Fairprice Xtra

The new NTUC Fairprice called "Fairprice Xtra" was opened at AMK Hub - Basement 2 , at Ang Mo Kio Central a couple of days ago. The name was so suitable for the new outlet cos it was...

1. Xtra Crowded - movement was greatly restricted if you were using the trolleys, and it looked as if the whole AMK residents had gathered for a common goal (to be inside the biggest NTUC Fairprice). I supposed there were residents from other Estates too... cannot condemn AMK residents solely lah~


2. Xtra Huge - the interior was huge... it was as if I'm at Carrefour and not the typical household Fairprice anymore. There were Electronics & Electrical section, Clothings & Household section and not forgetting the standard F&B section. I didn't even know where to start walking and I also did not know where to go looking for my shopping list items.


3. Xtra Slow - the travellators were super slow... the speed is equivalent to the one in Underwater World, where we were supposed to look around at the fishes slowly. But in this case, the only thing to see were people occupying every inch on the travellators, either surrounding you or moving in the opposite direction. The escalators were not ready yet cos the whole mall was still undergoing renovation. So... ya... the only choice was to proceed slowly and enjoy yourself among the human traffic.


4. Xtra Cheap - maybe the low price was only for the initial stage. Actually I also do not know what was the standard pricing but the apples were going at S$1.20 for 5 and "Sunkist" oranges were going at S$1.95 for 5. The apple section was crowded with 2 layers of customers trying their best to reach for the "best quality" apples with their stretched arms. Luckily the orange section was ok... cos I need to buy 10 oranges for my new blender to squeeze juice for me *hahaha*.


5. Xtra Staff - touching on good service in almost every Industry now, there were a few staff at the trolley section to help you put the S$1 coin into the slot and pull out the new trolleys for your usage... but you have to give them the S$1 coin lah, it's not free you know?

As a word of advice in case you wished to visit the huge place safely, go in the day time during weekdays. Weekends are a killer~ unless you are prepared to spoil your day.

Merry X'Mas!!!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry X'Mas!!

So where did I celebrate my X'Mas this year with my close friends???

Well, the lucky place goes to... a 6-star Hotel at Raffles Ave!!

Ahem... it didn't really ended up that good initially during the check-in on 24/12/06 cos there was some cocking-up issues by the staff. We had expected the high-rated Hotel to deal with the various situation in an exemplary way, but the answer was NO. Allow me to share with you a few issues:

Issue #1

The Check-In

It was an unusual long queue, mainly due to the promotional packages offered by the Hotel for the festive season. There were about 5 counters with its respective staff. Adrian and I had slowly progressed to the 1st 2 in the queue after waiting patiently for 15-20mins. There were also about 2-3 mobile staff near the queue, who seemed like they were trying to help ease the long queue.

A while later, a lady staff approached Adrian and offered her help by asking for his reservation number. After walking away and came back again, she directed him, me and another couple behind us to follow her. All of us thought that we would be served at that instant or soon... but guess what!! We were brought to another queue with a guy in front and another guy still being served at the counter!! Could somebody tell me if the lady was helping us or... just trying to be funny?

The four of us were so pissed... and I then went over to observe the previous queue we were in, to see if the originally 4th customer (who was now 1st) had been served before us. And yes it did... I then asked the lady staff over and asked her what help had she offered to us earlier, since she had now prolonged our waiting time. Of course she apologised and immediately processed our check-in personally.

Well, we thought that the poor handling issue would stop with us but then another male customer was also directed to our queue while all 4 of us were being served. The man made such a loud unhappy comment when he saw us and angrily walked back to his previous queue. Hey old man... as if you were the only one being "ill-treated" here.

Issue #2

The Silent Wait

We were told by the counter staff that our rooms were not ready yet as the housekeeping was still in the process. We then left behind our contact numbers as she said she would call once the rooms were ready (estimated duration - 1 hr). So we waited... and waited... then Baoli and Shir went over to check after about 35-40 mins of boredom at the lobby sofas. Another disappointment: one room had actually been ready but no calls were received from them. This pissed us further but Baoli and Shir managed to get a late check-out at 2pm for our rooms to compensate for the long wait as well as issue #1. Hahaha... girl power!!

