. Logging out at 9. I'll pack my stuffs and go home straight. Fuck the rest of you, leave me alone!!!

Friday, August 19, 2005

It's Friday, going back to Taiping. But I can't leave now because it will be so jammed at coastal highway and the turning to the bridge. I can't handle jams, I get frustrated and will start to curse anyone that passes by. So, I think I'd better avoid the jam. I don't mind to leave a bit later, for the sake of my health and temper and all the other motorists.
Mr X did not call me today. What a relief. I'm not sure is he still wants to proceed with the order or not. I don't care. He called my boss and told her that I am stupid. He also said that Malaysians are backward. The reason was he is unable to open a PDF file and print it properly. And he blamed it on us? Hello, we are a US based company. Mr X is just full of crap, all that I can say. Boss told me that if Mr X still wants to complain, then just transfer to CA.
I did not blog yesterday was because we had training. After training, I went for dinner with boss and a few other colleagues. Boss is so into Kim Gary. It's just opened in Gurney. So we went. Food was ok. We were talking and laughing like the whole place belonged to us. Boss is one helluva joker sometimes. Or maybe it is after work, so release stress. Hahaha... After dinner all of us headed home. It is 15th of the seventh month of the Lunar calendar.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Mr X still has not confirmed the order. He called again today and spoke for half an hour. He received the quote that I sent to him yesterday. Today, he complained that the quote which is a standard template in acrobat format is too confusing for his understanding. Stupidity has no cure! So we went through the quote line by line. I'm not too sure if he actually wants me to affirm that he can read English or what. I mean, he's just reading it line by line to me. He even had the nerves to tell me that he does not want to waste my time and his time. Our time is very precious. Precious my ass! He's reading the whole damn quote line by line as if he's reading a bedtime story to his kid! He repeatedly told me that our standard acrobat quotation is too confusing. He wants me to bring it up to the management to change the format so that it is easier to comprehend. Like, hello, the format has been used like for more than 10 years already. Just because one retard customer can't understand it, we have to change the whole format? And that the system that he is enquiring about costs less than $ 1500.
Later in the evening he called in again. This time he wants to speak to my manager. So be it. Spoke to my boss. I already had enough of him. He wanted the price breakdown of the items he upgraded and compare it to the original package as advertised. Like that also want to talk to my boss. Really la, people... they think they want to speak to the manager very grand already. Fuck, I don't give a damn! So, I worked the price breakdown and mailed it to him. I hope he does not call me tomorrow and ask me to explain the price breakdown. If he can't add the numbers to get the final price, I tell you, I so pity his kindergarten teacher previously. I even pity his parents, they have to put up with him for a long period of time. For me, if I close this order, I think I'll be able to bear with him for a week.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

