Stucked in Office

Was supposed to go for my church's Family Day Carnival held at Tasik Permaisuri at Cheras this morning but my big boss decided to hold an important meeting....... aarrgh..... now in office and working other stuff out at the same time.

Later in the afternoon from 6pm-8pm and evening 8pm-10pm, will be at church to see another 2 drama teams having their practises. What a busy lifestyle.

Tags: Family Day Carnival, Tasik Permaisuri, Cheras, Drama Practise

AIDS Vaccine Went Awfully WRONG!

Merck & Co who tested their one of the latest vaccine in which was related to AIDS, found that the vaccine had instead caused people without AIDS to contract AIDS. They later abandon that vaccine testing programme. Where is the punishment against Merck & Co? They can just go scot free?

If you have watched the movie called Constant Gardener, it depicts the same scenario where international pharmaceutical companies tested their latest products in Kenya which caused many Kenyans to die later on. Africans were used as the guinea pigs or a trial ground. Aren't they humans? In the movie, the government authorities and pharmaceutical companies' officials were implicated but investigators' life were threatened when they wanted to expose the scheme.

Is Merck & Co doing the same thing in Africa now? Or was the movie actually relaying a message behind the movie that in fact, it is happening.

Merck's scheme, called Step, started its trial way back in 2004 and it was tested on 3,000 HIV-negative volunteers that came from ages of 18 and 45 band. Out of a sudden, 24 of the volunteers became infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids. Another 21 was also infected with AIDS when a dummy version of the jab was given.

So, they were just testing whether their products were effective or not. Why didn't Merck & Co test it in USA first? No talks about compensation to the victims? Those are human beings just like you and me!!
Tags: Merck & Co, Pharmaceutical, Medicine, HIV Virus, AIDS, Africa, Guinea Pig, Trial Ground

South African Gold Mine

Elandsrand Mine, owned by Harmony Gold Mining had a mishap last few days when a power cable caused the main lift from operating.

This mine is about 2.2 km deep........ yeah more than 2 kilometres. And imagine the heat that could be generated from 3,200 breathing gold miners trapped down there.

It was mentioned that the mine is usually 30 to 40 degree celcius and all the 3,200 gold miners have been rescued now. Thank God! Otherwise it could have been a record number of underground deaths. Can you imagine the underground working area that could be very big to fit in 3,200 people.

Their efforts to save the 3,200 workers in view of precaution was done at a slow rate as only 75 gold miners could only be brought up to surface each time. Well, due to the depth and type of lift being used, you can't expect the lift to move as fast as those found in skyscrapers. One hour could only pulled up 300 gold miners and it took a solid 11 hours for that evacuation operation.
Tags: South Africa, Gold Mine, Mining, Mine Shaft, Elandsrand Mine, Harmony Gold Mining

Second Drama Team's Practise

Another had their drama practise, this team depicts a Lady's Life where she's a workaholic and a career-minded lady. As time goes by, she found that her social life is going nowhere and tried her close friend's matchmaking agency's service. One after another, unsuitable match-up caused more problems for her. Relationship with family members were in tatters too. Where else could she go?

This team has an executive director of a securities firm, a manager for a top IT company, a director of a freight forwarding company, a former banker, a university lecturer, a company secretary. All are busy people but they still availed their time. Great efforts there, keep it up!
Tags: Christmas, Christmas Drama, Matchmaking Agency

Student Blogger Exposed Cheats

As reported in the local Star newspaper:-

A young blogger caused a storm in her school after she wrote that some fellow students had exchanged notes during a recent examination. The Form Four girl said the copycats were unfair to others, adding that those who cheated eventually scored high marks while those who did not, got low grades.

She further claimed that the teachers who knew what was going on during the examination deliberately ignored the incident. Her grouses prompted the school authorities to order her to remove her entry in the blog.

A schoolmate of the 16-year-old girl said she broke down and felt she had been victimised merely because she wanted justice to prevail. The friend said the blogger had named the alleged copycat students and the teachers, and this had probably upset the school authorities.

It is learnt that the matter came to light when the named students told their parents about the blog entry. The parents then went to the school, demanding action against the young blogger.

“The school authorities called her up for questioning and asked her to remove the entry in front of them. “They told her what she did would damage the image of the school and the students,” said the girl’s friend.

