Remember my fiasco with the dumb CSOs from the local Singapore Airlines call centre? I had the luxury of having to deal with them again in recent days to make some flight changes for a loved one who had to fly at extremely short notice for a family emergency.
After making sure the fare purchased allowed for itinerary changes, I called up the Sydney office to request for changes to a return flight. I was first told "No, we can't do it for you. I'm afraid you'll have to call the XXX office.". Wrong answer. A call was made to the XXX office prior which didn't yield us our desired outcome.
Not understanding why it wasn't possible as the booking was ticketed in Sydney and refusing to be bounced to and from the various SQ offices, I pursued by asking if it was possible for me to change the booking online, fully knowing I couldn't because I just tried - possibly because the departure time for the return flight was less than 24 hours ahead.
After being put on hold for a minute, I was told yes I could do that if I wished. Wrong answer again. I persisted, "In that case, I don't understand why you can't just change it on your end right now? Both the passenger and myself have no access to the internet and the flight is tomorrow so we don't have time to waste waiting around.".
Another minute of listening to the on-hold music while the CSO 'checked with his colleagues' later, it became suddenly miraculously possible for him to change the flights with no hassle at all. The actual change took less than 5.278 seconds.
One more thing I picked up on was that they were at most times extremely sticky about callers requesting for any booking changes on behalf of someone else due to security and privacy policies and often went about the verification checks quite thoroughly. This time, they did not even attempt to verify that I indeed knew the passenger and was authorised to make the requested changes.
Why the inconsistency in responses and processes? Surely they must have gone through formal training and taught to be very familiar with the fare rules and policies? I can understand the limitations of flight and seat availability but never when I'm told something is impossible without a proper explanation.
If that particular CSO had made the requested change right from the beginning, it would have saved us both that few precious minutes of time wasted and enabled him to attend to maybe 20 more callers with similar requests who were probably in the call queue listening to that irritating on-hold music right then.
always the wrong answer
singapore airlines fiasco
I booked my air travel with Singapore Airlines several months ago in Sydney:
Sydney > Singapore > Shanghai; Beijing > Singapore (transit) > Sydney
Due to changes in plans, I called up the Singapore Airlines ticketing office in Sydney to request for the following changes:
a. change the Beijing > Singapore sector to Shanghai > Singapore
b. Push back the final Singapore > Sydney sector a few days later such that it's a stopover instead of a transit
The customer service officer (CSO1) who answered my call informed that he couldn't help with my above requests and advised me to call back two days later. What followed next was the most natural and logical question from me: "Why?". Said CSO1 did not understand what prompted me to ask what I asked, so I expanded the question for his benefit:
1. "Why can't you assist me?
2. "Can you then direct me to the right person/department who can process my requests?"
3. "Why do you need me to call back two days later? - Can't you check whatever you need to check and let me know now? There is the possibility there could be no more seats left on my preferred flight a few days later."
To which CSO1 replied that this request had to be submitted to a different department for checking, in which I repeated questions 2 and 3, to which CSO1 answered no, the only way was for me to call me two days later because the request had to be sent to a different department, in which I repeated questions 2 and 3... and so on.
CSO1's tone got more and more impatient and I got more and more frustrated. Fine. I realised there really wasn't much I could do but to call back again.
Two days later, a CSO2 attended to my call. When I stated the reasons for calling, she immediately replied without hesitation that I had called the wrong office, that I would need to call the Singapore office and proceeded to provide the number before I even asked.
I was confused so I asked CSO2 why I was getting two sets of such different answers. I shared with her my concerns of not being able to secure a seat on my preferred flight and hence shouldn't have been misled by CSO1 in the first place (that was assuming CSO2's information was the correct version). She was nice enough to apologise for CSO1 but added she wasn't sure why CSO1 said what he said to me and confirmed that as long as I followed her instructions, I would get my requests processed.
Great.
CSO3 from the Singapore office took my call. Again, I stated the reasons for my call. No brownie points for guessing correctly CSO3's reply. "I'm sorry, but you have called the wrong office. Your ticket was purchased in Sydney and so you have to contact Sydney directly for any change requests."
Incredulous.