This customer called in today. Mr X, who was enquiring on a system for his friend's son. Mr X is so detailed. He actually checked everything online, but still calls in to double confirm on what he has read online.
It was very unfortunate of me to pick up that call. It lasted an hour. Yeap, I said an hour! The very first thing he asked was for my name. I politely spelt my name including my surname as he requested. Moving on to the system, he asked if the chipset, the 945G chipset supports 64 bit. He told me that he has gone to Intel website to check on that and that it does support 64 bit. Like how many applications are running on 64 now? I confirmed that the system that he is enquiring can support 64 bit application. He was not very convinced with my answer. He kept repeating for me to write down what he is asking as he thinks that I am confused. I'm not sure if he thinks I am stupid or what. But, I sure am pissed with him. He should have called Intel to ask about all this. Here, we only make PCs. Basket! The next thing, he wanted to partition the hard disk. Fine with me, we do offer that service. So the hard disk is 80 GB, he wanted it partitioned to 40 - 40. Sure can do. But he had a crazy request after that. He wants me to load the OS to the D drive and from the D Drive to load up to the C Drive. I seriously do not understand his request on this. Once we have partitioned the hard disk to C and D, all OS, drivers or softwares will be loaded in the C Drive, which acts as the primary hard disk. You know, Mr X told me to write this on a paper as he thinks that I am incapable of seeing the picture that he wants me to do. I, still maintaining my cool, told him that I'm sorry but this will be factory installed. Sorry, can't do that. He was totally unhappy with my answer, told me that it can be done. Well, since it can be done, why don't you do it yourself since you are a pro? Then he told me that he is willing to pay for the service. Ok, since he wanted it that way, I will put to custom bid to quote the price for this service. Hah, once in custom bid, the price is going to be ridiculous. I'm a million percent sure that he will not pay for it. You know why? Continue reading this...
After we're through with the system configurations and he keep telling me that I am confused, he asked about set-up. So I said, the system will be ready partition with all the OS and drivers loaded. All he needs to do when the system is delivered is to connect the cables together according to the colours of the cables and the PC is ready to go. He was definitely not happy with what I just told him. He started with other companies where they set-up everything for free. We charge this service for $ 33. He demands it for free. I sarcastically told him that if he wants to save on this, he can hook up the cables himself. A man asking about 64 bit applications don't know how to fix up a system to get it running? Isn't that bullshit? With all these, the limit of my tolerance has gone up to the max. He does not listen to me, not giving me any opportunity to explain anything and says I am confused. How the fuck does he know what I understand from what he told me? If I can't understand shit what fuck he said, then he must be the fucked up person who has the inability to explain himself well!
At the end of the call, he told me to get a technician to call him and also the custom bid to quote the price of loading the OS into D and C Drive. I pressed the mighty release button on my phone and cursed him, mah chow chee bye!!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

I'm supposed to be on leave today. I'm supposed to be up in Cameron Highlands. But no, where am I now? I'm in office. EQ called to let us know that some main pipe in Brinchang burst and the whole of CH has no water supply. They were ethical enough to inform us that and suggested that we cancel the trip. Very ethical in fact! They deserved to be acknowledged on this honesty. Some other hotel or motel would not even care to inform their customers and let them go up in dissapointment. Having all this said, I am not very happy that my trip was cancelled. I really needed a break. I've been working straight for like... oh, I can't even remember my last holiday! It's that long, ok? Coming weekend is not good, and the week after this don't sound any better to go for a break as well. Means, I have to work for another month before I can plan to go for a break. Again, I blame this on Sunshine for not taking me for any holidays. I know this time it is not his fault. But I still blame him for it. So, I slept throughout last weekend. The haze shifted up to Taiping, so I continued sleeping.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Today I was having a very disturbed feeling the whole day. I blamed it to the haze! I guess eveyone is talking about the haze now. It has jammed thestar.com.my as millions of people are updating themselves on the haze condition.
Why I blamed the haze for my feeling today? Because of the haze, my boyfriend's sister from KL went back to hometown, Taiping. Let me introduce my boyfriend here, let's call him Sunshine. And you know what? She asked Sunshine for my dad's phone number as she wanted to meet him for lunch to discuss about out marriage. That is so outrageous!!! Ok, I've been with Sunshine for more than 5 years already. And to everyone, we are going to get married already, or it is about time to get married. Problem is, I have not spoken to my dad about this. Dad is going to freak out. No no, I'm not avoiding this because I don't love Sunshine or anything. Our relationship is very stable and I know and feel that Sunshine really cares and loves me very much. We are really fine.
The scenario here is, Sunshine works in Taiping and I am here in Penang. What I think is that there is no reason to get married yet if we are going to be living apart like that. I go back to Taiping during the weekends to meet him. In my mind, I don't want to have a family like that. What is the point? Even if we are married or not, there is no difference if we are going to be living apart. I am not willing to quit my job and go back to Taiping to work. There is nothing to do there. I just can't afford to lose this job now. Oh... I am so confused. I really don't know what to do. And I strongly feel that I should not be jumping into the marriage just because his sister desperately wants us to. The marriage is about me and him and no one else. Now the question is am I willing to compromise on this situation? I need a solution. I need to have a serious long talk with Sunshine about this. I really don't know what to do.
I'll be going to Cameron Highlands on Sunday to Monday with Sunshine. I think that will be a very good time to sort this out.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Have to attend training again now.

