GOOD MORNING AUSTRALIA- PT.2

Most Aussies probably find telemarketers very annoying. Especially since there are hundreds even thousands of companies out there mining the same area at one point or another, it probably won't be unusual for a person to get up to 5 or 6 calls of this sort in a day especially if they had not delisted their numbers from the directory.

If any of you have ever been guilty of hanging up on a telemarketer abruptly or shouting or swearing at one, you need to think twice before you do that the next time okay? Why? Because nobody enjoys calling or intruding upon your time. We have a job to do and yes, it may appear to be annoying to you, but someone has to call people to get the message out there and to announce services or products. To minimise your pain and ours, here are a few "Thou shalt not's..."

• THOU SHALT NOT pick up then hang up without saying anything, because we will have to call you over and over again because you see,you are not considered completely marketed to as a lead if we hadn't gotten the chance to come into contact with you! 

• THOU SHALT NOT LIE OR HIDE. If you pretend that you are not that person, well, sorry! We will have to contact you again, until we get to speak to you. Anyway, what if you said the person doesnt live here anymore and I actually rang to tell you you had won $1 million dollars?? Be brave, acknowledge yourself...and if you pretended you are your parents, we can tell....

• THOU SHALT NOT be rude. Be polite and hear the person out. If you really don't have the time, spell it out firmly but courteously. If the telemarketer is pushy or inconsiderate, then he or she probably deserves to have the call cut short anyway. Swearing and giving verbal abuses only demeans yourself not us. It give me an idea that you have no other more intelligent way of expressing yourself than four letter words. Demeaning a telemarketer and his/her job isn't going to stop many others from still calling you. There are thousands of companies calling everyday, if you don't want the calls, delist your number. But look, shouting at us isn't going to solve this problem. It only makes your throat hurt, BP go up and another individual demoralised. If you can't cope, just say no thanks and hang up...

• THOU SHALT NOT say not interested on behalf of your parents. Sorry, we'll still have to talk to the parents even if you were given instructions to say not interested. And anyway, your parents may be interested, so give us a chance to talk to them. 

On the whole though, most Aussies are pretty polite, especially the older generation. Nice and friendly bunch, and sometimes wish you luck for the day. As for the rest of the bunch, TTYL! (Talk to you later)

GOOD MORNING, AUSTRALIA! - Pt.1

Have been working at a call centre for 5 months now and it has been a crazy mishmash of experiences for me - of fear, pride, tears, joy, anger, sadness and amusement. When I first took on this job, it was (and still is) with fear and intimidation that I would not quite cut it as as a telemarketer. Everyday, I call different cities across Australia making appointments for conferences.

For obvious sensible reasons, I shall not disclose where I work, but it is very near where I stay. So, I have been very blessed in the sense that I don't even have to drive if I choose not to, it is just 7 minutes brisk walk from door to door.

I could write a book of the many different characters in my workplace. The team I work with consists mostly of ladies in their fifties. But there are also younger girls and mums like myself who struggle to cope with managing a family as well as make it on time to the sometimes unearthly hours of work (i.e. 8am). And because Australia has 3 different timezones, we could be starting really early one week and then starting at normal 9am the next, depending on which cities we call for the week.

During my calls, I come across interesting names, funny, serious people, the very old and the very young, very rich and very poor, very rude and very polite. I get a taste of Australia's different households, how they live, work, eat, think and function as a family. One thing I had found is that Australian life spans are generally much higher than in Asian countries. I have talked to many retirees in their nineties, late eighties and guess what? Some are still working, so it tells me, they are a pretty fit lot... I have talked to quite a number of people who tell me they are dying of cancer, people who tell me they just had a baby, just got engaged, just had a divorce, just got a new house, new immigrants from India, Africa, China, perhaps some illegal ones, doctors, nurses, miners, engineers, accountants, teachers, mango farmers, cattle farmers,.. all walks of life, but with one aim in mind, to invite the right people and hope they show up for my conferences.

On a good day, I get 4-5 people, on a bad day, I get none or just one. It's insane, and a little trivial to feel good about having managed to invite 3 or more people a day after having called like close to 220 people. So, yes it is not the most fantastic job on earth but hey, it helps to pay the bills for now.......If you think it's an easy job to sit there everyday and talk to people, you are so wrong. I admit it can be pleasant to meet nice people on the phone who will tell you their life stories and joke with you but there are also many crappy instances of putting up with horribly rude, drunk and OD'd people who shout at you and insult you.