I lost it. I insisted he did whatever he could to solve my problem as I was sick of being bounced around from one dumb-ass CSO to another. CSO3 was helpful enough to offer to sort things out with his colleagues in the Sydney office and call me back.
True to his word, CSO3 called me within the next hour to advise that yes, he would be able to process my requests for me immediately but that there were extra costs involved - change fees and fare differences.
Fantastic.
Again, I followed with the next most logical question: "So how much do I need to pay?"
CSO3 could not give me an answer on the spot but promised to call me back with the information - the change fee was standard but he had to check with the relevant department on the fare difference. I waited a day. No calls from CSO3. Imagine my shock when I saw an email with my revised e-ticket in my inbox the next day. A total fee of $108 was charged to the credit card I used in the initial booking - this was fine as I did confirm with CSO3 the day before that I would be using the same card for the payment of the extra fees. But how could he have proceeded to put the transaction through without first confirming the amount with me? What if the fare difference had been $801 instead? I may jolly have decided that two extra days in Singapore are not worth the amount and stuck with the original same day transit itinerary.
Astonishing.
So, the question of the day is:
Who is the most idiotic of them CSOs all?
beh kee says it's karma
Lately, I have had the great misfortune of having to deal directly with many idiots at work. According to Beh Kee, I must have done something really bad and nasty in my previous life such that I have to make up for it in this life. And my punishment is having to face such hopeless people. They seem to flock to me endlessly. It's karma.
Sometimes I wonder if we, the ones who possess basic common sense, and who bother exercising our brains are the odd ones out. Contrary to what I wrote about creating a whole new world for these nincompoops, maybe we are the ones who need to be relocated to another world specially created for people with brains.
I try very hard to convince myself that stupidity is not a crime. But being stupid, lazy, common-senseless and irritating all in one is totally unacceptable!
where is my cheque book?
I first called up OCBC Bank in Singapore towards the end of May 2008 to request for a new cheque book. I was at the last 4 cheques of the booklet I was using then. After no less than 6 phone calls and 3 months later, I finally received my new cheque book TODAY.
By the third time I called, that was sometime end June, I managed to find out that a cheque book had been mailed out on 17th June. And so I asked why it took them so long to mail it out when my request was made in May. I didn't get an answer because the customer service officer didn't know.
Subsequently, I waited until almost end July and still there was no cheque book in my letterbox. So what could I do except call up the bank again? Whoever I spoke to then had the audacity to tell me to wait a few more weeks, after checking his system and seeing that they had done their part by mailing out the damn cheque book on the 17th of June. Does it take a super genius to figure out that the damn cheque book must have gotten lost in the mail if it hasn't arrived 5 weeks after you dumped it into the post box?
I had to insist repeatedly that I wanted them to cancel that book they mailed out and issue a new one. Someone could have intercepted it and possibly signed away my life savings (not that I have a lot of money but it's still money) and they wanted me to "WAIT A FEW MORE WEEKS"???
July came and went and STILL NO CHEQUE BOOK. A few more phone calls later, I discovered that there was only one cheque book mailed out on the 17th June and despite my repeated requests to cancel that missing cheque book and re-issue a new one, it was never done.
I had to !#%$^&%$^%*&($%$^&^ at the call centre staff so loudly to get my point across before they finally cancelled the cheque book that went missing and re-sent one more - the one I received today. What idiots.
Read more about these idiots in my previous entry on my experience with the banks' call centre staff when I had to update my mailing address.
call centre staff have no brains
Having just moved (again) to another (nicer!) apartment unit, I had to go through the update-new-address-with-all-the-various-banks-and-other-organisations routine all over again.
As I called up each bank (OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered & Citibank), I thought I'd request to view my statements online and do away with receiving paper statements altogether since I use internet banking all the time anyway. And with the one or two transactions I do a year for each account, there is no need for me to keep receiving statements every month that show the same balance.
