Hello all,
The weather in Langkawi at this very moment could have reached 37degree C (97.6F). This blistering heat may continue until mid April. I saw some dark cloud in the last two days. Pray hard it will bring us some rain soon. Langkawi at its hottest from January until April. In this heat, if nothing is in urgency, nobody can drag me to go out there and suffer the heat.
By 9.30 in the evening, my eyelids became heavy. By ten, I'll be deep in my slumber.I blame it on the weather. Believe it or not, we tend to get annoyed or cranky easily. I only had to be in the kitchen for half an hour before started to sweat profusely. I don't feel like talking to anyone when I am in this mode. The children know me very well. They would usually leave me alone for a while.
Actually, I am not the kind of person that loses my head easily. I am cool, calm and collected ( description of myself. Sounds great, don't you think?)Well, actually am not that perfect but the sentence sounds catchy though.
I don't get mad easily. One can see my temper flares rapidly if I think I was being patronised or someone was rude to me. Every day we meet different type of people and make new acquaintances and every now and then we met some people who thinks highly of themselves and think that the world revolves around them only.
Today, I wish to share some of the hurtful remarks thrown my way while dealing with some clients or faced some frustrating moments.
There's this woman who had paid us for her staff familiarization trip to this island and had wanted us to arrange ferry tickets at an earlier time. I had already told her staff that at that moment there was no tickets earlier than what had been booked. I didn't promise anything only to say we may have some chances since they're only coming in two months time.
One week prior to their arrival, she called to check with me about the arrangement. Confidently I laid out the itinerary for her. When she heard that ferry departs at 17:00hrs, she stopped me in the midst of my sentence. What time did you say? I repeat it again. She raised her voice and said she was told ferry confirmed at 11:30 in the morning. I defended myself by saying I didn't say the time was confirmed at that time, I only said there might be some chances and I already told her staff about this.
I don't know how this girl(her staff) relayed the message to that woman. Before I can say anything else, she exploded and shouted at the top of her voice. She screamed "You are so stupid. I don't know how you can work in this line. You wanted money, I gave you money. If you want more money, tell me but don't lie to people.If you think you are not capable of handling this thing, don't do it. Don't swindle money from people when you can't deliver the services. You idiot, have you no brain!"
The moment she called me no brain (she said it in Malay language.."tak ada otak") I felt like she had put a blow on my face. Being me, I am not the type who would recoil and apologize if it's not my mistake. Ever heard the slogan " Guest is always right"? Well, they're not always right. I don't mind losing a guest who didn't have manners and didn't know how to respect other human beings. I asked for her bank account so that I could refund her money right away. She slammed down the phone. The next day her staff called me apologetically and asked me to carry on with the arrangement. I did what I had to do but I do it without my heart in it.
There's another incident I remembered to this day. The children were still small then. Sophie was about four. Since I got a complimentary room at this resort on the other island, we (my husband & I) decided to take the children to this beautiful resort. We were in this boat and it hasn't started moving yet. The water was brilliant. One can see little fishes swimming in a group. Sophie who was standing on my lap was fascinated at the sight of the fish. "Mama, fish fish!" Then she tiptoed on my lap and did a little spitting into the sea. Those little fishes swam frantically towards her spit. She found it amusing and was jumping up and down with joy on my lap. At the back of my seat, sat a Malay girl with a white guy. At the sound of his accent, my bet was he is an Australian. Suddenly I heard her said to her boyfriend, " Malaysian, they're so disgusting. The little girl is spitting and her mother is letting her be. They don't have manners." My blood rose uncontrolled. I turned my head slightly so that she can see my side profile and said quietly, "They are children, they know nothing. It was just a silly game for her, and what? You're not Malaysian?" I then turned my head back looking ahead. I can hear her said "Oops!" and whispered something to that boyfriend of hers. She may have thought that I don't speak or understand another language. I waited until we reached the pier before I told my husband about it. Knowing him, he could have said something abusive towards this woman.
I was at times are an overly sensitive person. I cried easily and I got hurt by some snide remarks easily too. There was this time when I was undergoing my chemotherapy treatment. You guys know how much I hated having to go through this process. The needle pricking, the blood spurting when the needle wasn't poked correctly into the vein. The long hours and the list goes on. So, one day I had to undergo this chemo treatment. Had to be done on mainland because the hospital on the island doesn't have the required skill and facility. So, Sara and I had to wake up at 5.30 in the wee hours of the morning, took our shower and left the house to catch the first boat to mainland at 0700am. We should be there by 0900 but we got there at 0915am. I straight away registered my name at the counter and rushed to collect my blood result and ran to another building so that I won't be late for my treatment and got reproved by the doctors. By the time I reached the 2nd floor, it was 09:30am. I gave my name to the nurse's station and later was shown to a room/ward. They should be starting soon as I had to be given seven bottles of whatever water there is to be given, and this treatment should be completed before six pm as my last boat to the island was at 19:00hrs.
And so we waited, nobody came. By 10:30am, a nurse approached and asked if any doctors had came to see me. I said no. She disappeared. I waited again. By now, it was already 11:15am. Still nobody came. I called out a passing nurse and asked. She said waiting for doctor. It was nearly 11:40am before a doctor finally came and started the drip. Per bottle will take about two hours to finish the whole liquid. Can you guess what time will the treatment be completed if its were to take 2 hours each and seven bottles to finish? Right, about 12:00 midnight or 01:00in the morning. I finished my first bottle at about 1.30pm. Again nobody came to check or to continue the second bottle. By now, I am anything but smiling. I called out one male nurse and asked which doctor was in charge on that day. He told me the name, one Dr Saw. I said I needed to speak to him. He gave me the number. I called the good doctor and told him I need to speak to him. He arrived shortly. "Is there anything I can do for you ma'am?" He asked me gently. The moment he asked me that question, I burst into tears and it flows like there's no tomorrow. You know how its like when someone shows a little compassion towards us at a time like that. The words just came out my mouth with something like this: " You know doc, I know you people are busy but I was here since this morning. I rushed out from home from an island so that I could keep the appointment. I am terminally ill. I got cancer in case you forgot (of which I can see a little smile at the corner of his mouth)." He mumbled an I am sorry but I refused to stop. I continued, " You know. It's nearly 2 o'clock now and so far only one bottle completed and I have six more bottles left. Do you think we can finish by six?" He shook his head left and right. "So, how am I going home today? Where am I gonna stay? I have nobody here. Maybe none of you couldn't be bothered with me because I am not any one's mother here. I am just another patient. But I am a mother to my children. And they love me very much and they want me by their sides. Maybe I don't mean anything to you people but please have pity on me. Actually I am so afraid of chemo and I hate coming here but I did it for my children."
The doctor held my hands and said softly that he's sorry I had to go through this but he'll do the best he can.
He went on to say, I won't lie to you but looked like you're gonna miss the last boat and promised to personally monitor me on that day and promised to send me to whichever hotel I am staying that nite.
Guess what time I completed my chemo? Right, at about 12;45am! Since it was a small town, there wasn't any public transportation available at that hour. Lucky thing, my son had a friend over there. I didn't call the doctor since it would be awkward to have to ride with him after my outburst.
So, there! I blurted all out and behaved like a lost child. And to think at fifty someone is mature enough to enter a grandmother's era.
That shows that no matter who we are or how old we are or how strong we think we are, we will always need some love from others. Don't deny it and don't push it away when someone offers to love you and care for you unconditionally. Life is too short to harbor ill feelings towards others.
Pen off for now and have a great day you all!
Lots of love,
Rose
4th.April '13