There were many times in my earlier days of this job that I wanted to just give up and walk away because I felt so lousy about having to annoy people and intrude upon their lives and being screamed at for daring to call them. But I know this is also a season of dealing with my inner self - to learn to take rejection upfront and not take it personally. To learn that a job is still a job at the end of the day and that when you tuck away your headphones and go back home, you DON'T need to carry back that 'f' word spoken to you, or that lousy feeling of walking away with zero bookings for the day... I have found that it helps to segment and clearly and precisely shut the door when you step out of work, otherwise, you could feel crappy the whole time.

But then, there are also the happy triumphant times when I look back at how the grace of God prevailed at a crucial time when I was told I had that week to show results or face losing the job. This is the episode I will always remember and a lesson in faith that God teaches me. Being a newbie at this kind of work, I had very low bookings. However, I marvelled at how I still managed to have people show up for my conferences. That had saved me for the first part of my career as a telemarketer eventhough I had very few bookings.

One day, my manager pulled me aside and told me they wanted to let me go that very week but she stood up for me and insisted I could do it, with proper training. So, I asked if my show rates were good for that particular week, would it be the determining factor to keep me on for coming weeks? She said yes. That very morning of the show rate results, as I walked to work,I prayed really hard for a '5' for showup rates. It seemed impossible, considering my miserable booking figures... and why '5'? Because it is the biblical number for grace and I needed a real clear sign for me that I had His grace for me to stay on..then suddenly, a van shot past me and drove ahead of me..and strangely, it had the word GRACE?? written clearly on the back. Hmm, pretty apt, I thought. Things got more interesting towards the afternoon when my boss came up and shook my hand, telling me I had done very well for that week. I was pleasantly surprised. When the scores were announced, I was one of the highest performers. And guess how many showed up that week for me? 5 people! Awesome, the grace that covers me. That kept me on the job for the next following weeks....stay tuned on this channel for other interesting stories......

THE ONLY SNOW YOU WILL FIND IN GOLD COAST THIS CHRISTMAS...

The only "snow" to be found falling in Gold Coast in the middle of summer, is the 'mock' one of icing sugar --flicked all over the attempted christmas yule log cake I made today. It is a traditional French Xmas musthave but most western cultures, including Asians, have adapted it to be part of the Christmassy thing to have.

Baking has always been my way to destress, to prove to myself that things that look hard or impossible can still be achieved. Never done a log cake before, and decided to get adventurous today, using the famous Aussie chef Nigella's recipe. Yes, ambitious me had to aim for the best, and ignoramus me actually thought that the grand dame of Aussie cuisine had been careless and left out flour in her recipe!!

Actually, this was a flourless log cake and I actually couldn't believe I had launched onto this project not noticing that flour wasn't in the recipe, otherwise I wouldn't have tried it, because I always prefer my cakes, fluffy, doughy, and cake-y- nothing of that flourless version..(sorry Nigella. Who cares about carb anyway, I mean it's Christmas...

Anyway, too late, had to proceed, as the stage had been set. So, with bated breath, I rolled up the cakes and was relieved they did not totally fall apart. Cakes did not rise very nicely, maybe, I opened the oven too often to check, I don't know. Am clueless about how flourless cakes should look like or taste, so I expect whatever I rolled out at the end would have to do. It didn't taste too bad, and the icing was lovely. Jordie wanted to do the sprinkling of snow, and that helped quite a bit to cover the 'flaws' and I had these recycled christmas tress and miniature santas from days gone by lifted off a previous xmas cake. We had fun putting little weetbix squares as part of the scenery to pass off as rocks.Jordie said the xmas trees did not look real but the log did, but who cares? It's all in the name of breaking barriers of reality. Anyway, santas don't exist, so what are they doing on a log cake, huh? Merry Xmas, and try not to be make sense about everything. You will find life more interesting and happier that way...and now, we shall look forward to eating up this log on Christmas day..

GETTING BACK INTO THE SWING

Recently..ok not so recently, coz I had been soo.. busy.. no time to even update this blog for gosh like..umpteen moons!! Back to "recently" my mum was in town and when we took her and her sister (my 2nd aunt ) to the beach at Burleigh Heads for a BBQ nite out, her sister told her she had a go at the swing. To my surprise, my mum decided she wanted to have a go at it too. So, here goes my 73-year-old mum, whom I have never recalled ever seeing her sitting on a swing before, decided to plonk on one next to Jordie. Cute shot of granny and Jordie. You're never too old to relive your childhood, I like that...