The school’s senior assistant, Adilayah Ramli, said they did not mean to punish the young blogger or victimise her. “We asked her to remove the entry from the blog as it was slanderous and damaging to the teachers and students who were named.

“She is a good student and she scored straight As in her PMR exam last year. We understand her frustration,” Adilayah said, adding that the postings were mere allegations. However, she said the school was investigating the girl’s claims and would seek an explanation from those named in the blog. “We want to know their side of the story before resorting to any action.”
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What would you have done if you were the young blogger's parents? If you were the blogger, would you make your stand in what you have blogged? (bearing in mind legal suits may arise)

It would be considered slanderous if no other students dare to stand up for this young blogger. Since students were not allowed to bring mobile camera phones to school, they can't take a picture or video shoot to proof the situation. This student is known as a 'Whistleblower' by putting up that blog posting.

In other words - "don't voice out if you see injustice, keep it to yourself because it's not worth the effort and worse still, you will be known as a person who wants to stir up a peaceful situation."

If this is being taught and made known to students, that would be their mentality when they go out to work and their social life would be shaped according to their previous experience.
Tags: Student Blogger, School Authorities, Education, Exam Cheats, Copycat, Whistleblower

United Nation Convention Against Corruption

Just found that 140 countries have signed up under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. And surprisingly, my country was one of them!!!

But with the absurdities that have been reported in the Auditor-General's 2006 Report about fund mis-management, what is Malaysia government's next step? Keep quiet and just accept various Ministers' plain explanation that everything's alright???? Sign the convention but without actions??? SO, it was just a show by putting the country's name there.

Maybe someone from the government can explain to us what are Malaysia government's plans in eradicating corruption.
Tags: United Nations, United Nations Convention Against Corruption, Office on Drugs and Crime, Corruption

Customer's Reaction on Customer Service

How would you have reacted if Customer Service provided at a restaurant was not what you had expected even though you have been a regular customer of that restaurant?

Many companies, shops and services have avenues for customers to lodge complains against bad treatments/services received/provided by their staff but what about avenue for staff who had been treated unfairly by a customer instead.

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Following is what happened at a restaurant which was about to open for business:-

It was just after 11am, and a female customer walked into the restaurant with her two children. She is a regular customer who often comes with her husband, who was parking the car today. The woman said: "I want my usual seat."

The receptionist explained: "This is just after 11am, and we do not have a full staff yet. Your usual seat is back in the farthest corner of the restaurant, and we will not be able to serve your properly." The customer said, "I don't get it. I am a good customer and you won't give me my usual seat. Well, if that's how it is, then I want this other table in front here."

At that particular table, the waiters and waitresses were quickly eating their lunch at the time so that they can start work soon. The receptionist explained: "Our workers are eating right now. We cannot just tell them not to eat anymore and make way for your party. I am sure that you appreciate the difficulty. We will be happy with any of your other choice of table in the front of the restaurant."

The customer huffed and puffed a bit, and sat down near the front entrance. Several minutes later, her husband showed up and asked her: "Why are you sitting here? Why can't we get our usual table?" The same explanation was offered, and there were some more rounds of abuse heaped upon the receptionist.

Then the husband decided that he was wasting his time in talking to a receptionist. He said, "There is no point in talking to you. I need to speak to the highest level of management in this restaurant." So the restaurant manager was summoned, and another round of explanation was made.

Here are some choice words from the husband to the manager: "You don't look like a restaurant manager ... you have a haircut in the style of street punks (="teddy boys") ... I cannot believe this restaurant chain would hire a street punk as the manager ... if this restaurant chain hires people like you as managers, they will be bankrupt before too long ... "

And then there was the final threat: "I had signed up for a frequent diner club before, but I want to cancel the card immediately." The manager explained that he was willing to oblige. However, club membership was premised upon paying HK$300 in cash in exchange for HK$300 in coupons.

If a customer wishes to cancel club membership, he needs to return the coupons before he receives the HK$300 in cash back. This particular customer had already used his coupons. When he heard the explanation, the customer said: "Give me the telephone number of your company headquarters right now because I intend to file a complaint against you and your restaurant ... do you know that I am a solicitor? ... you should be expecting to receive a legal letter from my office shortly ..."

Before the customer even made that telephone call, the manager had already called the company headquarters about the incident. This occurred several days ago, but the solicitor's letter has not been sent yet.
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Is the customer always right?
Tags: Customer Service, The Customer Is Always Right, Regular Customer