I work in KLCC area (but not sure whether I’ll still be working there few months later) and every time I go to work or come back from work, there will always be a lot of cars rushing here and there….speeding all the way. And when I reach KLCC, there will always be people walking very fast to their office.

It’s either they’re being hasty….or they’re late for work.

To be honest, I was one of them. Time passes by without me knowing it…and things that actually matter didn’t seem to matter. All I have in my mind was work, and work, and work. How to fix that issue? How to get more money? How to present it to the bosses? Even at 7.30am, my brain was already busy working for the company.

And I believe I’m not alone.

In fact, this kind of lifestyle is slowly becoming a trend in this world. We’re just moving too fast in our life. Why? Because to many people, time is a nonrenewable commodity and money, is a very rare commodity which will only appear if you work ‘HARD’.

However, most of us have forgotten the purpose of us being here, in this world – to contribute, and to enjoy life. By being so hasty, we will certainly miss out on a lot of things in life. Ever wonder where has all those DAYS gone? Ever wonder why it is weekend AGAIN? or ever wonder why everyone around us have aged so much while we’re busy chasing after money?

It’s not like those time just go disappear into thin air. These things are happening all around us but we’re just too hasty and too busy to pay attention to such ‘minor’ things.

Our life is passing by too fast, without us knowing it.

Maybe it’s time to slow down a little, and enjoy whatever we have now? Stop driving so fast or walking so fast, try to slow down a little and enjoy the air, or the blue sky, or the morning sun. Spend time with your family and not dig your head deep into the big pile of files.

It’s time to make a change, and it’s never too late to do so.

Last but not least, remember that life is not about rushing here and there. It’s about enjoying the things this world have for you……. but if you’re moving too fast, it’ll be impossible for you to notice them.

So, do slow down once in a while. No point being too hasty

Customers love convenience and hate problems. They engage your business because they are hoping you will help them with their problems, and not because they think your business can give them more problems. After all, they are paying you for that…I’ve yet to hear anyone who actually pays someone to give more problems.

Source : http://earthguide.blogspot.com/2008/06/angry-customers.html

That’s why if your business is not helping the customers to fix their problems…then you should really start to be afraid of losing them. And if your business is actually giving customers more problems than they already have, then forget about “you should really start now”…instead, it should be “you MUST change your business now”. Otherwise, you will lose your customers. No doubt about that.

***** Beginning of rant *****

And this was what happened to me the other day. I went to Best Denki @ KLCC to shop for my company’s annual dinner lucky draw prizes. I was there for 10 minutes, and nobody actually came forward to ask me whether I need any help. I then approached one of the employees there after running out of patience.

Me : Hi, I actually need some help here.

Employee : Yes sir, how can I help you?

Me : I need someone to serve me. I’ve been waiting here for 10 minutes.

Employee : Sorry sir. What do you need? Maybe I can help.

Me : Ok, I have RM xxxx budget for my company’s annual dinner. I need like 25-30 items, and here’s the breakdown of the estimation.

Employee : Hmmmm.

Me : So for one of the prizes, I need a 32 inch LCD TV. Also, if there’s any other item which can give me more free stuff, even better.

Employee : Okay…I will have to look around. Not very sure.

Me : Also, I will need a digital camera. Do you have any camera to suggest?

Employee : Oh, I’m not in-charged of camera. I’m only in-charged of the TV and the theater system. I can direct you to the person in-charged in the camera department.

…… he then showed me to the camera guy, and disappeared….forever. The same thing happened few times, I was being passed from one person-in-charged to another… and from what I heard from them, all the departments are independent from one another and there’s no cooperation whatsoever. If I were to buy a camera, and a TV, I will have to list down the items by myself and get the best price by myself, and finally, get the final list of items to try and get for more discounts from the store manager.

What’s the difference then, if I were to just go to Low Yat and buy the items separately, rather than buying everything under one shop? The purpose of shops such as Best Denki is to make it convenient for customers to get everything in a single place. I think they got their direction and objective completely wrong.

