Are you trying to be Humourous or WHAT?!

24th February 2009 marks the day which I made a point to mark it down in my life, as a Singaporean living nearly a year in Malaysia. This will also be the day which I shall make it a point, to always be humble and know oneself limit's.

Living in Malaysia for nearly a year, has certainly made me grown up. I've seen how some Malaysians live through their life and react through certain circumstances. The stories I have heard, the people whom I have met & got to known, the things which happened throughout this one year. It sometimes does bring out a sense of humor (to me, at the very least). I am not very sure how to relate entirely in my blog, but I do hope anyone reading my blog will understand what I am trying to put across here.

Today, I had a small conversation with a relative, which I think honestly, if he is telling this story to another man in Singapore, he will be laughed at. He told me in person, that I am stupid, in terms of business dealing. As he happened to know I ordered IT peripherals, which doesn't even cost RM 350.00 in cost, for a customer. He insisted that I should collect at least a RM 100.00 deposit from the customer. I explained that I personally know the customer as a friend, and she is actually out-stationed today, so it is not very possible for her to pay me a deposit today. Somehow this relative insisted that business isn't meant to be done this way, and also told me that collecting a deposit will ensure the customer to "remember" their order. He proceed on to tell me how good is he at business, which I think otherwise. He personally think "$$" as the main factor in business, other than that, is no-talk. I do agree that "$$" is the main factor, but I personally think professional service standard and human-relationships do have an effect on business too. I am pretty sure if your service standard sucks to the core, and you don't respect others......no matter how good you are, your business will be affected. Throughout this entire conversation, he kept telling me I need to improve on my methods of dealing with people and the way I handle my business.

Mind you, this relative of mine, isn't a rich man by the way. Neither is he a very successful businessman in a trade that ever existed in this world. He is just a man in his thirties, selling mobile phones in the day and selling shoes in the night. It evolves the same cycle everyday non-stop, as he have to slog like hell to make ends meet.

So when he's telling me, how good is he.....my mind is like "I am not successful,yeah......then you are?" I can only smile wryly and tell him nicely that I am confident that this customer will pay in full amount. He retorted, what if my customer doesn't want to honor the purchase of the IT peripheral, in the end? I answered back "I still have another customer waiting in line." In my mind, "what ifs" doesn't exist in my vocab world.....because "what if I am a millionaire"? The world can never be fill with "what if", it isn't realistic at all.

Upon this moment, I know that this relative business can never expand as he will never improve. His service standard sucks as I have followed him to sell shoes before, he doesn't even bother to ask any of the customers if they would like to buy shoes, or even take a look. When I asked him why he never asked, his reply was "why bother, if they want to buy, they will come and take a look themselves."

'Sigh'.......I wonder how....I wonder why........