Goodbye 2008, Welcome 2009

Another year is coming to an end. What a dramatic ending too if you are a Malaysian. Fellow Malaysians will know what I'm saying.

A new year, a new beginning for 2009? I guess there will be more political-motivated dramas; "gifts" from the government, politicians and racist people of sort to peace-loving Malaysians. I foresee them coming.

Not wanting to be sticky here since it is going to be my last post of 2008, I would make it short and little sweet. As I have said it before, looking back at how rowdy some morons celebrate occasion like this, I'm not gonna stay out. I'm gonna stay in and catch some great DVDs.

Last but not least, I got some new year resolutions to make too. Need to do some soul-searching of sort! To visitors of my blog, wherever you are, I WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MAY YOUR WISHES COME TRUE IN 2009!

PEACE.

X'mas Celebration ala Hooligan

I'm one who never celebrate X'mas outdoor, if given a choice. I just can't stomach what morons with dick heads do.

I've heard of it for ages, I know what it is like, how morons take advantage of the occasion to do something stupid. Jumping onto moving vehicles is too much, way out of the senses. Hey, look, even little kid is quick to join in the act!

Come Chinese New Year, these hooligans will even throw firecrackers at you.

So, stay at home. Better be safe than sorry.

And what morons left behind after, truck-load of rubbish!

P.S. Pictures courtesy of Star Online.

Father "L-ansi" (Arrogant)

The meaning of 'father' among others,

1. Father Christianity.
   1. God.
   2. The first person of the Christian Trinity.
2. Father A church father.
3. (Abbr. Fr.)
   1. A priest or clergyman in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches.
   2. Used as a title and form of address with or without the clergyman's name.

Let me tell you my perception of a church father or priest. HE is soft-spoken, understanding, polite, helpful, with big heart, loved by many, etc. Share my view?

OK, I had this good perception of mine all wrong when I came face to face with this father of an oldest church (over 100 years) in BM the other day. This is also the biggest church in Malaysia in terms of land size if I'm not mistaken.

After the encounter, I have only one sentence to sum him up - You Are ARROGANT, not befitting your status as a father of a church!

The whole story goes like this....

I went to the gift shop there about 10.30am, the shop assistants were very helpful indeed but told me I should see Father L because he was in-charge for all things. So, that left me with only one choice, no other. I was also told to speak to his secretary in case father was not around. And, he was indeed not around. I asked his secretary where was father and what time he would be in.... I was told that "he went upstairs but don't know what time he will be down. Usually father will be in the office around 9.00am". OK, I went off and politely told the secretary that I would be back tomorrow morning.

The next morning....I went to the office at around 9.00 in the morning. Father was not in sight and the secretary office was closed. Then I decided to drive my car up near the office location instead of walking up from far down again, also to pass a little time.

While alighting from my car, out of sudden a Chinese man in Bermuda shorts and T-shirt walked out from that area with an Indian man (well attired but casual) toward a car parked beside mine.

The conversation went like this....

Chinese man: What are you looking for?
Me: I'm looking for Father L (surname withheld)
Chinese man: Where are you from?
Me: BM (meaning Bukit Mertajam)
Chinese man: (Looking bemused but not saying a word)
Me: Are you Father L? (his facial expression indicating he is)
Chinese man: You don't know who is father L?
Me: (Taken aback by his reply - sounding rude)
Chinese man (Father L): What do you want?
Me: I have some X'mas decors....(not given a second to finish my sentence)
Chinese man (Father L): Don't want! (walked to the passenger side of a black Honda Accord)
Me: Thank you.
Indian man: (Looking surprised with the way Father L impolitely brushed me off but still managed to put on a smiling face, for me I guess, as though being apologetic)
Me: (I got into my car, reversed, waved goodbye & thank you to both of them and drove off feeling....)

My feelings....after the incident, well, very bad impression indeed of this Father L especially! Occasionally I go to this church to pray though I'm not a Christian. I shall forgive and forget about the whole bad experience with a father of this church.

Now, I really know who Father L is from this church in Bukit Mertajam. You have to answer to God for your lansi (arrogant) actions, f-a-t-h-e-r!

Sales Gimmick

See the picture, it all started like this....

One evening, I flipped the newspaper and saw an advert with some interesting electronic stuff on sale.

This is almost everyday's thing given the season-end is just around the corner. Moreover with business looking sluggish for many, the economy not looking rosy, what a good time and better way to increase business. OK, fine, there is nothing wrong. The consumers will benefit.

So happened I was really looking forward to changing my DVD player. When you use a non-branded one, don't expect too much from it e.g. last longer. After all, stuff like this is pretty cheap nowadays. And off I went the next morning to inquire my new DVD player. Following my instinct, I went to check the advert that I saw last night - circled. Pretty interesting. In fact, I went to three branches, two shown above.

First one, I was told the' Crazy Bargain, Storewide Sale' did not apply to that particular branch - not included in the advert too. OK, off I went to another branch, another place.

Second one, yeah they had it. I was quite ecstatic. Why was I anyway given the fact that DVD players were dirt cheap nowadays? The fact that I could get a bargain price for a "branded" (as advertised) DVD player made me 'a little naive' in a way. With 2 years FREE warranty thrown in, who wouldn't be happy....until reality set in.

Third one, I went there and they too provided me a China-brand, different from my phone inquiry earlier in the day (when I was at the 2nd branch). They must have communicated.

What you see is what you don't get!!! Let me list down what's my problem with this company at the 2nd branch,

1. It's a China-brand, though popular in a way but I was expecting an established brand to be called "branded". Was my expectation too high??? Hmmmm.

2. When I asked for a branded-as-advertised one, the sales person gave me a brand that retailed at RM145.00. If that was the case, then after "saving" RM80.00, the price I supposed to pay should be RM65.00. But hell NO. He also got the cheek to tell me that the RM199.00 set no longer in stock!!! No stock in the first day? This guy was kidding me.

3. Then I insisted the sales person called the BM branch (3rd one) to check; I called to check a couple minutes earlier. That branch gave me a contradict answer but was what I wanted to hear. However, the sales person came back to me and told me the China-brand was the correct one!

4. I said "if that was the case, why this China-brand did not have the karaoke-jack (function) as advertised?". He was totally blurred, got himself twisted.

5. To press on, I further asked him how did the '2-Year FREE Warranty' apply to this set and he again made himself looked like a fool (what a pity) by saying, "actually it's only 1st year and for 2nd year needed to pay extra or join membership". Huh, FREE means what??? You guess.

Points raised. Would you feel cheated in this scenario? I bet you do. I did! So, I walked out in disgust and shortly called up their HQ in Penang to file a complaint and followed up with an email. I got a verbal and written apology and explanation in the end.

But that's no my point here. I just felt cheated and wasting my time with such sales gimmick going around. Worse still, many established companies are doing this. Who are we to complain to, what action can be taken, who is monitoring this....the known grouses go on and on. I know many have fallen victims to this so-called 'SALE' in many forms.

Like the saying goes....Malaysia has many laws but the implementation is weak and sometimes the interpretation is overzealous. Third-world mentality it is. So, many consumers don't bother to complain, thus suffer in silence.

As for me, I speak up and stand up for my rights as a consumer. I'm a happy customer to a LG DVD player now. How much did I pay - RM245 with an additional HDMI cable. Where did I buy - Jusco, BM. I got what I wanted and happy paying a little bit more.

The next time you face this tricky situation, ask questions as a consumer. Don't take everything (sweet words) thrown-in in adverts. It'll be a sad story if you do.