Why I want to strangle somebody - Part 2

Bring it on!!! I'm facing problems left and right now. I'm moving into a new house soon (hopefully). And when I purchased the house, I was supposed to get upgraded tiles. But during the construction, I noticed that the tiles that they fitted were the lower grade ones. Damn. When I asked the contractor, they realised they made a slip up and will rectify the problem for me. When I asked one of them, when this will take place, he sarcastically replied 'Are you gonna move in now?'

So I was thinking, 'Fine. don't want to piss these people off as they are building my house.' So now, after getting the keys to my house, they promised me they will get it done soon. But after weeks of follow up, they have now called me and told me they will not be upgrading my tiles, but instead will reimburse me a portion of the costs to upgrade the tiles. I'm like 'OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!'

I told the developer to go back to the main con-man/tractor and tell him what I feel. I'm not going to pay an extra cent to get this done. They have even given me the option to get my own contractor to do it and they will pay for it. I asked 'When will I get the money to pay my contractor? Before the tiles are laid or after? What kind of reassurance do I get that the main con will pay me? '

It's good that I have all these terms and conditions in black and white on my contract, still have some leverage on them.

p/s: Sorry there's so much angst in my last 2 posts.

Why I want to strangle somebody - Part 1

HR. Human resource. The thought of them really makes me wanna puke. All they do is give you lousy excuses of why they are late in getting things done and asking you to sit tight as they twirl their pens and type some words on their keyboard and say that they've tried their best. Until I'm proven other wise, I don't really see what good that this so called department, that's full of directors, can do to improve or secure the well being of employees.

When the over pay you, it takes just a blink of an eye for them to deduct it from your next pay check. BUT....if they need to reimburse you, it takes ages and ages. There's so much procedure to follow, so much red tape, SO many people to blame for the mistake. Even when it was highlighted to them that there would be an issue if they proceeded as per their initial plan. Do they listen? NO!

Either I'm just unlucky or they're just out to get me. :-) They can even mix up my I/C number with my bank account number. Imagine that! Banking in my pay to a bank account with my I/C number! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that the sequence of bank account number are WAY different from the I/C numbers.

Then when you change roles and your pay isn't reflected correctly, they say it's due to the system not being able to accommodate changes in between cycles...blah blah blah. And when it reaches the cut off date, AND it's not reflected correctly again, oppss...somebody missed it out!! And because the back end somehow is managed by somebody else in a different country, it will take 2 weeks to get it all sorted out. After 2 weeks, what happens??? NOTHING CHANGES!!!! What a bunch of incompetent bungling idiots!

And they even have the cheek to tell you to sit tight and wait as there's a lot of backlog to clear as I am not the only person effected by all this. SO?! Should I take comfort that I am not the only person that is being subjected to all this? Or should I be extremely worried that this multimillion dollar company cant get their books straight? For the record, I've been waiting since January to get this sorted but....sigh...

What happens to the money that's supposed to be deducted as part of my pay to go into EPF? What happens to the compounded interest as a result of that? Of course, I wont be a millionaire because of this, but it's still my entitlement, right? And don't get me started on lost opportunity cost. The management always wants the employee to feel secure/happy/part of the family/well take care of (you take your pick). But when such things happen time and time again, you begin to wonder, 'Do they really mean it?'.

I'll get some sleep if it kills me

That's what Donald Duck said at one point. While searching for some cartoons for my kids, I came across this oldie that's as good today as it was many many years back when I was a kid.

I'm sure some or most of us have gone through it. You need to wake up early the next day, so you decide to sleep early. But, the clock's incessant ticking becomes deafening, the dripping faucets and crickets cause a cacophony. You toss and turn the whole night as the hours go by. You will yourself to sleep, but....sigh.

Anyway, they don't make cartoons like they used to. I find that the older cartoons have more character and more expressive facial expressions. I guess Donald has toned down from being the grumpy old duck he's famous for.

Earth Hour

Want to do your part to save the environment, check out Earth Hour. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't realise there's such a big movement to conserve energy.

Check out earth-hour.blogspot too.

Where's daddy's shoes?

