Something weird happened today... I was taking bus no. 7 to get to Parco Bugis from Hotel Rendevous today and the bus was supposed to turn at Victoria Street. And for some strange reason, the bus driver forgot to turn left and instead went straight. He realised his mistake when he realised that the next junction was a one way traffic to the right... So he juz stopped there and i think he was figuring how to get back on route. He even asked the passengers, but no one knew, or everyone was too shocked to answer him. In the end, a 111 pulled up alongside, and the bus driver told him to turn right and go round the block. So he cut across 4 lanes to turn right twice before getting back on track again. This is the first time i encountered something like that, may be the only time, cuz you would at least expect your drivers to be well trained and familiar with the route that they are supposed to travel. Maybe it's his first day at work, that's why.
I've juz decided to change the name of my blog to C/F H/F (Service Crew speak) or Crayfish and Seafood Horfun, cuz it is one of the signature dish in Island Cafe and it shows how much time i have been spending at this place. But anyway...
I met up with my surrey friends yesterday at Newton food centre for supper. Still the same, except Lennon who have went a few shades darker and he changed his specs. We juz had drinks and then sat around and talk and talk and gossip. Lawrence is going back this Saturday, cuz 1) he wants to look for a job. But i suspect it is also because 2) he wants to get away from his wife and 3) Michelle is still there doing her dissetation. Ben came back already. Graduated with a 2.2 and he came back with a lot of gossip about the 3rd years who juz graduated.... and it was like so full of scandal... like Kumi could be pregnant with Shaun's child yada yada. Reached home at 2 plus yesterday.
Then this morning had to start work at 11am in the morning. Was tired tired tired. Then the biggest of the bosses. Mr Tung Wee Sung, the CEO had to drop by his 'baby' for lunch and VJ assigned me to look after his table, so had to be very alert to everything. And it was not juz him, could practically called down the entire executive committee to eat, since Mr Gerry and Mr Wong also dropped bv. And You know what i think is funny?? That Mr Foo, The COO and Mr Wee Sung both enjoy eating pork lard, juz like that. I am like, WTF?? But of course i could not show any expression that is not a smile to him. Stress stress, but stress well managed, i guess.
Oh yeah, and Selena Tan dropped by for lunch yesterday.
I had durian for breakfast!!! Not exactly a healthy option, but that was what i saw my dad eating when i woke up, so why not join him?? =)
I had a BLAST at work today!!! Really, I felt like i have not laughed so much in ages. I was really hyper by the time i ended near 9pm. And i told my colleauges not to miss me. =) Chris actually asked me if i am all right. I was doing food running with Lucius today =) and i laughed so much that i can't even shout out the new orders. And then it was fun watching the kitchen people and joking with them. And they were all trying to guess my age. And i am 17 according to them.
The acutal work itself, was good too, especially with 2 people managing the hotplate kitchen area, it can't be that bad. As long as the food went out to the right people in the right presentation. There was even time here and there to sneak in stupid conversations about keeping fit and the bachelorette and smoking. ;P hahaahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.........
heh... this is a totally useless fact. I juz realised that I have not eaten a McDonalds burger for more than a year already. Incredible huh? Not that it really matters that i am not contributing to Macs' profits (Since so many million pppl elsewhere are doing that already), it's juz something that struck me while i was on my way home today.
And then i realised something scandalous today at work. I realised that my boss and one of my colleagues have a relationship. At first, when a colleague told me that VJ and X are related, i was dense enough to think that it is blood relation (I have no idea why i thought of that, cuz one is Indian, then the other is Malay). Then my colleague started to talk about VJ's wife did i realise that they are talking about another type of relation. O...kay. Not that it is my business, sigh, but i wish i would see less of these things.
And then today, Millie and Chuck were eliminated from the Amazing Race!!! How can?!?!?!?!? This is injustice! Especially since they are beaten by that Kelly and "I Hate Fat People" Jon!!!! I can't stand it. How can this happen???? I am losing faith!!!! If stupid "Oh I am so pretty" Kelly and Jon goes any further, i am so not watching TAR anymore!
Today, we had a lot of male customers today... very much more than usual... i think 75% of our dinner crowd today were men. HOwever, the weird thing today is not all these men were 'straight'. it started at around 6.30pm, we had this pair of male customers. One looked normal, the other had really weird hair, you know, like when people have electric shocks? Yeah one of them had that kind of hair. Which is fine really, cuz he looked every bit like a guy, dark busy eyebrows and all. But that was until he opened his mouth. Gosh, he sounded totally GIRL... like girl girl... it was so weird... But if was funny.
This is the weirdest one... then there were men who were sharing food, like you know couples do??? Plate in the middle, 2 men sitting close together, eating, talking softly??? For some reason, i can see women like that, but not men. There were this 2 men, sharing this brownie, sitting shoulder to shoulder, eating like a couple would. It is so so weird.
