Customer Service in Australia and Malaysia

Recently I have to request for documents from the Australian and Malaysian company (I will not mention whether it's government or private companies). I was only given about a month to produce these documents to another company and Christmas is coming up so I really wanted to settle this as soon as I can.

Anyway, I prepared the forms and got all documents certified etc so I can submit them. I would like to share my experience with you....

Australian Company

(dialling office number....)
A: Thank you for calling XXX...press one for ..., two for ... (bla bla bla)
Me: (pressing number and waiting)
A: Good Morning, this is xxx (name) how can I help you?
Me: Good Morning, I would like to book an appointment for xxxx.
A: I'm sorry, but we can't book appointment from this office. Please call our headquarter. Give me a sec, I will double check this for you.
Me: Thank you...(put on hold)
(...few seconds later)
A: Hello, you still there?
Me: Yes
A: I've checked and I think you should call our headquarter at this number 12345678. You can also check the website www.xxxxxxxx.com , you will be able to find other information in there. Is there anything I can help you with?
Me: That's alright. I will call the headquarter. Thank you very much.

Malaysian Company

The phone calls were made for many times but I summarized it as follows:

(dialling office number....ringing for one million years and I hung up)
(after a few seconds, I tried calling again and after a few rings, it was answered)
B: Good Morning. This is MMMMM.
Me: Hi Good Morning, I would like to book an appointment for xxxx.
B: Ok. The earliest I can see here is (bla bla bla).
Me: I see. Could you please make it in December because I have only about a month's time to produce the documents to xxxxx?
B: No, it's full already.
Me: In this case, can you please send an email to me to confirm the appointment so I can show the email as an evidence to xxxx that I have made the appointment but it is after the due date.
B: No.
Me: erm...okay, then can I send you the email instead and you just confirm the appointment?
B: No, we don't do that (sounding a bit rude at this time)
Me: Just a simple email will do. It doesn't have to be long.
B: No. There is no problem with your appointment. If there is, we will give you a call. Ok?
Me: (dissappointed)..erm..okay.
B: Alright, bye.
Me: Bye.

*************

I was so frustrated. Nevertheless, I still get an email address from the website and sent an email to them. After a few minutes, the email bounced back - failure notice: mailbox is full!!!

From this experience and many other experiences I've had for the past few years dealing with these companies, I have come to realize that in Western countries, people dealing with customer service are generally friendlier and they are always trying their best to help extensively, whereas in Asian countries, people tend to be very selfish and inconsiderate when it come to people's problems. This reflects what kind of attitude the society has possessed or cultivated.

Cute Little Boy singing with ukulele - one word - AMAZING

Check out his channel..click here

Pamper Yourself for Less than 10 Bucks

Who says that you have to spend mountains to pamper yourself? I never spend more than $10 to pamper myself from head to toe and it feels great.

Here's how:

1) Hair

Ingredients: Tahitian/ Kaffir/ Persian/ Thai Lime

Price: AUD$1 to 2

Cut lime into half. Squeeze and rub the lime on your scalp and leave it for about 15 minutes. You will feel stinging pain on the scalp if you have dandruff. Rinse, and wash your hair. Your hair is now free of dandruff and it should feel fresh and light.

2) Skin

Ingredients: Lemon

Price: AUD$1 to 2

Use the lemon pulp all over your body, hands, feet (especially rough heels). For oily skin, mix the lime juice with cold water. Lemon serves as a whitener and skin softener. It also removes smell and gives freshness to the skin.

3) Facial

Ingredients: rice water, one egg
Price: less than AUD$5 depending on which brand

Sorry I had to steal some more videos from Michelle Phan, but she has done a great job with these two videos and I can't help but to share these.






So there you go, pamper yourself today!

Beautiful Home-made Necklaces & Bracelets for SALE!

A good friend of mine is selling necklaces and bracelets. They are home-made, materials are of high quality, unique design.....and for every design, there is only one necklace/bracelet for it. So, hurry up and grab it before it's too late! =)

***These photos are published with permission of the owner***

1) bluGoldy [Bracelet - 17cm, Necklaces - 57cm]

2) Darkizer [Necklaces - 58cm, Pendant - 10cm]

3) Violet [Necklaces - 58cm, Pendant - 10cm]

4) Geff Leeyann [Bracelet - elastic, Necklaces - 55cm, Pendant - 9cm]

If you are interested, please post your contact details (preferably email) on the comment below so I can forward it to my friend. (Price will be given on request)

Thank you very much!!! Have a pleasant weekend!!!

