Living It Up

Sometimes I think too much instant messaging and text messaging is not good.  We get so used to keeping everything brief, we forget that it is important to paint the context of our message.  I have a friend who often uses names in group conversations… but these names that she mentions, are names of people whom the rest of the group do not know. 

For e.g., this friend once went, “Hey, there’s XXX”.  The rest of us were like huh?  Who’s XXX?  She then went over to talk to XXX.  After she rejoined the group, she said, “I haven’t seen XXX for some time”.  I couldn’t help but ask, “Er, who the heck is XXX?  Are we supposed to know him?”.  And my friend replied, “He’s a friend of another of my church friends.  Don’t think you all know him”.  I didn’t say it out loud but I was thinking duh?  If we don’t know him, then why proclaim his presence to us as though we did?.  What made it even weirder was when we met another girl at our lunch venue, the first thing this friend said to that girl was, “I met XXX just now”.  I saw a blank look on the girl’s face so I asked her later, “Do you know that XXX that our friend was talking about?”.  The girl said no.

There was this other time when we were talking funerals and open coffins, etc.  This friend suddenly said, “Yeah, I didn’t look at AAA during her funeral either”.  Once again I paused, looked at the rest, saw no response, so I asked , “Who’s AAA?”.  My friend replied, “AAA from NUS Law Fac?  The one who committed suicide?”.  Once again, I’m like duh?!  Amongst the group of us, I’m from NTU, another gal’s from poly, and the 3rd wasn’t even educated here.  How on earth are we supposed to know who this AAA is, how she died, etc? 

Nothing wrong with citing examples or or names of people that the rest of the group do not know. But at least give some context.  Like instead of going “There’s XXX”… perhaps say something like, “That’s a friend of my church friend.  Let me go say hi”.  Or “did you all read or hear about AAA from NUS Law Fac previously?  The one who committed suicide ‘cos of … (whatever reason)”.  I mean, provide some context.  Some background.  So that the people around you will not be lost mid-conversation.

I told my friend about this before.  That when she talks, she should not say something without clarifying the background.  Don’t use a name without head or tail.  Don’t say things halfway”.  Her reply was, “But my church friends always know what I’m talking about.  I’m so used to being understood I don’t see why you all don’t get it”.  Duh.  Of course we don’t get it… if her church friends get it, that’s ‘cos she’s always talking about people from church.  But don’t expect the rest of us who’re not from her church to know right?  Duh.

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I was complaining to an ex-colleague yesterday about Raffles Medical Centre’s inefficiency and she told me that last month, she visited the OUB Centre branch because she was suffering from food poisoning.  The medicine she got wasn’t helping so over the weekend, she went to the Raffles Medical Centre near her place in Tampines.  She showed the 2nd doctor the med that was prescribed and the doc told her it was for gastric… not food poisoning.

Wah lau.  How screwed up can they be!

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    I’ve always felt that the doctors at Raffles Medical Centre suck ‘cos whenever i visit them for medicine for cold/flu, the medicine they prescribe never seem to work.  Last Tue, when my throat infection first started, I wanted to nip it in the bud and so I visited them straightaway.  The doc at Raffles Medical Centre (OUB Centre) prescribed med for "throat inflammation" and cough mixture and gave me 1 day MC.

    I stayed at home to rest on Wed & Thurs morning.  No improvement to my condition but I went back to work on Thurs afternoon anyway to see if there was anything urgent to do.  Caught a cold in office somehow and I was back at Raffles Medical Centre.  Saw a different doc who checked me again, and prescribed me cold medicine (actually the cold med prescribed was really Clarinase but in a different packaging).  I got an MC on Friday so I rested at home.

    Today’s the 5th day of my throat infection.  Still no better.  Throat hurts like hell, right ear hurts too, I can’t move my tongue about ‘cos the movement makes my throat hurt, still can’t talk (yeah, forgot to mention I lost my voice for 5 days already) and my appetite’s bad.  Went to my usual doctor at Simei and showed him the med the stupid doc at Raffles Medical prescribed.  DUH.  The tablets supposedly for "throat inflammation" were merely to get rid of phlegm.  That explains why it’s been 5 days and I’m still not getting any better.