OCBC was the first bank I called and the call centre staff irritated the hell out of me. Firstly, I couldn't understand what he was saying half the time. He was muttering to himself at rocket speeds. Secondly, I find it totally retarded that I have to be transferred to another staff from another department and repeat the whole process just so that I can update a change in address for the different accounts held with the same bank. And finally, I was told, even if I can view statements online, I still MUST receive the paper statements. He emphasized the word MUST. He wasn't able to answer me when I asked the reason for this idiotic requirement but simply repeated that "You MUST....." sentence.
UOB was much better. They do offer the option of not receiving paper statements although I had to go through a long verification process and I had to send in an official written request. I accepted that all these were for security reasons. At least the staff took the trouble to explain the reasons behind. And the staff was way way way more polite than that OCBC guy.
Both Standard Chartered and Citibank allow internet banking customers to deselect the paper statements option with just a click on the mouse when customers log in to their internet banking accounts. There is also the added option of receiving your statements via email and/or receiving email alerts to access statements through the online banking account. This makes more sense right? I still cannot believe that I was told I MUST receive paper statements no matter what.
The lady I spoke to at Citibank was professional, spoke well, extremely polite and knew her stuff. And I felt I was finally speaking to a human being. And one with brains too, which seems to be quite a rare thing these days.
grammar
I've been wanting to write about this for a long time now.
In my two years of living and working in Australia, I have come across conversations (both verbal and written ones) that perplexed me. Grammatically, they violate all the basic rules I was taught to observe since young. I dare not claim to be an expert in the English language but obvious errors are, well, obvious. Unless my A1s scored in the Cambridge english exams are all crap obtained through bribes.
Here's a generic sentence for illustration purposes.
"ABC Pty Ltd are willing to bare compensation for this case, so you shouldn't of taken further action on this matter."
1. ABC Pty Ltd is one entity so shouldn't it be singular? How can it be followed by 'are' and not 'is'?
2. 'Bare' vs 'bear'. This is a spelling error frequently made by the locals here. The two words have completely different meanings. The usage of 'bare' here is entirely wrong.
From dictionary.com:
bare – adjective
i. without covering or clothing; naked; nude: bare legs.
ii. without the usual furnishings, contents, etc.: bare walls.
iii. open to view; unconcealed; undisguised: his bare dislike of neckties.
(there are more examples of usage but you should get the meaning now.)
bear – verb (used with object)
i. to hold up; support: to bear the weight of the roof.
ii. to hold or remain firm under (a load): The roof will not bear the strain of his weight.
iii. to suffer; endure; undergo: to bear the blame.
(there are more examples of usage but you get the meaning.)
3. Okay I'm not so sure if this is a grammatical mistake or just a local slang thing. I will say or write "you shouldn't have" and not "you shouldn't of". Yeah but it could be a slang. *shrugs*
There are more examples but I shall not go into each one. It will take me eons to cover all.
I get angry when the ang mohs stare at me in disbelief upon hearing that English is the main language used in the education system in Singapore. They also get damn amused when I inform them they would have no difficulty navigating the streets in Singapore because all the signages are in English. There are still ignorant people in the so-called developed countries who think Singapore is an ulu, smaller-than-small village somewhere in China. Not only do they fail basic grammar, they don't know their geography for nuts. Even though I may not speak as fee-lee-fair-lair (a term my grandma uses, sounds very funny hor) as the ang mohs, due to years of Singlish influence in my pronounciation and accent, I definitely know my verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, tenses, plurals and singulars. I bet some of the ang mohs will think they are donuts or chips or something.
bad week
Last week was a bad week for me. Besides experiencing one of the shittiest days in years, I was also informed that the lease for my apartment unit I am currently staying in had been terminated.
I was told that the apartment has to be vacated by end May, which was fine as that allowed me sufficient time to pack and move. However, I was subsequently told that the movers had been organised to remove the furniture on 16 May which is this coming friday. This means that I have to fuck off from the apartment by this friday because even though I have the unit until end May, I wouldn't have any bed to sleep in after the 16th.
That, was effectively a one week notice to move out of the apartment. And because I am also commuting between Sydney and Mangalore for work, I have only one fucking day in Sydney to pack my stuff. One bloody fucking day to pack 2 years worth of shit into boxes. How cool is that?
