Friendships

In my lifetime, I have made and lost friendships quite a few times.

The old adage that a friend in need, being a friend indeed still holds
true for me, but alas, I am beginning to lose faith in the whole idea.

I had a very dear friend, whom I had held very close to my heart a few
years ago. Unfortunately, his quest to find love cost us this treasured
friendship that we shared for more than 14 years. I won't elaborate as
this is a public domain. The lesson that I have learnt is that
friendships are never carved in stone and no matter how solid a
foundation you believe the friendship is built on, never bet your life
on it. I had been too trusting to outsiders related to this friendship
and as a result, I was robbed of a potential lifetime friend.

Life goes on I guess and I moved on to newer things, in the process
making more friends. I have not really been able to trust new
friendships and have always been cautious and maintained an invisible
wall between new friends along the way.

I have also rekindled relationships with childhood friends and realize
they never really ended, but were kind of, on hold while our lives took
different paths. All those early years of playing marbles, pulling
ridiculous stunts and getting in trouble together, somehow bonds you
for life. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter this when a tragedy
befell one of my childhood buddies. His older brother passed away
suddenly and upon visiting the wake, he hugged me and just broke down
in tears. It was as if, he was waiting for me to arrive, and once I
did, he knew that I was the only one that could offer that shoulder of
comfort, solace during his bereavement.

It was then that I realized what true friendships are really made of.
It is always there and ever present no matter how little attention you
have paid to it. No matter how long, it was since you last caught up
with each other, when you finally meet, it was as if time stood still.

Unfortunately, just like many religions, there are many false prophets
out there, so do be careful. They proclaim that they are your friends
and are with you during a a time of crisis. In your time of need and
vulnerability, you succumb and accept the assistance this person offers
and for awhile, it seems like you've found a new friend. But lo and
behold, once the moment passes, and you've recovered, there he/she is,
awaiting for the appropriate payback.

No, I'm not talking about money, but these people are generally
insecure themselves. They offer help and time when you need it only to
claim the same from you and in most times, the payback is manifold. Out
of obligation, you spend your time and efforts to sit there and comfort
them, once, twice, three times ... and then it dawns on you that this
is not a friend but someone who has purchased the right to call on you
in their time of need - which is, most of the time! So you start to
pull back and give excuses as to why you can't be there for them this
time, next time and the time after that.

Suddenly you check your e-mail and you find and 5 page e-mail from this
person telling you what a lousy friend that you have been. How they
have helped you in your time of need and how ungrateful you are not to
have been there for them in their time of need.

Yes, false prophets, or false friends ... be aware of them and be
selective of the friends you turn to in your time of need. True friends
are there for you anytime of any day, without a hidden agenda of a
future payback. It is difficult sometimes to tell them apart, but if
you feel comfortable accepting help from this friend, chances are, it
is real.

This article is dedicated to my true friends - A tribute to our
friendship!

Jesus is Watching

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around looking for valuables, and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.

When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, promised
himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked
the light on and began searching for more valuables.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you." Freaked out, he shone his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" He hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses."

"The kind of people that would name a rottweiler Jesus."

My view on the NKF Saga

A hot topic for many Singaporeans these days, for the last 2 weeks at
least.

With the furore slowly dying down, I thought it would be a good time to
pen my thoughts on this issue.

There are always 2 sides to a story and there is no exception in this
case.

The court case was the catalyst of this whole episode to begin with. In
the hands of Mr Davinder Singh, Mr TT Durai was reduced to mush and for
what SPH was paying him, Mr Singh had indeed achieved the desired
effect, that is, to cast aspersions on Mr TT Durai's integrity and the
way that the NKF is being run.

My gut feel tells me that there's more than meets the eye over here. As
many have eventually concluded, the revelations during the court case
should not be taken as is, because the manner of which it was
presented, was designed to inflict maximum damage to the plaintiff's
case against the defendant. While there are truths in what was said, it
probably could have been seen from many other perspectives, of which,
it may not have looked so bad.

