Power - Of Obsession and Datukship

It is interesting to read about power. I mean, who isn't intrigued by it? For instance, it appears that Malaysians, together with Slovakians are world Power Distance Index (PDI) champions as our society worship power (we are at 104 btw).

From home to office to everyday lives, wouldn't we want more power? Isn't it great if we can wake up to a nice breakfast served to us in our beds, our children don't cry or make a fuss but obediently do their homeworks and houseworks or order people around to clean up our streets, fill up the potholes and importantly, do our every whim and bound? You can go off and do whatever you want while others sweat, panic and worry how to meet your deadlines.

According to Mr Lim Teck Ghee in the same article:

The idea of a hierarchy is very strict in Malaysia. So whatever the boss says, goes.

Interesting indeed. Deep down, who wouldn't want power? In any society, power exist because of hierarchy. It is the order of things. You can't have everyone running around like headless chicken right? You need order and to do so, you need hierarchy. Power is implied yet very explicit when exercised.

The interesting bit is of course in relation to why other societies have low PDIs such as US (40), UK (35), France (68), Denmark (18), Japan (54) and Australia (36). It doesn't seem to be an Asian thing too considering our neighbours results - Thailand (64), Indonesia (78), Singapore (74), Hong Kong (68), China (80) and India (77). If you want to point out it is an Islam thing, well. the Arabian world only average at 80 while Pakistan (55) and Bangladesh (80).

You can read more about the index here.

To say it is mainly a developed democracy thing with everyone perceiving each other as equals as how Mr Lim postulated in the same article seems like an over-generalisation because countries like France and Japan rank not too far from Pakistan.

Source: http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/playlist/2009/04/-pastes-tax-refund-playlist-cash-money-mix.html

So we can't derive much from the index really. The only conclusion is Malaysians, compared to the rest, are power crazy. On the same note, I wonder is that why there are so many people who would chase after Datukship. I wonder too what special positions do Datuks have in our society today.

If a Datuk goes to a bank and apply for a loan (but it turns out his/her conduct of account is bad), I doubt the bank will approve the application. Even if his records is impeccible, he/she can't borrow whatever he she wants. The bank will still assess his/her credit strength together with his/her earning power and then make a decision.

Or do a Datuk, when he walks into a packed restaurant tell the restaurant manager, he/she is a Datuk, therefore he/she can get a table instantly while there is a long line of customers waiting to be seated? Maybe but not those restaurants I have been going.

Or by invoking a Datukship, will someone get a discount from buying stuff in Starhill or Bukit Bintang? If I am going to buy 10 Patek Phillipe watches with cash versus a Datuk who only say he wants to buy 1 with credit card, who do you think will get a better discount? Will a Datuk also get the same discount?

Even if a Datuk were to be chauffeured via North South Expressway, he/she pays the same rate as everyone else. Compared to a Datuk who shops in Isetan without Isetan membership card, my parking fee is waived for the first few hours in KLCC, Lot 10 and The Gardens whenever I spend above RM100 in a single receipt simply because I have Isetan membership.

I guess there are other intriguing things but I certainly don't see how useful it will be. Which is why I find MIC Youth chief call for a centralised database for false datuks and datuk sris quite useless to me.

Maybe it is useful for those who perceive a title signifies power but in today's society, isn't it more true that cash is king while the rest means nothing?

Another Monday ranting...

Finally!

No doubt I have been on leave since Wednesday but it has been a hectic week. It was a mad rush of shopping, preparing 2 dishes for 25 person, attending a wedding dinner and going about meeting potential interior designer to discuss on my renovation ideas for my new house.

One of my experiments: Roasted chicken marinated using red wine plus potatoes

Did you know that the marinated sauce can be used to transform into gravy? I didn't but that didn't stop me from sauteing lots of mushrooms and capsicums with grounded black pepper and rosemary using olive oil, add the marinated sauce in it (which includes lots of garlic and onion pieces) and then I threw in 2 threw pieces of cheddar cheese and some whipping cream to thicken it. Not bad really...

In between, I went to that dreaded branch to collect my cheque book and guess who I saw? Ms Sourpuss Bank Teller. She saw me walking in, quickly made her exit to a room somewhere and I couldn't even be bothered to look at her (quite relieved actually knowing I am not being attended by her). It was short lived though. I spoke to the officer at counter 1 and he called out for her. This time round, she has the "courtesy" to say "thank you" even though the deaf and blind knows she doesn't mean it and surprisingly, no shoving of cheque books.