To top it all off, I had no freaking idea where I was going to move to until monday (just four days before the big move). I was then appalled to discover that the plan was to move me to a four bedroom house I had never seen before in my life where I would incur higher rental and where I would be sharing with unknown number of unknown others going forward because I'm sure they wouldn't leave the remaining bedrooms empty right? Didn't anyone even think about security and privacy issues? It's not like I am sponging off the company's resources. I fucking pay rent ok. How about just showing basic humanity and courtesy? I am a human being if anyone remembers. Not a fucking box where it can be shoved or kicked anywhere.
My issue is not about having to move. It's all about how it's being handled. I am so fucking pissed that I can't even be bothered to censor anything I write. Note the number of F words in this post, multiply that by 10 and you'll get the actual F words I spewed from my mouth in a day because of this.
shittiest day in years
I had one of those shitty til can cry days yesterday.
1. Landed in Sydney domestic airport and caught a cab back to my apartment. Taxi driver was yapping away on his mobile phone and didn't bother to help me with loading my baggage into the car boot. Then after I got into the cab, he continued yapping away on his phone and drove with one hand. He did not ask me where I was going and even when I tried to tell him my destination, he wasn't listening.
Finally he asked where I was going after we'd left the airport and upon hearing that I'm going to somewhere just 10min away, he cursed and swore at me. He made a u-turn back to the airport just to tell the traffic controller that he'd gotten a 'short fare' so that he may be allowed back to the terminal for another passenger without having to queue all over again.
I told the driver to keep left when we were nearing my apartment and he disregarded it. When I finally told him to stop, he blasted at me and said I should have told him so. He then demanded I tip him as it was all my fault that he'd queued for hours just to get a 'short fare'. I told him "It was not my fucking problem that you were talking away on the phone and didn't bother to ask where I was going. Your attitude is so bad I do not think you deserve a tip." He did not give me back my $5 change. He then threw the receipt in my face when I asked for one. When I got out of the cab and proceeded to retrieve my luggage from the boot, he drove away with my luggage. He then stopped the car about 10m away such that I had to walk the 10m to retrieve my luggage.
I was so angry I kicked the taxi just before he drove off and called up the taxi customer service centre and put in an official complaint. I am not going to give him that $5 tip. In fact, I want him out of a job as I do not think he deserves it. He's a fucking disgrace to the taxi driver population and to us Asians (he's chinese).
2. When I got back to my apartment, I found that my room door had been opened and that someone had been inside my room in my absence. (If you ask me how I knew, go watch Deathnote and you'll know.) It wasn't even cleaning week for the cleaners. This just tipped me off the edge. I have complained so many fucking times about access into my apartment and how it was a security issue. Now, I have a credit card fraud case to deal with because someone managed to clone my card that I leave in my apartment most of the time and intercepted my replacement credit card from my letterbox and now I have to go through the hassle of reporting the case to the bank and police station and going through investigation. And I still find unauthorised access into my room.
3. I then calmed myself down by taking a long shower and prepared to go out. At the train station, some drunken old man followed me and tried to talk to me. When I ignored him, he grabbed my arm and yanked me towards him. I shook him off violently and shot him a deadly "Fuck you. Don't touch me." and was ready to punch him in the face til he bled. He was lucky to get the point and F off.
I had to control very hard not to cry while waiting for the train. I don't know what I did to deserve this. Those people creating all these misery to others should all just die. It's unfair that such bastards be allowed to roam free and continue to make others' lives miserable.
a whole new world for the NCPs
[Originally posted on my old moblog site. Republishing here now.]
I cannot figure this out.
A particular someone, [let's call him disgruntled nincompoop (D.NCP)], submitted a request through a website and this request got channelled to a central database that is checked regularly by an admin staff (AS) who then sorts all such requests received and directs them to the relevant person to handle them.
D.NCP's request was sent by AS to me. I required additional information from D.NCP and sent him an email.
More than 2 weeks later, D.NCP submitted another request through the same website and got his request channelled to the same central database that was checked by the same AS who then directed the request to me:
"Someone from your company sent me an email mentioning about the lack of information to process my request. Can you get that someone to tell me what exactly you require?"