Goodbye Rove

I was devastated when I saw the news two days ago that Rove is quitting. I like watching his show every Sunday night. He is so cute and funny. I laughed throughout the show. Was too busy these few weeks with my work that I had to sleep early on Sunday nights....and had missed some of his shows, esp his FINAL one!!!

Anyway, these are the compilations of my fav Rove and his team moments....Goodbye Rove..gonna miss watching your show..sob~


Who Would You Turn Gay For?



The Meaning of Karma

"It's Twitter Time", Kevin Rudd


Hamish and Andy - Freating


Australian Tourism Slogan


Awkwaaardd Pause


Things we love


Petespace Video of the week


Russell Brand Interview


Vegemite!?


FINAL GOODBYE FROM ROVE


Please visit http://RoveDaily.com.au if you want to watch more videos...

Yasashii Project Audition - Anime Covers

Everybody, please watch the audition video below and if you like it, please rate...and vote for my little brother ..thank you thank you =)

English in China?

I received a forwarded email from my dad. It makes my day and I wanna share with everybody. You might have already seen this but no harm....

Try not to laugh =P

WELCOME FOR COMING???

The Key to Existence is pushing!

Duh…?

I won't...... Promise....

CHILDREN MADE IN CHINA !

Have a careful suicide...

I'm NOT going to pay to trim my foot!

Still didn't understand?. ...Neither did I...

(May be accident prone area)

Data Breaker ?!?!?!

Bottled water in a can ?

I'm going down pressing my head up...

Looks like one ...

Okay......

Sorry I can't treasure the used one...

ARE THEY YOUR RELATIVES???

NICE TO MEET THEM......

Thanks for the Suggestion…!!!

So what do I press?!!!

Yes I WILL…..!!!

Lord of the .....

Died on the table?

Thanks for your corporation!

__._,_.___

Sushi Ice Cream

I was in Carindale Westfield Shopping Centre waiting for Michael Jackson This is it when I passed by New Zealand ice cream and I saw this...

Sushi Ice Cream! After the movie, my husband, sis and I bought a box, which costs AUD$5.70.

The strip around the ice-cream (seaweed for sushi) is sour strip. So it tastes sweet and sour...which is a little weird. My sis doesn't enjoy it. It was okay to me but I think they could've done a better job. I would prefer the sour strip to be replaced with glutinous rice skin instead so it doesn't spoil the sweet ice cream taste. Worth it? Nope.

I hope there are nice sushi ice cream somewhere out there and one day I'm going to try it.

....after eating this sushi ice cream, I'm craving for Yukimi Daifuku....yummmmm

I got Michael Jackson This is it Poster!!

Tributes to Michael Jackson that Caught My Attention

Today, Michael Jackson's "This is it" is released worldwide and is now in theaters. I really wanna go today but everybody is busy, and I don't wanna watch alone. Hopefully, I can watch tomorrow. I can't wait!

Since I am not able to watch This is it today, I would like to share with you all the tributes to Michael Jackson  that caught my eye. There are millions of tributes on youtube and blogs, but these are my favourites.

Enjoy!


Beautiful Beautiful Acapella by Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider
I can listen to this whole day...I almost cried while listening to it. sob sob~



Fashion - Michelle Phan
Well, what can I say - another amazzzinnnnngggg how-to vid from her.



Prison Break??
Why isn't Wentworth Miller in this one?




Incredible Piano Medley from DavidSides
I'm in love with .....~~



Pepsi Commercial 1992
This is not a tribute but I came across it while watching videos on youtube. I still remember watching this ad on TV....




...and FINALLY.....!!!  Thriller by Nick Dreamer
He is a legend...
Embedding is disabled so I can only show the image file here...to watch please click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSWnLl3lfw

Well, this video summarizes what I am feeling right now!~

Till next time....

Favourite School Days Pastime

1 Five Stones

No. of players: two or more
Requirements: five stones (preferably if almost the same size, not too big or small, round). Some use triangular cloth bags filled with mung beans, rice or sand.
To Win: Be the first to finish all the eight levels.

Game Play by Bonny Tan

Step 1: Throw all five stones. Whilst throwing a stone, pick up one stone and catch the stone in the air before it falls to the ground. Do this for each of the stones on the ground.

Step 2: Repeat step 1 but pick up two stones at a time.

Step 3: Repeat step 1 but pick up a combination of three stones and one.

Step 4: Throw all five stones. Pick up four stones whilst one stone is in the air and catch the later before it falls to the ground.

