Predicament as a Hawker...

As you can see for yourself... Singaporeans are generally fickle lot. Especially, you are someone in the F & B line.

If your food is good, you need not to have get external help to boast your business (BEFORE).

On the other hand, when your food is good all along, publicity will come to you uninvited (AFTER), even if it's a while as well.

"Well-Done, Ma"

"Don't worry, I assure you that it's hot!" insisted Ma as she tried to assure the cup of coffee she brewed hot enough to burn one's tongue.

Sometimes, patrons at my mum's stall bound to make some unreasonable request when serving their hot beverages.

Make sure it is three-quarter filled before you add water, but not too sweet and not too mild, THANK YOU!

Please "dip" the cup into boiling water, before you fill up, THANK YOU!

Above-mentioned are some of the weirdest request being made by some nutcases.

And because our livelihood depend on these folks, we have to oblige them most of the time unless some are willing to listen what we told them.

Nonetheless, one must be reminded that a place like hawker center is never a place of any form of pleasantries when things get really busy.

Sad to say not everyone appreciate that fact and refuse to have that kind of "give-and-take" understanding, hence occasional squabbles are not uncommon.

Probably because we are being pampered lot and expect to have everything fulfil promptly, etc.



So, comes the question - do we agree that Singapore is a nation being served and not willing to serve people?

It's not wonder that every turn around the corner, we have folks from foreign lands filling up those jobs in service line, instead people like you and me who are being groomed to be supervisory position.

Thanks to that kind of educational system under which we are being nurtured, those jobs in this service industry are being shunned upon and deemed lack of prospect.

So who are we to blame for having that kind of perception?

How willingly are our younger generation take those blue-collared job that gradually replaced by folks from other lands?

HOW?

As a matter of fact - JUST DO IT!

(Picture Credit: Eye of Modak) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao flew to Sichuan in space of few hours time after earthquake took place in 2008.

(Picture Credit: Spiegel Online)Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's swift initiative in the 2004 tsunami pulled his approval rating back.

(Picture Credit: Sina) Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou and his government failed to react swiftly to the recent Typhoon Morakot, and paid the heavy price for it.

It was indeed a painful lesson for the Ma Yin-jeou's government for the recent flood that devastated southern Taiwan.

It shown that as a head of government or whosoever, quick initiative and decision-making are critical in crisis like these. Those gentlemen depicted before Ma understand the logic, it's most unfortunate that one natural disaster as such had diminished all effort made.

It must be stark contrast now, as I was in Taipei last March when Ma won the presidential election and one Taiwanese told me "台湾会更好！" (Taiwan be better from now on), just wonder if that view still remain intact?

Priceless photos???

Free view for these dwellers on the football match played at the Hougang Stadium.

Just don't ask me how I got this shot....

He deserved it??

Some background info on this clipping:

• The injured man (as depicted in the pictures) saw a motorcycle parked illegally.
• Using his initiative, he took out his camera-equipped mobile phone to snap this "wrongdoing".
• A guy, allegedly the motorcycle owner, saw what he did and shouted why was he snapping the picture.
• The injured man chose to ignore this guy who subsequently begun to use vulgarities on him.
• Both men got into an argument.
• Just as the argument came to an end, the guy threw a punch and hit the injured man as the latter attempted to take the picture of the former.
• The guy grabbed hold of the phone and slammed it hard onto the ground.
• As the result, the injured man's vision was blurred and need some medical consultation.

According to the injured man, illegal parking of motorcycle is a common sight, it's not uncommon as well to see these bikers gathered around and created social disturbances.

So 三分钟热度？

So barely weeks after I blogged that Tiger Airways decided to soul-search themselves, after being at the receiving end of some unpleasant feedback from their irate passengers, I saw this clipping from this morning's "My Paper".

Oh boy, seems like this SIA-affiliated budget carrier had screwed it up again for being "not flexible" in pacify those passengers they left in a lurch with their "uncompromisable" after sale rules and regulation.

As competition heating up, should Tiger Airways continue to behave in this manner?

(P.S: Tiger Airways was the only budget carrier I travelled on so far, I'm glad nothing unpleasant happened but with this unpleasant incident I really hope I don't get screw for nothing, please. )

ranting all the way to Joon Koon

I "tweet" while on my way to Joon Koon

Now I realized why folks been avoiding Joon Koon area that MRT service had to extend to this part of the island to make this place accessible.

Surrounding Joon Koon MRT station are blocks of factories and rows of workshops (above), therefore, it's never on any sound mind to travel to this wild, wild west of the island to leisurely spend their time here.

But it's not because I'm out of my mind that I decided to come all the way, it was because I was among those who were fortunate to be at the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC) for a private event (as above).

SOME PHOTOS FROM THE "PRIVATE EVENT"

The picture above been digitally altered before.

Inside the Army Museum.

It was about to rain...