Feeling kinda left out, not being able to join the missus and kids. But, oh well, As long as they are happy, then so am I. :-)

GROWL!!!

One of the better looking SUVs to come from the land of the rising sun. The body kit from Mugen looks spot on. A friend commented that it looked like a Hummer, and I would have to agree. Just look at the angles. Muscular yet elegant.

Double chicken special

"Bang. Bagi satu double chicken special, tak nak bawang, tak nak cili & tomato sos. Mayonnaise saja. Bagi garing skit. " Those in the know, will know what I'm rambling on about, the ramly burger.

A ramly burger with works will cost more than a burger you get at the golden arches. But man, they taste great and you get to 'customise' it exactly to your liking. But of course, there are some stall which are better than others.

When I see a ramly burger stall by the road side, I will always remember what my primary school teacher, Cikgu Putih, said once while reprimanding some kids for not doing their home work. 'Kalau tak rajin belajar nak buat apa? Lain kali buka gerai burger bawah pokok main gitar?' (If you're not going to study hard, next time you'll end up strumming your guitar at a burger stall which you open under a tree.) It was a bit harsh, but words that I remember till this day, not that I suddenly become extra hardworking.

I've seen a guy open a burger stall right outside his house, running it together with his wife, while his kids watch TV at home. The stall's not his main source of income as he works around my office during the day. He seems well to do and I can't link it to what my ex-teacher said bout burger stall owners. To me, he's just a regular guy who makes use of his extra time to get some extra cash.

Recently, while on a burger hunt, I found another stall. Been there once. It was not bad. Went there the 2nd time. Made my order as usual. This guy's pretty good, even wears a chef's hat. :-) When I reached home to enjoy my meal, I noticed that the plastic bag which the burger came in had some writing on it. Then, I noticed that this guy had written down his name and phone number so that you can call him to order your burgers. Talk about good customer service. Also, when I was making my order, I saw that he had already set aside about a dozen burger buns. I asked him do I need to wait long cause it seems that he has a larger order to fulfill. He said it was meant for a customer collecting later. Not bad.


Anyway....back to my burger. :-) The 2 patties are slightly crispy on the outside but juicy on the inside, just the way I like it. Wrapped in an omelet and topped off with a slice of cheese,mayo and greens. As you slowly savour each and every bite, the cheese slowly melts in your mouth and the distinctive taste of the burger patty accompanied by the infamous maggi seasoning sauce is absolutely to die for. Coupled with the extra mayo, it can get messy.You want to eat slowly so that it will last longer, but you just can't stop yourself from taking the next bite. Damn. It's so good! Oh well, there's always tomorrow. ;-)

Doesn't look like much, but it's really good. We're talking about a road side stall, not some posh restaurant. The white gooey looking thing is actually the melted cheese. Just took some random shots as I was in a hurry to dig in. :-)

Note to self: Need to improve on camera skills

Click!

Time for some random pics.

For all the DIY fans out there.

Couldn't they have made the buttons any bigger?

Capturing the moment

Starry eyed

There's light at the end

What the!?

I saw this on a HUGE billboard by the highway. It's actually a billboard for a restaurant. (I'll try to snap some pix soon). The establishment is trying to entice customers by using the phrase

What happen's here, stay's here.

As promised, picture of the offending billboard.

I mean, it's a restaurant not some sleaze joint. Guess the guy who came up with it liked the phrase, 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'. He/she must be feeling very smug. Talk about punctuations. To further add salt to the wound, these billboards are cheap. We're talking like tens of thousands of ringgit a day!!

I feel like calling up the restaurant to get the contacts of the advertising agency. Then call up the agency and embarrass them for what they are worth. ;-)

My bro told me about this book titled, 'Eats, shoots and leaves', and we're talking about a panda. Want to know what's a panda, click here. Ladies and gentlemen, the comma, IS important. Punctuations are there for a reason, not decorations or so that you can catch your breath when you read a long sentence.

We always get forwarded mails showing horribly translated signage from other countries. But I think we don't have to look so far. We've got plenty right here at home. I'm no grammatical guru myself, far form it actually. But when in doubt, use spell check. It's there for a reason.