so, this particular outlet received raving reviews from a friend of mine. it’s not often u can bump into a pizza outlet which is yet another Pizza Hut or Domino’s in Penang, or rather Malaysia, and the fact that it was highly praised by a friend definitely piqued my curiosity for quite some time before my first visit there today.

so ape yang kawan i cakap?? the typical penangites saying of ‘cheap and worth your money’. basically got a lot of ‘liao’ like meat, cheese etc. He was however raving about the tuesday promotion where it’s really really cheap lah. so since there is no way i am ever going to be in penang on a tuesday due to classes, i decided to get some of it today.

here’s bits and pieces of the visit there that i can remember:

BF and I reach the outlet at approximately 4pm, walk in, greeted with no aircon in the outlet (low season save electiricty??) . chinese pizza girl comes out from behind the answer and bluntly asks in the first sentence ‘takeaway or dine in?’ with an expressionless face. still okay with that, we wanted to takeaway and eat it in the car later anyways. it being our first time there, we took some time with the menu (the one covered with leather that shows all the normal priced pizza kind) and ended up ordering a large with a price of rm32.95. no voluntary recommendation and helpful suggestions or even  A SMILE/HELLO  from the pizza girl. K, Takpe. Outlet was hot, so i went out to just chill instead of suffering from the heat in the shop.

then later, kaypoh went in and hung around the counter where we could see the pizza girl placing some toppings for what i presume a regular pizza and hence another person’s order. and i couldn’t help but notice that the toppings were quite generous and my heart jumped with joy imagining what my pizza will come out to be!

and then later, finally noticed that there were some pamphlets on display on the side of the counter that we did not notice previously. the pamphlets were something like pizza hut’s buy 3 for rm50, or buy 1 large pizza (limited flavous only) free chicken wings etc kind of promotions. and we were suddenly like ‘eh, why that girl did promote more for the outlet’s promotions’. so we posed her that exact question and our conversation (or rather it was the BF) was something like this, OR rather she straight away retorted with a:

‘EVERYBODY that comes here surely will ask one mah’

‘okay, right, so I did not ask whether there is any ongoing promotions. that way, when you say EVERYBODY, the statement is wrong already’

pizza girl reiterates the same point again and again upon further confrontation. aaah, such a bore.

>.<

BF tried to explain our view in that if we had known about this certain promotion- we would have bought it.

make sense what, either the 1 large pizza free chicken wings for rm32.95 or the get 3 regular pizzas for rm50 also more value for money than what we ordered lah (1 pizza for rm32.95). it wasn’t that we were not absolutely INSISTING that we must get the promotion. it was more of the the way she was handling customers (aka us). in addition, the tone of her voice remained quite non-apologetic to me throughout this heated exchange.

so she did offer us to top up rm3 to get the chicken wings >.<

anyway, when we tried to address that it was her attitude that we were not happy with, all she could say was something like this.

‘SORRY, then do you still want this pizza. it is very simple, either you want or don’t want the pizza only.’

i even heard something along the lines like this ‘if you don’t want this pizza, we also have the costs to cover. i am only a part-timer and my wages for today will be gone to pay for your pizza.’ after we said that we no longer wanted the order.

>.< okay so now i’m getting the impression that your wages are SOOOO important. which i totally understand, but it’s a point you should NEVER EVER EVER tell the customer loh okay…

my only thought in mind at that time was ‘walao this girl so lansi lor’. pekchek niar okay…

we went off in a huff. but the BF dunno why went back in and continue this wuliao argument. double >.<

i only went in after he tak balik balik lagi and it was the same ol’ argument. when the BF asked to see the manager, the said person was not there and there were only 2 malay/indians (delivery boys i presume?). a very memorable sentence by one of them ‘you can go to pizza hut or domino’s to eat’. along with the above already iterated points by the chinese pizza girl.

so pekchek or not?

maybe it’s just a bad day for us.

maybe the pizza girl pms/kena dump/bad mood cos no money for cny kah or what.

cannot taste the pizza also so cannot comment on that, maybe it’s really good gua?

anyway, to US PIZZA MANAGEMENT in GREENLANE:

Please solve these problems.

1. Staff employment and training-BASIC manners. i don’t believe they cannot say a simple hello and smile to the customer loh. Drill it in their minds that for every customer that comes, to recommend any available promotions to be their first instinct.

2. Job allocation for staff- Let the counter people stay at the counter, and the oven ppl stay at the ovens! some people are meant to stay hidden, some people are meant to shine by people interaction. plus, it’s more hygienic that way ‘cos i don’t believe they will wash their hands everytime BEFORE AND AFTER their work at the oven.

3. More Full time workers instead of part-timers. you get to know them better, customers get to know them better, this equals better service. hurray for everybody! sounds so impossible man.

US PIZZA Greenlane, amidst those high expectations, it was a dissapointing first visit. Don’t think i’ll be dropping by anytime soon after this incident >.<

firstly, psychiatry posting, and the one which i’m on the brink of finishing, orthopedics.

