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Friday, February 7, 2014

Time does not wait.

This year my birthday fell on a public holiday and it was a Friday, holiday and long weekend woohoo! Of course I took this opportunity for a road trip to reward myself! Instead of knocking myself out at clubs and drinking liquor like a buffalo (not to mention damaging my hair and lungs with the smoke, skin with the late night and liver with the alcohol)  I had a quiet and relax birthday by the beach, the weather was windy and cloudy, such a perfect idea to celebrate my birthday. Talk about getting old and settling down.









Oh! I finally tested my Sony Xperia Z1 underwater! Check out the video below!


Note: The phone can only submerge into pool or normal water. Strictly no dunking the phone into the sea because the salt water will rust the phone if not dried properly! 

And my birthday won't be complete without much love from my friends and colleagues =)

THE ONZ
Karaoke session with The Onz, sang my lungs out until the break of dawn.
Birthday month is the best, because you get FREE entrance and a lot more FREE stuff =P

FREE drink upgrade to jumbo size!

FREE birthday cake!


FREE sparking juice LOL! No MOET, wth!

Went to the Helilounge for the first time with The Onz. It's not to celebrate my birthday but since it's a day after my birthday, I considered it as a birthday celebration. Syiok sendiri. I spent nearly an hour to curl my hair and it got wrecked by the strong wind at the helipad turned lounge!  



Photobombed by Funky, hmph!!!

Realized that my phone doesn't take nice night shot too =(

GIRLFRIENDS
It has been a long time since all of us gathered together. We used to be inseparable during our college days, but as we grew older, our gathering became lesser and lesser. I think from now on, 4 of us will only meet 4 times in a year, for each person's birthday LOL. Fret not, the closeness of friendship is not measured by the amount of time we spend together, but still remain close even we don't meet all the time =)


With Hooi, don't mess with her or behold my torture!

From college mates to work mates. I hope I don't have to get rid of this woman.

My face when I was opening Hooi's present, LOL! Was shocked when I saw the World of Feng Shui box.



We spent the rest of the night keeping each other updated with the latest news and savoring cakes!

COLLEAGUES
It's a mandatory to get a birthday cake for the birthday baby in the office. But this year, I got 2! I know, I'm special! *flip hair*

Look at the cakes! So cute OMG! They know I love cute stuff =D

With all the girls!!!! Yeah, even the guy is a girl (if you know what I mean)

The cake was made according to my face.


I distributed all the cakes and ran out of plates and tissue, LOL!

Early morning birthday surprise!

So sweet of these girls to get me this! Awww! Love you girls =)

Some of the items in my birthday wishlist are checked! Yabadabadoooo!!!! Nobody dare to buy me anything from the kiam siap category, LOL! Everyone is too kiasu to be kiamsiap =P

I bought the Sony Xperia Z1! Partly sponsored by my mom and sis!

Cute owl hand cream from Hooi.

Lash Curler checked! From Pei Yin =)

Chanel!

Chanel nail polish checked! From Sharon!

My creative sis handmade a Sony Xperia Z1 card for me! So cute! 

It's even the same size with the real phone! She put so much effort into making the card *sob sob*

Can you spot which is the real phone?

Surprise gifts from colleagues. Soft toy and candies, now I know how they perceive me LOL!

  • When I was a child, I didn't know what time is, it felt like forever even it was just a minute.
  • When I was a teenager, I didn't care much about time. I just wasted them like any other teenagers.
  • When I was in my early 20s, it felt like I could live forever and it has never cross my mind that time will slip by in a blink of an eye.
  • Now that I'm in my late 20s, I finally realized how important it is to do everything you want before it's too late, because I finally understand that time does not wait.

I found myself asking, what's the difference I see in myself with the me 10 years ago and the present me. I was 18, naive and reckless. I'm now 28, married and mature. In this 10 years, have I done anything that I regret or proud of? Of course I did. How did you spend your last 10 years? Are you proud of yourself? Are you happy of who you've become? Have you done anything that is worth reminiscing?

Live life to the fullest. Don't look back in the years ahead and regret for spending your life in vain. 10 years seems like forever, but it's not. Do the things that you have to do when the people you love is still around. Do the things that you want to do when time still permit. Go to places that you want to go when life still allows you.



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Dust mites attack in Starbucks Malaysia.

Few days before my birthday, I suffered from a skin allergy all thanks to the unhygienic of Starbucks. Here is the full story which I posted in Facebook and garnered an overwhelming attention.

On the 12th of January 2014, I visited a Starbucks outlet in 1 Utama and sat on the rattan chair provided outside. Within 10 minutes, I felt some tingling sensation on my thigh area. After that, red bumps started to pop up on my thigh's skin.