I strongly believe, even now, that Mr TT Durai ran NKF as well as he
knew how and in the process was compensated a remuneration that was
perceived to be fair in relation to the efforts put in and the results
achieved, not to forget that the remuneration he received, was approved
by the Board as well. There have been many testimonies in the media and
the internet substantiating this fact. He DID put in much effort and
his time into building the organization and he HAS achieved milestones
in terms of the services that NKF provides for the patients in its
care, let's not rob him of that.

It has been said that you can make 1 mistake out of 10 and you will be
remembered for that 1 thing, no matter how well the 9 times you
succeeded. I think that describes this situation best.

Don't be mistaken, I am not pro-NKF because I always been against the
idea of them organizing so many charity shows in a year as well as
disagreed with some of their implementation policies e.g. subsidy
qualification standards etc etc ...

Mr TT Durai's undoing however, has been his deep desire to keep private
certain information, such his salary and perks, which when revealed in
court, was the single factor that may have caused his downfall. If he
had been open about this pay and perks all the while, the backlash may
have not been so bad.

But alas, what has been done cannot be undone and he would have to live
with the consequences of his action or inactions.

Many have said that it was the revelation of the actual numbers of
patients versus what was communicated by them was the straw that broke
the camel's back. I disagree. Firstly, I did not even know how many
people that they treated and that would not have been a criteria for my
donation in the first place. This I suspect, is the case with most
people as well. I read in an internet forum and this person put it
correctly saying that does it mean that if they knew there were 2,000
patients, they would have donated $2 instead of $3? Rubbish!

Some of the reactions following the court case was indeed uncalled for.
I read that there was this joker who demanded for his $12 that he
donated and eventually the staff took out the money from her own pocket
to appease him. That guy is an idiot! I guess what they say about the
mob mentality of human beings may actually be true.

So let's really move on from here. Let the new management do their job
and hopefully they would make the changes required to regain the
confidence of the donors.

In Honour of Pope John Paul

The Pope arrives in heaven, where St. Peter awaites him.St. Peter asks the Pope who he is.
The Pope : I am the pope. St. Peter: Who? There's no such name in my book.
The Pope : I'm the representative of God on Earth.
St.Peter: Does God have a representative? He didn't tell me...
The Pope : But I am the leader of the Catholic Church...
St. Peter: The Catholic church...Never heard of it... Wait, I'll check with the boss.
St. Peter walks away through Heaven's Gate to talk with God.
St. Peter: There's a dude standing outside who claims he's your  representative on earth.
God : I don't have a representative on earth, not that I know of... 
Wait, I'll ask Jesus. (yells for Jesus)
Jesus : Yes father, what's up?
God and St. Peter explain the situation.
Jesus : Wait, I'll go outside and have a little chat with that  fellow.
Ten minutes pass and Jesus reenters the room laughing out loud.
After a few minutes St. Peter asks Jesus why he's laughing.
Jesus : Remember that fishing club I've started 2000 years ago? It  still exists!

Meaningless Promotions

Companies have long since jumped on the bandwagon of Customer
Relationship Management and we have seen endless promotional deals to
reward customers. From telcos to even the smallest of restaurants, each
of us, at one point in time or another have benefitted from deals such
as this.

This is my experience on one such promotion.

2 weeks ago, I was in Parkway Parade and my sis-in-law, who had been
meaning to get a computer, was bent on getting one that weekend. She
was keen to get a computer from Courts using the usual credit
arrangement deals that they had, but I advised her against it because
she would be paying the installments long after the computer is
obsolete and after paying the interest, the final sum would be more
than double than the initial purchase price! A case in point - she was
looking at this system which had a price tag of S$1,999. After 48
months of paying $87, she would have ended up paying S$4176! Simple
arithmetic tells me that the price has increase by 108%, meaning that
over 4 years, the interest rate would have been a whopping 27%!

Anyway, that was not the issue, after explaining how ridiculous it was
to consider such an arrangement, I recommended to consider putting
together a system from scratch. Having my staff who is good at putting
together was clearly an advantage. I suggested that we see what the
ISPs were offering as bundle deals and go from there.

