After-office Work...

Last Saturday, I incidently brought along a catalogue to our monthly colloquium (yep! we do have those kind of small conference thing every last Saturday each month..) At the end of the session, my frens ordered several household items. Today lunch hour, I went to the stockist to get the items.. Banyak jugaklah, as I don't have to buy anything for myself to get at least few Redemption Coupons free.. hehehe.. Memang tak perasan, because usually I'm the one yg beli for myself.. Before this, I never show anyone any catalogue, thinking that there are many other 'senior' distributor in this office.



Just imagine if I do this every month and sit with different people during each session. My sales can go up just doing that! Hehehe.. Well, it's the quality that usually keep them coming back for more.. I don't have much time to spare for 'additional-after-office' work but MLM is the in-thing nowadays. Last few years, I was a loyal customer of a cosmetic brand from Switzerland.. I don't wear much make-up but I'm conscious on facial care and hygiene.. the fact that I have to go to Glenmarie to get new stock has made me a lazy distributor (I even lazy to promote it.. hehe). When my colleague introduced me to chemical-free products made from the famous Lingzhi (ganoderma) I was deeply attached to it. Three months into the business, I can see some improvement in our life. My baby, especially, has no more rashes.. and less cold after I add some Lingzhi powder inside her porridge, it's safe for baby too.. (last time she must-get at least one cold per month.. banyak gem kat nursery.. and it took longer to hilang, kesian baby). While my husband and I have more energy to manage the house and caring for an energetic baby..



Even though I can't make more money through it at the moment, mainly because I don't have extra time, I do believe that this one, I will stay for a very very long time. I'll even consider to do it full time, if, my employer sack me to cut their Opex.. hehehehe..

Work...

Yesterday, my HR manager called and asked me to 'ganti tempat orang' for a course I've been running from. Gosh! She called me just to filled in the gap and worse, half an hour before the course started.. Sungguh tak patut! I just started eating my breakfast after an hour-long meeting. So, I gave her tons of reasons why I could not attend it.. She replied, "Oh, your boss give you a job ke?"... Well, that's why I'm here. Kalau tak, baik cuti jer.. Very HR-ly mannered. My work seems to be more and more each day. I just hope no more job coming in after this. Sometimes, I think that whenever I plan a long holiday, my work seems to be more each day..



I'm tired of chasing people to do things that they should do whenever a customer (like me!) need them to do. I'm done with politeness. Time running out. And it is raining cats and dogs outside!

Sleepy...

For the past few days, I did not get much sleep eventhough it was weekend. I'm having headache with sleepy eyes sitting in my office blogging.. can't do much work with my eyelids tend to close whenever I try to work more than 15 minutes on the assignment. Lucky I got a laptop to work with. You can never work with tired eyes on a desktop. I want to get an MC this morning but thinking I have to take care of Nabilah alone at home, I better go to work.



I'm halfway through the work instructions. Hope to finish it by this evening. Planning to go back at 5 p.m. today.. well, 5 p.m. go down to pray and sleep a little.. 5.30 pick baby up at the nursery and go home. She better sleeps at 7.30 tonight because mommy is damn tired!

Efficiency..

My work seems to be more difficult each day. Yesterday, a client urged us to send back his equipment by afternoon when we just had chance to inspect the problem at 10 a.m. I don't know what this damn virus called, but it keeps my machine shutdown every 15 minutes. Frustrating, I chase my IT people, who seems to be relaxing in the office, to clean up the mess. Sampai ke petang pun tak siap lagi.. there goes efficiency in this office!



I have two important matters to handle within the next few days; (1) deliver my client computer back in working condition and (2) complete the working instructions by Sunday or else, my boss will 'membebel' again as he did on Deepavali Eve. Sigh!



Lucky I have 2 men honestly working on the No.1 .. hope everything will went well. Must go back to No.2 soonest possible.

Decision...

My friend sent me a story of a Chinese guy who wanted to divorce her wife of 10 years for a young girl in the office. The wife planned their divorce wisely that at the end she won her husband’s heart again just by asking him to carry her on his arms every day for a month before the divorce. He realized that it was not that he did not love her anymore, but they lack intimacy after years of marriage.

Lesson learnt: Do not forget the ‘details’ of your marriage. Sometimes little things can make big difference.

It is just timely that this story came into my inbox. I have been having bad dreams every other night on something similar. Sometimes past hurts can surface unexpectedly. I have been betrayed twice. The first one was not that bad but the second one really hurt. Sometimes I do wonder what if I took the other decision on that day. Will my life be as what it is now? Will my life be better than what I have now? Will I be happier than I am now? I keep reminding myself that all have been set, takdir Allah, no one can challenge it.

