Macdonald's hates me

Macdonald's hates me. I can tell. Soon they are going to block my email address from their feedback page.

A morning rant following a repeated event of spilled coffee:

Dear Manager,

I am a regular customer of McCafe and I enjoy the variety of beverages served there. However, I'd like to give some feedback on the plastic carriers used for take away beverages. As these are put in regular plastic bags, I usually end up spilling my coffee by the time I reach my destination or otherwise I have to take extra care to ensure the cup is held upright while travelling, as it is not provided in a carrier-friendly packaging. I have met others who have experienced the same problem. Please use plastic carriers specific to carrying hot beverages e.g. the ones used in ordinary coffee shops as they are far more effective.

Dear Shuri,
Thank you for your email.
We appreciate your feedback on using plastic carriers and we will channel this to the relevant department for consideration. [Read: Go to hell.]
Thank you for taking the time to write in. [Read: Don't you have better things to do with your time?]

Another day, after eating a double cheese burger minus the burger and feeling overdosed with cheese:

Dear Manager,
I would like to suggest an improvement to the Macdonald's food menu which I believe would be profitable as well as promote Macdonalds as fast food restaurant chain that adopts healthier food alternatives.

Suggestion: Introduce a vegetarian burger.

I am a vegetarian. However, I am a regular customer at Macdonalds for good quality French fries, hot cakes, smoothies, ice cream, coffee, etc, it offers. While I lived in United Arab Emirates for a few years, I noticed that Macdonalds Arabia has a vegetarian burger option to cater to a significant population of vegetarians as well as those who like the occasional change in their menu. I think it would be a great idea to implement this in Singapore as there is a significant number of vegetarians here as well as a growing trend in the number of people who like to occasionally opt for vegetarian options.
Thanks and I look forward to your positive feedback.

Dear Shuri
Thank you for your email.
At McDonald’s, we aim to deliver an exceptional dining experience to our customers, every visit, every time.  [LIES.] Your suggestion of adding Vegetarian burger to the menu is appreciated, and will be useful as we constantly look to evolving our menu choices to meet our customers' needs. [Read: Not happening, EVER.]

We look forward to serving you soon again in our restaurants. [Read: We know you are going to come to us anyway because you can't resist our fries, the cheap mocca frappe and the hot cakes.]


18 Aug 2013
Afternote:

I was wrong.

Macdonalds finally decided to introduce a vegetarian burger! *does a victory dance* I'm guessing there were many other potato-loving vegetarians who wrote to them to demand one and Macdonalds saw the economic potential of introducing it.

Up and about

Meanwhile, waiting for a job.....

This morning, when I went for a swim, I was pleasantly surprised to realise that last week's training experience at the pool got me some new friends. As I left the pool for the day, I had to wave to a bunch of smiling people; the cleaning lady, the lifeguards, the reception lady and my swimming instructor! Sweet, they consider me a regular.

Singapore has a huge population of aging baby boomers. I don't suppose any other nation has a more active elderly community like Singapore. It might be partly due to the high cost of living here, where the older folk do not have the luxury to retire early and laze around and partly due to the promotion of healthy and active lifestyle initiatives by the government. When I first came to Singapore, my heart dropped to see very old people working at canteens slowly cleaning away the food people eat, cleaning toilets in malls and sorting out garbage. Most become the babysitters of their children's children, so the working adults can go about doing their full time jobs. Early in the morning, before the sun is up, a group of old people practice Qigong by the park outside my window. Taking the bus on weekday mornings when the adults are at work and the children are at school, I see so many old people at the market shopping for their groceries. My attitude towards them working has changed somewhat from sympathy to admiration over the years. They are very resilient and active both physically and mentally than an average senior citizen who retires and sits or sleeps at home for most of the day and drowns negatively in their sorrows.

Speaking of elderly folk, every public bus and train carriage here has several designated seats for the elderly, pregnant ladies or others with small children. It's a good idea, actually. All younger and able people like me, avoid those seats like the plague. Selfish as I am, I too like to enjoy a comfortable ride sitting all the way and not keep looking around to see if there is someone who I should be giving up my seat to. One fine day however, the bus stopped next to a huge Buddhist temple and believe it or not, about 30- 40 people got in, all of them had to be over 70 years of age! It might have been right after a religious ceremony of some sort. And it was one of those strange occurrences like when it rains fish! Anyway, all of us who were under 50 years of age gave up our seats, and this time it was willingly. Even those seats were not enough to accommodate that many feeble people.