Step 5: Whilst throwing one stone, place the four on the ground. Throw one stone up again and catch it whilst picking up all four stones on the ground.

Step 6: Throw all five stones on the ground. Pick two stones. Throw one in the air and exchange the other with one on the ground. Do the same with the remaining stones on the ground.

Step 7: Throw two stones held at the end of step 6. Pick up one stone and then catch the two falling stones separately in each hand. Do this until there are three stones in one hand and two in the other. Throw the two stones and catch it separately. Throw the remaining stone and catch it with the hand that has all the stones.

Step 8: Throw all five stones on the ground. The opponent selects a stone to be thrown in the air. The player has to pick this stone without moving any others. The player throws the stone in the air and picks the remaining on the ground in one clean sweep.

If at any point of time the player fails to complete this set of eight steps, he/she will have to forfeit his turn to his opponent. Upon his opponent's failure to complete, he will return to the incomplete step, starting from the very beginning of that step.

2 Dou Shou Ji

Can be bought at any Chinese stationery store.

No. of players: two
Requirements: Dou Shou Ji Board (as above) and pieces representing different animals for each team.

To Win: Reach opponent's den

There are eight pieces foe each team representing different animals. The strongest animal may capture the smaller animals depending on the ranking:

Elephant > Lion > Tiger > Leopard > Wolf > Dog > Cat > Mouse
(Only the Mouse can capture the Elaphant)

Special Rules:
Only the Mouse is allowed to move onto the water square. However, it may not capture the Elephant directly from the water square.
Only the Lion and Tiger may jump over a river horizontally or vertically, as long as there is no Mouse (from both either your team or your opponent's team) blocking the path.

....and guess what?? You can now play this on IPhone or IPod Touch!! Click this link to read more http://www.gamingw.net/keyword/dou-shou-qi/

3 Racing Game on Classroom Table

No. of players: two or more
Requirements: Folded car/ frog, a table (obviously) and a finishing line (duh!)

To win: Be the first to reach the finishing line

Fold paper into a car or frog so it has a spring-like rear. This will make the car spring forward if you press the rear downwards gently.

Some prefers blowing the car forward, others clap on the table just behind the car to push it forward. You can make your own rules!

4 Racing Game - with pen?

No. of players: two or more
Requirements: Drawn circuit (up to your imagination), pen or pencil

To Win: Be the first to reach the finishing line.

Each player should start by using a different colour pens. From the starting point, mark a dot to represent yourself. With a finger placed on top of the pen, gently push the pen downwards to the desired direction. As a result, a line will be drawn across and at the other end of the line would represent your current position. From there, each player will have to advance and reach the finishing line on a turn to turn basis.

To make it interesting, you may place some "special items" along the way. If the drawn line crosses it, the player may, for example, get an extra turn, etc.

You may also use the same concept to create a different game besides racing. I used to draw up a simple adventure game where the player has to collect keys to open this door, or save the princess from the dungeon, treasure hunting etc...good fun before computer and internet games become everything =P

5 Home Sweet Home

No of players: two or more
Requirements: the stubby eraser at the end of a pencil, and a blue print of a house of your imagination. I would colour my drawing above if I had some colour pencils with me.

To Win: everyone is a winner

During my primary days, before The Sims existed, this was an alternative or should I say an old-school version of it. Played it and loved it, although there isn't much to it in terms of graphics and content, it was great fun because we had our imagination to entertain us.

6 Red Dots Blue Dots

No. of players: two
Requirements: a red and blue pen, math exercise book page

To win: Surround and conquer your opponent as much as you can

With this game, each player takes turn by placing little dots and basically the idea is to surround and enclose your opponent's dots. The dots that have been surrounded by the opponent will be "eaten" or "killed" and cannot be used anymore. The player that conquers the most dots wins.

7 Fortune Telling Flower

No. of players: two or more
Requirement: a piece of paper folded into a "flower" shape, with "predictions" written inside it

Well, to be honest this isn't really a game but it was still good fun. After folding the piece of paper in a "flower", unfold it and write several answers or predictions inside, then fold it back and write letters or numbers on the outer flaps. After doing this, get another person to ask a yes or no question and choose an alphabet or number and the person holding it will open and close based on the number or alphabet the other person chose.

From there, the answer lies inside the tab of the number or letter chosen.

So, there you go....these are all my fav pastime during class. Free (well most of them), easy to start, simple to understand and really really fun!

