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Drove to work and when I was about to reach the toll, “piak” one bird shit on my car. I thought birds only shit when they perch on trees, not when they are flying. Oh well!

People are not cute today. Maybe God was trying to tell me something with the bird shit.

Early in the morning, someone transferred a call to me, without informing me, without even asking whether I’m available to answer the call. When I answered the call, a mad lady was shouting and asking whether I’m the one taking over my boss since today he’s on leave. I said no. People really think highly of me but really I’m not the one taking over my boss.

Anyway, I didn’t get what the mad lady wanted. How do you expect people to understand you when you don’t explain properly but just shouting? My boss talked to her yesterday and that’s my boss. You are talking to me for the first time so don’t expect me to know what’s going on.

As usual, customers like to compare. She was not satisfied with my answer and so when she was put on hold by me, she was talking to someone else and she went like this, “Who? Who? Who asked to book with company? See now, so many problems!”

In a way, she was hinting to me. I know.

The thing is some people never bother finding out whether it’s our fault or theirs. They are simply blaming us for something we had not done. And so, sometimes there’s no point talking to these kind of people on the phone because they will never listen to you whatever the explanation is. What you need to do is reply to their email because then they will read and understand the whole situation. After we sent out that email, she stopped calling. I presumed she understood.

After that, more people who are not cute called.

There was this other lady who doesn’t want to pay and is trying to make us pay for something we shouldn’t be paying in the first place. I think I’ve talked to her for 10 times today. I spoke to her very nicely but I thought if I were to sound a little nasty, she would have gotten the message. But I’m just like that so yeah, even if she called me for 20 times, I’m just going to talk to her the same way. She is plainly trying to call that many times, hoping that I’ll get sick of it and agree to pay on her behalf. Sorry babe.

Another lady called me asking for her money back. I said I’m helping her but it takes time. I’m not only helping to get her get back the amount she requested for. I’m actually trying to get her more than the amount she requested for. If she’s not happy, I don’t know what to say. But she understood so she stopped calling.

The last caller of the day has actually been calling for two days. A colleague had difficulty dealing with her and asked me to give the customer a call. I gave her a call asking her what difficulties she is facing.

“Grace, this is my first time dealing with something like this. Can you help me? I really need your help. Can you think of something?”

I tried to help her but she wanted something that I was in no position to approve so I had to no choice but to escalate it to another manager. Since the manager was still in a discussion with someone, I had to put her on hold. She hold on for quite some time but I had no choice. I didn’t want to put her off the phone because if I do, she won’t be able to reach us when it’s after working hours because the phone system would be down by then.

“I know, Grace. That’s why I’m holding on the line.”

While holding on the line, she talked to me.

“Grace, to tell you the truth but I don’t intend to be hurtful, if you ask any other company, your customers, they have a bad impression towards your company.”

“I know.”

“I think maybe because some of them are very arrogant but I think you are a very nice person. You are really a very nice person…How long have you been working there?”

“For a year.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve been in the industry for 7 years already.”

“How is it for you?”

“It is very stressful. There are times when you feel like crying and you have to cry. There are times when you feel very angry and you have to get angry. But of course, you must control your temper. However, sometimes ….”

“Cannot tahan, right?”

“YAH!”

I laughed.

“Before this, where were you working?”

“This is my first job.”

“Grace, when you go on, don’t change. Be the same person. You are a nice person.”

That was so touching. I could feel my heart melting. My face blushing.

I don’t know what happened after that when I transferred the call. I hope all goes well for her.

All the people in the world suddenly became so cute to me.

Today was fun!

Tomorrow is boss’s birthday. Since boss in on leave tomorrow and another colleague is on half-day leave today, we decided to celebrate boss’s birthday today during lunch.

Our plan was to surprise him with the cake we bought at 12 sharp.

Guess what happened? At 12 sharp, some of us were still on the line with customers and before we knew it, boss walked away from his desk. None of us knew he was going out for lunch early today.

