Photos compliments of Candice.

photos from last saturday's BBQ at candice place. crowds came in at the later part of the night. Candice is a great chef. not cooking*wink, kakaka* but marinating the chicken. While me and jon had a difficult time to plug the gas in, Vivienti just got it in a twil. hmmm... It was great night except i got pissed drunk after the shots. i guess i was 1/2 sleeping by the chair.

NEVER!!!!

i said never mixed port with vodka. it will almost killed you.

Still, Ian is the attraction of the night. DUDE, we lurve ya and we will awaits for your return. by the way, study hard, or you will end up in the service line...


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Another Friday post of Mr Brown - Don't study, you'll end up in service industry

Much-maligned sales staff are not above blame but customers need to go for training, too

I was at the bank during lunch hour, queueing up to cancel my credit line because the yearly subscription was up; I didn't need any credit; and the bank had no free gift for me for renewing. The nice lady at the counter told me it would take about four to eight weeks to terminate the credit line.

Have you ever noticed that if you sign up for a credit line (complete with free gift and the first year free), it will be activated even before the ink of your signature dries and even before the courier the bank sent to your house to get your signature has returned to the office? But when you want to terminate the line, you have to go down to the bank in person with your identity card, or you have to write a pain-in-the-backside letter (yes, that is on paper, email does not qualify). And oh — it takes six to eight weeks for it to happen.

I am sure the bank will say: "But we need to get a formal termination from you to ensure no one impersonates you".

Sure! However, when you want to give me your dinky free gift and "first year free", anything goes.

Incidentally, when I was there, a dude in sunglasses (Yes! You read it right — sunglasses in the bank!) complained very loudly to the lady who served me and her manager that the teller was very rude to him — for telling him to take his sunglasses off! Now anyone who has gone to a bank should know by now that the bank does not allow you to come in wearing a motorbike helmet, or sunglasses, or a ski mask.

And while "Mr Dark Glasses" may have had medical reasons for wearing them, or not, he really should not have been surprised that the teller would tell him his shades were not allowed.

I wonder if he would have been this assertive if a Cisco policeman had told him to take his shades off. Perhaps, a pretty teller sitting behind the counter was fair game for obnoxious behaviour. Needless to say, the rest of us in the queue were not about to provide him moral support. We all suddenly found the ceiling very interesting, and were probably pondering the beauty of the interior design of the branch, along the lines of, "Can't this guy just shut up and move along so we can get our banking done during our short and precious lunch hour?"

I think we Singaporeans get the customer service we deserve. We complain about the salesgirl who did not smile at us and pulled a long face when we entered the store. We mess up the display bin and then complain why everything is so hard to find. We sit along the aisles of a bookstore and complain when we are told not to sit there because it is a fire-safety violation.

That is not to say that salespeople are above reproach. If I hear another, "Whatever we have is already on display on the rack", you will hear some new swear words. But you get what you give. I have seen Westerners chat and laugh with salespeople and get good treatment in return. Of course, when that happens, we locals immediately say: "You see, you see? The salesgirl discriminates between locals and foreigners. I want to see the manager right now!"

Dunno leh. When I chatted with the same salesgirl that ang moh had spoken to, she was also nice to me, what? Maybe if you stop calling her "Oei" and don't pretend that your grandfather owns the place (unless he really does), she will be nice to you too.

I don't know, it is just my theory.

It is little wonder that mothers and fathers do not want their children going into the service industry. Working in the service industry is considered a lowly job; and serving people and doing sales are akin to being a lowly servant and losing face. But we still want to be served by well-motivated, well-trained salespeople who are proud of their profession ... just as long as they are not our own kids.

Study hard, or you will end up in the service industry, child. As if it is some kind of curse.

Ironically, as products and services get more and more similar (How many suburban malls are you going to visit before you realise they are all the same?), the one thing that will set you apart is service. Even price may not do it for you. I mean, you offer $1 airfare and there will be someone who will offer 49 cents airfare.

You offer 49 cents airfare; and someone else will pay the customer to fly with them.

So, what will set you apart? Well, your website not crashing from the increased load on the day you announce your low fares would be nice for a start. It is no use offering low airfares if your potential customers don't have fun visiting your crashing website trying to book some tickets ... or offering low airfares but omitting to tell the customers that they have to pay another $200 for airport tax, fuel tax and war tax.

So, that's what they mean when they say "From $100", riiiiight!

I think we should not just send service staff for training. I think Singaporean customers need to go for training too. Like learning how to smile when a salesperson smiles at you ... or learning to use those magic words: "Please" and "Thank you".

And to take off your sunglasses or ski mask when you enter a bank so that you won't get body tackled by the bank guard.

mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He is always nice to people in the service industry because he does not want to drink his soup and wonder if there were any extra "ingredients" added.