    This affirms it.  The docs at Raffles Medical Centre (OUB Centre) SUCK.  Hate them.  Idiots.  Retards.  I’m never going back there again. 

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    This is one of those your view, my view, we agree to disagree things but I just had to get it off my chest.  Next week is my company’s D&D.  The theme is "Shanghai Night" so it was no surprise that a lot of the ladies in the office wanted to get a cheongsam made for the occasion.  Cheongsam tailor contacts, unfortunately, are few and far between.  When news leaked that Booze Queen, Bubbs, J and I were making cheongsams for the dinner, stupid Bouncy asked Bubbs for the contact, which the latter gave.  Bouncy, being the big mouth she is, spread the word and soon, half of the ladies in the office descended upon our tailor.

    When I found out (I was in Bangkok when it happened), I voiced out my displeasure saying that the contact should have been reserved for us because now that everyone is using our tailor, there’s a high risk our own cheongsams will not be ready in time.  Bubbs however, felt that it was the tailor’s responsibility to turn down the others, if she could not cope with the workload.  But which tailor would turn down having more business?  Sure, the tailor would gain a bad rep if she could not deliver in time… but which self-employed business person would shut the door on new business?  As a business person, obviously the tailor took the risk of not delivering on the orders, as long as she could have more business.

    When I came back from Bangkok, I passed my cloth to the tailor immediately and told her to rush it, which she did.  However, the cheongsam was a little loose and so when I went for fitting last Friday, the tailor’s assistant pinned down the alternations that had to be done and I was supposed to collect it tomorrow.  Booze Queen’s dress fitted her well and so no further alternation was required.

    J and Bubbs went down to the tailor during lunch today.  J’s cheongsam was ready too so that was perfect.  Unfortunately for Bubbs, the tailor forgot what alterations were required for her dress and so she just left it hanging, untouched.  Bubbs was mad of course when the tailor told her that she wouldn’t be able to rush it in time for next week.  Bubbs insisted on collecting her dress tomorrow and so very grumpily, the tailor agreed to do it. 

    Now I’m worried about my cheongsam.  J saw it hanging in the shop, pins still intact, which means it’s not done yet.  I called the tailor a few times earlier this evening but no one answered the phone.  I’m going to call again tomorrow morning.  Argh.  I will sit at the shop and supervise if I have to but my cheongsam must be ready in time!

    You can call the tailor unprofessional, money-minded, greedy, whatever. The way I see it is, if you don’t want to be the bad guy and say "no" to a colleague (hey, I told Atas "no" when she wanted the tailor contact), don’t expect others (i.e. the tailor) to be the bad guy for you.

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     The second season of the Channel 5 satirical variety show The Noose just ended its run last week.  I loved watching The Noose… I thought the first weatherman of season 2, the "Tomorrow’s weather?  Hot… humid… what did you expect?  Snow ah?" guy was simply hilarious. 

     Anyway, I decided to create a new category in my blog titled - yep, you guessed it - The Noose!  Funny news stories I come across will be archived here. 

     Was watching Channel 5’s 9pm news while blogging and this particular piece of news jumped out at me.  In order to prevent beggars from being exploited by criminal gangs (who make them beg and then rob them of their money), Bangkok is considering setting up a registry for beggars to register and obtain a licence to beg!  Wow.  James Bond has a licence to kill and Bangkok beggars have… a licence to beg?! 

     I know the intention is good - to try to prevent exploitation of beggars who are often physically or mentally handicapped but to create a registry for beggars?  Sounds a little lucridous doesn’t it?

     Oh and did anyone read the article in Sun’s Life! about how young Singaporeans view the current global recession?  There was this particular NUS undergrad… I forgot her name… but she said things like she doesn’t see what’s the big deal ‘cos every time she runs out of money, she just asks her parents for more?  This same rich brat also carries a S$2000 Louis Vuitton bag to school.  I think the most quote-worthy thing she said was how she doesn’t understand why some of her friends want to take on part-time jobs to get more pocket money.  She said, "Can’t they just ask their parents for more?". 