Come to think of it, the remaining 2 weeks seemed so short. I really dread the idea I have to return to work in 2 weeks time. I don't see why I should work with a bunch of people who are not out to work but to 'tai chi' it to others. I am supposed to update my CV but I do wonder where should I go? Sigh...

Tomorrow is Chinese Midwinter festival. Remember your loved ones (especially your parents which you may not have seen for sometime) and have a dinner or lunch together. There is only so much time one can walk on this world before disappearing. And I am not referring to just you.

Merry Christmas, season greetings and happy holidays...:o)

Mondays & Epitome of All That's Wrong With It...

WARNING: This is very long but because I am still mad at that idiotic little napolean in a local bank, I just have to narrate it word for word as my memory permits!

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So imagine you have to work on Monday after a long weekend. The one where you had plans for but somehow, something happened and it turns out to be a miserable weekend to boot. Now imagine you have to face a large crowd of customers all eager to get things done and you realised some of your colleagues took extended leaves which left you and your other teller friend working. Imagine the frustration. And let me repeat, all of it happened on Monday.

So with pent up feeling of sort and having to maintain a job for reasons only you can understand, visualise how you will take it upon yourself to face a large crowd of customers.

*******

On the other hand, I am the customer who took leave on Monday to sort things out. I walked in to this bank after visiting another bank, NRD and JPJ where I noticed people aren't in a mood to work. Smiling may not be the norm but doing your job professionally is the minimum required anyway. I don't have high expectations for civil service but I was quite impressed that the customer service in government departments and this other bank (which was reputed to have bad customer service) have improved noticably since the last visit I had. And this I mean not only our immigation department.

So back to the story.

I press for a ticket to get a number to be served from a machine, quite customary with many institutions nowadays since it is more fashionable to have your customers sitting on chairs waiting for the queue rather than having them standing and lining up. Of course if they could do the work quickly and efficiently, who would really mind queuing while standing? Or for that matter, who wants to sit on a chair and wait for hours only to be served?

Anyway, mine was 2002. And the one before me was 2001. I wanted to open a current account in this bank to facilitate payments for my new housing loan. I was glad somewhat for the short numberbut my wife was busy chatting on the phone outside. I was worried. What if my number is called?

Anyway, it was about 10.15-10.30 am, so ok, let's wait and see. I scanned the horizon and realised they have two cubicles like tables on the far right of the branch to provide personal services which I would assume for customers that wanted to take up mortgages and open accounts. It was unoccupied though, perhaps they are on leave?

Then my number was called. I walked to the counter 3. I told the teller, a woman at early 20s (with lots of pimples on her face busy writing something) that I wanted to open a current account for my loan.

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/jmo1199l.jpg

I passed her the letter of offer for her to take a look. Perhaps she didn't hear me the first time, she asked, "What account?" I told her, "Current account". "Current account for?" to which I replied, "For my mortgage." She then asked again, "Which account?" Perhaps it is me but is the standard of English fallen that badly in this country or perhaps this woman failed in her exams? The rest of my conversation with her from hereon, were conducted mainly in Canotonese. I just look at her dumbfolded and she said, "Mortgage plus?" I said, "Yes, you can read it from the letter of offer I just passed to you." You should see the look on her face. She was quite reluctant to the point of irritation to read it. She read a name and asked who is that? I said it is me. And this other name? I told her it is my wife's. Then she said, "Both of you need to be present to open a joint account." I told her she is just outside and asked her to wait for a moment. I walked out and called out for her. She quickly rush in with me.

While she is busy typing some stuff, I told her I wanted to get a cheque book. In addition, I would also like to get an ATM card. With her fu quah (Cantonese for bitter gourd) face, she somewhat said "can" to what I requested.

Now you can see from her face she is not quite pleased with the prospect of work. She asked, "Can you give me the processing fee?" Now, if she is smart, she should check in the system to see if it is paid. But knowing this bank, I do have my suspicious that all may not be well so I told her, "I have paid the fees to the loan officer in another bank. Could you please check?"

She kept quiet, took our documents and walked to the photocopier behind her. An officer, who happened to be seated right at the back of her, went over to chat with her and examined the letter of offer. It was then I told my wife, "I am not happy with the services of this bank. Didn't I tell you this other bank we are currently using is much better? At least they smile and welcome you, not like here."

