Ops... I lodged a complaint again!

To: customerservice@kfc.com.my
From: arenaKu@yahoo.com
Subject: Complaint


Good morning.

I would like to draw your attention to my unpleasant visit to your outlet @Stadium Bolasepak Cheras last Thursday. I excitedly placed an order for 3 sets of KFC Zinger Tower, after looking at those small posters that were all over the place, sit nicely on the tables, or hanging happily on the ceiling. To my surprise, the sweet girl at the counter squashed my excitement by announcing that "Zinger Tower tiada sebab bun takde!"

Oh, maybe you should bring down all those small posters, and stop pretending and stop giving false hope to your customers.

I ordered snack plate instead. When I was about to make payment, the girl surprised me one more time, "Bun dah habis, jadi kami bagi diskaun untuk snack plate abang."

Oh my... what was the store manager doing? This is simply a bad stock management planning. How can you do not have "your bread and butter" in stock?

At the background, the store manager in-charge, a lady stood there with a sour
face.

Since I am not a person who likes to make a "scene", I quickly paid and settled down at the corner of the outlet to enjoy my meal, after a visit to the nearby hospital. Out of habit, I walked to the sink to wash my hand. And then was when I found out the biggest shock of the day.

What? They placed bottles of chili sauce at the bottom of the sink? Is this hygenic? Is this the industry's practice? I do not recall seeing anything like this at other fast food restaurants.

Attached picture is for your viewing and action, please.

Hopefully, my next visit would be a pleasant one. Otherwise, my family, friends and I would
have to say "Goodbye" then.

Thank you.

- me -

Taman Shamelin Perkasa

Note: At least the Customer Service of KFC took only 2 hours to acknowledge receipt of my complaint. Their reply is as follows:


To: arenaKu@yahoo.com
From: customerservice@kfc.com.my
Subject: RE: Complaint


Greetings from KFC Customer Service!

Thank you for your kind feedback. We will look into the said matter and get back to you as soon as possible.

Till, then we bid you a pleasant day and God bless!

How fast time flies!

He does not know me. But no worry, I am not a stalker.

I used to buy breakfast from his mother's food stall because Makcik Sukat, a nickname given by her customers of her habit to ration her 'products', cooked tastier food compared to other food stalls.

There he was, in school uniform. But that was three or four years ago.

Now, he's grown up already. And he smokes!

How fast time flies indeed.

Happy birthday, boss!

Today is Encik Kamari's birthday. The Staff Club has requested Norah to get a birthday cake from Secret Recipe. But since I've had a plan to go to Tesco, I volunteered to buy the cake instead. I bought a 2kg chocolate indulgence. "Sedaplah kek ni. Pandai u pilih!", said Norah. Happy birthday, Pengarah. All the best in your undertakings. May Allh bless you with rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin.

The Everest Enthusiasts

I admire them. They've climbed the Island Peak in November 2009, and now their new target is none other than THE Mount Everest.

Ally, the free hair lady, is also in a boot camp that I saw them training this morning at the Padang Merbok. With her, were another colleague, Zoey. Shamseer Sindhu was there too!

The other two in the above picture are Adibah and Harizal. Harizal and I were helping each other in our applications for postgraduate scholarship back in 2007. There were another two friends of us applying as well, but unfortunately one of them was unsuccessful. Jangan putus asa tau!

Party by the Pool

Before you get too excited, it was (yeap, the party was held last Friday!) not a typical party that u've saw on TV or in the movies. It supposed to be a thanksgiving party, well not the typical American thanksgiving party, but a simple majlis kesyukuran which happened to be held at the swimming pool area of my place. And no dress code or specific theme for the said party.

The event was co-organised by Azzril, Ajoi and myself and each one of us was allocated with 15 guests each. Taken into consideration that this makan-makan was to be held after office hour on week day, I've shortlisted 15 of my close friends who I think could make it to the party. Alhamdulillah, all my invited guests had turned up at the party while Azzril was short of three guests and Ajoi's two.

Although it was raining a bit at the begining of the party, alhamdulillah it did not stop the invitees to come and get together with friends. And thank God, the majlis went smoothly and without any mishaps (not that we've anticipated any!).

And I took the opportunity to throw a surprise birthday celebration for Konda and Azzril. Walaupun Hafez agak kurang setuju pada permulaannya, tapi aku rasa alang-alang kawan-kawan rapat Azzril ada pada masa itu, baik kita ambil kesempatan yang ada. I'm so sorry Hafez if that has disrupted any of your in-coming plans.

Ramai yang tanya tentang objektif parti ini. Aku pun tak tahu macam mana nak jawap. Apa-apa pun, cuba tanyakan Azzril ataupun Ajoi. Dah nama pun thanksgiving, pastinya untuk mensyukuri rezeki yang ada.

As always, I've learned a valuable lesson from this event. It seems that some of my friends (althought they were not specifically in my list of invitees per se), have the habit of do not bother to confirm their attendance. Or that concept is too alien for them? Bukan apa, kalau mereka mengesahkan ketidakhadiran terlebih awal, sekurang-kurangnya pihak penganjur boleh memajukan jemputan kepada orang lain.

Bak kata Izal, lain padang lainlah belalang.