1. This D.NCP obviously did not know there is such a function called "reply" for emails received such that you can reach the sender directly instead of submitting another request through the same website so that his request can then be channelled to the same central database that will get checked by the same AS who will then direct it to the same person who emailed him.
2. Or it could be that this D.NCP enjoyed sending his requests through the same website so that his requests can then be channelled to the same central database that will get checked by the same AS who will then direct the requests to the same person who will eventually handle them.
3. Or it could be that this D.NCP feels that by sending his requests through the same website so that his requests can then be channelled to the same central database that will get checked by the same AS who will then direct the requests to the same person who will eventually handle them, he is helping the organisation find reasons for the existence of having such a website and such a central database and hiring such an AS, ie. job creation.
And it is precisely these kinds of people such as D.NCP who ultimately complain about the time taken for them to receive a response to their requests such that they have to send in another and another request, and eventually complaint after complaint, through the same website where they get channelled to the same central database that will then get checked by the same AS who will then direct them to the relevant person handling them.
So what does this all mean to me?
I get the pleasure of:
1. Spending time to read through the D.NCP's first request, gather the info required to be able to process the request, and then draft a reply to D.NCP; and
2. Spending time to read through a second request from D.NCP and drafting a second reply that is exactly the same as the first (or I can spend time searching through my archive emails to find that first email to send to him) and send it to D.NCP; and
3. Spending time to read through his subsequent complaints and explain to D.NCP why we take so long to respond to him without hurting his feelings because I cannot just tell him in the face the real reason was because of his fuucking stupidity (not knowing how to hit the "reply" button on the email to get to the sender directly) and/or his sadism (the enjoyment he derives seeing people double-work) and/or his unwelcome consideration for the organisation's and its staff's well-being (by providing reasons for their existence); and
4. Spending time wondering if it was just me or is everyone else around me absolutely stupid; and
5. Spending time convincing myself no, it's not me; and
6. Spending time calming AS and explaining to her the importance of her role in the organisation such that she has to waste such unnecessary time on people such as D.NCP; and
7. Spending time wondering if I can just create a whole new world and banish all such stupid and irritating people like D.NCP to this whole new world exclusively for NCPs and then come to a sudden realisation that no, it's not possible and that yes, I've got to continue taking such shite from these NCPs; and
8. Spending more time trying to get myself out of depression mode arising from the sudden realisation that #7 is not going to happen; and
9. Hence more time spend on doing unnecessary stuff like typing this uber long stupid entry that doesn't make much sense except maybe to the D.NCP.
This is on top of having to work with people who take 10 seconds to type "Can you please delete this column and this row from this spreadsheet and send it back to me?" and another 10 minutes for the email to reach me, for me to make the change, then send it back to him - a total of 10 minutes and 10 seconds spent and maybe 10.49 joules of energy, than to just spend 5 seconds to delete this column and this row from this spreadsheet and about 5.63 joules of energy.
You can bet to your last dollar I really enjoy working here.
parking offences
This was an old post written on 4 September 2005 on my moblog. You can read the full original entry complete with comments here.
I received 2 parking tickets of $30 each in a single day for forgetting to buy my Season Parking. It was only a few days into the month (I was fined on 4 Aug). I've parked my car in this same car park for 3 bloody years and faithfully bought my Season Parking every single month! How can they be so mean as to issue me 2 tickets? On the same day some more! Ever since Chubb took over the parking attendants job for my area here, I've been getting these ridiculous parking tickets! *So Angry!!!*
I wrote to HDB for request of waiver of the fines and below is the reply:
We have looked into your appeal. In view of your explanation and the circumstances, we will exercise flexibility to waive the parking notices this time. However, we seek your co-operation to renew the season parking promptly prior to the expiry. You may wish to renew your season parking ticket through our GIRO scheme which is convenience and hassle free. A GIRO form is enclosed for your used.
1. My first reaction was relief of course! No need to pay the stupid $60!
2. Next reaction.....look at the parts I underlined. Grammar mistake!!! DUH!!! This is an official letter from HDB leh! Not casual writing in blog entries where I can use my Monkey language ok! Very malu for S'pore govt to send this kind of letters leh!!! DUH!!!
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