closing time

i used to work in the service industry. specifically in the food and beverages industry. the clichéd job of a disney fairytale movie, autobiography of celebrities n basically all rags to riches story. the latest new orleans ghetto disney princess did it, shah rukh khan did it, n most of the hollywood actors did it. yes, waiting tables.

it is quite obvious why it is so clichéd. it builds character. though a short and tragic stint, a lot was gained from it. got some great memorable moments, met interesting people and a lot of lesson learned. my hardcore stalker will remember a blog post(from my old deleted blog) regarding one of the lesson learned and the wise but unfortunate barista. i miss that blog post. probably was my best. n to the hardcore stalkers, i am sorry cause this is still not about thetragic part; why i quit the job abruptly.

as per the title, it is about closing time. i learned to really respect closing time. there are lots of signs given to the patrons in stages to let them know about the closing time arrival. 1 hour before the kitchen will be closed n no other food orders except for pastries will be entertained. 15 minutes later only takeaways will be entertained, no seats will be given. 30 minutes before closing the bar will be closed n no drink orders will be taken. and at the critical time, 15 minutes before closing, the patrons must be blind to not notice the signs given; the pastry bar is closed, menus and (vacant)tables decors are kept, vacant tables are wiped cleaned, bills are given out to each occupied table. 10 minutes before closing time the bill with the payment is taken from each of the table is taken, the cash register is closed n mopping of the floor ensues.

polite n understanding customers would have finished their drinks, foods and business in the 10 minutes time but there are still quite a few that would have to be asked to leave by the manager. which by that time the staff are waiting eagerly to finish all the pending work so that they can retire for the nite. n we do respect the customer n just waits patiently until the customer have left because that is the essence of service industry, customer are always right in other words; @ss kissing.

we are humbled. we accept any way the customer treat us. rude n high voices, degrading comments, ridiculous demands, sneer and jeers, a pat in the arse and overtime customer is tolerated n are not uncommon. but sure it is nice to have a nice polite and friendly customer once in a while. n dat is why i am nice to workers in the service department, always say thank you n smiles to them which is in stark contrast to how i treat my friends n colleagues.

n so its closing time. n i hope everyone respects that fact. closing reason; increase exclusivity of the product, maintain the quality of the product, and re-branding process; to keep things fresh, i.e a fresh start

low accessibility is when u dont have deliveries* for the product and here is only 3 flagshipstores*. 1st store is very exclusive; not many knows about it, and focuses on quality compared to quantity of the product* therefore updated rarely. 2nd store is the easiest access point, situated in a big complex*, where others make their products accessible. huge quantity and cheap product is the focus here. the third store is basically the same as the second store except for only 1 type of product, but in a lesser known complex, less customer thus basically dead. also a frequent reference to the 1st store in producing new product thus order or request can be placed. and all the 3 stores is connected via the 2nd store as any updates in the other two will be advertised there.

the second store is the go to place. eventhough there is no postal, online order and deliveries, everyone hangs out at that complex, making accessibility easy. and now i am closing that store, making accessibility falls very low thus increasing exclusivity. exclusivity is inversely proportional to accessibility. regular patrons grieved and mourned.

but the other two remain open. another one recently opened store is also remained opened but it is still relatively unknown and still subject to exclusivity, limited customer per time and limited type of product. and the hardcore fan should have known about the stores which is still in business.

with the closing of the 2nd store, exclusivity and quality is increased. it is extra special and deeply appreciated by the patrons when i personally send the product myself. and see their reaction is worth it.

p/s: i dont hate apple cause it's exclusivity of i tunes etc, there is a way around that though troublesome. it is caused of over-hyped and overpriced product

*analogies to social networking sites

p/p/s: accessibility will be increased when i get a new phone. i miss texting

cosmic love

cosmic love is a song sang by florence and the machine. i like the singer; her energy n voice especially in the song "drumming song". not to mention her fiery red hair. but thats not the point of this post.

there must be something going on in the cosmos this week. maybe mars and venus aligns because it seemed like love is in people mind.

my friends

a number of my girlfriends(ladyfriend/girl friends) actually talked/chatted/messaged to me something about love. most talk about old crushes, some about future partners and even marriage. note: all of them are single.

are they desperate? no. yes. maybe. i dont know.

what i know is all of them are appealed to the idea of a relationship/marriage. n for some of them the clock is ticking. all of them are studying for mbbs/bds which take a lot of time, and by the time they finished the course, they could be categorized as old spinster in the malay culture
which is a bit insignificant in the 21st century but nevertheless their oocyte number is still counting down.

