McDonald's Petronas Skudai... NOT lovin' it

I had the worst service experience on Sunday 23rd of Sept 2012 around noon.

Mr. Pozali was serving at the counter I was queueing for. He was serving a patron before me, preparing his orders, and he spent quite a lot of time waiting for the kitchen to pass him the orders. This is what he does:

-Waits at 'kitchen collection point' for fried chickens. Places fried chickens on tray.
-Goes back and wait again for McChicken burgers. Places burgers on the tray.
-Rushes to pack fries, places them on the tray.
-Goes back to kitchen collection point and waits for another burger.
-Pours drinks into cups, and places them on tray.
-Passes the tray to patron and says 'Enjoy your meal!'

During all those times he spent waiting at the kitchen, why couldn't he take my order? I assumed it is their system ie. 'focus one by one'. FINE.

When he finished, he then took my order which is ONE bowl of porridge, I made payment, and he prompted the kitchen for the porridge. But this time, he didn't wait at the kitchen like he did previously. It wasn't 'focus one by one' anymore.

He suddenly became efficient and went on to take the next patron's order! WHY DIDN'T HE DO THE SAME FOR ME?!

And dear next patron took his sweet time ordering.

Patron: Mmm... ayam goreng dua
Mr. P: OK.. lagi?
Patron: Mmmm.... mmmm... burger ayam set tiga..
Mr. P: Ya.. lagi?
Patron: Mmm... nugget satu... tak, tak... eeerrr, nugget dua
Mr. P: OK... lagi?
Patron: Mmm... burger daging satu
Mr. P: OK... lagi?
Patron: OK, tu je.

(all this while, I am waiting like an idiot and fuming. Waves of angry heat is radiating from my scalp. Forget about me, I'm chopped liver)

Payment was made etc, and Mr. Pozali proceeded to assemble HIS tray with some of his orders first while my ONE bowl of porridge is still sitting in the oven, not retrieved.

WHAT. THE.

I was clearly very upset and very angry at his inconsistency in service.

NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT lovin' it.

Motherhood.. and McDonalds

Motherhood changes a woman, whether she likes it or not. Some of these changes are good, the rest, bad. Take me as an example. I was a timid, non-confrontational insecure girl who lived in her own world made of dreams. Cannot blame me, I'm a Piscean. Pisceans make the worst friend so they say, and they pick their noses when they drive. I have never read a horoscope that described me so well. And they tend to be distracted or diverted somewhere else, like the time I bought shoes instead of ... oh fish divert again. Pisceans swear a lot too (self declare).

ANYWAY... motherhood has empowered me. It has given me the strength and confidence I never knew I could have. The experiences I gain being a mother can never be compared to the ones I gain at my workplace. It also gave me an immense capacity to love. When you have that capacity, your whole world changes.

Now, the bad. Motherhood also gave me a scalp that could radiate these tremendous wave of heat and anger in mere milliseconds. And children, regardless of age, can see this angry heat wave because they have special vision. I think. The natural reaction is to scold. With great capacity to love, comes great capacity to holler. Even if it's running upstairs to your bed, covering your head under the pillow and shouting it out. A mother needs to let it out sometimes ya know. Children, how adorable and joyful they are, can also ignite the most fearsome fury in their mother's heart.

After years of being pushed to the limits, I have learnt to NOT tolerate unfair services. Like one rendered to me at McDonalds Petronas Skudai. I will elaborate this next because it deserves a post on its own.

SO, motherhood is a wild ride. It's awesome and can be tiring sometimes. No, I take that back. It IS tiring but you don't hear all the mothers admitting that, because deep down, at the end of the day, it's just love.

The Police Force; JB vs Singapore

Having worked in Singapore and living in JB for more than 10 years, this is how I feel about the police force in the two nations.

Traffic police in JB makes traffic worse. Singaporean traffic police mostly will ease congestion or direct traffic appropriately.

I feel scared when I see a JB police although I didn't do anything wrong. I feel safe with a Singaporean police even though I did something wrong.

JB traffic police hide between the bush at the PLUS highway with speed cameras, pointing at traffic's direction (shoots the rear of your car). Singapore traffic police sit safely and clearly on overhead pedestrian bridges with speed cameras, pointing against traffic's direction (shoots the front of your car).

JB police are nowhere to be seen when they are needed the most. Singapore police appear almost everywhere even when they are not needed the most.

Why JB, why?

Sweet Pastel

Just some of my pastel products.

A Saturday Afternoon

To play with a kid, you gotta be a kid yourself. And I think a mini 'house' is every kid's must-have. I used to make one out of the cardboard box that came with my new fridge. Truth is, boys LOVE to play house too!! I made an interesting observation whenever I bring the boys to the Kid's Park at JUSCO where children can play with arcade games and there is a soft playground for younger kids. One of the attraction in there is a mini kitchen and supermarket (at Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru's branch). It's made of very thick cardboard I think, those industrial ones, and it's pink. Guess what, I saw more boys playing in it that the girls! They would cut up the toy vegetables (two halves held by velcro, isn't this a genius idea) and go around the kitchen like Jamie Oliver. I find this so endearing :)

This observation led me to another observation. I realize that the only things I remember about kindergarten is the mini playhouse and the playground. Play. I was the happiest there.

So, this colourful one is a hand-me-down and it matches his toy car. Darren has played in it now and then but only very recently, I created a real mini home for him. A cooking set and a little sleeping corner are all it took to magically transform it.

I taught him how to 'play pretend'. We'd go to the market (our kitchen) in his little toy car, and he'd buy a box of toy fish from me, then he'd go back and cook the fishes, and he'd serve me and we will have a little fish party.

I am tempted to get a REAL stove cooking toy set. But they are all in pink :(
So, there went my entire Saturday afternoon! Domestication Lesson 101.

Quickest Pizza Recipe Ever

Sometimes I run out of ideas of what to pack for my 7 yo's snack to school. And then recently, someone awesome shared this quick recipe and I just had to try it. Everyone loved it!

What you need:
1. Pita bread. Your express pizza base ready-made, wa la. I got the regular sized (15cm diameter I think), and the mini sized for the kiddos (around 11cm diameter).

2. Cheese. Mozzarella, cheddar or the mixed pack like the one I got from Cold Storage. Shredded.

3. Tomato paste.

4. Toppings of your choice. I use ham.

What to do:
1. Preheat oven at 150 degrees Celsius.

1. Pan-fry the ham with a little bit of oil. Cut it into strips, or squares or heart shapes if you are free. Set aside.

2. Take a pita bread out and spread tomato paste nice and even on it, like kaya on toast. Sama-sama.

3. Spread shredded cheese all over. Be generous.

4. Lastly, scatter the pieces of ham on top.

5. Bake this in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese melt.

6. Let it cool a bit before serving the kids.

Enjoy!