The itchiness started to get extremely severe by midnight and when morning arrived the next day on 13th January 2014, what looked like horrible huge red bumps evolved into gigantic red patches that ooze blood when scratched.





I consulted a doctor and I was told that it was a skin allergic reaction caused by dust mites. While researching online, I found that dust mites don’t bite. Their bodies, secretions and faeces contain particular proteins that can trigger allergic symptoms to people. This traumatic experience has lasted for 3 days, while writing this I am still suffering from the allergic reaction. I have sleepless nights, distressing itchiness, unable to be present for work, emotional and physical pain and worst of all, while filing a complaint to Starbucks, the reply from them just added more suffering to me.





I could not believe that an international F&B company such as Starbucks could be so negligent and sloppy with their reply that they could actually replied me to have a "Grande Day" after I told them about my misery. They did not even have the courtesy to apologize nor added in a point of contact to follow up on this matter. It has already been 2 days since the email was sent and I have not receive any follow up on emails or phone calls regarding this matter from them.

Their ignorance has forced me to take actions in my own hands to bring their attention via social media. I believe that if Starbucks do not even bother to take care of the hygiene of the seats for their customers, I doubt they will even care about what goes in to the drinks and sanitation of their utensils and overall hygiene.

A quick check in Starbucks Facebook page, I realized I’m not alone in this situation. There were many victims before me who had the same experience and treatment from Starbucks. I cannot believe they have not taken any action with all these cases. You can refer to this link for other victims’ experiences.



As a loyal customer of Starbucks for many years, I truly felt cheated and disappointed. Whoever who is reading this, your next visit to Starbucks may cost you more than what you pay for a cup of coffee. Please be warned. 

After posting this on Starbucks page, it hit more than 300 shares. 
They responded to my post in Facebook and asked me to PM them my contact. 





One of the representative called me after a few hours and made a scripted apology without even offering any compensation for my medical treatment and trauma experience. The excuse was that the case was still under investigation. It is obvious that there are already countless of reported cases of the same matter, why are they taking such a long time to investigate? Or is it just an excuse to pacify me and shut me up? They did not even have the courtesy to write an official apology email instead, all I got was a brief, scripted apology over the phone. In fact, I cannot verify if the personnel who called was from Starbucks Malaysia as he sounded very casual and not professional. As a loyal customer of Starbucks for many years, I am truly appalled and disappointed by the way this case has been managed, by their so-called esteemed company who prides so highly on human rights.

I emailed the Starbucks international afterwards and here how it goes.






They did not reply me anymore after that. Nor Starbucks Malaysia contacted me either. It seems like they have an I-don't-care attitude. Talking to them felt like talking to a brick of wall. I know they are not going to make a formal apology because they don't want to have any black and white proof. Their ego is too big to handle it. If they do, it will scar their reputation. They are just another company who doesn't give a shit as long as they can gain profit from the customers that they don't care. But yet, people are still contributing billions to their business, making them even more arrogant.

Many people gave me their kind regards, but many people gave their negative 2 cents too. They thought I'm just being whiny but the point is, I'm not the only one who suffered. If I'm the only victim, I will say that it was just my luck. But there were so many people who got bitten by dust mites from Starbucks. Note: ESPECIALLY STARBUCKS! The point is proven. They also said I just want to make a big hoo-ha for compensation. Trust me, compensation is the least of my worries, I just want my point to be sent across. The point of Starbucks being negligent in taking care of the cleanliness of their furniture and their non-existent concern for their customers.

These are the comments that I found amusing.


Ng Yu Sheng, do you even know what is private message? It means the message can only be seen by me and the corespondent. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that person who texted me with Starbucks Malaysia account can obviously see the message. And of course, I felt weird why is this guy defending Starbucks like I just killed his pet. I  clicked into his page and saw that he is a barista in Starbucks. This dude should be fired because under no condition he has the rights to respond on behalf of the company he works at. Even if he is in the PR department, he has no rights to comment with his personal account. That is so unprofessional. But of course I don't think Starbucks will fire him because they just don't care about anything and everything.



Woo Wei Jun, of course Starbucks is responsible for spreading dust mites! You think dust mites just pop out from the rattan chair like magic? There is even a reason why pimples pop out from your face! That's because your pores are clogged and dirty! Same goes to dust mites. The reason why dust mites spread in their chair because they don't clean their furniture. The dirty condition of the chair mix with the humid weather is a perfect spot for them to breed. They should have sun their furniture for hygiene purposes. Taking care the cleanliness of their utensils, furniture and premise is mandatory for all F&B companies. You know?

Same goes to Jin Tham. If I'm the only one who had this from Starbucks, fine. But so many people got it, so everyone gotta get an allergy test before patronizing Starbucks? Or everyone should wrap themselves in plastic like how smartly you suggested? Your ignorance and rudeness is one of the reason why the world is such a bad place. God bless you.