Lo and behold, there was a StarHub point of sale shop just opposite
when we walked out Courts.

I had a look and discovered that they were offering a free Compaq
Presario LCD Monitor with a sign up of their basic plan - for existing
customers. I assumed that they were interested in enticing their
existing Cable TV subscribers to hook on to their Broadband plans and I
thought that it was a great idea seeing as we would be saving a bundle
from having to purchase a monitor for the computer system.

I told her to sign up and I would put together a CPU, mouse and
keyboard for her.

This is where it gets ridiculous. The customer service officers advised
that if I took advantage of the complimentary installation, I would
only have to wait 5 days. If I opted for cash and carry, I would have
to wait 7 days to collect the monitor myself. "No brainer" - I thought,
so I suggested the complimentary installation, thinking that the
technician will come down with the equipment as well as the LCD
monitor. After rushing and putting together a CPU, mouse and keyboard
less monitor, within 3 days, I was confident and told my sis-in-law,
that she had just to wait for 2 more days before she's hooked up to the
World Wide Web.

On Friday, exactly 5 days after signing up, the technician comes and
immediately notices that there isn't a monitor attached to the system
and advised that he would not be able to install the system, as he
would have needed a monitor to setup the system. My mother-in-law who
was there, asked where the free LCD monitor was, and he replied that he
would have to install the system first and collect the money before
releasing a redemption letter to self-collect the LCD monitor from
Funan Ctr - after 7 more days! He suggested that we "borrow" a monitor
from someone first! Good God!

I was overseas at that time and when I came back, I gave the customer
service officer on the phone a great piece of my mind.

All I really got was the tired cliche that "it was their procedure".

So to summarize, we had to sign on the plan, wait 5 days for the
technician to come and install the system (of which we would require a
monitor) and then he gives us a letter to collect the LCD monitor
ourselves (which we would not really need any longer seeing as we would
have to get one for him to install the system in the first place).

Holy Moses! This is what you call "rewarding" the customer?

After explaining that we deliberately signed on for a plan for the
monitor and did not have any intention of "begging, borrowing or
stealing" a monitor just so that silly technician can do his
installation, this was the best that they could do to resolve the
situation.

"Go back to the shop where the plan was signed up, cancel the initial
order and re-apply another plan on a cash and carry basis". "Great", I
thought, then I could carry my monitor myself and solve this ridiculous
situation.

After going back to shop and explaining the situation all over again to
the bloke that was there, he said that he needed to check with StarHub,
as they were just 3rd party vendors. Mind you, this was Saturday
evening, the day after the failed installation on Friday. The bloke
tried calling and then told me that the customer service center manned
by StarHub was closed for the day. He advised us to come back again the
next day, on Sunday so that he could clarify the matter with them.
"Great" was the thought that went through my mind. "I had to spend 1
more day, ironing out this Bullshit".

The next day, after lunch at around 2pm, I went to the shop again. This
time the bloke seemed to be more aware of the situation, but he still
had to make more phone calls to confirm. "Bloody Hell" - I just wanted
this hell to end. "Nevermind, I need to upgrade my phone anyway, and I
told the bloke that I would return shortly. I popped over to SingTel
Hello shop and presented my vouchers. What a world of difference!
Finally a place where people knew what they were doing! Before I could
say Jack Robinson, I was out of there with my brand new Nokia 3230!
Kudos to you SingTel! You restored my faith in customer service!

Oh dear ... suddenly I realized that I had to go back to the StarHub
joint and see if that bloke finally has his act together. Just as I
thought, he hadn't! After another 45 minutes of waiting for him to
"clarify" the situation, he finally advised that he just need to amend
the original order form form the "Free Installation Deal" to "Cash &
Carry" - all of which took him 45 minutes on Saturday and 2.5 hours on
Sunday. "Great" I thought, finally we can sort this thing out.

After making the necessary amendments, I got my modem and wires and
stuff and he handed me a letter and said that I could go to Funan
Center and collect my LCD monitor - AFTER 7 DAYS!

Aaaaaaaaaargggggggghhhhhhhhh!