Maybe i'm juz sexist. Maybe it's juz me. After all, i spend 10 years in a all girls school, then 2 years in a co-ed school, but hardly talked to the guys. maybe it;s juz me seeing more of how the world is like. The people that make up this world.
Daddy drove along Bt Timah Road today... things have changed. Tessarina is up and ready for occupation. There is an Apple Centre next to the Nissan showroom. There is now this thing called the King's Arcade between Crown Centre and Coro. The row of shops infront of 5th Ave Centre is gone... the Video/DVD shop along 6th Ave is gone too. The Indian Restaurant at 6th Ave Centre has changed hands again.... The NTUC in Coro is renovated...
But somethings never change. Blissville is still there half developed, with overgrown grass everywhere. So is Casadia. There is still a queue along the stupid petrol station next to Hwa Chong. and KAP remains the most expensive McDonalds in Singapore.
Sometimes i wish i can write as well as Hwei Shan and Marcia...
Hwei Shan has pretty much wrote out everything i wanted to say about yesterday's gathering, so with permission from her, this is what she wrote...
The class gathering at Joyce's place was nothing short of fantastic. While it wasn't the longest gathering, it brought back many good memories. Like the one of Su Phine throwing a packet of biscuits at the fan and it promptly exploding, sending crumbs flying all over class. I'd pretty much forgotten that, until Tessa brought it up and I couldn't stop laughing.
It was good to see so many of the 4A1 people again. Some, like Jiamin (and probably myself), haven't changed a bit in these 4 years. Then there were people like Xing'en and Tessa, who look really different and good now. But the faces stayed as familiar as ever. I was kind of surprised by that; I had expected not to recognise a few people.
And the class spirit lives on, man. I can't believe how comfortable it was just being around them again. It's kind of hard to explain, but even though everyone's doing different things, there's still this incredible pride of being someone from 4A1, Class of 1999. Tessa, on the Channel i news. Jiamin, working with the DSTA on summer research. Becki, probably on the dean's list in SMU.
I'm just so proud of them. There isn't any competition to see who can do better, and I'm really glad that they've managed to achieve so much.
And today i went to my maternal granny's place in Taman Molek in Johor Bahru... I finally know where my granny lives in Malaysia. Previously, i juz remembered that she lives near the Carrefour in Johore. It've been like 1-2 years since i went there i think... Johore is as chaotic as how i remembered it.... i dun think Johore has really progressed much since the last time i was there. Loads of dirty drains and rivers...Sometimes smelly , Messy, and a petrol station every few hundred metres, which i find very amusing. Granny still looks as healthy as ever, the house still looks the same, except the koi pond is now empty as my uncle tries to expand it... It was a sense of familiarity, except the house now does not seem as noisy as i remember it... the kids (me, my cousins, my nephew etc etc) have grown up and not longer come around that often anymore. Sigh. I feel old now.
Today was a mixed day.... when i started work, i was happy at finally seeing my eye candy Luke again, but after staying there for a few minutes, stupid Vijay asked me to go downstairs to help out at Juice and Java (the juice kiosk at B1)!!! I was like, no!!! How can you do this to me esp on a Saturday??? i was there yesterday too, we should all take turns!!! But of course, i could not say that to him, and so i had to go downstairs and i really dragged my feet downstairs to help out at Juice and Java, and i did not really like it, cuz i din think the auntie downstairs only wanted me to help do the juices when i rather cut the fruits then do the juices, but again, who am i to argue??? Sigh...
And so i had to spend the whole day at Juice and Java... which is really depressing there was no one to talk to... unlike Island where we joke around so much, and laugh and laugh and laugh... sigh. So i was pretty happy when i knocked off, one reason being that Luke was knocking off too, so we had a good chat on our way to change.
The other reason being that, i am going for a 4A1 class gathering!! A class reunion at Joyce's place. And it was a good class gathering. The moment Jiamin opened the door, i was faced with 15 people, some of whom i almost could not recognise!!!! Some remained the same, while others have changed, either in their hairstyles or something. Bernice, Cheryl Phua, Xingen, Shiming and Chuu all grew their hair long... But other than that, it was almost the same. We had so much fun talking about the past like Mr David Loh and his antics, Mrs Mag Sim and her TYS, Mrs Tong and Deborah's argument, Mrs HL Tan and her computers, our Chinese teachers and all the other stupid things that we did. It was crazy. We were the most high profile class of our time for some strange reason, but how ever we were remembered, we had lots of fun and we enjoyed ourselves. Juz like today, catching up with old times, talking about school, watching TV, having ice cream. I juz miss those days when we had late recess on Tuesday, when we sang in the class, when we cried in class, when... I juz juz miss those days when we were still in our MGS uniforms...