yes, i am going to make them seem desperate in this post even though they are actually not. perhaps i may make them truly desperate if they read this post

like i said they are in love in this idea of marriage/relationship as do i. who would not? having a significant other to support you through exams and tests and every challenges n boundaries u come across. to listen to your problems. who u can talk about everything from crap to something really deep from your heart; ur dreams, desire and hope for the future. where u can really truly be yourself around and not be afraid that u will be judged. to hold u in the night while u sleep. yes, it is not only about the sex.

but the sad part is they dont have ANY suitable candidates. some of them have long time crushes but crushes just crush the hearts. the longer u have crush on that person, the more u stalk them, the more ugliness on his side is revealed. being a guy i could easily move to other crush when that happens(fickleness of men) but for the girls, it is harder because a lot more emotion were put into that stalking.

some are looking for candidates and asked me for suggestions. and i feels sorry for them. not because they seem desperate or something, but because they have to find a GUY as a spouse. n that is sad because there are just not many decent guys around that deserves them. most of them never dated before, but for the ones that had, their exes definitely do not deserve them n i was quite happy when the relationship was over. maybe it is just overprotectiveness n may also be jealousy.

there are reasons to be jealous n overprotective towards them. they are EXTRAORDINARY people. perhaps if they find a good enough partner, i will be happy to let them go. n as for now, the only guys i see as worthy for them are our seniors(the girls see to see that fact too). but sadly most of them are taken(to the disappointment of the girls).

me

a few days before, a friend asked me 'have u ever truly loves someone?'

i tell him no. but i do have crushes. but crushes are curiosity based and as i knew the subject better, the feeling is gone.

he responded 'i know why u never did, u love myself too much.'

it is so true n he noticed it just by knowing me for 1 month.

to be honest, i do not think that i am a relationship type of guy as i go in and out of crushes very fast n sometimes i have multiple crushes at once which indicates my loyalty level are very incompatible for an exclusive relationship.

but i do know the person for me is out there. i imagine i can be in a relationship with a strong willed n determined woman who can keep me loyal n keep me on a tight leash(i am a masochist). who is random enough to keep me guessing n interested. who when i know more about her the feeling get stronger. who i can talk or just sit with for hours. smart girl who could debate with me on multiple topics even when it goes over the top n completely irrelevant to the original topic. able to withstand n even match or surpasses my wit, evilness n cruelty. girl who reminds me of me. and a good dancer.

sound like i am describing someone? the ambiguity of social networking. u will never know if i am serious or not.

eid mubarrak

the biggest holiday in most part of malaysia. also the biggest holiday for me.

the essence of typical eid celebration for me can be summarized to 3f; family, friend and food.

food

after 1 month of fasting, its time for feasting. eid is conveniently also called 'hari lebaran' for on dat day people 'melebar'. (hari lebaran=widening day, melebar=widens). the feast starts from the eve n last until the 2nd or the 3rd day at my house(depends on the energy of the top chef/my mom and/or the presence and the amount of sponsorship).

for the muslim, ramazan is all about moderation. in eating n everything else. in our malay culture(or maybe just in my family culture) we celebrate eid with excess. especially in food. my mom have an uncanny ability to cook a gigantic portion of delicious food for 20++ plus-size people which would last from the morning until dinner. and trust me, we dont eat on the classic 3 meal per day basis on this day, we will eat breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner(mentong) and dinner. no exaggeration here. understatement perhaps cause i dont mention how many servings each took for each meal and i excluded the eid cookies, snacks and chips that always present around the house. n dats the average minimum cause each is to their own. if i take my bro for an example, i have to add pre breakfast, post lunch, pre dinner etc. we cant help the extra servings and meal cause the food are too delicious n inviting.

the menu is ketupat, rendang daging, kari ayam, kuah lodeh and kuah kacang. the next day, my aunt usually sponsors some food from outside caterer, either beriani or kfc also usually in gargantuan proportions and accompanied by a mix of ice cream or other desserts which is subject to the creativity of my brother who r usually sent for the shopping mission(with me as the get-away car driver; which makes me the transporter?). soft drinks are always present in these 2 days courtesy of my aunt.

