On the Revenge

Here's the second part from yesterday...

Months passed by and I almost forgot about the incident where he made fun of how lousy our public transportation system is.

And since then, I started picking up running as a hobby, and joined some runs. [here and here] And one day, Runner Friend came across the Newton Run 2010 in Singapore. Since we didn't manage to register for the Standard Chartered Marathon in Singapore end of the year, we thought we'd give this one a try. So Runner Friend registered online. Somehow, the online transaction didn't go through, error message showing some problems. So Runner Friend called up the organizer in Singapore and asked about the transaction. They asked him to attached the error message in an email, which he did. But 2 days later there was still no news. He called again. They asked him to resend the mail, which he did. But 2 days later, still no response. On a third attempt, and still no response, he finally vent his frustrations.

And I said, screw it, not like we'll lose anything if we don't run. So we forgot about it.

Until one day, "rainbow" friend from Singapore buzzed me on MSN.

Him: when are you coming to visit me??

Me: no holidays. if the sg newton run organizer got back to us then prolly i might be going. but bloody lousy organizer didn't even reply our emails regarding why our transaction problem and there was no follow up after 2 weeks.

Him: what is sg newton run ???

Me: it's a marathon run. friend and i wanted to join. registerd online. but credit card transaction din go thru. wrote to organizing committee. no reply. called, lousy response. emailed again, no reply. called again, stupid response again. finally we gave up. lousy organizers.

Him: hmmm... un like singapore organizer... usually super efficient. you sure you got the right contact??? [at this point, he started to be defensive]

Me: of course the right one. they picked up! asked us to email the error message. we did. but they didn't follow up.

Him: why dont you attached the error message.... [like d-oh? didn't you read the reply earlier?]

Me: we did. three times.

Him: the number you called... singapore number or KL number?? [what?!]

Me: we're not so stupid until can't differentiate which one's KL and which one's Sgpore.

Him: I am sure KL office can get the whole thing organize for you... .since they are of the same organizer mah.

Me: Oh well. screw it. since we decided not to run there anymore, why waste energy and our call credits? i'm sure your side have your assembled team for the run, KL's got ours. so if your side can't deliver, then it's your shame.

Him: aiyah... give up so easily..... I would have given the organizer hell first. rather then let them have the eary way out..... make sure someone looses his/her job.. write nasty letters one after another .... good opportunity to practice your penmenship. [at this point, he was trying to put the blame on me]

Me: well... clearly we're not singaporean lor

Him: definately not .... not aggressive enough to be one....

Me: not like we're loosing anything. we're not really bothered anyways.

Him: even if you want to pull out... must also let them know ... especially their bosses know.

Me: Pull out? Hello, we didn't even want to run there. it's not called pulling out. if that's their attitude then at least we know we wont ever join any run in singapore in the future.

Him: yeah.... but no lost to singapore too.... and singapore as a whole also does not know they lost you.... must let ppl know mah. also... not running in singapore also a lost in experience for you... not to the stupid employee of the organzing body. must make sure this asshole looses his/her job. give them hell. see some blood. [I see blood everyday thank you. I played with blood too, if that helps.]

Me: i dont need a running experience in sngapore to experience running in an international run.

Him: that is not the issue.... the issue is you have been ignored. you take this lying down.... then in future there will be more things that you will take lying down.

Me: i'm lying this down because i dont see any point of working on something that doesn't benefit me, especially when it's to do with such lousy organizing committee. why waste my time when i can spend the time arguing and getting their arses screwed doing something else? when the penang bridge international marathon showed some confirmation delay last time, i called them up, and they responded within 24 hours, and our registration were confirmed immediately.

Him: you are displaying a very layback attitude now. not good.

Me: initially i raised this up was because, singapore isn't as advanced as you think it is. there are times when you can't perform as well as you think you would. arrogance is intolerable. I gotta go. bye.

Coward-y end I know. But the argument would go on and on if I didn't click the offline button soon enough.

It wasn't supposed to be an attack on the country as a whole, I have nothing against the country, I just have something against the certain people in the country, some of them. I've never lived in the island country long enough to know how the locals are, but I've heard and I've come across some, which convinced me they're very aggressive; despite it's also a way they improve themselves everyday; which is a good thing.

But I think there should be a limit. I think, you coming too strong, it's not going to be any good for anyone. And the worse is, to have that aggressiveness to the extent that you think less of those who are not running along by your side. That's when you lose your ground, and subsequently your friends. You'll be lucky enough if your friends pull you back down; but more often than not, I would just walk away and let you float in your own space.

Being humble helps. You are not here to show off. No one is impressed.



ps: This conversation by no means my launching of personal attack on the Newton Run, it might be my grumble, but I have no intention of complaining to the ministry or whatsoever monitoring bodies in Singapore. This blogpost was written was mainly to emphasize on the attitude of certain individuals.