Ducks at i-Cable
Aug 26, 2008 Uncategorized
i-Cable (of CableTV, Hong Kong) is full of ducks. The word “customer service” is an oxymoron for this company because they are neither customer-focused nor are they service-oriented. Everything is about them – their convenience, their products, their services, their time, their policies, their procedures, their terms…
Calling them is quite a challenge in itself. You get put through a machine phone answering system which makes you listen to a series of instructions and then directs you to press a series of numbers. Then, the machine tells you what you have entered is wrong and that you should hold for the customer service representative.
Well, I wanted to speak to a person in the first place.
And when you do get through to someone, they tell you to call another number which is “technical support.”
So, I went through the entire calling and pressing numbers and waiting process again to get another duck on the phone.
After identifying myself and describing the issue to the duck, she then proceeded to ask a series of verification questions afterwhich she asked for my name again. Hmmm…
And then, after going offline to check the connection, she returned to say, “From what I can see from here, your cable modem is on and functioning well. If you see 4 green lights on the modem, that means it is OK.”
Well, miss, if it was OK then we won’t be having this conversation, would we?
She checked again and returned with, “I got an indication that your computer is not on.”
Well, miss, if it is not ON, then I won’t know there is a problem with the connection, would I?
i-Cable gave no solutions and offered no course of action on their part. They simply reiterated the signs and symptoms of the problem, which I can see very well.
Such a situation is certainly not isolated and mostly happens with huge companies. It begs the question of how is it that they can remain in business being so self-centred?
Mighty, little cockroach
Aug 26, 2008 Uncategorized
My wife is usually a calm, collected person under even the most extreme circumstances.
Well, that depends on how “extreme” is being defined.
The one situation which will get her all worked up would be for her to be in the same room or car with a cockroach or lizard. Nothing else, as I have observed, will get her into a frenzy.
It always reminds me of what a Mathematics professor in my first university days once said in a lecture, “Fear is making giants of dwarves.” I have also read some authors saying that FEAR really is an accronym for “False Evidences Appearing Rear.”
While the lizard or cockroach may appear small, their threat is very real to many people. And because they perceive the threat to be real, their reaction towards them is one of fret, anxiety, fear and the approach is either fight or flight (this is mostly preferred).
There are many of such seemingly small and unconsequential situations in our lives. However, the way we see them often results in their becoming HUGE issues and problems and thus, we react (instead of respond) if a way so as to handle a HUGE problem arriving at a state of OVER-REACTION.
I wonder if such reactions wear out our system – body and mind – faster than the natural environment does.
After the Olympics…
Aug 25, 2008 Uncategorized
I saw the spectacular closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last night and a sudden question came to mind (other than “Where did the 2 million pounds go for the London Olympics preview??”):
What happens to athletes who retire from their sport?
For those who won something, they are likely to have loads of endorsement contracts waiting for them and that will probably make their career if they know how to leverage on it.
How about those who didn’t get anything? I’m guessing that they would have also invested large amounts of time and effort to train. Some may even have trained for years before getting into the Olympic Games. These years are heavy opportunity costs to their lives, especially those who started from a young age. Did they trade their education, their teenage years, their time with family, their friends for a potential “moment of glory”?
Excuse me, buy apartment?
Aug 23, 2008 Uncategorized
There is a new real estate development which just launched recently next to where I live. Over the past 2 weeks, the area has seen an unprecedented number of real estate agents and referral agents. They are there every corner you turn and there’s just no escaping them! They reminded me of the word “omni-present”! They clog up the pedestrian pathways, the bridge, the shopping mall, the bus terminal, and the MTR station!
Going to and from the mall and MTR station is like going through a thick jungle now. It’s not be “obstacles” along the way, but the “mosquitoes” that are attracted to anything that moves that irritate. Some of these are persistent mosquitoes who will stick to you even as you shake your head and walk on.
The funny thing is that the next mosquito will do exactly the same thing to you even though it is in clear view that you have just shaken off one.
Others will throw brochures and leaflets in your face as if the leaflets touch you, they win (or earn some money, in this case).