Until now, I still pray that I've made a correct decision. I know myself; my hurt can heal as time goes by. If it is meant to be mine, it will eventually. After all, this is a life that I’ve chosen.

Results..

Last few weeks were hectic for me and my husband.. He was worried sick with his TOEFL result coming out this week. Well, I do share his anxiousness for the result but somehow totally forgotten about this during Raya. This morning, I called him and alhamdulillah, he got 2.67.. not bad, considering he only managed to study 2 days, 1 night before the exam, with Nabilah's around. He passed JPA requirement for US univ application of 2.47. I wanted to sit for the exam too, but the fee is too expensive.. maybe later. I can imagine he's smilling all day just because of this... just like when he passed IELTS exam last month. Couldn't forget his Mr. Bean act.. hahaha!



Side note: Reserved a baby cot for our KK visit. Hotel surroundings looks exotic.. will write about it next time.

Car seat..

My daughter found a new interest.. sitting in her new car seat :o) and I am a happy mother! Yesterday was chaotic as she just learning to adapt to her new seat. She was a bit terrified by her new view and position, I guess.



So, today I shorten the seat belt and she sat comfortably on it. She didn't want any toys, just her 'emem' (We called Nabilah's pacifier 'emem' because that is what she utter or yell when she wants it...) and I had a smooth journey to work.



Unfortunately, when we reached her nursery, she hold onto me tightly and won't go to her care-taker. It is a bit odd as she never failed to just let me or her father go when she sees 'the' school. Even when I want to take her out from 'the seat', she was reluctant. I think she found the journey entertaining since now she can see what's going on in front of her.. esp the cars, motorcycles, lorries, trees etc..



Babies are fast learners.. I don't know about others, but mine is :o)

i-account saga...

Few days before Raya, I received an email from Maybank Customer Service saying that my complaint has been directed to the related department. Emm, at least someone has read my writing on the incident. I've written the complaint through Maybank2u.com feedback form. To my surprise, on Deepavali Eve, I received a call from Maybank Bandar Baru Bangi Branch Manager apologising for the incident. He, first, assumed that we did not understand their policies but after I've explained what had happened on that day, he admitted that it is 'their' fault. He even mentioned that his staff was not helping us by giving incomplete information regarding the account. I did not care much of the technical part. What I care most was the apologising part. This manager was kind enough to understand us, has a good manner and apologised for our difficult situation.



My husband decided that we will continue the account. Me? Well, deep inside, I want to close it but since the husband had his final say, I'll follow. Hopefully no more chaos after this. Case closed.



p/s: Thinking of opening ASB for Nabilah early next year.. at other place.

Raya...

First day back in office! After nearly 2 weeks cuti Raya, I’m back to work. This morning, Nabilah woke up late as usual. I’ve to drag her to eat and change her clothes. Today, she sat on her new car seat. Mengamuk sakan! First time, can be excused.. stopped 2 times, before toll plaza and on the highway. Scolded her once, she cried and then everything went well.. kesian tengok dia nangis, but mommy has to do what mommy has to do.. hehe...

This raya was wonderful but more tiring compared to other years. First, because it is our first Hari Raya with Nabilah, and her first time raya too. Second, my sister gave birth to a baby boy.. yay! Another nephew. I’ve always like babies, boy or girl doesn’t matter.. they are soooo cute. My sister’s son loves to eat. Envy her quite a bit because Nabilah stopped breastfeeding after 3 months. I hope I can breast feed my next baby up to 2 years. Insyaallah.. So, this raya I’ve become Mak’s helper.. but not on preparing dishes because I was too busy handling my own daughter. I did most of dish washing and help here and there in the kitchen. I’ve helped Ayah to arrange kuih raya.. most of them I bought for Mak.. hehe.. Nabilah was so tight up with her routine every day.. 6.30 she woke up to ayam berkokok.. her favourite sound.. she crawled to her dad and asked to be picked up to see her ayam jantan. 7 o’clock, I fed her while she watch her ayam berkokok or do whatever-lah. She enjoyed it every minute. Almost 9 o’clock, she will be sleepy and asked for her morning nap. And I have to take a nap with her too.. if not, she will only sleep for half an hour. So, gone my one and a half hour to help Mak. 10.30 her lunch time, bubur nasi with ikan merah.. right after lunch, bath time.. her favourite duck will come along. And after bath, she will play with her dad until her afternoon nap at about Zohor. She doesn’t need mommy for her afternoon nap.. so, I have my lunch and do some work.. but most of the time, I nap with her too.. hah, what a routine.. the wonderful thing is, she will totally be sleepy by 8 p.m. every night (during ramadhan, she sleeps at about 7.30 p.m.. I think she’s also fasting-lah).. so, we were left to enjoy ourselves at night.. dpt lah sembang-sembang and makan-makan with the rest of my family..