Songs / Videos That Never Fail to Make me Laugh

Gomu - Okusenman







Stephen Chow Singing and Dancing in Shaolin Soccer




Ken Lee - Bulgarian Idol

My Top Five All Time Fav PC Game

Number 5: Duke Nukem

Shooting, jumping, collecting items, looking for keys...oh...the good old days

Number 4: Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

This game is so challenging...I played together with my sis and bro all the time, trying to figure out the puzzles behind...never really got to finish the game because we were stucked halfway and during that time, we never thought of looking for walkthrough...

I loveeeee to use kazoo to wake the bus driver up, and I love every single bits in the plane, clogging the toilet, disturbing the air stewardess! Most fun game ever.. =)

Number 3: A simple Pacman-style game, which I have no idea what it's called

This is a very simple game - you play as a young boy going collecting apples ...just like the Pacman game. However, you must avoid the scary brown bear and your fierce grandma. I tried looking for this game over the internet for years....I failed..

Since I couldn't find the game anywhere, here is a picture I drew from what I remember (sorry for the ugly drawing) =P

Number 2: Escape from Monkey Island

Guybrush Threepwood Awwwwwww...this is the funniest game! Some of the puzzles were pretty hard to solve, but overall it is awesome. This game makes me laugh and it is so colourful...so pleasant to watch. Ask him to pick up the moon and he'll say "Are you Nuts??" LOL The original Secret of Monkey Island was upgraded and can be played on iPod Touch. It's great!

and finally,

Number 1: LOOM

My favvvvvvvv game of all time..this is the first game that I completed without any guides! Haha...the storyline is really interesting, the speed of the game is not too fast, addictive soundtrack, and instead of fighting, like other usual games, this actually needs just a few simple keying in of music notes! Everything is soo cute in this game. I found the original game on the shelf at GameTrader in Capalaba Central. It was expensive - couldn't afford it...but now when I can afford it, the shop has either moved or closed down! Arghh...one day, one day..

Halloween Special: Seductive Vampire Makeup

Wow! Another interesting how-to video from Michelle Phan!!

Enjoy....

Foie Gras - To Eat or Not to Eat

Take a few moments to look at these pictures of Foie Gras:

These are called Foie Gras, in French, which literally means "fat liver". It is a well-known delicacy and its flavour is described as rich, buttery and delicate.

Sounds delicious and yummy so it you ever have the chance to try, you should, right?

..............................................................
................................
................

WRONG!

Here's why?

***PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT SOME OF THE PICTURES BELOW MAY BE DISTURBING***

Foie gras is made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. Sounds like a normal food-processing method? Continue reading.

The fattening of duck or goose. A long metal tube is forced down the throats of duck and geese (force-feeding) up to three times daily. This caused their livers to swell up to 10 times their normal size, making it difficult for the birds to move comfortably or even walk.

These birds are kept in either overcrowded filthy pen or individual isolated cage inside warehouse-like sheds, with only wire or plastic-mesh floors to stand and sleep on.

They are unable to fully stand, turn around or spread their wings. There is no access to swimming water so the birds are unable to immerse themselves in water to remain healthy and to clean their nostrils and eyes (this may leads to blindness).

Inside these confined individual cages, one bird languishes next to a corpse.

 

These birds were stuffed with food until they threw up. They were left with their filth in the cages.

These force-feeding leads to painful bruising, lacerations, sores and even organ rupture.

The metal pipe shoved down the birds' throats probably breaks their beaks. Even so, they were neglected and not treated. These birds suffer immensely.

The duck in the picture above suffocated and choked on its own vomit.

The birds have literally exploded from these forced feedings. The autopsy reveals ruptured liver, bone fracture, throat damage, esophageal trauma and food spilling from their throats and nostrils.

The picture above showed trash cans full with birds killed by force-feeding. Those survived the abusive environment, however, are eventually sent to a violent death by slaughter.

So, you still feel like trying Foie gras?

This is amongst the most abusive practice in animal agribusiness, and it is all for an overpriced and unhealthy appetizer. Try to think of the sufferings these birds have to go through before you lay your finger on this, should I even call it food?

To learn more about this issue, please visit the following site and find out what you can do to end this barbaric practce.

http://www.banfoiegras.org/

http://www.humanesociety.org/

Reference:

http://www.humanesociety.org/farm/mutimedia/gallery/ducks-geese/banned.html

http://tatiambia.blogspot.com/2009/02/peta-asia-pacific-letters-needed-say-no.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras

www.grovepublishing.co.uk