Of course, I became quite pissed off with the service (and near to 0% discount) and left the store. Today, I went to Harvey Norman to look for the sales guy I know and he settled everything for me. I just told him, I’ve shortlisted few items and I need a camera, an IPOD, this n that, and total up to so and so many items, and I only have this budget. Suggest to me what can I get and which one is actually better than the other. And also give me the best price possible. When I’ve shortlisted everything, I told him to try to discount a bit further so that I can fit few more items in. And he did it after a quick check with the system.

The entire ordeal lasted only for around 2 hours. And the discount was very good.

***** End of rant *****

I settled all my needs in a single place, without any fuss. Problem solved, no hassle and convenient for me. This is how such businesses should be run.

So the next time you want to start a business (or planning what to do with your business), think for the customers. Does your business exist to help them fix problems, or to give them more problems? Erm…if it is latter, then you better close down your business. If it is the former, then you should ensure your business IS practicing the right model – the model which will make your customers happy (fix their problems using hassle-free methods).

The ticket machine will eat people.

Just kidding.

The ticket machine will give you a lot of coins for change. If you give RM 20 for a RM 13 parking fee, you can expect RM 7 worth of 50 sen. That’s a lot of coins. And I always call that the “sound of happiness”…because whenever you hear that kind of sound in Genting Casino, it means you’ve won.

Some machines do give paper money for change…but only selected few. Not all of them do that, and they only give RM 10 notes, not RM 5 or lesser.

But the most important thing you should beware of is the amount of change given. I was the victim, twice. I paid RM 20 for a parking fee of RM 18……and it returned me 1 50sen coin. They swallowed RM 1.50. The second time, I paid RM 20 for RM 19 parking fee, it did not return me anything. I called up the KLCC Parking Management, and they told me to go to their office to get the change.

Ok, they were NICE enough to ask me to go there. But here’s a problem.

How can they know that the machine did not return me sufficient changes? And what if I’m cheating? And if they knew about me not getting enough changes (maybe somehow, the machine has a computer system which will keep track of all the payment and changes..), then why don’t they offer to help before this?

My guess is that, it’s either they don’t care or they don’t know if the machine is giving correct change. I believe if you go to the office, they will pay you even if you don’t have the proper proof. And if you choose not to go to the office, they will just pretend nothing happens.

Next question would be……. how did their audit pass? They should be able to check the amount of coins inside the machine and the amount of payment made…the total payment for that day based on the tickets, etc. How the heck did their audit pass if there are such incidents?

Who knows, maybe someone is swallowing up the extra changes behind the scene?

*Sighs* If the machine doesn’t have enough change, then just shut it off. A machine which cannot even give RM 1 (2 x 50 sen coins) change should no longer be operating.

That’s why the next time you pay for the parking, just be careful.

Today, there was an emergency in the basement area of PETRONAS Twin Towers (Maybank and gym area). By the time I reached the ground floor of Tower 2, there were already a lot of tourists waiting outside, near the lobby area. At that time, I did not know what actually happened.

But when I was about to enter the “office area”, I walked pass few security guards blocking off the entrance to the basement or lower ground…. which is also the entrance to the skybridge.

And guess what, I overheard one of the guards telling the tourists to go away, cannot enter, this is emergency or something which sounded very harsh and impolite. The first thing which came to my mind at that moment was ……..this guard could not speak proper English and the tourists he was facing at that time were not from English-speaking countries. Still, it did not give him the permission to be so rude.

When I reached the office, another colleague of mine who arrived earlier than me was talking about the incident downstairs. He, too, told us that 1 of the guards was quite impolite and rude to one of the tourists at the time he arrived.

The Twin Towers management team should really look into this properly. Tourism industry has always been very important in our country and having such security guard behaving rudely towards tourists will not help much in promoting tourism.