First day raya was not that tiring as we decided to stay at home. Makan, makan and makan. Second day, we went to Atuk’s house in Panchor. Nabilah was fussy. She did not get enough afternoon nap. She fall asleep a minute after went inside the car, so, we decided to go straight to Mak Uteh’s house in Bakri, Muar.. It took us more than an hour to reach there because we were lost.. hahaha.. Nabilah woke up a happy girl, while mommy and daddy sakit kepala because of the traffic.. That night, my relatives from Ayah’s side came.. havoc satu rumah, but Nabilah syok je sleeping in the room.. We called her condition ‘pengsan’… hahaha…

We went back to Kemaman on 3^rd raya. The journey was terrible at first because Nabilah was so nakal and she just could not duduk diam-diam.. I ended up holding her feet while her hands on the dashboard. Penat. After 2 hours, she fall asleep. Lega. We talked so that my husband is not sleepy. Lately, I think most of our ‘conversations’ were in the car, not at home. We are too busy to talk at home, except during dinner and before sleeping at night.. most of the time, it’s either with Nabilah or we are sleeping.. hehehe.. We reached Kemaman at about 8 pm. Very tiring journey.

Raya at Kemaman was different. The next day, my husband bakar satay and ate them like he never eat one. Well, in Johor, our first day raya dishes will be ketupat nasi, ayam masak merah, lodeh, kari ayam, sambal kacang and serunding.. his favourite satay was not in the list, so, balas dendam lah tuh.. kesian, I could not help him because Nabilah need her nap. We went visiting after her afternoon nap and went on until Maghrib, when Nabilah was so agitated to go to sleep. After 2 days, we still could not finished our visit to my husband’s relatives houses because they are so many.. and we only have time like 4 hours a day to go out.. and that minus my time to help Mak in the kitchen.. this time I was a bad daughter-in-law.. I did not cook a single dish pun.. we decided to continue during Raya Haji.. fair isn’t it? Hehehe..

Hope next raya will be more joyful.. if we are here to celebrate it *sigh*.. but I guess I do miss spending Raya abroad with no family or relatives nearby.. in that case, I have to cook dishes and bakar satay utk my husband-lah kot.. and Nabilah won’t get duit raya as much as she got this year-lah.. heck, raya tetap raya..

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri Maaf Zahir & Batin!

Existence...

Somehow I felt that the company I'm working with felt my existence and do something about it. Why? Because I'm planning to leave. It is sad, though, to think about it.. Yesterday, someone has been assigned to my group because if I leave, no one to maintain the servers, databases and the most important thing, the services. Never expect that MD made such a fast decision on that after my immediate boss informed him of the 'news'. Oh well, at least I know that the lab is so important, and that they will not close is even with our 'thinning' resources (money and manpower). And this morning, I got another 'important' assignment from the boss to be prepared right after Raya break. I hate short notice work, as much as I hate people to interrupt me while I'm working on something important and urgent. But, that's life.. cannot run from it.



This week is my busy week. As usual, before any long break, I always get an assignment to be completed just before the break. And I noticed, in this situation, whenever I try to sit down and start punching the keyboard, something else come up and I'm the one who has to take action on it. I'm too kind to 'taichi' it to someone else, even if I could. One day, I will hide myself in one corner with my laptop and network cable, no phone nearby, no handphone and start writing what I'm supposed to accomplish months ago. No one can find me there, and I will have total peace of mind. I will do it, one of these days. I will.



p/s: Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.. maaf zahir dan batin.. enjoy the break while you still can.

i-account incident...

