Malaysia- The discount math

you can always see all kinds of discount offers here, excluding those direct discount promotion, here are some discount terms you might be confused with:

1. second item 50%

let's say you the first item is 100RM, the second is also 100RM. you will end up to pay 150RM for the two which are worthy 200RM, therefore you get (1-150/200)=25%, and that's the maximum amount you can get.

if you buy two items with different price, the 50% discount will be on the cheaper item. let's say, the first item is still 100RM, the second one is 80RM, you will end up to pay 140RM for 180RM, so you get (1-140/180)=22.22% which is lesser than 25%

2. pay 100RM, then you can enjoy 130RM purchase

this one is not 30% discount, it's 1-100/130=23% discount. because you take out 100RM from your pocket to buy a 130RM goods, you save 30RM on 130RM, not on 100RM

to be continued..

Malaysia- the twisted clock

Malaysian timing is always hard to determined.

"yes, yes, coming soon", "soon"? how many minutes is "soon"? if you really believe that, after another 30 minutes, you might be still waiting.

"yes, yes, on the way", most of time when Malaysian people say that, they are either still in the house, or best situation they just open the car door.

The worst thing is, you can't complain about it, and you can't call your friends many times just to hurry them up, because they will think: oh, what's the rush la? people here live by hours, not by minutes, or by seconds, so half an hour late is not late, it's just on time.

if your are going to a Malaysian party, my advice is no matter what time it is, add another one hour, or you will the first one show up and waiting for the rest.

even classes and meetings: 8am! well, if officially it starts at 8:15am, that's God's blessing!

Good luck folks! for those who are coming here for a living, I am definitely leaving...

Malaysia-DiGi store

Saturday afternoon, stupid enough of me went to DiGi store in Sunway Pyramid to pay bills.

there are two lines of people waiting, but there are only one counter open.
why? oh, welcome to Malaysia!

We were all standing there, but no one came up to ask: how can I help you?

One Malay couple standing in front of me already got very frustrated, the wife tried her best to get the attention of a staff, but she failed. 4 of them were standing behind the counter basically doing nothing, leaning again the counter, maybe trying to figure out why they can't go home with bonus.

there came two Chinese business men, stopped for a minute, turned to me: do they have another DiGi store here?

"I am sorry, I don't think so"

they waited for another 5 minutes, left.

Now back to the Malay couple, finally a short guy came to talk to them, after the wife showing some documents, I heard the staff saying: oh, you can't do it here, you have to go to the main center

the wife: why did you ask me to wait here when I first time show you this?

Staff: oh, sorry la...

Another amusing show is that: a young Chinese woman was standing beside me on the other line earlier, but she had been told to wait to the other counter, so she moved to the ordered place,when she finally started talking to the staff in that counter, this is what she heard: oh, you are waiting in the wrong line la, you should go back there.

within the 30 minutes, how many customers they lost?
-3 walked in and just left
-one couple left with angry
-two business men left with disappointment

total 7!

good business location and good business idea, but not making good money, why? I guess we all know why!

they have enough human resource, but they don't have proper system to make their staff work:
-no clear job delegation
-place more staff in the selling area but leaving more than 15 customers waiting blindly
-no basic staff training
-wrong arrangement of furniture in the store cause crowded queue
-not enough open counters
... ...

Seriously, I only want thing back: My TIME!

Malaysia- Sports shoes please!

I was completely shocked when the first time I saw people playing sports like this. no sports shoes???

Why?

1. financially not capable? -I don't think so

2. too hot to wear them in Malaysia? - that's not true

3. too lazy to put them on? -possible

4. new fashion?- not look like

but have you ever thought about that you might end up injuring yourself without wearing sports shoes? " if you want to play sports, put on your socks and shoes!", is that the most basic thing we learned when we were all kids?
Unfortunately this is just common in Malaysia, I just certainly can not get it. Why can't you do things properly, even the things related to your own safety?