In the good old days, there was 1 government that handles all matters relating to gas, and it was all well and good for the end users, you and me. But it was deemed not good for the government, so they decided to privatise it, the same thing that they did to the bus service and the MRT.

Now, there are many many companies and departments and teams that handles gas matters. For example, there is 1 team that handles residential users, 1 team that handles hawker centres and canteens, 1 team that handles restaurants, 1 team that handles installation works inside your premises, 1 team that handles installation works outside your premises….. Yes, they do it to that level of detail. And the best part? The physical work of actual installation is outsourced!

So the way City Gas works now is they try to look like a private company, so the only one that you get into contact is City Gas. However, they work like a government department, or worse. When things don’t happen on time, they tell you it is not City Gas problem, and push to another team, another department.

Back to my case. I contacted City Gas back in June. When I first contacted they, I was informed by the officer in charge that he will send me a Letter of Undertaking (LOU) to sign the next day. Installation to be completed 10 weeks upon signing the LOU. The exact date was 14 Jun that we spoke on the phone and was promised all this. To put it in a more readable format

14 Jun – I was promised that LOU will be sent to me the next day, and all installation will be completed in 10 weeks
23 Jun – LOU finally received in my mail
24 Jun – LOU signed and returned

As of today (week 10), our dear officer is still not able to tell me when will my shop be connected to the Gas network. And now he says it is 12 weeks, not 10 weeks. And you had guessed it, he is waiting for some other team and other department.

When I begged him to help expedite (yes, I used that word, beg – I really did beg him), all he said was “time line was just an indication, not a service standard”. Yes, those were the exact words he used.

So much for government support towards small businesses. Of course we cannot blame the government, because they had privatised the thing, so they are now private companies, out of the government’s hands.

Source : FB post by Siew Lin YTF

I was driving back to office from Putrajaya. I had a plan to buy MacD Durian MacFlurry today after seeing a poster in Facebook says MacD Durian Promotion ended. So i decided try my luck on last MacFlurry or else i have to wait for next year.

Yes! I saw MacDonald store in Presint 2. A long drive thru queue already building up to main road. I’m sure many like me don’t want to miss the Durian.

Instead of joining the driving thru queue, I parked my car and decided to walk-in and buy. I thought that would be a great idea to save time.

I was wrong. Even in shop, there were 3 line queues waiting to place order.

Well, I have decided. So let’s finish the job.

The queue moving slowly. There were only 2 operators are serving the customers. One person busy calling the order numbers. Another one taking orders at counters.

Yea, you read it right, Counters. A Malay young girl, with sweet smiling face, keep taking orders from both counters. She was taking orders and doing transactions. Then she move to next counter to serve next customer.

This is tiring job especially to entertain huge crowd. But i noticed that she still smiling and saying thank you for each customers. She is politely taking orders.

Of course the queue moving slowly but im not bothered. I kinda amazed how she can handle both side with cool attitude.

All of sudden, a Malay lady in front of me turn back at me and said.

” You know, she is so talented and dedicated to her job. I am amazed the way she is handling both counters”.

I added, “yea, i was watching her since i entered the shop”.

“I am a government staff and i can tell you that its rare to see such attitude. I wonder how they handle drive thru customers, meanwhile placing orders and do multi task job at the same time”, by the way, what are you going to order? ”

Then i told her how i ended up standing in queue.

“That nice ah MacD Durian?” She asked. I said “yea, must try before its too late”.

Next was her turn. She turned back and asked me, “you sure you want only Durian MacFlurry? I can order together to reduce queue”.

I said, ” Yea, just Durian MacFlurry “. I started to dig my wallet to pay my portion.

She stopped my arm when i gave her my money.

” Its OK. On me. I belanja. We kan Malaysians. Its my Merdeka treat for you”.

I stunned a while. Is this what we call, random act of kindness?

I really appreciated her act and told her that i will definitely write about this on Fb tonite.

Its not about getting excited for a free treat from someone but the pure intention to give to total stranger.

We are talking about racism among Malaysians but there are kind people around who believes in Humanity.

Only bad politicians are dividing us for their own agenda and benefits.

I am from kanchong Darat. I know kampung lifestyle. There were no racism. Malay, Chinese and Indians live together as family. You name it what function, everyone will celebrate like their own.

We can’t see this unity in city nowadays.

I saw two kind of human at the same place today. I am very proud to see them. I am proud to tell everyone that i born among these people.

I started to have hope on Malaysia. Yes, we could build a better nation.

Saya bangga lahir di sini. Saya bangga sebagai anak Malaysia.

Happy birthday Malaysia. Happy Independence Day. This is my Merdeka Day story.

Source: FB post by Subash Chandrabose Arumugam Pillai