OF BEDS & TOYS

So, what's so special about this bed shot you say? Well... I have started to look at normal things and learnt to appreciate them more. Actually, it is rather abnormal if you think about it... b'cos this bed looks like this every morning after Jordan wakes up. He MAKES HIS OWN BED!! I mean, it is stuff you don't expect boys to do rite? Well, ok there are days when he's in a rush and it gets overlooked, but that's fine. Meanwhile, I appreciate his efforts to be neat and well-organised this way. It makes a nice sight to come home and plonk into rite?

And considering him being already close to 10 and playing with boy macho games like guns and xbox, he still loves his cuddlies. Last night, he took out all of his soft toys and they each have a story behind them.

The largest pooh bear was from his Godma, who bought it from HK Disneyland for him. The donkey bolster, Eeyore was given him by this girl called Isabel during a Port Dickson church convention when he was just 2 years old. The yellow elephant tucked behind Pooh is from his paternal grandma.

1st two from the right: Meet Boris the bulldog and Squigee the dark brown dog side by side which were companions since his toddler days and bought from China during his 1st Beijing trip. They were his 1st soft toys from mummy & daddy.

On the far left is Puddles, the only bear in the family given to him by Uncle Kai Seong. He was named Puddles because his eyes always looked shiny and wet. The smallest dog in the family right in the center, is named Squirrel Chaser, given to him for Christmas from Auntie Ebbie.

Last but not least is Chubbs, the light brown and white doggy- one of his faves. Compliments again from Godma who has been a real blessing to him and sent this via the post because she knew he was missing daddy much at one point.

So, there you go, toys with a bit of history behind them, everyone of them a testament of the heart and love for him from different people in his life.

SWEET THOUGHTS

Was surprised to find this piece of romantic relic sitting on my Mac laptop this morning. Had totally slipped my mind today is Valentine's Day...Awww that was so sweet of him! Ferrero Rocher chocs, what a treat!

LO YEE SANG - the friendly food fight

Had some friends over for dinner on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year and treated them to a Lo Yee Sang which is the typical CHINESE NEW YEAR appetiser musthave in Malaysia and Singapore. However, since we weren't sure if they would be used to raw fish, we used smoked salmon instead and they loved it. Some of them termed it a 'food fight' and to all appearances it may have looked like it. Everyone thought the chopsticks were a real novelty and ate pretty well with it, except for me and Jordie who are staunch spoon-diners.

They loved the novelty, the colour and the action. We so often take it for granted when we have it in the past so, we didn't realise it would be such a nice refreshing thing to introduce to them. Perhaps it was also the licence to play with food for once which made it more fun...

Samuel explained the significance of this dish but we did it also like a prophetic act. We wanted to speak prosperity, grace, favour and better things ahead into this act. So that made it all the more meaningful, hihi!

THE FLOOD EFFECTS PT. 2: PLAGUE OF SNAKES, CROCS, MICE AND EVERYTHING NOT NICE.

As if having your homes submerged isn't enough problem already, the poor residents of affected areas of the flood have been battling more than just water & damages, but also undesirable creatures. Floods in Queensland have also unleashed a 'plague' of pests & dangerous animals like mice, frogs and snakes and worse-crocodiles which have wandered into places & waterways near residential homes and even town areas.

When these animals get out of their normal habitat and get washed into unfamiliar zones, they tend to seek hiding places, which may be in a closet, under a bed, or other spots that could lead to disaster when the unknowing homeowner returns and encounters the frightened animal victim that may then lash out. Spiders do something similar, and Australia certainly has no shortage of poisonous arachnids.

Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has warned that the flood waters also contained crocodiles.

"There is the risk that we have a number of crocodiles that live in the Fitzroy River," he said. "We do not think they are a risk to public safety if people keep out of the waters but if people do enter the waters, their safety cannot be guaranteed."

The New York Times reports that dozens of snakes have taken over the backyard beer garden of the Fitzroy Hotel Pub in Rockhampton. Owner Tony Higgins said, “I reckon the snakes are using it as a lap pool to get ready for the next stage of their journey."

Yup, you wouldn’t know what’s in the water, you really wouldn’t know. It’s a bad place to be.