Yes, there are many many more mosquitoes than people viewing the flats.
What puzzles me is this: Buying an apartment is, to me, not the same as picking a snack or buying a drink from 7-eleven. An apartment in this particular estate costs at least HK$4 million and unless this amount is spare change to the masses here, why do they explore such promotional techniques?
I guess it must have worked in the past.
Typhoon no. 8!
Aug 22, 2008 Uncategorized
Typhoon Nuri is edging towards Hong Kong this morning and it looks like we will have a city shutdown with a T8 signal today. My apartment is howling with the wind, growing stronger by the hour.
Looking at the path of Nuri currently, it may well land on Hong Kong into Coastal China this afternoon. The last typhoon direct hit on Hong Kong was in 2004 which is the first typhoon ever that I have experienced. It was very exciting to say the least!
This will be the 2nd T8 in Hong Kong this year with another, if I remember correctly, three T3 signals already.
During such times, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) website www.hko.gob.hk is probably the most popular with clogged with the most pageviews in Hong Kong. Everybody (well, almost) with Internet access will be glued to the latest updates and hoping for T8 or more likely because, then, they’ll be no work. If they are already at work, they have to get home within 2 hours. Imagine the traffic chaos when this happens. Especially those who live on the islands like Discover Bay, Lamma island, Cheung Chau, etc.
Well, happy days for the working class. Not so happy days for the business people as you can imagine.
You can imagine that the timing of the HKO issuing the typhoon signal becomes a focal point of the city. Whether they issue a T8 (or higher) too soon or too late, someone (and a lot of someones) will be complaining. Afterall, it wouldn’t be Hong Kong without complains.
What’s in a name?
Aug 21, 2008 Uncategorized
While queuing up to buy lunch at KFC today, I saw a female KFC crew attending to the line next to mine with a name tag that read, “Devily”.
Well, I shouldn’t be surprise by now, having been in Hong Kong for coming 5 years now. I have not done concrete research and my conclusion is anecdotal: There are just so many people in Hong Kong with out-of-this-world names (I was told there is a similar phenomena in mainland China)! And most of them do not know what the names they give themselves mean.
Some examples: Moderate, Wise, Milk, Zero, Chlorophyll, Midway, Devil.
I’m sure you have encountered many others.
I was told this is part of the British legacy in Hong Kong. You see, early British teachers had difficulties pronouncing and remembering Chinese names. And so, they gave their students English names like Apple, Orange, Rainbow, etc. just so they can identify the individual students. As such, the purpose of having an English name became one of being different and standing out from the crowd.
Are you blind?
Aug 18, 2008 Uncategorized
Well, if you can read this, my guess is that you aren’t blind.
How would life be if you were blind?
I was on my way home at the Central MTR station last week Tuesday walking towards Hong Kong station. It was evening peak hours and a lot of people were going somewhere *important* by the way they were rushing.
For those familiar with this part of town, you’ll know that there is a rather long walk between the two stations. While I was immerse in an audiobook on my ipod, a noise from the short distance ahead of me caught my attention. As I looked up, someone picked up a walking stick, went back against the flow of people and handed the stick to a man who was standing still. Yup, that someone had knocked off the walking stick of a blind man (BM) in his hurry.
As I walked on, I noticed how BM found his track (you know the special markings on the floor that leads the blind) and walked on. I walked behind BM throughout the entire way and it was interesting to note that BM didn’t follow the track which eventually turned left towards one escalator. Instead, he walked straight against the flow of human traffic without the guiding system towards another escalator. I guess it must be his usual route.
Well, when it looked like he was going to be knocked down by someone or vice versa in the sea of people, I caught up with him and held his left hand and said, “Let me help you.” If it wasn’t a relief for him, it sure was for me. I brought him down the escalator and into the train (wondering… how does he know which platform the train is at??).
In the train standing beside BM, I thought about what a blessing it is to be able to see. I realised how much I take it for granted all my faculties everyday. I thought about the life BM lives not being able to see. And I thought about how much we, well-abled people, limit ourselves by our own thoughts and beliefs.
