Charles the Technician

Happened to come across this bloke's blog and it just reminded me of my days working in an Internet Cafe in London.

The premise of this blog is that people are stupid, especially those who are ignorant about computers. He has an Idiot of the Week and an Idiot of the Month award, which I find highly amusing and something that I definitely can relate to.

I've worked part time in many places before, but the one and only place where there was a barrage of idiots every day was that internet cafe. I just don't understand why, it's as if these people just left their brains at home.

Also, a lot of them would come up to me and start babbling away in Spanish and I look at them and think, What are the odds that this Chinese girl in London speaks or understands Spanish??

There are so many stories to tell, far too many to be written in one post. But one memorable case was this guy who came in. He was in his mid thirties maybe and he wanted to send an email.

"Ok, go ahead."

"Can you send it for me?"

"Mm, do you have an email address? Because I'm not allowed to use the company email or my own email to send out customer emails."

"I don't have an email address. I don't need one. I just want to send an email. I don't need an email address to do that."

"Em, yes you do. You need an email address to send an email. You can't just send it out like that."

"No, no you don't understand. I just want to send an email out, I don't need an email address to send an email. I don't want to go through the hassle of registering for an email address and everything."

And so we went on like this for a few minutes, until I gave up and told him to try sending an email out on his own.

About 10 minutes later, he came back to the counter and said, "OK, I'm not sure how to do this, can you help me with this?"

"Well, you need to sign up for an email address then."

"Yeah, alright, sure."

Always listen to the person who works there, there is a reason why they're there.

Money, money, money

I recently found out that one of my best mates is the son of a very rich businessman. Let's say his father owns perhaps ten percent of all property in Malaysia. Weirdly enough, I never suspected it; he seemed the most down to earth and friendly perso I have ever met in my life. But a few days back when I visited his home, the vastness and decadence in his house just blew my mind away.

It was a massive house, with a swimming people, a lift, 10 rooms, 2 elegant dining rooms which were bigger than my entire house, etc. you get the gist. Somehow, it felt so unnatural to me. Someone who has never lived with even a maid to clean up after her (well, if you discount my mom) stepping into this castle where there are more maids than there are people living there.

All this decadence was going to waste; they were hardly at home and nobody was really using all those rooms anyway. It just felt extremely wasteful, what about all the poor, starving dying children in the world? To my friend, the thought has never crossed his mind. He had been brought up this way, with all the material goods in the world that money can buy. Money was never an issue for him It has never occured to him that what was spare change to him makes the distinction between life and death for a poverty stricken person.

Alas, I am not in a position to judge, because I do not have that amount of wealth. Yes, I do give to charity, but only 7 pounds a month. I wonder, if I were making millions per year, would I give a million pounds away every year? It is a tough call I guess, what about you? Would you live in decadence and ignore the plight of the poor or would you give it all away?

A Silent Revolution

Everyone's talking about the 'Saffron Revolution'. This is just my quick tribute to them.

To be perfectly honest, I did not understand the full gravity of the situation until recently. I admit that there is still to be a lot more to learn but sadly, the amount of news (unbiased, that is) actually managing to escape out of the country is pitifully small.

It is pathetic that Malaysia, as a neighbouring country and fellow ASEAN member had not been able to pitch in to help more. Many more countries face similar plights; economic sanctions can't be carried out because they harm the public more than the ruling economic junta. China and India, Burma's main trade partners have so far refused to meddle with the situation, prefering a noninterference policy.

Nonetheless, the images we see on the news of the 'Saffron Army' peacefully marching down the streets in silent protest are a breath of fresh air. We have been desensitized by years of terrorism; IRA, Al Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyaah, etc. and now to see people taking up political action with quiet, peaceful marching down the street is indeed an eye-opener. It is certainly more powerful a message than a car bomb.