On Friday, my husband and I wished to settle several outstanding issues that involve quite an amount of money. We had opened an i-account (a current account that utilises Internet Banking) with Maybank a fortnight ago. At first, I wanted to deposit cash for the payment, so, I have to transfer funds from our i-account to my ordinary savings account, withdraw the money and pay the bills. It is as simple as that. But no, it was more complicated that what I would expect. First, I could not do fund transfer through Maybank2U simply because I could not get TAC for the transaction. Why? Because we cannot apply ATM for the account as we agreed that both to sign is the condition of this account. Ok, fine with that. I called the hotline, and asked how to get TAC through phone banking. She explained well, and fine with me. We went back to get our cheque book and off to Maybank at Bandar Baru Bangi. Filled the form to request for Phone Banking (PB) and then, the problem surfaced. We were told that we cannot apply for PB because we have set the 'both to sign' condition. And what is more irritating was, they told us, right on our face, that we should not be given Internet Banking (IB or Maybank2U application) at all because of the 'both to sign' condition. And moreover, the assistant manager (that what he claimed he is.. but sincerely I think he is more of less a cleaner judging from his lack of courtesy and rude attitude towards both of us.. our office cleaners are better than him) blamed us for (1) getting the IB utility and (2) applying online for the i-account, so, all the confusions and not-in-order procedures are our FAULTS! How could he say that to us when all we did is fill the form and politely asked the officer whether we get the IB options when we asked for 'both to sign' condition (because if we can't, we will not proceed with the account..). His staff was the one who processed it, his manager to approve and release the cheque book written on it 'both to sign' condition. They accused us to be lack of information, when we did not even informed by the lady officer that with both to sign condition, we cannot get IB and hence the statements (i-account has only online statements, not the ordinary hardcopy statements..) and we should change to 'either to sign' condition. We were not informed at all. She just processed it, gave us Access Number and PIN for IB, and 3 days later we got the cheque book. Who's fault was that?





The point is what is the purpose of Maybank created the so-called i-account when the customer cannot access IB? Simply because we have set the condition of both to sign for the account. Well, if that is the case, when we called again the hotline number, and asked whether there is any statement for our transactions post to our address, she said no. So, how can we check the activities when (1) we simply been denied of having IB and (2) no action from Maybank to send hardcopy statements if they are aware that this account should not have IB. There are many loop holes in Maybank procedures.. many irritating loop holes.



But most of all, we were frustrated with the rudeness of this assistant manager, who did not know how to say sorry when it is clear that all these are their faults. Maybe most of Maybank personnel have been trained to not admit their faults and blame the customer for any conflicting issues surfaced from their wrongdoings. We would very much like to meet the manager, but he's not available (or someone is saving his ass.. that's what I can see here). After the incidents, we could not bear the frustration and close the account at that branch. Although it is the nearest to us, we rather go to Serdang or any other banks that provide similar service to open the new account.



We have filed a complaint, but I don't know whether Maybank will take real fast action to our case, especially to 'the' assistant manager and 'the' lady officer who attended our request. I have friends working with Maybank at the HQ. I just hope that they have not changed into somekind of lady without attitude while working with the bank.



Nevertheless, on the same day, I wrote a cheque for the bills, deposited it and it was cleared on Saturday. Most probably we will close the account and open it somewhere else, at other bank. 100% sure we don't want to deal with Maybank Bandar Baru Bangi branch in the future.. except to deposit my claim cheque. Damn! still have to go there.. *sigh*

Course...

I was 3-days behind schedule and now, sitting in my cold office I still don't know where to start.. The last 3 days were hectic. I felt like going back to uni. We were gathered in a room, all facing the same white screen preparing to give out our speech. Our first day was the worst. In addition to last minute notice, I was not prepared at all to give a presentation. My buddy, Nurul was opposite.. she was so cool, it's her nature. I went it through anyway. Being myself, I always envy people who can talk well.. I used to be when in uni, but since working, I shut myself, or rather been shielded by my superior to show what I can do. After one year on honeymoon (that's what they call 'the' training programme I went through), and a year of real working life, I ended up doing following up work, a little bit of technical but never got chance to do what I really want. Or shall I say, I've been polluted by negative things that makes me doesn't want to see what is really happening outside. Anyway, I forced myself to prepare somehow like I did when I was a student, for the 'improved' version of the earlier presentation. Well, I did improve a bit.. and someone nominate me as the 'Best Speaker' and the 'Most Improved Speaker'.. hahaha.. never expect it, must be Nurul's job! Someone else won the title anyway...



The course was an eye opening, actually.. at least for myself. Now, when I think back what will happen should I skip it in the first place as 'recommended' by my boss, I was glad that I followed the module diligently.. after all, it is just 3-honeymoon-days for me.. Hahahaha!



p/s: Ipah invited me to her 'open-house cum buka puasa feast' this Sunday.. must remember to cook fruit jelly to bring along. I'm too lazy to bake anything.. hehehe..