This is a pretty long blog, so brace yourselves...
the guy who started the website
airlinemeals.net has made it big, cuz the website juz entertained its one millionth visitor and even have a website written about it on
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Nightmare Customer no. 1
I tell you, sometimes some customers are juz so ridiculous. Like this one i got today, apparently, while the waitress was clearing the plates from his table today, i had, in his words, as quoted from the comments card, "flicked some rice onto him without any apology or acknowledgement". That woman is me. I dun understand, he made it sound as though i was purposely flicking rice onto him. Tell me, who goes around flicking rice on other ppl?? After i have apologised and told him i did not realise i have done that, this stupid angmoh even continued by saying something along the lines of "You guys juz come here and work together and treat this as something fun and i am juz here to irritate you, am i right? It's sad that i have to leave Singapore/KL/Bangkok to experience good service" What the fuck? What's with all these accusations?? And then before i could reply, he continued with all sorts of crap and then in a very rude way said, " is there anyone i can pass this card to so that this comments card does not end up in the circular file or in the bin?" So i referred him to Pradeep, my senior waiter, since my boss left already. And so Pradeep gave him a free meal, and then after reading the comments card, after all of us have read the comments card, after all of us have scolded this guy, tore it up and threw it in the bin. The thing is, his friend who came with him, actually quietly told us," Don't bother with him. Don't bother."
Nightmare Customer no. 2
I was not involved in this case at all, but using what my friend has told me, this is what happened at 8.40pm, after our last order...
Woman in Black: Table for 4 please
Pradeep: I'm sorry, Mdm, but we have taken our last order already.
WIB: What d'ya mean you have taken your last order already. How come everytime i come you are closed already?
Pradeep: That's because our last order is at 8.30, Mdm. You always come after that, that's why we're closed already.
WIB: How come you all always like that?
Pradeep: Mdm, we're not always like that. You have to come early to try our food. Our last order is at 8.30pm, and TAngs close at 9.30pm
WIB: I'm going to make a very big fuss about this etc etc etc. (Apparently the word 'sue' is being mentioned... Another WTF moment... Sue us for closing too early? Tell me how you intend to win the case...)
Pradeep decided to let the guests in, since they are making so much noise and WIB actually came to the kitchen to tell the chefs that they'll be very fast (What can we do?) but they can only order certain food as the chefs were closing the kitchen already. But after that, a friend of the WIB actually came to Pradeep to apologise for the fuss the WIB made.
Despite my anger with that stupid angmoh, i cannot show it to him, cuz it is all about service isn't it? The only sad thing is, he did not even accept my apology and allow us to show him our hospitality. I was very angry with him on my way home but now i juz think of it as a learning experience, that in work there was always be a few anal idiots who make you feel bad, that i have to learn to deal with it calmly, and not let such situations get to me too much, as i did with that stupid angmoh.
And through these nightmare cases, i saw something that i dun want happening to me. I felt that in both cases, the friends of the nightmare customers actually felt embarrassed by the fuss that their friends kicked up. Which was why they told us not to bother or acutally came to apologise. I realise that i do not want my friends or family to feel embarrassed by my behaviour. I do not want people to apologise to others on my behalf. I know that sometimes i can be very critical especially when it comes to service, that i want the best service possible, but now i realise that every complaint made has to be legitimate and justified(which i think is not, especially in the 2nd case). And now that i am working (in a proper restaurant, not like in Lakeside), it's really not that easy to provide the best service 24/7... that it's time to cut these guys some slack. Not too much, of course. But learn to understand. =)
I realise i've been spending almost so much time at work that i have not met Hwei Shan properly for quite a long time liao.... And then there are still people that i wanna meet that i still have not met... wow, talk about having no life...
My boss juz fired someone yesterday, for reporting late too often for work... and there are 2 new staff today in the form of 2 guys called Lawrence and Roy, and Siti and Angie have juz served their last days, which means that we will be understaffed and overworked!!!
My 2nd boss also served his last day today.... word as it that he is leaving because our juice kiosk at the Tangs Market is losing money, and someone has to take the blame for it, and the person shall be him... I feel like i am seeing first hand how the world outside studies and academia is like.... and it is a bit like school in Singapore actually, except that your company is your parent and rather than being caned for not getting good results, what happens? You get kicked out of the house.
Both my smallest toes are red and a little swollen... i hope i am not growing any funny corns/ blisters/ etc etc... The thought of that happening is juz... off putting
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See what i said about meeting my sister's colleagues?? today i met one again.... this time it's a chinese teacher...