     Wah lau!  That girl must be a journalist’s dream come true.  I mean, how often do you get a spoilt rich bimbo shooting her mouth off?  And in case you’re wondering… her dad runs his own company… selling plastic bags or something.  That’s it man. I’m stepping up on my efforts to save the environment by cutting down on plastic bags.  Sheesh… I carry a plastic bag possibly made by her dad, and she carries a LV bag bought with my money.

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     Am feeling really angry for my friend.  She has decided to divorce her husband and what a jerk he has turned out to be!

     This guy:

• - Will not lift a finger to do housework.  Even when my friend was 6 months pregnant, she had to wash the clothes, wash the toilet, wash her car, etc.  The jerk would only wash his precious motorbike.
• - Is totally inconsiderate.  He would switch the fan on at full speed and blowing directly at the bed.  When my then pregnant friend told him she was feeling really cold, he told her to sleep in the study room.
• - Can let his baby sleep on a mattress soaked with the baby’s pee because he was too busy playing computer games in the next room.  Never mind the fact that the baby was crying non-stop… till my friend came back from work.

     My friend eventually walked out of the family home about 2 months after her baby was born.  She tried to go for marital counselling with the jerk… but he scolded the counsellor who eventually told my friend either she wait another 10 years for him to mature, or file for a divorce.

     So my friend decided to formally separate from the husband.  The jerk then went to the US for work (he’s a technician with the airforce).  About 6 months after he was there, a ex-girlfriend visited him and he took her to tour the US.  My friend found photos of them taken together - with his arm around the girl’s waist, hugging her from the back and so on.  (He admitted to sharing room with her and sleeping on the same bed even though he insists that "nothing happened").

     Amongst the photos my friend found, there was also a more recent photo of the slut lifting up her top to expose her pregnant tummy (yeah, the slut was pregnant with her "boyfriend’s" kid… though this angmoh boyfriend is now based in HK and does not acknowledge that the kid is his… yet she’s supposedly sticking with him while gallivanting with the jerk).

     I was soooo tempted to post photos of the jerk and the slut here but it wouldn’t be fair to expose their identities since that would affect my friend, who will soon be fighting with the jerk for the custody of her son.  Initially, I told my friend that even if she’s divorced from the jerk, she shouldn’t stop the jerk from seeing her son ‘cos that would probably impact her son negatively.  But thinking about it now, I wonder what sort of "good" example the jerk would set for the son… moreover, if he could leave the son crying and soaking in his urine when he was a helpless baby, what care or concern could he ever provide for the son?  You’ve seen Beauty and the Beast… now welcome to Slut and the Jerk.

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Neon (October 7 at 9:26pm): Hi, are u still at BKK? heard that ppl over here are rioting and sealed off the roads, in order to force the president to step down. Are you ok?

Me (October 15 at 9:56am): oh hello… didn’t see got new msg. hahahaha. most of e protests last week were around parliament house so the other areas were quite ok. thks for asking.

Neon (October 15 at 6:15pm): I see, no wonder yr replies are belated. Would you include me in yr msn list? So no more waiting or belated replies

Me (October 20 at 10:47pm): Sorry. MSN is reserved for good friends only.

Neon (October 21 at 12:27am): Orrrr… A curt reply… No prob.

Neon (October 22 at 4:15pm): Wondering how can one be a gd friend of another when there is barrier to effective communication?

Sheesh.  This guy is persistent.  Partner told me that Neon has been asking him to introduce me to him since Partner’s wedding.  This is despite the fact that Partner told him that I’m attached, and I would never like someone like him.

To be fair, I’ve ever asked myself the question - if I refuse to add someone on MSN/ICQ because that person’s not my friend, how then can that person become my friend?  Does it imply that I’m willing to meet up with that person over coffee?  Or exchange phone numbers?

