A Pinch of Salt: August 2009

Monday, August 31, 2009

Banking furore!

This evening, I was waiting in line in a local bank trying to bank in some rental payments. I stood there for about almost 40minutes and I almost lost my patience. You see, first there was this young man probably in his late twenties banking in 10-14 of his employees pay slip! My goodness, he had a stack of cash and he's doing it one by one. He doesn't seemed bothered that there was a queue waiting to use the cash deposit machine. To make the matter worst, one of the cash deposit machine was out of order leaving only one miserable machine for 6 of us to use. Finally, two guys lost their patience and left the bank.
Here I was again, waiting in line for my turn to use the deposit machine. Finally, for like an endless time of sweating & gritting my teeth so that I don't spew out obscenities at him, he finished his transactions! Gosh, I thought that there was no end to this. Then the middle-aged man was next in line to use the machine. Thinking that this was a quick transaction, I was flabbergasted when he whipped out a ward of cash and about 8 employees account numbers! For crying out loud, why can't these goons use the banking services provided rather than lined up and do such transactions!! Better still, get the banking in done a few days earlier-lah! Afterall, paying salary one or two days earlier won't send the business tumbling down, isn't it? It just goes to show how moronic some businessman can be. Worst of all, this is a fine example why workers are demotivated in the first place -paying pay/salary on the very last day of the month! In all honesty , I experienced the same thing too and that's why I can imagine what mental anguish that goes through their employees head! Yeah, I know that by law, salary could be paid out between 1st to 7th of the month but have a heart,man. These are difficult times and families have to get fed too. Sooner or later , you still have to pay out the salary. It would definitely make the employees a much happier person if he receives it early. Anyway, it's the prerogative of the employer, I guess. No fights here!

So, after about 30 minutes, then came the turn of the gentleman in front of me. I tell you, betul-betul "sueh " of all "sueh", he also took out a ward of cash and a list of 5 names of employees and their account numbers! I just rolled my eyes and wish I could plunged a knife to his back! I also wished I had a plan to short-circuit the Cash Deposit machine at that time! I was so pissed that I really though of picking up my slippers and smack this middle-aged person on his head! The worst part was that, he turned around and spoke in clear, crisped and articulated English, " So sorry, young man. Just be patient with me, ok? 5 names only." The good part was that he called me young man - that cools me down a bit. The other part I still can take it was - 5 names only! Like I said, sometimes, I want to vomit blood when meeting bosses like these 3 goons but the consolation is that I get to control my temper! That's a positive step! I guess, the "young man" part helps to pull down about 30% of the temper gauge!

Sometimes, I really don't know nor understand what goes through these bosses heads! I guess, moronicsm knows no bounds! So much for towards a clean, fast and efficient banking system!~

Sweet & Innocent!

Spent a couple of days with my nephew , Ryan and it has been wonderful days. As I sat back and enjoyed the times with him, I can't recall a time in which I had so much fun & joy spending my time with the tiny tot! Yeah! He still cries and screams but in a reduced tone nowadays. Still the very much the baby I enjoyed playing with.
Yeah! He has grown a lot over the two months I've not seen him. SLing and I together with our teenaged children missed him a lot. Though we've tried to "vacant' our programs and what not from our calendar, we were only able to get back some days to spend some nice time with Ryan and his parents, Wei & Jade.
So much playful now but kinda homey type! He lives being in the outside but he gets equally bored as fast as he gets out in the open spaces. Typical of a homex baby! A term that I coined for babies who likes to stay at home. Oh! BTW his words vocabulary had increased tremendously. Now, it's " Let's go! ", "Yeah!" " Maa", "Papa", "Mah", some other words and " Waaaaaaaaaahhhh" There's no running away from the last one. All in all, there seemed to be a very vast change in his vocab and his screaming skill. [ very much shorter and pleasant now! ]

Well, jokes aside, he is actually pretty witty and cute. He is really sweet and so full of life! I remembered he came over to where I was sitting and he planted a big smack of kiss on my face! Wow! That melts but warms my heart a lot! Yeah, we have a good relationship all this while.

