Sentence for 14th October 2009

Sentence: Now I feel like the world is very small and at the same time not small enough... so small that some things happens so coincidentally it is hilarious; but at the same time it is not small enough as you just can't seem to meet some people.

Went to Bintang Plaza this evening, went to have dinner at Sushi King with some old friends. My bro and his friends tagged along. I still recalled 2 months before, the last time I dine at Sushi King, the service was good, choppy and fast. Even had a chat with the cashier/manager last time and he taught me how to use the points accumulated using my credit card. Cheerful and friendly crew, one of the reasons why I like to dine at Sushi King... and they also speak fluent English.

Two of my favourite dishes at Sushi King

However, my image of Sushi King shattered this time. They replaced the whole crew with locals. The food is still as I recall, but the service really turned my appetite back home. What I experienced about their "new customer service policy" that night:

1. When I arrived, there was no one welcoming me. Wait, let me correct that: There were 3 waitresses standing at the doorway and they greet me with sour faces and nothing else. They didn't ask me how many seats, didn't show me to my seat and what the hell happened to "welcome" in Japanese?

2. Ok, so I serve myself to my seat, fine. Still ok with not being welcomed positively, have my appetite intact and ready to attack the menu. One of the few things I noticed was that when I sat down, they gave me the menu but didn't give me a cup of tea and no saucer for the wasabi and soy sauce. Naturally, I request those items first, then proceed with the menu. I placed my order and my food arrived, but not the cup of tea and saucer. Naturally I requested, again, politely. I ordered two things, but only half came. Why half? Cause the tea came... in a teapot! What the hell! That's when I lost my patience and did the cup sign with my hand and mouth the words out "C-U-P", then the waiter goes "what?" (Do you have any manners lady? Usually people say "Pardon me", especially when you are in the servicing business). I repeated the hand gesture and mouthed the words out. The waitress goes like "Oh~ Cawan, ya?"
WHAT THE HELL!!!!! That's when I gave up on the saucer, I am 1000% sure they have no idea what I was saying in English. So I improvised and used something else as a saucer:

The one of the left is a "saucer", the one on the right is actually a top they use to cover the miso soup bowl, my imporvised saucer

3. At the cashier, I paid using credit card, gather points to be used the next time I go there. Oh my god... Slow! Really really slow! They key in the list slowly and steadily. Come on, you are running a cashier, not a freaking operation! And after I paid, where is the "Thank you" and "come again"? It is as if they want me out and be gone... forever! And the sour faces! At least lighten up when you speak with the customers, ok?

On a lighter note: I did promise photos from my last post, right? Well, here they are, posters from Curtin Career Fair 2009:

Posters/Banners like these can be seen everywhere on campus this week
P.S.: I am actually in the second poster from the right, can you spot me?

Take a good look at the first poster from the right. See anyone familiar? I never knew him as a knowledge user, lol.