Well, anyone thinking along those lines is sorely mistakened.  I think genuine friendship just happens.  It’s not something that can be systematically planned or artificially cultivated.  I have friends on MSN whom I haven’t met in person… like Genma.  (He’s a senior from TJC that I’ve known online since IRC days).  But we can talk about a wide range of topics - tech gadgets, current affairs, updates on our relationships and the usual "talk cock sing song" nonsense.  So in a IRC chatroom full of people, we managed to click and over the years, an electronic pen-pal sort of friendship developed.

Thus, I think friendship simply "happens".  A meeting of kindred spirits, in accordance to God’s providence.

Anyway, this is going to be my reply to Neon:

Me: Since u asked, I might as well be honest.  There were 2 reasons why my replies were always delayed.  First was because I don’t check my FB messages very often.  Second was because even after I saw your messages, I didn’t really have anything to say to you.

That’s my diplomatic way of saying - you don’t interest me… not even as a friend.  Bleah.

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I like to think that I’m a generally sociable person who makes friends relatively easily.  Remember my last gripe about people being overly friendly and "smiling" to me on Friendster and wanting to add me as friend?  Sigh.  Again, another of Partner’s friend is getting too friendly for my comfort.  This time, it’s a guy who works as a real estate agent.  The first time we met was at Partner’s wedding.  The 2nd was at a lunch at Raffles Place - he happened to call up Partner for lunch as he was in the area… and Partner and I had a prior lunch appointment so Partner brought him along.

Recently, I got a request on Facebook to add this chap as a friend.  I added him to my "Limited Profile" list since I regard him as Partner’s friend.  He sent me a message recently about seeing me at Partner’s daughter’s first month celebration but not having the chance to catch up.  Next was a message regarding my well-being as I was in Bangkok during the protests last week.  I always take very long to reply his messages because I have nothing to say to someone I do not regard as a friend.  Anyway, I thanked him for his concern and said sorry for the delay in replying since I don’t check my FB messages very regularly.  He then asked if I had MSN and if I could add him so there wouldn’t be such a delay in response.

Sigh.  Some people don’t get the hint huh?  This is a married guy so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s not trying to get fresh.  Plus my 2009 nuptials is splashed all over my FB so I’m sure any retard would know that as well.  My guess is that being a real estate agent, he thinks he can scour me as a prospective client.  But that’s kind of stupid as well since I’ve mentioned to him before that I used to be from real estate myself so I obviously know dozens of agents.  (But then again, stupidity knows no bounds).

I’ve been thinking what’s a polite way to tell him that I do not add non-friends to my MSN list (the exception being the Funky Bananas… but that’s ‘cos we all had a common gaming interest and MSN was to facilitate our online gaming fights).  Unfortunately, I can’t think of any polite way.  So I’m just going to give it to him plain and simple - sorry, I do not add people I do not know personally on my MSN.  *Rolls eyes*.  People ought to know their boundaries man!  Crap!

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I think there’re some people in my company who are very free.  While the rest of us start rushing work the minute we sit down at our desk, they can spend the entire morning chatting away.  About how low the Aussie dollar is against the SG dollar now, about how much rentals have gone up, etc.  Totally unrelated to work.  I’m amazed.  Life is good for some. 

What irked me though, was when the Aussie guy said that he’s ashamed of his country given how low the AUD has dropped.  Gee… why is he ashamed?  Is he implying that it is a given that the AUD should be stronger than the SGD?  And on what basis?  It was only in the last 4-5 years that the AUD has risen against the SGD and that’s only ‘cos our government decided that this would be good in bringing investment and tourists into the country.  Duh.  If the SG government had allowed our currency to freely float, the SGD would definitely be much higher than it is today.

Chao angmoh.

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*Roll eyes*.  Yeap.  Can’t help start my post by rolling my eyes.  The Beast is one freaking petty underwriter.  One day after the blow up, Bigmac spoke to him and apologised about how things turned out - basically extending an olive branch to the Beast.  Guess what was the Beast’s response?  He said he noted the apology but he would still need to review this during renewal next year!  Bigmac had only one description for him - "petty asshole".  I can’t agree more.

