Chopped liver

Wednesday:
Went to Starhub to ask about renewing my mobile contract. Took a number, 1028. The number was at 1025, which changed to 1026 in around 2min. I wandered around and eventually ended up sitting on a bench just outside the shop. Mind you, the shop was small. I was sitting around 10m away from the customer service counters. About 2 minutes before they called for my number, this tall lady walked into the shop. I was still seated outside and the number was still at 1026.

Then the number changed, to 1028. I was stunned for all of 1.5 seconds. It was too good to be true. I stood up and made my way to the counter, which took me around 5 seconds. About 4 seconds into my journey, the lady at the counter buzzed for the next number, 1029. This tall lady made her way to the counter too. Turns out she was 1029. So, we reached the counter at roughly the same time (with her reaching around 0.3 seconds before me).

The lady behind the counter hasn't even started addressing the tall lady, but she turned to me and said "You wait a while, can?" (loosely, and badly, translated) in Mandarin. The tall lady looked at me at that moment. I agreed to wait A WHILE. I actually expected the next counter's staff (only 2 counters were operating) to be informed of this "arrangement".

I stood there for around 5 minutes, getting more and more impatient (and regretting my decision, I should have said 'no'). I saw a lady looking in my general direction. She could probably see the frown forming on my face. After a while, the tall lady was done with her problem. I think she tried to make as fast as possible (maybe because the people at the next counter were still there from before I arrived in the shop).

She went out of the shop. The service lady went to the back of the shop without any apologetic look at me or any indication that she noticed I was there (I know, I was staring at her, expectantly, then my expression became just plain annoyed). She stayed inside for around 3 minutes. Then she came out, and I thought it was finally my turn. She stood behind the counter using a computer or machine of sorts. I wouldn't know. I wasn't in quite the mood to pay attention to details. What I know is that, it is basic courtesy to not let someone wait after you have called for them. The right thing to do would have been to attend to me, THEN do whatever necessary administrative work after I have left, then buzz a new customer.

After the tall lady had left for around 6 minutes, the second counter was done. About 10 seconds after the customers of that counter left, the lady buzzed for number 1030. Turns out it was the lady who was standing somewhere beside me. She offered for me to go first. I thanked her and then told the counter 2 staff that she let me go ahead of her (by then I knew they weren't so good at keeping track), and showed her my number. She said, "Oh past already ah?" (again, loosely and badly translated). I said yes (whatever, i just wanted to get to what I had gone there for). So we settled my grievances in around 5 minutes (or more). When I was going away, she actually buzzed the next number. Nice work. But this lady wasn't to be bullied. She went up to the counter.

I left, a disgruntled customer, but not without noticing that the first counter staff was still not attending to anyone. Who knows how long I could have been waiting.



Thursday:

I was running a little late for my maths paper. I rushed to the bus stop nearer to my house (which has only 1 bus available to my destination). I was in luck (I thought)! The bus was just rounding the corner when I was nearing the bus stop. I was around 5 metres away from the bus stop when it reached there. I had to negotiate my way about the cement that was used for drainage (which meant they had even holes in them which I could very well trip on).

As much as I would like to reach school on time, I would pretty much like to be able to reach school at all. I slowed down at that section of the ground. I guess the driver thought I wasn't going to take his bus after all because he turned out into the road after stopping at the bus stop (and no one got off).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't bus drivers usually stop their buses when people are signaling them to stop? So if no one was signaling from the inside, and no one was signaling from the outside (because no one boarded the bus), who was he stopping for? Okay, if he wasn't stopping for me, I actually reached the bus stop when he was turning out. He probably didn't see me (unlike experienced drivers who would look out for potential passengers who are running to catch up with them) because he was looking out the other side. Then again, the passengers inside were looking at me. I guess they didn't think that I wanted to board the bus, even when I extended my hand to try to knock it against the bus, in a bid for attention. I held back because it was just stupid and I could cause an accident when the bus driver was halfway through cutting into the next lane.

When the my gesture went ignored, the 2 girls sitting at the bus stop went "What the hell, the bus driver."

So I walked on, to the next bus stop (which had 2 available buses, including the first). The bus was stopped at the junction because of the traffic lights and the pedestrians crossing. In the end, I got on that bus because of the people boarding it in front of me delaying it from driving off again.



Something is obviously very wrong these days.