25 October, 2008

Working Life as a Secretary…. part 1

For god know what reason I ended up as a Secretary, this is not the ambition that I used to fill in the student survey form throughout my school days neither did it appear in my assay writing. (or karangan)

I worked for this Taiwanese but not so Taiwanese boss from US, his English was above excellent. Giving us the illusion of seeing teacher than boss, and we started to use dictionary for words that he said and wrote.

Everything went normal for a year, but, things went wrong somewhere after that, boss had reacted strangely, he become suspicious and sensitive, he gave me a name list on the phone call that he wish to answer, other than that I was given opportunity to practice my creativity on how to lie. My mom once told me that I will go to hell and get my tongue cut repeatedly if I lie, I hope I can transfer this to my boss.

Later, an ex-army force officer was engaged as driver cum bodyguard, more so the driver was armed with short gun to execute his job.

Upon screening the calls, I noticed this Chinese guy used to call up at 3 times daily. I went on with my routine “boss in meeting, boss went out, boss outstation, boss in the production, etc, etc..”. And my list was long enough for me to lie continuously 5 days, soon, this guy went on impatient.

On one beautiful fine day, I got his call when I was in the mid of polishing my nails, I was asked to take down the message for my boss, “ Please get Mr XXX to prepare 4 sets of coffins if he did not answer my call”. Click, the phone went off, my nail file dropped, my jaws dropped and I freeze there for more than 10 seconds without heart pumping…..

Dear readers, interesting right ? to be continued, kekeke…

20 October, 2008

Wheels Power

A family (2 adults, 3 school going kids & a house helper) had the following luxuries:-





1. Sedan car for husband to work
2. 4-wheel drive for wife to work
3. MPV (minivan or multi-purpose vehicle) to ferry the whole family on Sat & Sun
4. Motorcycle for nearby or short distance conveniences


The above arrangement sounded nearly perfect and draw envy from contiguous even car enthusiasts.

The untold true was it could become burdensome to the car keeper. Refer the following to-do-list behind the wheel.

  1. MUST warm up the MPV weekly
  2. MUST warm up the motorcycle weekly
  3. MUST clean it at least once a week
  4. MUST maintain & service the vehicles quarterly
  5. MUST have enough space for parking
  6. MUST prevent from exposing to sunlight
  7. MUST earn enough to pay for road tax, insurance, maintenance, fuel & other hidden cost

TINSTAAFL or there is no such thing as a free lunch.

11 October, 2008

A story for everybody – Apology Ceremony


Late 30s couple were surprised that their 5 years old son walked back home from kindergarten (6 houses away) after school, obviously, the school was to be blamed for the safety ignorance. With the hot steam sizzling out from the wife's head, she dragged her son walked marching angrily towards the school, and the school principal get these types " #% % ^&&@ $+ $# " of complaint, the last few sentences ended clearly with “ You people don’ t know who my husband was, he will not let anyone of you at large, you will be sorry for it !!”.

An apology was needed for the negligence act. The principal & her husband were requested to come forward for the apology "ceremony", auspicious day & time were chosen from the 'Tong Shu' book (Chinese Almanacs), the principal needs to provide mandarin oranges, red cloth, Kim hua' (praying ornament) and ‘ang pow’ (red packet) for the ceremony, the apology will have to make towards the 5 years old boy, not the parent.

This had become the hot talk in our Taman (housing area), lots of caring and concerned friends, neighbors, Mee seller aunties and kuih seller uncle chip in their opinions, lawyers were consulted to give professional view. 2 weeks later, the couple changed their mind and agreed to waive all the requirements except the apology & mandarin oranges.

The story ended with the couple stop their kids from schooling in the kindergarten. The principal had her school security beef up. And I had my little L study in the same school with better security and safer environment.

07 October, 2008

Milk Buddha at Mahindarama Buddhist Temple











PMR, SPM & STPM exams are round the corner, fingers and toes are enough to do the count down. All students, teachers, parents, aunties, uncles, grandpa, granny are equivalent worry & panic. Even the gods can not be spared but to do the helping as well.

I had visited the popular Milk Buddha in Penang, most of the students shall make the trip before their exam, bringing with them are bottles of milks for the offering, and the exam time table with their name, school, class, dates of exam plus their wish (e.g. 12As). Tuition centers will normally organise bus load full of students to the temple for the blessing.

The examination blessing has 60 years of history, a massive blessing will be carried just weeks before the examination. The blessing will enhance and boost up the students confident level, and calm down the butterfly in the stomach.

Mahindarama Temple had a library, kindergarten, cafeteria, clinic, old folk home, monk quarters & lecture hall. Environment is calm and peaceful.