Issue #3

The Incomplete Room

Finally when the other room was ready, it was yet again another disappointment. The toiletries tray was incomplete with missing combs, shaver, bath scrub, and some shower necessities. The two small cushions which were supposed to be displayed on the bed was absent and ended up playing hide-and-seek in the closed plasma TV rack. Furthermore, there was a yellowish stain on one of the cushion cover! Omg... who would believe this is the standard of a 6-star Hotel??

When Baoli called the Housekeeping to top up the toiletries rack, the staff even asked her what was missing so that those could be replenished. If a person who had checked-in to the room on the 1st day, do you think he/she know what was supposed to be in the tray?

Issue #4

The Check-Out

There's always an end to a beginning~ but why couldn't it get better? During the check-out, Adrian was wrongly billed for 2 extra chargeable breakfasts, which were supposed to be complimentary for MY room. I had actually written both our room numbers on the charged slip during the breakfast and they could still make the mistake *sigh*...

Well I dunno if Adrian was unlucky or what... cos after that, he was wrongly billed again for his room package. He was being charged an extra $30+ for the same room package as us and when we informed the staff about the matter, we were told to go back and wait for the amendments to be reflected in the creditcard statement. Hmm... I thought they could cancel the overcharged amount instantly and let Adrian signed on the amended charged slip? Well, just hope they are not "pushing us around".

Finally The Good Stuff

That's all for the bad experiences we encountered during our 1-day stay. Putting the unhappy moments aside, the room itself was great! It was big... especially the bathroom (which is almost twice as big as my bedroom) with the famous octagon window beside the bathtub.

The view was fantastic from the room and Adrian, being a photo-shooting fanatic, and a really great one, had fully utilised his newly bought camera lens which costed him $900+. He had taken some great shots and I had attached some of it below.

My X'Mas Presents

I had always like the gift exchanging segment during X'Mas~ This year I got a "aslurpingape" T-shirt, a "Crumpler" laptop slingbag and a "Philips" blender (it's part of my wish-list towards healthier lifestyle with higher possibilities of drinking self-made fresh fruit juices). Here are some shots of "Happy Sze & Her Gifts"...

Busy Busy Busy

It had been a busy week for me... sorry for the late post my dear readers hahaha...

19/12/06 - It's a normal day shift with an unfortunate news at the end of the shift. I had to report for some kind of centralised training from 20/12/06 to 22/12/06 (9am - 9pm), which means I'm gonna have muscles ache soon.

20/12/06 - 1st day of training (9am - 7.30pm)... saw some familiar faces but still felt isolated. Got myself injured on the left lower butt with 2 super distinctive bruises (refer to picture below).


Thanks to Shir for helping me massage the concentrated region cos it's too purplish (looks very much like the purple sweet potato colour lor).

21/12/06 - 2nd day of training (9.30am - 6.30pm)... another boring day~ tried to force myself with the training but felt my left upper thigh and knee failing me at the end of the day. Mum asked me who beat me up when she saw the bruises and she said she'll help me whack the culprit (hahaha... so nice~ although there wasn't any culprit).

22/12/06 - actual day of audit (7.30am - 6pm)... I didn't joined the group cos I couldn't move swiftly at all and I would be more of a hinderance than a performer. Ended up I switched role with another guy to join his team on day shift temporary til the end of the audit. It was actually quite enlightening to work in a different region cos I got to see new things and I'm glad that I was well taken care of by the friendly team. Thanks AS 'D'!!

23/12/06 - finally a day FREE for me cos I managed to apply for leave after a short "discussion" over the phone with my supervisors. Hmm... isit so hard for No.2 to manage the team on his own? Anyway, it was the only day where I can do my X'mas shopping lor~ since my schedule was so damn packed... and tomorrow is the DAY!!