I don’t want to make a sweeping statement here so I will qualify this by saying with regard to all the Caucasians I work with, the most snobbish and condescending ones seem to be the Brits.  Although the French have been regarded as the proud ones, I’ve had no problems (attitude wise) with the ones I work with so far.  Ditto for the New Zealanders, Australians, Canadians and Americans.  So I really don’t get what is it with the Brits.  Is this some misplaced arrogance left over from the days when the British empire colonised the region?  Or do they just think they’re the kings of the world?

Given the grief I’ve been experiencing from them, I’ve even considered switching to spelling words the American way.  After all, it may be more efficient - e.g.  "colour" vs "color" saves the typing of 1 letter, and this would be my quiet way of saying I endorse the Americans more than the Brits.  The only thing that’s holding me back is the thought that spelling things the British way gives due credit to the folks who came up with the language.

Sigh.  I’m still deliberating this…

Or maybe I should just use Singlish.  That Beast ah… sibeh petty lor.  Damn kena sai man.

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I had a pretty big argument with the Beast yesterday.  The very first policy that we did with him had a premium due date on 13 Sep (Sat).  The client made payment on 10 Sep to my overseas office.  This was cleared and remitted by my overseas office on 12 Sep to us in Singapore.  Our banks cleared the money on 16 Sep and so on 17 Sep, I rushed my finance department to transfer the money to the Beast.

The Beast was very unhappy about this.  He sent an email asking for an explanation on why the premium was late.  My reply was that the client did pay on time, in accordance to the 45 days payment terms in the policy and that we were arranging to transfer the money to him.  The Beast then replied saying that the money did not reach him and thus a policy condition has been breached.  He said if he issued a notice of cancellation, then it would be for us to explain to the client why the policy was cancelled.

I thought this was ridiculous.  Knowing that this client is based overseas and that the premium would be originally collected by my overseas office and the fact that it happened over the weekend, I think the timeframe taken for all the transfers was reasonable!  So I did what Bigmac told me to do - I replied giving the timeline of all the money transfers, and also stated that being partners in this business, I was uncomfortable that the Beast would issue a notice of cancellation without further discussion with us, and over a short administrative delay.  I then suggested that during our renewal next year, in our direct policy to the client, we will state a 45 days payment term, but in our backend agreement, we should have a 60 days payment term to allow for the due transfer process to take place.

The Beast reared his ugly head.  He shot back an email saying that our conduct was "unprofessional" and that it has been an "unsatisfactory first time doing business" with us.  He ended his email saying that he would review this again next year and consider if he wants to renew the policy, due to the "tardiness of premium payment".

WTF man.  I checked with my finance department as well as my colleagues - clients will always pay the broker w/in the stipulated payment term… and obviously between the broker and the insurer, there is an understanding that it takes a couple of days for banks to effect the remittance!  In fact, some insurers have standing arrangements with us such that both finance departments do a netting off of all the monies owed/due at the end of the month. 

Anyway, Bigmac spoke to the Beast last night and the Beast said that during the inception of the policy, he gave the client certain discounts and highlighted that the premium must be received by him by the 45th day after the inception date.  Thus, it is wrong for us to pay him a couple of days late.  I still think he’s being a jackass.  Is he not aware that even between banks, if the payment due date falls on a non-business day, the due date automatically shifts to the next business day?  Moreover, if you tell clients that they need to pay by the 45th day, obviously the client doesn’t care how much time it takes for banks to transfer the $$ to you.  To them, as long as they give instruction beforehand for the money to be taken from their account and sent to yours, that’s considered "on time" payment.

Not to mention that in this case, the Beast is fully aware that there’re many parties involved in this transaction and thus the money changes hands a few times.  If we have done everything practicable within our means to transfer the money to him, what more does he want?  Am I expected to carry a briefcase of cash and deliver it to his office on a Saturday? 

What an asshole man.  To think he has asked us on 3 previous occassions why he never sees any of our bank business.  The next time he says this, I’m going to roll my eyes and go, "DUH".