Every Saturday, the newspaper has a special feature with job vacancies. I have to make sure I go get my copy before the stocks run out at the store. The rest of the paper (90%) is utterly useless to me as I dislike flipping a large newspaper to read mostly disturbing, boring or 'who gives a rat's ass?' news. Making paper costs trees and industrial waste so without having atleast two uses for a newspaper like reading, cleaning windows, wrapping stuff, selling to a paper collector or sending it into a recycling plant - throwing it out fresh feels like a small crime. Leaving it lying somewhere, hoping someone will take it for reading is considered littering here and the last thing I need is a fine. One day however, while I was waiting at the paying counter, a man walks in to find there were no papers left. He asked the cashier loudly if there were any extras. I grabbed the opportunity and told him that he can have my paper if he didn't need the job feature. He happily agreed to the arrangement, and even thanked me and wished me all the best in finding a job soon! I don't meet such random people every week, so now I have discovered that the cashier is willing to take back the part that I don't need. I wonder what they do with it.

Macdonald's is smart. Well, not smart enough to consider my feedback for introducing a vegetarian burger, but, recently they introduced a mocha frappe (complete with whipped cream!!) at a very good price of $3.45. At Starbucks, that same thing would cost between $9 -12. Surprisingly, the quality in terms of taste has not been compromised so it's gaining popularity. I have a terrible weakness for mocca so one day after a grueling interview, I headed to Macdonald's for my treat. After taking the first heavenly sip, I looked around and noticed a wallet someone had left behind. That poor girl must be panicking somewhere, I thought. I handed it over to the staff and continued to enjoy my drink. When I was almost done - and by this time, my tongue was anasthetised by the blended ice - a guy runs in, looks around frantically and asks if I saw his wallet. With much difficulty I stuttered and told him to ask the staff. Soon after, he was reunited with his wallet. Dude, that's such an ugly man-purse.

Shuri: Mocha Frappe is like Cat: Catnip

In the absence of a full time job and too much time on my hands, my creative side has blossomed. I have taken a liking to cooking and making tasty-good looking-healthy-interesting food feels challenging (for lack of other challenges, that is). I made my second chop suey since leaving the apprenticeship of Cheffie the Chef (my sister). This one turned out way better than the last one and it's got all kinds of things in there - carrots, peppers, broccoli, bean sprouts, leeks, onions, garlic and tofu (yeah, run away, all you vegetable haters!!). Also, I tried out my first Chinese spinach with garlic. That was not all too bad either. Unlike Sri Lankan or Indian food, Chinese food is so much easier to make. There is no complex chemistry of balancing out a hundred exotic spices involved and food is not boiled beyond recognition.

It's Chinese on the menu at Bistro de Shu

Workplace tales

Lately, a lady from work uses me for a free shrink. We are in no way close and I don't open up to her about my personal life. May be I look like a safe target to unload worries or may be I come off as a good listener because I prefer not to give my two cents worth to people I'm not close with, but she sure goes into lengthy detail about her life and personal issues. I try to hurry my steps as I pass her table during peak hours. Shu feels guilty but at the same time, Shu is not that selfless.

We have a coffee machine at work. It dispenses several types of cheap-tasting beverages in very minute quantities at a time. Employees are allowed unlimited access to these so when I am bored, I try mixing different combinations to 1. have a decent volume of beverage to consume and, 2. attempt to make better tasting ones.

1. Black coffee - normal black coffee
2. White coffee - normal cheap-tasting white coffee
3. Cappuccino - too much froth and too little coffee
4. Mochaccino - hardly lives up to the reputation of 'mocca' and has three times the recommended sugar
5. Expresso - worse than any coffee anyone has ever tasted
6. Chocolate - concentrated chocolate drink, again with three times the recommended sugar
7. Chocomilk - identical to 6. So I figure it is there just to confuse employees
8. Tea with cardamom - this is a joke. It dispenses plain hot water, to which one is supposed to add a tea bag from elsewhere and add a little cardamom harvested from elsewhere

Through many experiments, I have discovered that combinations 3+4 and 2+6 are the best options to satisfy random chocolate cravings and stay awake after a heavy lunch. I suppose I should be grateful we at least have an abundant source of warm beverages to rely on.

Also at work, I am irritated by one of the hired cleaners who comes to clean the office every evening. Before that, I must admit I suffer from a condition called hyperparanoidism so it is possible I overthink things. He keeps giving me constant glances (I usually ignore him, but sometimes my line of vision does meet his gaze and I often find him staring) and like with a lot of people from his country, he automatically breaks into a song when I walk by sometimes. Now, this is not new to me and it only adds onto the countless observations and experiences gathered over the years with this 'sub-species'. Males from different countries/ cultures/ species have different ways of trying to get noticed by the fairer sex. These range from catcalls, songs, poems, display of colourful feathers (or other parts), flattering gifts, building structures to even stalking and making unwelcome physical advances. How much of a success/ failure rate each method has, I cannot be certain.

As it happened in the STONE AGES. How far have we advanced as a society since then?

There are other dimensions to think about when speaking of propagation of species. Like what females do to be attracted by the opposite sex or how females react when they come across a specimen of interest. BUT... I've been called for dinner twice now and if I'm reminded once more, I might snap, so I better go enjoy the dinner prepared with a lot of trouble by our hired help. Her food rocks.