Again, "Ratatouille" and now, "Cars" are his favourite movies! It's like somehow he can memorised the scenes or even the conversation. As far as I was concerned, his parents knew the lines of the movies by hard , man! That is how many times Ryan and his parents had seen the movies! There are just no words to describe how wonderful this child meant to SLing and me. I could imagine the joys he had given to his parents, Wei & Jade. He is an interesting child with so much flair and class in him. Stubborn, just like any other child, but he's such a joy when he smiles! Definitely a soother in the times of troubles/hecticness/stress!

Even when we were back home just now, we really miss playing and "disturbing" this young fella. We really wished we could spend more time with him and imparting some good fun with him. We continually pray that Ryan would be blessed always and may the good Lord watched over him together with Wei & Jade as they chart their lives together.

God bless you, Ryan , Wei & Jade!~

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Look Forward~!

Over the past few days, I've been reading about the part of taking out the "Race" column from forms with much cynical amusement. It is not that I am against this idea nor do I want to flouted with our already ridiculous laws in our country but I am totally downgraded to a moron by our government. We have achieved 52 years of independence and yet the people at the top learned nothing at all. I guess, they have not really understood the uniqueness of the actual people of Malaysia. I like the Merdeka advertisement whereby a nice looking Indian girl lay down in a fight for her life for some rare blood and the people of all races rallied in to help out. Now, that's the real scenario we would have encountered. We would all joined hands to contribute to this situation. We can rise about racism, we can rise above colour, we can rise above creed and help one another! It would not cross our minds to question if this is Malay blood or Chinese blood or Indian blood or Sikh blood or Iban blood or Kadazan blood etc.etc. Blood is blood and help is help - irrespective or race, colour or creed! So, to the politicians in our country , STOP playing politics and really do serve the people. In my considered opinion, the people in Malaysia are not at odds with one another or let me re-phrase that , there are still some racist, self-centred, idiotic clowns of people in our country but not ALL are like that! It would be a real insult to all my friends of all races in this country. Hey, I do have great Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh and other races friends. Don't you dare "rob" that away from our harmonious relationships. BTW, I am not being a dreamer or whatsoever, this is the truth! Face the truth.
Like I said earlier, taking out the "race" column from forms is not going to help one bit. Look! You can't change Ali, Ah Kow or Ramasamy names and pretend we are something else, can we? We are still very much a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh , Iban, Kadazan, Temuan etc.etc. That what makes us unique in the first place. The problem is not the race column in the form ~ The problem is the receiver of the form!! Will he/she be prejudiced in what he/she sees that column? The question is simple enough, isn't it? It is the attitude, the pre-conceived ideas and the racist stand of the receiver of the form that has to change! If the attitude is wrong in the first place, then talk not of taking this out or taking that out! I hit a raw nerve, didn't I ? I have seen many times how uneducated or poor folks being treated indifferently by our public servants in various departments. What do you call that? OK! A few black sheeps and the department get the blame thingy syndrome, right? Well, ok, you can't win all the time but 52 years and we're still trying ? Sigh! Again , I questioned the condition of these hearts and these pre-conceived ideas in the first place! You bet, I speak from experiences that I have seen personally!~

I have learnt in my life that what food or drinks that goes into our body is not as important as what comes out from our mouths. The words, the sentences, utterances from our mouth shows the conditions of our hearts! If we are deceitful, arrogant, self-centred and racist, what comes out from our mouths will be the same. There is no doubt in my mind that we, Malaysians have got to take a stand against such moronic wrongful ideologies being shoved down our throats! This has nothing to do with race, religion, colour or creed! This is about living harmoniously with one another. Erode and eliminate the unneccessary suspicious minds, drumming of support for racial politics and unneccessary corrupt practices in our country. As Malaysians, we all want to live in a peaceful, caring and harmonious country. I really do miss my younger days when race, religion and creed were NEVER an issue in the first place. I miss it very much~!

Malaysians - Let's look forward and celebrate our uniqueness in our special way - HAPPY MERDEKA!