I'm back from the sabbatical! Okay, bedek je. The stay at the alma mater was a blast and I had a swinging good time, literally. Firstly, it felt good to be back, walking down the corridors and past the staff room. I felt 16 all over again. heh. The teachers (some) and I were reunited and then they started asking me how my results were and our conversation soon revolved around me and my plans. But it was soon time to settle down, or so I thought. We played floorball instead. Wooohoooooooo. Okay, it's not like I didn't play floorball or touch the floorball stick in Millennia. It's just different when you play floorball with assumptionites, in the school hall, on the worn-out wooden floor of Assumption English School. Notwithstanding my lack of competence and fitness, I was raring to go. We played till the wee hours of the morning. Best lah.

I had fun, most of the times (when I'm awake). And then I saw Nurin, Mrs Norman's daughter. She was so small and pink the last time I saw her and now she's 4, looking so pretty. And I must say baby Afiq, the little brother, is cuteness personified. His arms and legs are so full of flesh, I just want to bite him. hur hur. I kid you. I caused no harm to the the baby.

The first half of the 2nd day was a tad dreary for me with all the lethargy and fatigue from the previous night kicking in. I forced myself to walk around though. Ended up accompanying Conan, a junior, taking snapshots of everything. We got hungry and didn't feel like camp food so we took a bus down to bp plaza for lunch and other miscellaneous activities like shopping for cup noodles, sweets and lighter (for the campfire which had no fire eventually). The wet weather programme for campfire was uber rad and I had crazy fun. I was completely impressed. The planners and performance knocked me off my feet. But right, I still feel that it would have been better still if they had sung the traditional campfire songs. tsk. But nevermind lah kan.

After campfire saw us in the hall again for a floorball match; the teachers and me (plus a few other ex students) vs the planners. We were soooo cool lah because we were on a winning streak and we were unstoppable. hur hur. Credit goes to my wonderful compadres Edwin, Damien (just to name a few) and of course Miss Lee, Miss Iza, Mr Hisham, Mr Michael and Mr TOK! Yes, Mr Tok came back. wooooohooooooo. More importantly, I scored a goal. Hmmm, I sucked at floorball during pe in millennia but I played like a pro lah for that 2 nights. haha. okay, Ain macam-macam only.

I shall not talk about break camp because I am not particularly good with goodbyes. In any case, a huge thanks from the bottom of my heart to the AES family who've made me feel so comfortable during my stay. Next year, you all buy strawberry strudel and flavoured tea for me, okay?? And maybe canadian pizza. hur hur. Shameless, this Ain is.

And then it was back to work on Monday. I turned up late because I had to submit an essay for some scholarship thing. I couldn't do it the night before because we went to changi beach after the camp. We were all there supposedly to fish but I ended up dozing off on the mat. But that is not the point. The thing is, I reached work during the peak hour and the shop was ultra-crowded. I quickly settled down and took over at the cashier. In all that lunchtime madness, with me still in a daze, a customer came up to me and looking for a particular movie title. I helped her searched at the range but it wasn't there. So I told her that it could have been rented out already. And then I went elsewhere to help another customer. I came back to the counter and there she was saying "it's right here (at the counter)". And there I was showing remorse, "Sorry, I didn't know it was there." Aku baru sampai kerja lah siak. How was I to know if it has been returned. Am I to be held responsible for every single rental item coming in and out of the shop, every second of the day? And she said "you could have at least told me. are you having a bad day or what?" waaaahhhh. She rolled her eyes at me lah sehh. The gall.

Sesungguhnya, aku tak bersalah. But me being me, tears started streaming down my face which was so red, fuming with anger and at the same time consumed in bewilderment. She even asked my supervisor for HQ's number to feedback on how I serve customers. Apparently, she has observed me serving other customers. She claimed that while I was all smiles to caucasian customers, chinese customers wasn't greeted with such warmth. Seriously, where the fuck did that come from? I don't care if I get terminated for talking about work matters here. On what grounds is she accusing me of giving differential treatment? Just because she saw me smile to caucasian customers but not chinese customers? For one thing, I treat all my customers equally. Almost all. I'm just more chatty with the regular customers with whom I can engage in a conversation. I definitely do not smile less to chinese customers. In fact, most of the customers whom I can click with instantly are chinese. What she said about me, is a sweeping statement.

So, we have decided that if she comes back to the shop, I'll be off to do something other than cashier. She has done nothing but to put us both in an awkward position.

I've seen people in the service industry giving differential treatment to customers. But case in point above is definitely not an illustration of biasness or even racism. But do think about it. Sometimes, some people just ask for it. (No, I'm not referring to the customer mentioned earlier) Customers can be so demanding and unreasonable beyond belief sometimes and to err is human. Therefore, the servant may sometimes lose his/her cool. Although he/she may not express it openly or entirely, his/her mannerisms and speech may portray the hot-headedness within and hence, triggering the i-want-to-complain mode in the customer.

So, after you've lodged a complaint, what is it that you achieve? A sense of satisfaction derived from someone losing his/her rice bowl, someone who may need the job to pay tuition fees or medical fees for a sick parent/sibling? There is no humanity left in mankind. What is to become of us in this dog-eat-dog era? Okay, so dramatic.

I need to sleep lah dammit. Soccer in a bit. I'm going to hit the sack, wake up at 3.55 and then go back to sleep after subuh. And that leaves me with 2 hours of sleep before I get up, shower and get ready for work. They better win! Otherwise, I'll slash and burn whoever gets in my path. raaaaaaaaaaawrrrr.

Why is that KAP doesn't sell milkshake? Why do only certain outlets sell milkshake? For the love of life, have every single outlet sell milkshake, dammit. And why are only certain outlets opened 24hours? Why not all?! whyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Not enough cool people in bukit panjang who're insomniacs to patronise a 24-hour outlet issit???

Okay, I'm in dire need of some shut eye.

ps: nana, you have cute and good-looking guy friends. it's just too bad they're all ummm, at least 3 years my junior. hur hur.