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In this day and age of high Internet usage, superb online connectivity, instant messenging, etc, I wonder what is considered an acceptable level of service by customer/tech support staff.  If there’s one thing I don’t understand, it’s why I always have to be a bitchy customer in Singapore to get things done.  Take the latest gripe I have with Singtel.  I’m a subscriber of its Colour-Me-Tones which is a service that allows your callers to hear music instead of the usual ringing tone when they call you.

Subscribers can select the tunes they want to be played via Singtel’s IDEAS website and there’s also a function for users to request for tunes.  I’ve been a subscriber of this service for over a year now and I realised that either the Tune Request function is buggy, or Singtel is just sloppy in their customer service.  Because everytime I request for a tune that’s not in the database, it takes me 2 requests before the tune gets loaded - I request for the tune, the request stays there for 2-3 weeks, then it disappears, I request a 2nd time, wait another 2-3 weeks, then the tune appears.

I’ve gotten used to this sloppy service and I actually tolerated it over the entire time I’ve been a subscriber of this service.  However, it just got worse because 2 tunes I’ve been requesting for - Jack Johnson’s Better Together and Jason Mraz’s Lucky - got ignored repeatedly.  I must’ve waited for over 6 months now (re-requesting repeatedly) for Jack John’s Better Together but after 2-3 weeks, my request simply disappears. 

There’s no explanation from Singtel on why my request is dropped.  Is it because of copyright issues they could not sort out?  Or perhaps they could not find this particular tune?  I don’t know… but I did find out yesterday that this song is available for download via Singtel’s website.  So is Singtel just getting even sloppier in its service?

On 27 July 2008, I sent a complaint via the online feedback form regarding this problem.  On 30 July 2008, I got a reply from 1626@singtel.com that my complaint will be channeled to the relevant department for handling.  Well, my tune requests got dropped AGAIN so that leads me to conclude that the "appropriate action" taken by Singtel is to sweep my complaint under the carpet.

On 27 August 2008, I sent another email complaint to Singtel (this time, a harshly worded one)… to date, there has been no response.  Not even a cursory "we are looking into it now" reply.  Just silence.  I wonder if Singtel knows that silence is not golden for a telecommunications company.  Annoyed, I just sent an email to their CEO enquiring on what does Singtel consider as "acceptable level of service".

Am I being bitchy?  I think I am.  Unfortunately, that’s the only way to communicate to Singtel it seems.

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I’m in this group on Facebook called "I Secretly Want To Punch Slow Walking People In The Back Of The Head".  My goodness… you should see the comments left on the group’s Wall.  Everyone hates people who walk slowly and wishes to slap them or punch them.  And you know what?  I totally agree with them!  Hahahahahaha.

Recently however, I’m thinking of starting a new group.  Why be (to borrow Azure’s term) passive aggressive?  We should start taking action against slow coaches!!  So I’m thinking of calling my new group "I Openly Step On the Heels of Slow Walking People".  Now how does that sound?

Hmm… not only slow walking people… I think we can include people who stand on the wrong side of the escalator (BTW, the right side is the "wrong" side if you’re in Singapore) into this group as well!

So step on it people!

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Time and again I have encountered dishonest taxi drivers who display the "on call" sign even though they have not been booked in advance by passengers.  But the driver I met tonight takes the cake.  Not only did he dishonestly show the "on call" sign (he was waiting at the taxi stand with the sign BEFORE I called for the cab and he was assigned to my booking), he even tried to cheat on his taxable income.  See my email to the taxi company and the tax authorities for details…

<Start>

Email to Taxi Company with Complaint to IRAS within:

Please note that I have 2 complaints against taxi no. SHD1227X.

FIRST: Earlier tonight, I was waiting for taxis at UOB Plaza 1.  As no cab was in sight, I dialled this number (64815151) recommended by a friend to get a taxi through an operator assisted call.  Within 1 minute, I was told that "the taxi is already at UOB Plaza 1".

No surprise.  The taxi was indeed waiting at the lobby area with an "on-call" sign displayed.  Obviously, the driver dishonestly displayed the "on-call" sign while waiting for someone to call for a cab.