Gathering at PS

Had a great chat and gossip session with Karen, Grace, Cynthia, Shiqi (refer to below pic from left to right) and Shirlene (the one beside me) at PS yesterday evening. Most of the juicy news were contributed by Karen, who looked abit like the Korean lady appearing in the CNN morning news (dunno what's her name). But her presence does made the evening more "gossipy". Oh, and all thanks to her 4.1 megapixel digital cam that she brought along. All of us were like having an expedited photo-shooting session with a total of 31 pics in 10-15mins. It felt as if we're gonna leave for home soon, but in fact we had just finished ordering our drinks at TCC. Wonder what's the rush about... hahaha~

Well, these friends whom I had known for 6 years were much younger than me - 7yrs difference in age, but the gap did not stretched us apart. Ahem~ anyone mentioning about eternal youth? Anyway, it's been a long time since all of us gathered... erm... 3yrs maybe? Although occasionally I did bumped into one or two, we rarely have the time to chat.

This pic was taken because I had some problem trying to pull up the metal tea filter device from the cap since I was supposed to use it to mix the tea leaves-cum-rose buds with the water evenly (by pulling and pushing it down). Struggled for about 5mins and finally had to get help from the waitress... end up she said had to use more strength to pull. Ya rite, use more strength... but I scared the teapot will topple lor~ Hmm, thanks for the new-age teapots nowadays which were supposed to be more user-friendly.

An Ironic Belief

Today was my dad's 2nd year Death Anniversary according to the Lunar Calendar at that time - 25th October 04. But I could only remember the standard calendar date - 6th December 04.

Went to offer our prayers to him with my mum at the Bright Hill Temple yesterday morning. As usual, we did not know the standard procedures for the placement of the food and the "foreign currencies" since we're not really into those religious stuff, but there was this one and only staff who was always there to offer his help. Well, he taught me the way, but most prob I will forget the next time I visit again - he had taught me before and well, it got filtered out somehow (small brains cant store too much memory lah).

Sumtimes I wonder... had my dad got reincarnated? Cos if he did, who are we actually offering the stuff to? I mean, alot of people are still offering their prayers to their late loved ones or even ancesters who had passed on for so long, and don't they want the souls to move on with their after-life? According to the religious studies, it was mentioned that those who had done good in their current life would get to reborn to another life after their death, and it was supposed to be a good thing - better than roaming around aimlessly.

So, isn't it an irony that on one hand we want the souls to get reincarnated but on the other hand, we're still praying to them? But come to think of it, it also contributes to the economy since there's this demand and supply thing for the prayer items in the market... and it is going to last as long as people believe that the "recipients" are there to receive the offerings.

The Primary Ones

Recently I heard some funny incidents encountered by my friend and her friend who were having their NIE attachment in a Primary School in Yishun area. The students are all in Primary 1 classes... and Teacher refer to either one of the two ladies mentioned above.

Incident #1

Little Shy Girl (in a soft tone): Teacher, today is XXX (boy in same class) birthday. I want to give this present to him.

Teacher: Oh it's his birthday today? (Turns to the class) Ok class, today is XXX's birthday, so let's sing him a birthday song!

(After the song ended.... the Little Shy Girl wanted to pass the present to the birthday boy. Present = a small keychain in the design of a crab)

Birthday Boy: I dowan (and Teacher tried to persuade the boy to accept)

Birthday Boy: I dowan (at this time Teacher noticed the girl has the "want-to-cry" look and finally manage to pass the keychain to the boy)

Teacher: Ok XXX, now what should you say? (Hoping he would say thank you)

Birthday Boy: I dowan (Teacher almost fainted~)

(Some boys started to act cool since young~)

Incident #2

Teacher was marking the students' spelling books at her table in the class, and a boy went up to her...

Boy: Teacher, I want to draw a card for my mother. Can I borrow your pencil?

Teacher: Erm... ok (at the same time wondering why the boy doesn't want to use his own pencil)

(After handing over the typical yellow and black stripes 2B pencil to the boy, the boy passed the pencil back to the Teacher)

Boy: Teacher, can I borrow your mechanical pencil?

(The result of kids living in the 21st Century - they have higher needs)

(After using the mechanical pencil, the boy went up to the teacher)

Boy: Teacher, can you give me the mechanical pencil please?

