We are supposed to write a story. Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin. I was late getting out of the house this morning after Maggie caught me online. My nasi lemak bungkus was all gone by the time I got to Devi’s. The stupid waiter messed up my roti canai order. I still have not eaten anything. My brain is still sedated. I am cranky. And I have to start writing a story.
I am hoping that the moving of my fingers will somehow help with the circulation of blood to my brain.
I caught up with Elaine a few days back. We haven’t really chatted since she joined this new ‘china man’ company of hers and I couldn’t wait to hear the stories. The company she joined was one people like us swore to stay away from. This, was after, a company renowned for conducting meeting in Chinese.
I always thought she would somehow survive that ultra chauvinistic culture by charming the ‘ah peks’ with all her innovative hokkien foul words and phrases.
It sounded like she is adapting fine in her new job. She was relating or the quirky ‘ah pek’ habits she has encountered. They were so hilarious
The CFO who had a room full of pigs. Pig pictures, pig figurines, pig cushions, pig pens. Pig was apparently his lucky animal.
Then there was the HOD presentation to the chairman. She thought she used to had it bad, when these nervous heads of departments would insist on rehearsing their presentations as a group and ‘role played’ the Q&As. In this companuy, they rehearsed 5 times. For a woman who had no qualms to ask her boss to shut up, this was a dreadful chore. This group of people were highly payed executives, and they were behaving like high school kids. Well, she was the new kid on the block, it was wise to play along, she thought. The day before the presentation, after 8 hours of bad grammar, badly rehearsed scripts and cheesy jokes, she was just about ready to go home when she was asked to stay back to make an important decision. Elaine obliged, sat up and geared herself to participate in the discussion.
Mr Wong quiet down the room and said, “OK, what are we going to wear tomorrow?”
Elaine almost dropped off her chair. “Oh my God” she thought.
Before she could say anything, someone added “ I think we should wear red. According to the charts, red is a lucky colour tomorrow.”
To this, Mr Wong said “OK, so everyone…tomorrow…. red tie and red underwear”. Someone else asked, “what kind of red?”
“Make sure it’s blood red ah” said Mr Wong.
Elaine, who has been holding her breath, could not bear it anymore. She shut her eyes tight to control, but a giggle slipped. It was a relief and she looked up and was about to let out a louder laugh. That’s when she realized, no on else was laughing.
Everyone else in the room was starring at her, solemn.
Alex nudged her elbow and sushed her. She looked down and whispered, “are they serious?”
“Yes, very. Shhh.”
I wonder if one can get away with murders if they wear red on that day.
I’ve always wondered how feng shui have made people so blind. It’s like a religion on its own. You part your money in exchange for hopes and blind faith.
Just like the silly religions. Everything is good is a result of feng shui or helping hand from God. But after you have heeded all instructions, everything bad is either a lesson from God, or you have placed your fountain at the wrong degree to the floor.
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