Friday, May 25, 2007

Farewell lunches.... again!!!

These few days I noticed that my office is like a ‘Ghost Town’. Lots of empty seats (also means not much people in the office), low humming aircon noise seems to be louder than usual, thunderous ringing tones from the telephones often wake me up from my day dreams (opps), lifeless and expressionless colleagues (a.k.a walking zombies) slouched in their seats, waiting for time to past. In short, the office is LIFELESS, RESTLESS and MOTIONLESS. To some, coming to office may be MEANINGLESS.

(Don’t mention the few of them who are had tender resignations, they seem so radiant, every day).

I wonder is it ‘herd instinct’ that the resignation rate here multiplied over the past few months. Okay, maybe I exaggerated, but, I have been attending farewell lunches since March or April (?).

Can’t help but thinking, who will attend my farewell lunch if my lunch kakis leave this place earlier than I do? Kekeke….

I even wonder will I still see the familiar faces when I am back from maternity break. Who knows what will happen within the 2-3 mths, all of them may just tender their resignations before I come back. That’s depressing, so I don’t want to think about it.

In a working environment, interpersonal relationship is vital. To have someone close to you tender resignation is like losing a friend whom you will see everyday. Cause, we may not see this colleague after his/her depart. It is a challenge to remain in close contact with them especially majority of us are married, meeting up is like the toughest arrangement.


That's why back at Red Umbrella, we often planned our last day as close to each other as possible, so none of us will feel lonely when any of us is not around.

It’s sad to see colleagues go, not because they have committed ‘career suicidal’ (not that here offers good prospect), but it is more like losing a friend whom you can go break with, share gossips, commit audacious lunch crimes etc…


Nonetheless, I still wish those colleagues who had left the company or have the intention to leave the company good endeavor.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Taxi Fare

Has taxi fare increased unknowingly?

Last weekend, I called for a cab to Raffles City. The automated system assigned a Hyundai Sonata cab to pick me up. After boarding the cab, I thought, “Increase again?” The meter started at $2.70.

I went home boarding another typical Toyota cab, the meter started at $2.50. I wondered why there is a difference in both cab readings when they are from the same taxi company. Later I realized, the price different is due to the different car models. Makes me wonder even more…

If cab company wants to emphasize on service, please! In fact, I realized Hyundai cab drivers drive too recklessly because they are driving on an automatic gear and tend to exceed the speed limit unconsciously. As for Mercedes cab drivers, even worse, they think they are the high class drivers and often from their conversation I can sense that they belittle other fellow cab drivers. Once, a Mercedes cab driver told me that I was lucky to flag him down cause he usually pick up expats and tourists. As if I should really feel honored. *roll eyes and spit*

To us, cab commuters, all we need is a vehicle, which can bring us to our destinations safely. What makes Hyundai Sonata cab and Mercedes cab so special that their starting fares have to be different? I understand that the latter is a branded continental car, but commuters like me did not even request for such ‘high class’ cab in the very first place, sometimes the Mercedes cab with a small, indistinct ‘eco friendly leaf’ cleverly placed at the corner of the car door ‘invisible’ to us can start charging from $3.20. So is it fair for us to pay for something which we never even requested for?

Why I don’t think it is fair?

1. We did not request for special cabs. Anyway, in the very first place, don’t tell me Toyota is not good enough?
2. Be it Toyota or Mercedes, they are the same to us commuters.
3. Service is still the same, not as if they give us free drinks or there’s massage function in the seats.
4. More and more Sonata cabs make it hard for us to choose the cab we want to board. And remember, these cab drivers often drive slowly pass us, when we are standing by the road, making us feel guilty for saving 20cents.

Sometimes, when we are in a hurry, we have no choice but to flag these cabs, or to even board these cabs since we are in a cab queue. I have no qualms about paying additional 20cents to reach my destination but I just don’t feel it is right to have ‘double standard’ charge without being informed formally just because of the car models which we have no choice over. Very often, people like us only realized the charging when we board the cab. Ok, fine, if they say that they have the starting fares listed down on their website openly, but so, we are not so free to surf their website for charges, cause all we know is, where there is a fare hike, there will probably be lots of reports on the news. But I can say, using different car models to charge commuters differently is a CLEVER tactics. (Keep it up!) *applaude*

I don’t care if the extra money go to the cab company or the taxi drivers, because as a consumer, that is not my business. All I know is, cab fare has increased by another 20cents.