Petrol hike is to blame for.....

1. Messing up our heads

On the very first day of the petrol hike, me and my bunch of colleagues went to our usual kopitiam for lunch... where were suddenly realised...

Aunty : Here’s your mee. That will be rm 3.30 please.
J: What?
Aunty : Hehe.... everything price went up adi lo, delivery charges la, price of pork yada yada yada.....
J: Uh....>.<
Uncle: Here's your pork ball noodles, 3.30 please.
Us: (looks at each other) 30 cents increase for everything! SCREAMMMMMM

The next day
J: Boycott the restaurant!
V : Lets go to secret recipe, at least they didn’t hike up the price.
Everyone: lets go lets go!
Me: (Isn’t there something wrong with this scene? Spend additional Rm 10 just to save 30 cents......)

At any rate after another week we were back at our usual kopitiam for lunch, its still the cheapest around our place anyway. This phrase sounds familiar? Sounds like our GOV saying that Malaysia still has the cheapest rate of petrol.

2. Depriving us of simple pleasures(while still messing up our heads)

(Before petrol hike)
Waiter : Minum apa?
Us: Teh si Ping, teh limau ice, kopi ice, milo ice yada yada

(After petrol hike)
Waiter : Minum apa?
Us: Uh... Shuit char(ice tea),yit char(hot chinese tea), tak mau, tak mau....

(Few weeks after petrol hike)
Waiter : Minum apa?
Us : Semua tak mau.....
Waiter : -_-

Following which some of my colleagues usually head to the supermarket after lunch to buy a Just Tea, Coke or other canned drinks... which costs even more than a teh tarik -_- I just head back to my office to drink water.

3. Endangering our lives, well being and property due to implementing cost reducing methods

Being that the cost of living has gone up, all of us have been trying to reduce our costs.

Cost reducing method 1 : Avoid paying for parking
Around my office area you can park in 3 places.
The parking slots in front of the office(50 cent per hour)
The yellow line area in front of the office(subject to the wrath of the JPJ)
or next the playground or lorongs near the school(subject to abuse from wayward youths and school children)

Naturally to avoid paying for parking, we park in those illegal places or near the school.

Scene A : (park near school)ARGHHH!! who conteng my car !!!
Scene B : (park near playground)What THE ...! How come so many motorbikes parked all around my car, how am I going to come out!
Scene C : (park yellow line) ARGHHH rm 30 saman!!!
Scene D : Die, its raining and my car is 10 minutes away up the hill, with all the water pouring down the slope! Tomorrow sure sick and on MC la...(decreases office productivity)

Cost reducing method 2 : Pay parking only for the "peak hours" that the JPJ come (usually 9 am - 2 p.m.)

Colleague: OII , JPJ datang!!!!
(mad rush to the car park by everyone in the office. Stampede!!!)
Colleague: Aiya tak sempat to slot in coins, kena saman adi...sob sob


Cost reducing method 3 : Don't waste petrol!
Scene A: Leave the house before 7 am to avoid the jam..then reach office only to find that no one is there yet and it is locked. End up spending rm 4 for breakfast trying to pass the time.

Scene B: Leave the office at 9 p.m. to avoid to jam only to realise that night is pasar malam night. Jam all the way home.

Scene C: Leave office at 8 p.m. on a non night market day only to encounter heavy rain and floods. Therefore reaching home 2 hours later with a bursting bladder.

Scene D: Turn off the engine at a slow traffic light to save petrol, only to realise your car cant start when the lights turn green. HONK HONK!

Scene E : Turn off aircon n open car windows. Busses pass by n belch smoke at your car, filling your lungs with carbon monoxide

Scene F : Turn off engine and open windows when waiting outside any place for your friend/mum/gf/bf....and roast in the hot malaysian weather

Cost reducing method 4 : Car pool or public transport?

Car Pool
Scene A:
Fella 1 : Its ok dad, you can take my car, I'm car pooling today
(1 hour later)
Fella 2 : (on phone) I'm on MC today, you go to work yourself la
Fella 1 : ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Scene B:
Me: (Arrives at her house, nobody in sight)
Lady: (Comes out 15 minutes later) Sorry sorry, I overslept
(30 minutes later,, in the heavy traffic)
Lady : Aiyo I'm going to be late for work, why dont you take this lane, it seems faster, cant you cut into that lane? Hey just stick your car into here, we can skip the queue
Me: -_-

Scene C:
Me: Arrives at her work place, nobody in sight. Dials her office number
Lady: Hello?
Me: Eh, you still there ar
Lady: Aiya sorry I got urgent work to do suddenly, can you wait for 10 minutes?
Me: Uh ok, please hurry up, the jam will be worse soon
(20 minutes later)
Lady: sorry sorry, aiya its raining now, die la sure jam
Me:(*Its not the rains fault its your fault!!!)