Teacher: (almost fainted) No no... this is mine. I cannot give you~

(Kids are so "demanding" nowadays...)

Incident #3

My friend had to observe how other full-time teachers teach their class, and so she had to sit at the back of the classroom behind the students. One day she arrived early and she was sitting at her seat with a handful of students in the class. Suddenly a small girl from another class came into the classroom and handed over a folded note to her.

Small Girl: Miss See, give you! (then she ran off)

My friend opened the note and guess what the contents were -->> "I Love You"

(Some kids are so daring in expressing their likings...)

Life Is Unpredictable~

It is so true that Life is always so unpredictable. Things juz happened without a warning and the next moment, you have to recover from the shock and learn to deal with it.

Recently I got to know that my friend, Raven (it's her nick) was warded in the hospital's MICU and her condition was quite bad. Her other friend got my number and sms me about the news... I was shocked and of cos at the same time felt sad that I had not been able to find time to meet up with her earlier, although she did asked for a short gathering with Elaine (another friend) if we're free. Kinda feel regretful now~

Went to visit her and it saddened me further to see her lying on the bed with the lung support system connected to her mouth. She couldn't respond to us but it was a relief that she could open her eyes and acknowledge our presence. Previously she was warded due to some initial problems with her heart and this time she suddenly fainted while she was at Tampines Mall with her friend. I managed to inform all our other friends, who in turn inform the others... all thanks to the technology nowadays - sms.

What we can do now is to pray for her recovery~ and hope everything will be fine.

Life Is Short, Play Hard

Live Each Day As If It Was Your Last, And You'll Find Each Day Worth Living For

7 Days Reign

Finally I had completed my 7 days reign from 17 Nov to 30 Nov 06. It's really tough having to manage two supervisors' job at one time (or 7 times for me), but I had learnt alot during this short (but long to me) period. Nevertheless it gave me the opportunity to have a feel of what my future would bring...

However, without the support from my team guys, I wouldn't have passed through the test. I would like to thank the following persons:

1. Lawrence - for giving me that last min "return" which end up having my name mentioned in the panel... hehe no lah, actually I would like to comment you on your great service rendered at the counter on 25 Nov 06. Well done!! Keep it up!!


2. Kow - for owing POIs but I really appreciate your attendence cos it meant alot to the team. Congrats for being the 1st in Dec "10-4" list!!


3. Shah - for bringing up the "Why you scold my mother" issue and letting everyone know that we MUST look out for each other always.


4. Hisham - for giving me the assurance that things are well taken care off with your presence and I dun need to worry this and that. Congrats for being 2nd in Dec "10-4" list!!


5. Hairul - for lightening my load on 29 Nov 06, but required me to nag and nag so many times for a few tasks left undone. And still dare to write "On time, on target, holiday mood liao lor" on my paper...pls note that your "on" should be written as "own" k?


6. Zul - for helping out with the returns in Ong's absence, in addition to your other duties. Not forgetting the laughter whenever I talked to you (cos all are nonsense *haha*).


7. Kamaro - for changing your handphone (again) to BenQ Siemens during this period, which I should feel honoured since you had tahan for so long~


8. Eugene - for also helping out with the returns in Ong's absence, and showing the initiative in submitting the POIs. I can see that you had slowly blended into the outside work and soon you would be shouting at them~ but dun follow your FTO's style on that - he's a babarian.


9. Hoong Ta - for having me to remind you to write down the needful and do CXR after that, which made me realised that you still need more attention from us. Please dun accidentally follow the wrong path. The team needs you wor~


10. Weibin - omg... how can I left out my 1st baby in the list? Haha accidentally forgot to include him in the thank-you list when I post, but now (5/12/06) remembered liao, guess it's becos he had not gave me any headaches for the past few days and he had been a good boy. Okay, so I have to give him a big thanks for showing up in the Team since... he's well-known for his "weak constitution"~ hehe

Always remember that all of us are equally important in the team and we need each other to make things work. Our team had always been the best in team spirit and cohesiveness, so dun loosen that up. Kudos to Bravo!!