Boss treating the whole team to dinner at Sushi King and movie, Bewitched, tonight. After training, all of us have to quickly rush down to Gurney.

Eh... everyone gone to training already...

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Another training today, PowerVault. It is slightly more interesting than yesterday, the presenter is more lively than those guys last night. Right now, I'm waiting for my boss to do a mid year review with me. For the first half of the year, I think I performed ok, so should be pretty well. Boss is handling a customer issue now, customers like to make big fuss and always ask to speak to the management when they don't get things they want. Come on, they think they own this company just because they are spending a few thousand dollars on a system. So I have to wait, and I will blog.
Ah, today I am going to blog about something I experienced during the weekend. I went to yam char with my dad in one of the coffeeshops. We ordered our drinks and just talked about how things are. Then came a guy with a friend. He sat down beside our table and ordered a cup of luke warm water. I just sat and looked at him. I was thinking to myself, who would come to a coffeeshop to order a cup of plain water? You can very well drink that at home. So I came up with a few conclusions, that guy must be pretty broke that he can't afford 80 cents for a cup of iced tea. And I wondered to myself, there I have like a few hundred dollars in my wallet and this guy would have like only a couple of dollars in his pocket. I said a silent prayer and thank God for the things that he has provided me. Not much, but enough for me to live comfortably. The second impression I had playing in my mind was that this guy must be diabetic. That is why he did not order a cup of coffee or tea. I strongly feel that the first idea was the right one. Then I imagined if this guy has a wife and a few kids to feed. Life must be pretty harsh on them then. I felt sorry for that guy.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Team meeting day. But it's been cancelled to give way to Enterprise Training. They always have this the first month of every quarter. And you know, I don't have the slightest clue what these trainings are about. Come on, let's get real, everyone is already so tired talking to stupid customers the whole day, and the last thing that we need is to go for another training session of some boring talk. It is compulsory, so that we are updated with new products. Duh, there are technical sales to assist us in really technical questions from customers. So, why are they torturing us after office hours? That is after 6 pm, for heaven's sake! No choice, have to go, claim OT... maybe free dinner.
Well, today is another boring unhappening day. It's Singapore's National Day, so there are very few callers from Singapore. So you get dumb Malaysian calls where they go, "Saya nak tanya" or "Berapa harga pakej 1999 tu?" Believe me, there are people who call in asking that question. On the advertisement is already stated RM 1999, they can even ask you back that very question! That is part of the insanity of my job.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

So the family gathering last weekend in rememberance of our first aunt. Everyone was back. I was so happy and excited to see my little nephew, his name is Bryan, my father's first grandson. Everyone in the family loves him.

We went to Bukit Merah on Sunday. There's a lot of things there now. It is like a mini zoo. There's Orang Utan Island and Eco Park, besides the old Water Park. I really had a good time with my little nephew. And I bet he had a really good time as well. He's only a year and a half. If you are bored in Penang during the weekend, take a drive down to Bukit Merah, it's only 35 minutes.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

I left work early today, about 4.45pm. Not feeling too good, head felt like it was splitting into two. So I drove back to my hometown. Basically the whole family members are heading home this weekend. It is my eldest aunt's first year death anniversary. And I am going to blog today in tribute to her. Heard from papa this morning that second aunt from Perth and third aunt from KL are already home. Eew... don't really like them. Raymond and Ivan, my elder brothers, will be driving back together tonight from Singapore. And I will go home tomorrow morning.
So there you have it, the family reunion. The last time we had a full complete family reunion was one year ago exactly, on this day, during the death. Sad as I may say, I wish we had a happier reunion. Never in my life did I remember the whole family come back for a happy reunion. Not even for Chinese New Year. It makes me think how sad this family is and I feel so pain. I don't remember a time when all of us sat down on a dinner table together. Why now? Why is everyone rushing back now to meet at this event? Isn't it too late?
My dear aunt is the eldest sister from my father's side. I have zero memories from my mom's side as my mom passed away since I was three. So my dear aunt looked after the three of since then. I even called my aunt, mom. Oh, I so missed her. A mixed feeling of regret and heartache, this feeling is so painful. I can't put it into words. It is a sad sad feeling. To think of the two years I started work after I came back from my studies, I should have spent more time with her. I did not repay her what she has sacrificed for me and my brothers. Her death was so sudden, so unexpected. She just went slowly with no last goodbye.
All I could do right now is to pray for her. May her soul rest in peace.