after 2 days, the house will be quite and the big serving plates went to rest as my relatives would already left. but my gastrointestinal tract are not allowed to do so for another 2-3 days(subject to the duration of my friends holiday n the competence of the planner; which is really competent except this year. yeah, i was the planner until last year). we went to each other houses; gathers at 1 house initially, eats the foods n cookies there while chatting n gossiping n talking nonsense, always late at leaving the current house as we're bad with goodbyes/lazy bums with hard to move big heavy @$$.

clearly food is a big part of my eid agenda. it must be evident for my kttians friends as they went through 2 eids with me at my liquid phase. before the 1/2weeks holidays and after, significant difference are apparent. in india i compensate by eating at the restaurants for every single meal for the 2 days. the eve dinner at gajalee, breakfast 1st day; nasi lemak senior mahfidz cooked for us(really delicious. but still my mum's better :)), lunch; nasi himpit, kuah kachang, rendang lembu, nasi myk, ayam masak lemak, roti jala n kari ayam(sadly no lodeh n the rendg taste a lil bit bitter. somethg burnt?). linner at ice&spice, dinner at sizzler's ranch. the next day, bfast at mess, lunch at pizza hut, linner; movie popcorn, dinner at amazon. the 3rd day we went picnicking n eat cookies n chips; my idea to compensate on the eid convoy.

family and friends

as our house is built on the heritage land from my maternal grandparent, we become the host for the eid celebration(other unofficial reason is my mum's awesome cooking). most of all 9 of my mother's siblings n(if present) their spouse/s, son/s and daughter/s will arrive the day before eid n help with the preparations.

in the morning we will be filling up the ketupat casing (which most of it made by me). the golden rule of filling up a ketupat casing is LESS than half. the other important rule is; if the ketupat turn out too hard or too soft, that particular ketupat is filled by my bro. by afternoon, they would already start cooking n would be completely done in the night. at night we usually do preparation of material for the next day food. peeling potatoes n cutting vegetables for the lodeh etc. all the while gossiping, singing, chatting nonsense etc.

i heard some people say that people from muar are weird, they havent met my family. if they did, the notion would be reinforced. my aunts n uncles are sporting n fun while at the same time wise n being their offspring, my cousins are awesome too. when we gathered at the table, there is never a silent moment. bursts of laughter are abundant around the kitchen table where we usually hangs out.

the prude n faint hearted would n should stay away from the table coz the topics of conversations/discussions/debates are controversial. these arent typical conversation u can hear from a intergeneration n inter-gender group sitting around a table. its rare to find aunts telling their nephews n nieces about the correlation between the size of a guy's nose and the size of the guys.... errr... look it up urself. thats an assignment. but somehow the discussions will always have some education element in it however lewd or nonsense they are. that's how awesome my aunt n uncles are.

my friends from muar, we knew each other for almost 16years already. n most of them lives nearby n we went to the same school which let them know the unspoken history of mine. they know my situation without me telling them, accepts me for who i am, acknowledge what made me myself but never judge me based on it. in a way that makes me closer n comfortable around them in a way that would never occur to my college friends as they wont possibly know what my friends from muar knew. this is worth repeating, people from muar are weird and i can say that it applies to my friends. being a person who appreciates aesthetics, they never bore me.

they say that 'we cant choose our family'. n the way we are sent here to mangalore, unable to choose our unimates, seniors n fellow mangaloreans, makes us 1 big family. i am grateful to be fortunate enough to get such awesome seniors who by the way they treat us, makes it feels like home. they invited us to stay at their house for the eve of eid. we did the preparations together while chatting until late. next morning to get ready, we queue up for the bathroom, have breakfast together and solat raya together. totally feels like raya at home (minus the duit raya giving n camwhoring)

during the holidays, i also got the chance to hangout n reconnect with old friends and met some new ones. from acquaintances to friends. from friends to family. all the meals and the picnic are great medium for us to chat n connects with each other.

i can add 2 more f's. 1 of them is fashion, where we wear our new baju melayu complete with samping then take pics togenther. i completely loves my baju melayu this year, despite the facts that the pant split in the crotch area. i manage to hide it under the samping by always standing or sitting in a very polite manner.

the other 1 is forgiveness where we ask for forgiveness from each other and shake each others hand n hug

overall, eid in india is awesome. incomparable to eid in malaysia cause it is different. but both are awesome. thanks to seniors n frens who make the good time possible. the seniors makes me think about not going back next year to celebrate it here n do something special for our will be juniors as what they did so that they feel at home n will not be sad on their first eid away.