Scene D:
Lady arrives on time, we leave early, traffic is smooth, weather is good

Me: (Happily driving home in anticipation of dinner)
Lady: Traffic good today huh
Me: Yep, tats coz we left early(hint hint)
Lady: SInce we are so early today can you just fetch me to xxxxxxx to buy something?
Me: (Sigh) Ok....

(In front of the stall/shop/mall 20 minutes have passed)
Me:(*aiyo why so long one, I'm parking in a bad place la)
Lady:( Finally appears) Sorry sorry, the stupid cashier la, must be new person la, dunno how to yada yada yada......
Me: SIGHHHHHHH !!

Public transport
Need I say more? Imagine taking bus/lrt from Cheras to my working place. I think it will take 2 buses, 1 lrt and 2 hours at least. Even driving is cheaper.

Conclusion:
Dont bother with money saving methods, you will end up suffering more.

How it actually happened

Well anyway, its like this. I finished my work on friday and wanted to go home on time(5.30 p.m.). Unfortunately I could not contact HER (the lady I fetch home) and therefore was stuck in office calling her office phone every 5 minutes. Finally after 20 minutes I managed to get her.

Lady: Oh, don't tell me you are leaving now! I have so much work to do and some of it is urgent.
Me : Uh... yea I have finished my work n I actually wanted to go back some time ago but I cant reach you.
Lady : Oh, my office line isnt working properly. I'll call you back as soon I finish this urgent matter ok?
Me : uh ok....

(Flashback to last night- thursday)
Lady : Are you staying back until 9 tomorrow? (Friday)
Me : Well maybe...not sure
Lady: I hope you do, I have a lot of work to rush
Me : uh ok, we'll see

(Ok, back to that present moment)
At 6.40, still no call from her, i tried calling her to tell her I would be going out for dinner since I'm waiting for her but no one picked up the phone. At that time it suddenly started raining very heavily. Darn...looks like I cant even go back.

6.45 the phone rings
Lady : Did you try to call me just now?
Me: yes..
Lady : Oh sorry about that, the phone is still not working properly. Do you want to go back now?
Me: Uh, its raining heavily now, my car is parked quite far away.
Lady : Oh I didnt realise it was raining. Luckily we didnt go back earlier !
Me: Har? If we had gone back just now(1 hour ago) we wouuld have escpaed the rain and jam.
Lady : oh...hehe.... well so what time do you want to go back?
Me: Well since all of us are stuck in office, probably we will just stay on till the rain stops. How can I contact you when I want to go back, perhaps you can give me the cellphone number of your colleague?
Lady : oh, cant la, they are all leaving soon already.
Me: Uh ok.... call me back in 30 minutes then.

As luck would have it, the rain stopped about 10 minutes later, and I could not reach HER when I called her office. Fine... I then went for dinner with my colleagues. Oh well since it was already so late, I might as well just stay back until 9 pm and catch up on some tasks, and claim the allowance that comes with staying back for 3 hours.

8.00 p.m. the phone rings
Lady: So when do you want to go back?
Me: I think I'll stay till 9 after all.
Lady: AWWWW... Couldn't you come earlier? I'm SOO BOREDD and I have finsished my work.
Me (...............you said yesterday that you wanted me to stay till 9, and I was the one being bored in office with nothing to do WAITING for YOU)
Uh.. i'll try to get to your place as fast as I can after I leave office.


9.15 pm in the car
Lady: Ah, you are finally here. Sigh, its going to be a boring weekend, i brought so much work home.
Me: Eh, I thought you said you were bored just now.
Lady: Oh, theres still a lot of work, but I didnt feel like doing it, so boring la..
Me: ...................(bangs head on car window)

Why am I here?

Well, looks like I finally gathered up the time and mood to blog about something. Guess where i am now? In office of course. Why am I here at this time? Ask me then.

Q: Do you have a lot of unfinished work?
A: Not really, I have finished my work

Q:Why are you still in office?
A:Its raining heavily now, and I mean REALLY heavily

Q:Why didnt you go back earlier before the rain started?
A:Because I could not reach a certain someone who I am supposed to fetch home, despite ringing her number hundreds of times.

Q:Isnt there any other way of contacting her?
A:She has no cellphone, and apparently she seldom checks her email, because I tried that too.