Many a friend growing up in Northern Ireland in Derry and Belfast tell me about being accustomed to the sights of car bombs and amputees in their neighbourhood. It was just a part of growing up and it was never out of place. When they moved out of their hometowns, they were shocked to discover that nobody carried guns and car bombs were not the norm.

It is unfortunate that a whole generation had grown up without actually knowing any better; they have not lived a life of peace. Many countries suffer this fate, Afghanistan amongst others. There are whole generations of people who have not known peace.

Hence, it is indeed very, very encouraging to see that when there are protestors in Burma, instead of resorting to violence, they have opted for a peaceful revolution. Unfortunately, the military junta would most likely not see it this way.

As reported by the BBC, the military has bought thousands of saffron robes and ordered some army personnel to shave their heads. They wanted the soldiers to infiltrate the monks and act as agent provocateurs, in effect, providing just cause for violent and military action against the defenseless and peaceful monks.

The use of such evil tactics are obviously not below such a regime. They have resorted to such underhanded methods in order to get what they wanted. Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to leave the country to visit her husband's deathbed in 1999 but it was clear that she would never be allowed to re-enter the country. Likewise, her husband was not granted an entry permit. She has not been able to see her family for many many years.

Let's just hope, for the sake of Burma, and its citizens, that this time, luck will be on her side.

KTM: An exercise in patience

I'm currently interning at a bank, and have been travelling to work every morning via the KTM. Now, let me tell you, this deserves a pat on the back. Nobody else deserves this more than us poor people who are forced to a life of misery on the commute to and fro work.

I wake up early every morning at half six to catch the 7.06am Express Train (which incidently have been moved back to 6.38am due to Ramadan) which only stops at a few stations like Nilai, Serdang and other important stops. It skips the superfluous stops like Tiroi and Salak Selatan. How many people use these stops anyway?

As I have lived in London for the past two years, I am used to a centralised train system. You only need one ticket or Oyster as their Touch and Go is called. It allows you to travel anywhere on the train station using this system and you don't have to get out of a station and pay for a new ticket to change lines, unlike here. I was extremely annoyed when I had to get out of Masjid Jamek, walk under the pouring rain, then PAY for another ticket to Bangsar.

But I digress, my main gripe is about the KTM. The first day I took the KTM to work, I was well late because the train just stopped. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the engine. Then, the driver instructed everyone to get off the train, walk on the tracks and climb onto another train. I was in complete shock; it was too early in the morning for me to be thinking coherently and now I have to climb off the train in a skirt, walk on the tracks and climb onto another train?? What an inauspicious start.

A few days later, when I was on my way home from work, a friend and I were sitting on the train, happily chatting away when suddenly the whole train started jerking violently. We all looked at each other in panic, what on earth was going on? The train started tilting to its side and it was at this moment that I burst into laughter.

The situation was just far too comical for me to handle; tears streamed down my face as I laughed even harder. All the other commuters were looking at me strange but that just provoked even deeper chuckles. It seemed too ironic - how can the KTM fail me again within the span of 72 hours? What sort of safety record do they hold? Or is it just that I have the worst luck with trains?

Luckily, the derailment wasn't too serious. Yet again, we were instructed to climb off the train, walk on the tracks and get onto another train. This time, I jumped on and off expertly, eliciting the surprised cries of the KTM workers,

"Wah, ni expert!"

"Yeahlah, tiap-tiap hari train henti, apa nak buat? Kenalah expert."

A Foreign Malaysian

Firstly, a little background about moi. I am 22 years old, left Malaysia to study in London. I refused to come home after my first year, and after two long years, finally decided to make the trek back home. Why now, you may well ask, just because the weather in London this year was shit. We only had two weeks of summer there this time around. Bleargh.

Well, after an incredibly long journey home (20 hours to be exact), I finally reached KLIA. And lo, and behold, what a beautiful sight greeted me - our luggage was stuck in the machine. It took up to an hour for the baggage handlers to get our bags out. And then it occurred to me, "Welcome home".