Or as they always said - It's always calm before a storm erupts??

Blindly "IKUT" (follow...)

Isn't this a common sight? People blindly follow to wherever the "hype" is?

Somehow, I'm having this conclusion that we, Singaporeans, are blindly following, blindly taught on whatever things are new to us.

Just not that long ago, I attended a course we were supposed to be taught on finer points of "service excellence".

Unfortunately, most of us were clueless why we were there and put it bluntly this course is a rewarding gesture to some of those "who made it".

Some guys were rather candid when asked why they were there for this course.

"I was told to come here after my supervisor asked me." said one.

Following the flow, I quipped same as well as "that's the matter of fact" in a rather unapologetic way.

So having that kind of mindset that preceded, the class went through some role-playing games, answering of questions, etc.

At the end of it, it was a clueless session and felt nothing sorry for the fact that such course should have been taught while we were young and in a more spontaneous environment than inside a classroom.

Just a rant.

Paying for the rental instead....

"潮州卤味"(Teochew-style braised meal)

How many time aren't we not paying premium for the meal we had at those air-conditioned food court in those higher-end shopping mall?

Perhaps, that's the price we have to accept and pay for it as we are not just paying for our meal, but also for the costs that indirectly incurred on us like - the rental, the area maintaining, the electricity etc.

Face the fact folks, at least we can having our stomach filing up as what some folks are trying to tell us to be grateful to what they have done for us (above)....

I'm sorry but you have lost it...

Had this plate of "Gado-Gado" as my breakfast...

Isn't it sad that someone around you had lost it?

Lost that pure sense of sympathy and compassionate attitude towards the others.

Lately, I came to find out from someone I know was sternly reminded by his superior "work is equally important!" when he had to apply urgent leave to attend to some personal matters.

My first reaction towards this issue - shock, stunning and unbelievable. "Why was such a statement being made at that point of time?"

Here you have someone works under your charge seeking your understanding for applying urgent leave to attend some serious matter, yet rather than being compassionate towards his plight, this superior seems to be concerned about the well-being of the job than his staff's.

Having listen to that, I empathy with what this friend gone through as I, myself, went through this experience before and until today that cold, heartless reply still linger in my mind.

"Boss, I need to apply urgent leave to tend to my father who is hospitalized." I pleaded over the phone.

"Oh I see, have you found someone to cover your weekend duty?" as that cold, heartless voice streamed through over the line.

"No, as my main concern is my father now!" as I replied to him.

So what can we say, if this is the kind of reply we get in this kind of situation, how would you feel?

The issue here is not to gain sympathy over the grieved issue, but being someone at the top, he or she must be sensitive at times to deal with this matter.

Failure to exercise due sensitivity and adapt a compassionate stance towards a grieved person, I would say you have lost it - the due respect and regard we would have towards our "boss".

Until this day, I'm sorry to say I can't forgive what that "boss" said to me over the phone because he had lost it.

The basic of that of being a kind human being.

NDP 09 - What do I see

The Official version by "Electrico"

The only flag of the block

The Spoof version by "Mr Brown"

Happy National Day as we all continue to figure out how to tune our mindset in line with the policy makers' positive and confident attitude towards life, even though at times they might not know the significance of TEN CENT difference among the common folks....

Taking Advantage

At times, been wondering if some employers are merely taking advantage of the tough economic climate by denying their workers what they deserve?

Drawn this conclusion based on what I gathered from a friend who is employed by one of those GLCs (Government Linked Company).

Despite the downturn, his employers are doing well as the service and products rendered are deemed essential, thus in other words, it is recession-proof.

However, following the trend of prudence in the corporate world, stringent cost management has always been a crucial part of this company's ideology in good times or bad days.

So much so, disgruntled voices would be heard at the ground level and folks at the top would simply push ahead with what they think is right for the company.

Nothing wrong with that, but it just that such a scenario is not likely a healthy one, as was told long-serving middle-aged junior level workers formed a sizable group in their total workforce.

Which is a worry sign on whom and where can we get enough replacement once this group of workers slowly gone and phrased out?

Given the one-must-be-elite-if-not-you-mati kind of attitude we have in the current society, it's not hard to explain why turnover rate for this group of staff is high as low pay, unreasonable work environment saw many young employees quit this company as soon as they were offered a better job prospect elsewhere.

And those who stay behind are either baiting for time or left with no other alternative in this current unfavourable climate.

Unfortunately, such situation might have been misinterpreted as the welfare of the staff are well taken-care of.

And given the non-compromise approach on certain key issues adapted by the management, it'll be interesting to see once the economy pick up, would it able to hold on to their existing staff?

The point is either party should not be complacent on certain matters and each must be ready to give and take on some matters.

Nothing is perfect, however, explanation and convincing should be there to ensure a consensus is reached, rather than push things through a friction and end up in abrasion.