Friday, August 05, 2005

It's almost 6... it's almost 6... It's another unproductive day for me. I so dread today, so dread work. Another 15 minutes and I can log off. Today is Thursday, one more working day tomorrow. I think I am lack of sleep. I need to sleep 8 - 12 hours a day, or else my day would be incomplete. Call me a piglet, or anything you want, I need my precious sleep. My weekends are dedicated to sleep.

Business is pretty bad, PC Fair in KL and PISA this weekend. I can't go, had to go back to my hometown, it's my aunt's one year death anniversary. Not very pleasant memories. Feels like it was only yesterday that it all happened. It is still so fresh in my mind. Just a couple of weeks ago, a good friend's father passed away. Last week, my best friend's grandma passed away. Yesterday, one of my colleague's grandma passed away. This cannot be a dying season is it? No offence to anyone who is reading this blog. I don't like deaths too, especially the death of someone dear to you. I surely understand how it feels. I've got first hand experiences of these! Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls rest in peace.

Let's talk about something nicer, it's only the second day of my blogging session. Err... what can be so interesting at work? There is really none. I sit down and surfed the net basically the whole of today. Read the news so that I am updated and won't sound stupid when there is a conversation on the current happenings. Kiasu ar? No lah, I remember my dad told me to read the papers everyday. I'm doing so, but I do it online now. That way, I can read The Star and MSNBC free. Oh oh... one interesting article I read, Kayu Nasi Kandar is opening a branch in Perth and Melbourne. Obviously they can open as many branches as they want anywhere in the world. Try going to Kayu behind BJ, I hope you bring enough money. Dinner could cost almost to a decent dinner in Victoria Station!

Since I did not get proper sleep last night (excited about this blogging session), I'm going home now. I'm going to try to sleep early and hope tomorrow would be a better day for me.
I think today I would have more time, I'm in a hurry to no where. So I can blog the whole day, no one would care less about what I do.

Let me explain here. I named this blog after 6 pm, there are no apparent reason to it. As I mentioned yesterday, I tried a dozen of them, and none was available. I just picked this name out of no where. And it worked, so there goes my blog with a name, After 6 pm. I do like it personally.

Oh, about the show I was rushing to last night, Stealth. It was really entertaining. I really liked it. There was not a part that was boring. The whole two hours of the show was unbelievably fast (is that how you spell that word?). Once in the theatre, you won't even realise that you have been in there for two hours! Go watch it, I highly recommend. I'm not going to spoil it for you guys, I won't tell abit about it all. Just go watch it, ok? To my taste, you are not wasting your money on it!

After the movie, we headed back home. Can't afford to go anywhere else. Have to come to work today. Believe it, throughout the night, I was so excited about this blogging thingy, I could hardly sleep. I was thinking what to blog today. And so, here I am blogging already.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Ok, this is going to be fast. My first blog, I just needed to do it today. It's 3rd of August, a good date, so I reasoned. I was so free today in office, nothing to do at all. My boss was on MC. I was reading blogs the whole day. Then I decided that I wanted to blog my stories too.

So, it was almost 6pm. I tried to create a name for my blog. All is not available. I think I tried like 10 - 15 different names. Still not available. I wanted to give up. But again, I need to do this today because it is a good date. Finally, I looked at the time and I named it after 6. Believe it, that name was also taken! I renamed it after 6pm. Finally! And you know, I had to attend a training on services now. I went, and all the time, I was thinking about this blog. Now that I'm done with the training, I need to rush for a movie. I'm watching Stealth tonight.

I really need to go now. I will fine tune it tomorrow. At least my blog started on a good date. Stay tuned, fellas!