For Psychiatry

where the bread and butter remains with schizophrenia and mood disorders (mania, depression and bipolar), it was certainly an eye opening experience where we not only clerk the patients and examine their mental status in the ward, there were opd sessions where we get to see quite a number of different presentations of illnesses, and the home visits for the patients. and that there is actually so much effort going on targeting the patients so that they actually get the chance to lead a somewhat normal life.

and here’s my take on psychiatric patients so far. that these are living, breathing individuals, that are struck by a disease (with etiology of biopsychosocial entities) of which they cannot help it or prevent it from happening. and what actions they are doing, they cannot control.

i repeat, they don’t want to be abnormal. they wanted to be integrated into society.

however they are suffering from this disease that causes all these symptoms which they don’t want, and hence end up being prejudiced, shunned, cursed and isolated.

yes they speak to themselves, yes they have abnormal motoric behavior, yes they can be suicidal and yes they may be violent.

but do you think that all this is their choice?

given a chance, i believe they will not choose to remain the way they are.

given a chance, i believe they want to be normal again.

they were normal, and they were struck by a disease, and they will need some interventions (biopsychosocial approach) so that they regain the normality in their lives, the way it was supposed to be without the presence of the disease.

on the other hand though, for some patients with no insight regarding their medical condition, they remain oblivious to what is happening, with no worries, no fears, no insecurities. it’d be great to have less burden on your life.

but then again, what is life, without its ups and downs?

For Orthopedics

I started the posting with some apprehension for a number of reasons.

my basic anatomy has never been good (still isn’t much good in fact) wherein first year i basically got lucky and passed the subject (it was mostly muskuloskeletal stuff then). and even though it wasn’t too bad in 2nd year when it was system based approach, i would consider it much easier and that i did ok, but that doesn’t apply to the current posting so…..

next, that it’s a tough subject, with no-nonsense lecturers that will demand that you put in your best effort. and the so called ‘horror stories’ that we’ve heard so far… >.< i don’t think i really want to elaborate on it but it does make you feel like you’ve got to be on your toes all the time.

now that it’s ending, i can truthfully say that, yes it’s tiring, yes it’s busy, yes there’s a lot of studying and yes it’s tough.

but it’s ALSO fun- liberty to just pop in and have a look at ray’s amputation/bka/other ops/debridement and dressing, just plain ol’ taking blood or setting up iv drips, the most canggih is getting the chance to observe the skeletal traction being done which you don’t really get to see much in the normal hours of the day that ur usually there.

there’s the constant adrenaline rush. to complete your case reports, clerking/examining/studying for the class on the next day, to complete homework, observing and performing procedures in the ward etc.

i think i lost 1kg from all that hanging around in the ward, most of the time standing/walking instead of sitting down. although i think i regained it this past 1 week when i rewarded myself with food hahaha. although sometimes it’s just so tiring you’ll just choose your bed over food. but nah i’ll get myself some bread at the very least cos i can’t go hungry. so maybe when i lose my apetite or something.

it was a cool posting. the lecturers weren’t what i expected. they were sarcastic and yet funny at the same time. and i could feel their dedication to make us better doctors of the future that i can’t help but try to live up to it. we’ll see in the future what happens LOL!

End of 2011 postings!

having a drink at STATION ONE with the crazy peeps. in fact just a few hours ago.

now, to think whether i should bring back some books to study this time. and whether it’ll fail, again.

this is my new target!!!!!!!

LONG LONG and THICK THICK HAIR!

target analysis:

super long hair requires 5 years to grow.

super thick hair requires nutrition, sleep, pro hair growth serum.

both require pro shampoo, conditioner, treatment, serum/hair oil.

*exasperated!*

y so hard wan a!!

Easy way out as shown in above picture: GO AND BUY GOOD QUALITY FAKE HAIR!!!!

Great, where in malaysia can i get it anyway…….

it’s time to climb out of it

T.T

Paeds Theory CA and OSCE

Forensic Theory CA and VIVA

OBGY CA

Medicine CA

Surgery CA

PSM CA

All in one week intervals, which brings us to Middle of August, where there will be a little over a week to prepare for……

THE DREADED FINALS~~~

OBGY

Forensic

Paeds

Then a week off to go celebrate Hari Raya and National Day and do whatever stupid things that needs to be done.

and……

OSCE!!!!!!

AND by the time all this finishes on 7th of September which is the date for VIVA (let’s hope i don’t fail)

I’ll be flying home on the 8th. Morning!

even before the results are out in the evening at about 5? it’s hard to say when anyway……

but i’ll at least be the cheery and smile-a-lot one

the patient is already in such depressing position
no need to see yet another serious / depressed face, right?

Saturday April 30, 2011

MCA presidential council backs Chua’s stand

By R.S.N.MURALI

What about a job with so-so/bad results, but with incredibly much effort put into it?

Would you say:

a) that was incredibly amazing!!! you have such talent in this, keep up the good work!!

b) i know that u’ve put a lot of effort in this job and u were awesome cos not many will do the same. However, maybe you could try doing this, this and this to improve on the results.

c) i’ve never seen anyone putting so much into this project! way to go!

d) it sucks

If i’m at the RECEIVING end, I would choose B. Because i can get real and actual feedback/comments on the job itself.

A is plain lousy ‘cos it feels like polishing shoes to me, or maybe the person didn’t even pay enough attention on which were the good points and bad points. if everybody just keeps praising despite the lousy job you were doing, how the heck are u supposed to know ur flaws and improve on them???

C is okay okay, but keeping mum about the improvements that can be done in the future.

D, well it can be devastating on the person on the receiving end you see……

On the other hand, I would usually give a C-like opinion,

and avoid A & D like a plague. even though i really feel like blurting out D most of the time.

I think??? maybe the people around me might beg to differ regarding my reaction?

I seriously need to brush up the art of speaking… sighhhhhh