Anyhow, on behalf of Azzril, Ajoi and myself, thank you very much for coming, friends. We really appreciate it. Terima kasih daun keladi kepada yang membantu, terutamanya Ajim dan Ade.

Jangan serik semua. Kalau ada umur yang panjang, boleh kita bermajlis kesyukuran lagi!

Goodbye 2009, Welcome 2010

I know this blog has not been updated for more than a month. Sorry, I'm really, really sorry.

Busy? Part of it. One of the reasons is because I don't have access to the Internet at my home sweet home. Why? You may call me stingy if you want, but I really think it's not worthwhile to pay at least RM78 for a broadband service of 1.5MBps speed (or is it 3MBps now?)! Jauh betul bezanya dengan apa yang aku guna di Manchester dulu.

I don't want to nag too much on that. Let us get down to business. My take on 2009 or should I write about the decade that will leave us in a couple of hours from now? An account of a decade? Hmmm... read magazines instead! Hehehe...

Although there is no big milestones for 2009, but I still want to consider it as a good year for me. And a not too bad year for the economy. Because many scholars had predicted for a much worse recession in 2009, following the slowdown in 2008. But it turned out that Allah know best. While the Malaysian economy had shrunk, (please... this is only my personal account and don't take it seriously and this view takes into account the first 3 quarters of 2009 only) the impact, alhamdulillah has not been that damaging, at least to my standard of living. Hehehe... poyo!

First, I would like to thank Allah for the more rezekis that I've received in this year as compared to previous years. And I hope I had paid out sufficient zakat to cleanse my wealth. Also, I did not suffer any serious illness this year. Except for a slightly severe sore throat. Even that, it was only once.

Second, I received more new family members (brother-in law and baby cousins and anak buahs) and new friends this year too. And they bring along more colours into my life and I'm so thankful for that. Syukur juga di atas kurniaan ahli-ahli keluarga yang sihat dan bahagia.

Third, despite the unfavourable economic climate, alhamdulillah, I still managed to do a couple of trips to local destination as well as overseas - Kuching, Langkawi Island, Bandung, Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu, Manila, Perhentian Island, Endau-Rompin State Park, Pangkor Island and Perlis.

Fourth, I was awarded with several accolades to recognise my small contributions either in work-related jobs or community services. Thank you very much to those who had nominated me and I really appreciate it.

Last but not least, this is my second year of freedom from credit card debt. My only obligations are housing and car financing. No personal financing and alhamdulillah, an increased savings for rainy days, insya-Allah. Harap-harap, rezeki berterusan murah hendaknya. Aamin.

Oh, sebelum lupa... biarpun aku belum temui kebahagiaan yang nyata, tapi syukur juga kerana aku dapat juga kecapi bahagia, biarpun sekumit. Thank you, thank you very much for coming into my life.

Before I stop, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a blessed year ahead and may Allah grant us with more rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin.

And I would like to thank my sister, Lia for being a dear and supportive sister and congratulations for receiving a good man into your life.

Jutaan terima kasih buat famili, kawan-kawan dan pembaca graha residenKu. Insya-Allah, will try my best to be a better son, brother, friend and blogger.

Muaaahhh!!!

Aidil Adha, Melaka dan London

Hari Raya Qorban kali ini berlainan daripada yang sebelum ini.

Mungkin tak beza mana untuk keluarga aku. Except that this is the first time Mus (my brother in-law) celebrates Aidil Adha with us as a family. Also, this year Nek Chu celebrates raya without any of her children. Only her nephews and nieces, and of course cucu-cucu saudara. I know she feels sad, but she hides it quite well.

Raya ini juga, menelanjangkan dua lagi sifat keluarga di sebelah ayah aku.

"Sedihlah Kak Midah tak balik."

"Kenapa sedih?" asked my mother.

"Yelah, anak-anak Ani, dua-dua tu dia balik. Dua-dua anak si Enon pun dia balik. Anak Akak, dua-dua dia tak balik."

"Aku tak kesah. Asalkan dia, laki bini, anak beranak sihat wal'afiat, aku tumpang gembira. Kalau diorang nak balik, RM10,000 pun belum tentu cukup. Tiket lagi, wang belanja lagi, nak belanja korang makan ikan bakar lagi."

Mak saudara aku terdiam!

That's what I admire about my beloved mother. She sees the positive side of everything. Always! I hope I could emulate this trait of her. And she knows how to respond to such remark, intelligently.

Another ugly trait of my other aunt was due to ribbon. Yeap, betul tu reben. Aku pun malas nak ulas panjang. Tapi memang sejak dulu lagi, dia ni memang tak boleh tengok orang lain lebih. Aku pun dah alah dengan perangainya.

Aku pun nasihat adik-adik aku, "Udahlah... beli sahaja reben baru. Lagipun reben tu bukan milik kita pun, biarpun empunya sudah 'wakaf'kan lebihan reben itu kepada kita. Mungkin dia nak gunakan barang percuma itu untuk majlis perkahwinan anak dia, setahun dua lagi."

Sama-samalah kita menghayati kisah korban Nabi Ibrahim dan Nabi Ismail. May Allah bless us with more rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin.

Selamat menyambut hari raya aidil adha.