We panicked because my colleague who’s on half day leave can’t wait till boss is back and we wanted to celebrate it together so badly. All in a team.

“Call him back!”

A colleague quickly get him through his mobile but there was no network coverage. Dah lah masuk lif.

Called a few more times. Still couldn’t get.

I suggested he try to use his own mobile to call boss’s mobile, at least it would look more important than a “Private number” appearing on the screen.

Finally, boss answered the call.

This colleague of mine didn’t know what to say to get him to come back. Know what he said?

“There is an emergency. Something is wrong with Gracie. You have to come back now.”

“What happened to her?”

“I don’t know.”

My mouth dropped. Why me?

Anyway, colleague told us he’s coming back.

So one colleague quickly went to get the cake from the fridge. Before I knew it, my boss was standing next to me as I turned to look at him. Nobody said anything, the colleague who told him I had an emergency, just pointed to me when he saw my boss.

I was like., “Huh?”

I really didn’t know what to say you know? Like dumb-struck. Lightning struck.

I told my head to spin faster because it’s starting to get a bit awkward already.

“Happy Birthday! We’ve got a cake for you!”

Oh man, I didn’t say it with excitement because I was still shocked mah. But I tried lor.

“Aiyah, next time don’t lah say it’s emergency. I thought what happened to you!”

I tell you. My boss was really panicked. He looked really worried which made me even more dumb-struck. But good also lah, at least I know my boss really cares about me. *laughs*

I felt a little bad even though it wasn’t me who thought about the prank. But, I’m also touched.
He finally recovered from his shock and we presented him 7 different flavours of cake slices. Each slice for everyone. Boss got to choose which one he would like first. Then, we gave him a cake too.

“You guys are the best!” he exclaimed.

Then, colleague who started the prank said, “Come, let’s sing a birthday song.”

“No no, please don’t embarass me.” Boss laughed.

There were so many people in the office, that’s why.

Anyway, we sang silently.

Then, boss left again for lunch this time. Peacefully.

A colleague started laughing cheekily, “Hehehe, so funny lah. So funny lah.”

After that the war started, “Why did you say it’s emergency, say Gracie’s name some more!”

I kept quiet only, still thinking of what just happened. My colleague who is going on half day leave felt bad because maybe she thought if she’s not going on half day leave then we wouldn’t need to call back in such a hurry. She wrote boss an email to apologise any heart attack caused. She’s cute lah.

But you know what? I think it’s going to be memorable birthday for him since he’s leaving the company soon and we won’t get to celebrate together next year.

In the afternoon, I received a call from a colleague in ShenZhen. She is somehow like a friend already because when she called me the first time, she asked if she could talk to me again if she’s got any problem with cargo from ShenZhen to Port Klang. I said can.

She was speaking in English then later asked me if I could speak Mandarin. I said yes. She was so happy.

Then, another colleague from Busan, Korea called. I absolutely loved the way she pronounced “zero” because it sounded like “jiro”. I helped her immediately. I like to help cute people.
I’ve got cases to solve which is why I’m quite happy today.

I’m back to answering calls today and I felt bored.

It’s because of the sudden change from super-busy to relax mode. I still like the stress from Round 1,2 and 3. It made me want to go to work. Today I didn’t feel like going to work. All work and no play makes Grace a dull girl. But,little work and not that much play makes Grace a duller girl.
Calls were little as compared to usual. We managed to answer all incoming calls except for one. So, our performance was good. But it didn’t really excite me because the satisfaction that I felt is higher during Round 1,2 and 3. I’m just going to put Round 1, 2 and 3 behind. *sob sob*

The only thing I enjoyed today was I get to leave the office right on time. Went to the gym after not going for two weeks, since I’ve been staying late at work.

Today’s class was superb. I kicked, jumped, punched until I felt like stomach is going to come out. Really really nice.