SECOND: My total cab fare came up to $19.70 and this is the fare my receipt shows.  However, your driver collected $20 from me and insisted that the $0.30 diesel surcharge is not reflected on the receipt.

Please explain the reason for this practice because I believe the diesel surcharge forms part of your taxable income, hence, it should be reflected on the receipt.  I strongly believe this is a case of tax evasion and I have reported this to IRAS.  Please see a copy & paste of my email to IRAS.

——————–
To Whom-it-may-concern,

With the recent introduction of the diesel surcharge by taxi companies, I would like to find out if this diesel surcharge forms taxable income by the companies.  The reason I am asking is this.

Earlier tonight, I took a taxi home from work and the bill on my receipt showed $19.70.  However, the taxi driver insisted that I had to pay $20 as there was a $0.30 diesel surcharge on all fares.  Given that the receipt only showed $19.70, does this mean that the $0.30 diesel surcharge earned by the taxi driver/company is not taxable?  Or is this a loophole for tax evasion?  Please advise.

FYI, the details of the taxi I took are as follows:
Company Name: Premier Taxis Pte Ltd
Reg. No.: 20-0304975-H
Taxi No. SHD1277X
Receipt No.: 8275
Start: 12/08/2008 21:44
End: 12/08/2008 22:06
Meter Fare: $13.20
CBD: $3.00
Current Booking: $3.50
Total Fare: $19.70
——————–

You should be hearing from IRAS soon.

<End>

Frankly, many taxi drivers dishonestly display the "on call" sign to force passengers to call for a cab so that they can earn the $3.50 booking fee.  But to cheat on the diesel surcharge also (Iceman believes the taxi driver did not include the diesel surcharge on the receipt on purpose so that he could earn the $0.30 instead of giving it to the taxi company) is just TOO MUCH.

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Everyone knows I don’t cook, can’t sew and I don’t do housework.  I don’t like to cook because I find it difficult to wrap my mind around how spending 1 hour to prepare a dish that will be gobbled up in 15 minute can be fulfilling.  I think it’s much more efficient to pay $5 for a cheap dinner at a coffeeshop.  (Plus, there’re no dishes to wash too!)  I don’t like doing housework either because the dust from cleaning the house makes me sneeze non-stop.  It used to trigger many near asthma attacks when I was a kid and sneezing makes me irritable.  I’d much rather spend more time earning $$ so I can outsource the cleaning to a maid.  At least I enjoy my work.

In the past 2 weeks, I observed that some married couples I know do not have an equal sharing of household chores.  (See?  It’s a CHORE).  I know of 2 wives who work AND do all the household chores in the family.  I’m disgusted that their husbands can watch TV while their wives are slogging to finish the chores.  As though their wives’ jobs were any less tiring than theirs.

It’s this differential expectation of a man and a woman that pisses me off.  I find it extremely derogatory that a woman is expected to do all the housework as though "her place is in the kitchen".  I would never be able to bow to such unfair expectations of a woman.  Why should a woman be expected to do all the ironing or cleaning or cooking? 

I also recall that a friend, while growing up, had to help clear the dinner table and do the dishes while her brother didn’t have to lift a finger to help.  Her brother didn’t even have to cook instant noodles for himself if he were hungry.  Her mom would do it for him but my friend would cook her own instant noodles.  Yucks.  That always made me extremely glad that I don’t have any brothers.  I would never be able to accept such double standards just because I am female and based on my character?  The more someone forces me to do something, the more violently I will refuse to comply.  (It’s just like when my mom nagged at me to do my homework, I will refuse to do it.  But if she left me to my own devices, I will willingly finish my homework).

I’m glad that Iceman doesn’t have such backward expectations of me.  I’m happy to do my share of work (though it’s limited to the occasional washing of dishes now) because he always helps too.  Most importantly, he doesn’t take it for granted that it’s "my job".  I think all boyfriends/husbands should be like that.  Slap the ones who don’t.  Idiots.

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