And Luke is not quitting after all!!! YAy!!! I was juz starting work when i heard Asri ask Luke is he can work next Saturday and Sunday and he said okay. Am so i am okay too!! Haha.... :) I asked him later about why his name is not on the schedule, and he said he dun know and joked that VJ doesn't like him... =) But anyway, Luke can only work weekends.... Not too bad, at least i get some eye candy on SAturday!!!
btw, Luke is strictly eye candy!!!!
i always meet my sisters' colleagues at Island Cafe... first it was her ex vice-principal, then it was Mrs Aw, the HOD of Humanities in her school... and i dunno how she remembered me, but she remembered me before i her. Oh well, and today, Sasi got hit by the ice hammer aka meat tenderiser... poor him, i was breaking the ice and his hand reached in, and down went the hammer, and caught the edge of his middle finger.... was bleeding.... i feel so bad now...
And i was looking at next week's schedule and realise that i am working from 11-9 on Monday... and other than that, i realise that Luke's name is no longer on the schedule... which means tmr is his last day of work!! *wails*
Legs very tired... todAY two of the staff went on sick leave so had to do extra today.... and then Tangs had a special promotion, and were giving away $5 Island Cafe Voucher, so ppl were juz coming in non stop and we juz could not stop and i was feeling like i was pulled everywhere that i do not even have the energy to smile... i tell you.... i had a really black face for like 20 min... i think the customers could sense it too... but i make it a point to smile when i am attending to them... that is better than nothing right? But the sales for today was really good $5000 plus... tomorrow will be quite busy too, cuz it is Saturday after all... But hopefully Sunday will be good... cuz Sunday afternoon is slightly more relaxed (hopefully) and Luke aka Lucius is working on Sunday!!!!
on a totally boliao note... today while i was taking 105 to Orchard.... i had a really pretty female bus driver... like you know the kind men will take a 2nd look? yeah.. she had maroon highlights in her rebonded hair.. and had her hair down... and when i was boarding the bus... the ITE ppl in front of me were like cat calling... Wow... even i as a female, think she is pretty....
Island Cafe is featured in today's Straits Times!!! =)
Finally met Marcia today at Wheelock.... it's the same old marcia... looks the same, talk the same. Also gave her her very belated birthday present (her birthday is in January), Terry Pratchett's
The Wee Free Men. :) Went to Scotts Picnic Food Court to eat. Had beefball noodles. Very tasty. I think the beefball noodles is the only stall in Scotts Food Court that has not changed hands since the food court's opening. I remember it being there in sec 3 too. Then went to Kino and walked around. Had Potong ice cream while walking there. Potong ice cream is one of the thinga that brings back a lot of childhood memories, cuz i remember eating Red Bean Potong ice cream from the uncle on the motorcycle on the rare occassions that my mum buys it for me when i was younger. =)
The Coffee Bean in Wisma has changed to a Coffee Club Express... Coffee Club has also changed its menus. But they took away the Roma Tomato Salad... which is a pity, cuz i love the coffee vinigrette on it... At least the Mango cake is still on the menu. I tried M n S's Raspberry Viennese Swirls (Hwei Shan bought it), but i've decided that The original jam sandwich biscuits from MnS are still better, cuz the Viennese Swirls are too buttery for me...
Tomorrow working from 1230...
Am off today and tommorrow... so can rest my sore thighs... yesterday was kopi soh again, so have to do the beverages and then send out to customers... Oh yeah, in case you're wondering,
Island Cafe is the in-house cafe on the 4th floor of
Tangs
Granny's birthday tomorrow, so today we're celebrating for her... which means my daddy's side's relatives would be coming here to makan, and then go home... they're quite.... i dunno how to say, they never bother to do anything, or volunteer to do stuff... everytime they will juz come and eat... and maybe bring a birthday cake, if they bother to, or remember to. But mummy is always the one that does the most work with the cooking, preparation yada yada... The only good thing is that NOT all of them are like that, at least i have a very nice aunt, Auntie Judith, who is already here helping mummy already, when the rest are not due here yet until 3 hours later... and now i am going to the kitchen to do the same...
The back of my thighs are quite sore... today worked from 1230 to 2030 and never got a chance to sit down, except for 30 min when i was at Starbucks with Hwei Shan during my break... but today i learnt how to do the beverages.... which was really really cool, cuz get to do cocktails and coffees and the desserts. And i am so glad that i am really enjoying myself at work...
If you are watching the
Bachelorette... let's all hail
Ryan. He is so so so so so so so sweet!!!!! Even my fellow beverage runner, Luke was touched by him!!! You know you got something there when even a perfectly straight guy is touched another guy's moves and poems...
At Island Cafe today, we served this guy, this angmoh. nothing much, but when he left he told our manager, Vijay that he is a SIA Inflight Supervisor, and that our service is very good, as good as SIA's service... How cool is that??? Actually i think SIA's service dropped a lil... but still quite nice to be compared to them lah... That IFS also said that Ana can join SIA!!! =) I wonder if Ana is 1.58m at least...
Today is also the day of the cute guys.. there were at least 5 above average guys at Island.... ;)
