Four Minutes of Calm

Two Decades Old

Often I've been part of the crowd that does surprises and love to see the reaction of birthday guy or girl when we pop out of the blue and shout "Happy birthday!". Yesterday it was my turn to be the birthday girl and boy, I almost though the surprise and the big group of people seated together were the friends of a couple walking ahead of us up the staircase.

So my day started out by meeting 大肥 at White Sands as I was lugging a big bag of clothes to change for staying over. Something tells me it isn't normal to see him hiding his right hand behind his back... I thought, hmm maybe another gold wire bookmark or a birthday card? But nope, he fished out a small bouquet of yellow and orange tinted tulips and smiled from ear to ear.

I believe my reaction was rather underwhelming cos I choked out "Wow... okay" as I took over the bouquet. I mean, don't blame me, I'm not a fan of receiving flowers everyday like how guys believe girls would like. Yes, receiving flowers are very sweet because not many people does this nowadays and can you believe the price of a small bouquet these days? I'd rather my boy spend his money on something more practical (like feeding my tummy... muahahaha!) but the thought of him spending a little fortune to get a classic bouquet is heart-warming. I had to comfort him repeatedly due to my underwhelmed response.

He told me that when he asked the florist for tulips to be given to me, the florist replied,

"Boy, buy rose la! Cheaper and romantic. Tulips (are) expensive you know."

But he went ahead with my favourite tulips. Don't hate on me but I feel roses are over-rated - I rather get something like tulips or sunflowers (those singular ones with a big stalk). We had Pepper Lunch for brunch (yes... despite my cough) and I was reminded by him to carry this bouquet wherever I go. Then we went back to settle down at his house and lazed around to watch TV until it was time to wash up and get ready to celebrate my birthday by having dinner at The Loft!

Gigantic phone which has all of his attention

Yes! Unglam/fatty shot!

Fattest period of our lives

Honestly I wasn't expecting much for my birthday every year because it feels like passing another day and I don't feel like there is a spotlight shining on me wherever I go. Birthdays are special days whereby I could treat myself by retail therapy and indulge in sinful foods despite my weak immune system. So I thought, hey, my boyfriend had made plans to eat at this posh-looking place and spending my special day with him at his house cuddling and being cosy doesn't seem so bad afterall.

I asked if he had made reservations and he said the place isn't packed so there is no need for reservations, then again I thought "hmm why wouldn't a restaurant be packed on a Saturday and considering it is located at an atas area?". Anyway, my suspicions were quickly erased once I walked up the stairs and heard a loud

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~

I got shocked for a moment and thought it was for the couple walking in front of us... until I saw Cheryl's wide grin. And~ as usual I teared up a little and was so glad that all of them are here. We quickly placed our orders and halfway through the dinner, Sophia and Cheryl felt their food was undercooked... it was either too mushy or the pasta wasn't as al dente was expected. In overall I'd say the pork rack, fish & chips and mushroom tarts were the better ones in the menu.

Pork Rack

Grilled Chicken

Bitchy eye-roll

As we finished the dinner, Soph and Cheryl said they had to go to the toilet and left the table. After I went to the toilet I realize "Eh... didn't they say they went to the toilet but it seems like there's only one cubicle here?" I gave them the benefit of doubt that there were more toilets downstairs...

And they came up the stairs with mixed berries tart from Fruit Paradise as my birthday "cake"!

Love you guys! :*

Thank you guys for the amazing surprise and company! I treasure our friendship from the past 7 years and I know you all will be my lifelong and crazy and hyper friends :) Additionally I'm glad that Adin was roped into this birthday dinner.

To my dear who had been tolerating my nonsensical temper and always-starving tummy, 辛苦你了！You would never expect a girl at my size to have such a big appetite and you've spoiled me for good. I like that we are approaching the end of the year because the next event we are celebrating is our anniversary and your birthday. Also, you are so good as keeping my suspicions at bay while you carry out the surprise with them (you even told them I like Fruit Paradise!). Or am I just too blur to notice? Well... at least I am not paranoid!

Directions to The Loft @ Katong: It is located behind Roxy Square and next to 328 Katong Laksa

Call Center Nightmare

Count myself "lucky" to encounter two dispute calls since the start of my work 2 weeks ago. I must have been so heng to get these type of calls because they put my reasoning skills to the test and stretch my tolerance for such unreasonable customer.

So one lady called in today and I guess the only way she speaks on the phone is to yell, shout, holler, scream, whatever you can think of. She made an enquiry and a request that I could not attend to because it doesn't fit the purpose of calling this hotline and it is not my responsibility to entertain such calls, but I attended to her request out of goodwill. Yes, goodwill can kill - and I got "killed" by the customer today all because of the little angel floating at the top of my head urging me to do something nice for her.

I did whatever I could to help the lady and all she said were,

"You don't understand what I'm saying!"

"Are you stupid or what?"

"You are not answering my question!"

Tell me how to not blow my top when she only converse by shouting? Fine, I kept my cool for the first 10 minutes of the verbally and emotionally abusive call. She even asked a very stupid question like,

"How come the country code of Hong Kong is 852 - 3 digits - while Singapore one is 65 - 2 digits?"

How the fuck would I know lady? I am not the head of whichever big company that decides the country code and decides how many digits would be in the country code! So I tolerated her a while more and replied her politely that I would not know the reason for this as it had already been determined like many many years ago. 

After tolerating her nonsense and screams for the past 15 minutes for something stupid - like how I didn't read the number in one go (I mean, hey, I read out the number slowly to you to make sure that you get every damn number correct so you cannot have another chance to scold me!), I broke into sobs and it could be heard over the ultra-sensitive microphone attached to my headset. The lady apologized to me and used her age as an excuse ("I'm 55 years old and still have to work at this age. You are, what, 20 years old? I wish I was at your age working so it wouldn't be tiring"). She asked for my name and an email address that she can reach somebody because she wants to do this...

A commendation letter.

Seriously ma'am? I don't need your fucking commendation letter for all the emotional and verbal abuse you had put me through for the past 20 minutes of phone call. I know some people find 20 minutes is not long enough to count blowing your top and break into sobs but imagine a random old aunty approaches you in the MRT and start to yell at you for something you didn't do wrong... wouldn't you be furious?

I told her straight off my chest - even though I knew every call was recorded for audit purposes - that I don't want her commendation letter. Deep inside, the damage had already been done, period. I am already inconsolable and I haven't sobbed quite badly since the last time I cried at my aunty's funeral. Yeah, that's how bad my work day was during noon time. She apologized repeatedly for upsetting me and mentioned that I am "young and brave girl that could put up with her because she was so busy that she couldn't spare time to look up the company'c contact number herself". While she explained for her abusive behaviour, I would never bring myself to accept her apology by answering her. 

Now I know how verbal abuse can destroy a person emotionally and how "sorry no cure" feels like. It is like slowly hacking a tree with each abusive word and to only apologize to the tree when it topples down with no more support from the root.

Nobody should ever be a victim of verbal abuse for something that they had not done wrong because everyone must be given the same amount of respect.