Perhaps she heard it, perhaps not, whatever. She then passed us a stack of documents and told us to fill it up. I was perplexed why there are so many forms but whatever the case maybe, I was just about to walk over to another place to fill up these docs and sensing she is short of vocabularies, I asked her should I take another number? She said no. At the tables where the personal services workstation supposed to be, I sat down with my wife and filled in the necessary. I realised there are two forms which I don't think I need and I am not sure why she gave us.

When we completed what was required, I handed her all the forms, she literally grabbed the documents from me (which will be a series of grabing and shoving as you read on further). And she shoved two forms back at me. I asked, "What are these forms for?" She said, "Your wife said she lost her ATM card, these forms are for her to fill in to get replacement." I gave her the look that no-doubt-my-wife-inquired-but-the-least-you-can-do-is -to-tell-us-we-don't-need-to-fill-these-forms-now.

I afterall filled up these forms and only now realised it was not for what it was intended. So I asked, "Then why did you gave it to me?" She said, "Oh just in case next time you need to get replacement ATM card."

I noticed she is holding back her smile of sort. Perhaps she thought she is very smart to have "tricked" me to fill in those forms. So anyway, I passed her the monies. I told her I want to put RM500 as deposit. She processed it and then passed me the cheque book request slip. I took the slip and she said, "Put in the box over there." "Over there?" As I pointed to my left. "Yes, there.", she said. I walked to where "there" is and back and told her, "I don't see the box." She said again, "Over there!" as she pointed to my left. Now, the box is only the size of two 1.5 litre bottles placed side by side and it is translucent, placed next to a placard / ad of sort or a plant, I cant be sure but whatever it is I can tell you being described as "there" is as cryptic as a treaure hunt map with no X mark the spot. It is only 2 counters away and the least she could say is, please drop the slip into the translucent box placed on the top far-left of the counter 1. Is it that hard to say? She ended up having to stand up, walked midway, took her pen and pointed to me where the box is. And again, you can see in her irritated fu quah face that she is not happy.

After it was completed, I asked her, "How about my ATM card application?" She gave me the blank look for a second and back to fu quah face. She said in Cantonese something along the line that it will cost me RM8 to get an ATM card and annual charges of RM8 (but because of her rather opague words, it sounded like RM100! which I later clarified with my wife that she meant RM8). Meanwhile, I took out RM50 and put in on the counter for her.

She passed me some stuff to fill in again which I proceeded to do accordingly. As she spoke, I didn't bother to look at her. You can hear the tone that she is not pleased. She asked, "Do you have other accounts with this bank?" I swiftly replied, "No." while in my mind, I was thinking, can't you check in the system? Then she asked, "I don't have change for RM50. Do you have smaller notes?" to which I replied, "No, I don't have as I just withdrew monies from the bank." She was quite adamant and said, "I don't have change wo." And I looked up at her and in my mind, should I call for the manager? or say out loud, "You mean the bank has no monies!" to which I expect a stampede of desperate customers withdrawing monies and cause a deposit run.

This woman is definitely not a problem solver and she is putting obsticles in front of us just to impede us from opening an account or getting an ATM card.

Then my wife asked, "Can't you direct debit against our current account?" Defeated, she said, "Yes." which followed by grabbing the ATM application form I just completed and shoving me a yellow notepad and asked me to sign to enable the direct debit. She then shoved/threw me a slip and asked me to sign. I did. She grab it and shove it back and said, "Your name and date." I filled it in.

Suffice to say that by the time I left, I think I loath going to that branch rather than government offices. To think that in our quest to move up to higher income nation, people like her is more than sufficient to "shove" any would be investors to consider the likes of Indonesia and Thailand rather than some arrogant problem giving nobodies, which by the way, this nation has quite a number of them.

Again, so what if you have period pains? Or your boyfriend dumped you? Or perhaps your weekend trip turns out to be not what you expected? You know you have a front line job and for whatever reason you have, you need to work professional to ensure you earn some grub to meet whatever excuse you have to continue living. I don't expect a smile but if you are into shoving and grabing, why not just change profession to be a professional thief or robber? I don't need shovings to tell me I am not wanted. To this, her CEO will definitely know why I am not pleased and mind you, if I did it to the "World's Local Bank" I don't mind doing it to this crappy local bank!