Honest Tea

Great outdoor ad campaign cum social experiment. I do agree that the folks on the East are more honest than the West but I may be wrong since it is just my own impression which resonated with the results in the above clip.

Besides, you can't say their findings are conclusive either, since the sampling rate is grossly insufficient.

Anyway, this reminds me of the Take-A-Penny-Leave-A-Penny soap dish that I saw in several mom-n-pop grocery stores as well as gasoline stations when I was in the US.

It is just a soap dish that you will find next to the cashier's counter and it is filled with pennies.

What is it for, you ask?

Well, in convenience stores, you always come across items with strategic pricing like $0.99, some outright unexplainable like $4.13, prices ending up with decimals as a result of multiplying the GST (or VAT depending on where you are), or simply decimals as a result of store discounts.

So what this dish does is that should you come up with a bill of say $10.01, you just take a penny from the soap dish and give it to the cashier with your $10 thereby circumventing the hassle of having to deal with change.

This system will only work if everyone observes the Honour System where in the reverse scenario, when your checkout comes up to $4.98, the 2 pennies you get back in change from the $5 you paid, goes back to the soap dish.

I hope one day this Honour System, also demonstrated in the Honest Tea (pun play of Honesty), can be a reality everywhere.

Sadly, I don't see this happening soon. Heck, we probably even need to chain the soap dish to the counter in some places, lest someone make away with it. :(


Image Credit: http://whatsupwindsor.com

- Voxeros

The Asoks - A Year On (Part 1 of 3)

It's been a year since coming up to Taobaoland and perhaps it's time to look back at the year and see how the Asoks are doing.

While I am glad most of them managed to survive the first year, I am slightly disheartened that I didn't find any superstar performer amongst them. While some are quite good, it was still short of stellar that I was hoping for.

There were several changes to those who remained while we have new blood as well as some who left.

For the uninitiated, click here for the Brief Introduction to The Asoks.


Asok #1

His portfolio for changed twice, during the year, as the Business Units that he was in didn't perform well on each occasion. I won't fault him for that as we do have our weak spots in the company and he had the unfortunate luck of being in them.

So right now, he was been transferred to the National Sales Management department monitoring sales of our offices across China.


Asok #2

Left.


Asok #3
I couldn't use him as he wasn't able to fulfill any of the criteria that was required to work in my department.
Fortunately, we found a spot for him when I took over the Logistics department and he seemed to have a knack for that.

By June, I had him transferred to the Shanghai office as they are in need of an XO in the logistics department. While we all think that it was a right move, coupled with glorious praises from the Shanghai manager, we weren't too sure when the year-end stock take ended up in a disastrous mess.

3 stock takes over 7 days and they still couldn't get their numbers right until I have to send a team over from my side only to settle the entire warehouse inventory within 16 hours.

We are still in the process of evaluating what went wrong as I planted the team to be there for 6 weeks for a full logistic audit and at the same time migrate the warehouse over the 3PL.

Asok #4
This one was a piece of work so much so that it deserves a entire entry dedicated to here. How she spiraled from promising to nuts remained a mystery to us. Stay tuned.


Asok #5
One of the two 宅男 which from the beginning I didn't think very much of him but as I got to know him better, he has potential. Currently assisting Asok #1 in the National Sales Management department.


Asok #6
The ex-Starbucks barista, in my opinion, is your ultimate 宅男. Every Sunday morning, he would walk 3km lugging his laptop on his backpack to his favourite coffee shop and stayed there the whole day.

Reason? They have faster broadband for him to download his week's quota of animes. *facepalm*

Asok #6 left and return to Ta1wan to join some online gaming company which I felt was more suited for him.

Image Credits: http://bp0.blogger.com/; https://dilbert.fandom.com

- Voxeros

JAL CEO Takes A Pay Cut

As the saying goes, "Money Isn't Everything".

I don't know about you guys but I feel that the people who say that, are people who already have money to begin with.

Try asking the person on the street without a roof over his head. Try asking the retrenched family man with aging parents, on top of his own family with children going to bed hungry.

Ask them if they agree if "Money Isn't Everything".

So coming back to the JAL CEO. Yes, it is a noble move on his part to slash his perks and pay ala Steve Jobs who salary at Apple is a modest American Dollar.

Here's the thing, you really think that the salary is his only source of income? I believe there are stock dividends and other vested interest on the side, which makes it less painful than it appears to be.

As cynical as I am, I still think it is a good gesture to commute to work, queue in line in the company's cafeteria and eat like the rest of the company. Even if it is just to put up a show of camaraderie.

That, in contrast with the American fat cats as featured in the later half of the video clip above.

p.s. So does he fly economy?

- Voxeros

Seeds And Nuts

That's my lunch. Or rather that my lunch-to-be for the next 2 months.

When I returned to Taobaoland, I packed a shitload of seeds and nuts with the idea of having a muesli-with-milk type of breakfast.

After one try, I had to elevate this to lunch as just half a rice-bowl of this was extremely filling. I was so stuffed at breakfast that I skipped lunch and lasted till dinner without feeling hungry.

Given that my office is very ulu, food is hard to access (unless you consider eating your way out of the warehouse) which makes lunch a problem everyday.

With this, I not only able to eat healthy but I settle my lunch headache.

Here's what I have in the mix:

• Pine Nuts
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Sunflower Seeds
• Black Sesame Seeds
• Walnuts
• Almond Nuts

Everything is unsalted with the exception of pumpkin seeds. That way, I don't overdose on salt while at the same time retain a bit of savoury.

Good thing, I love nuts and seeds which means eating this for days on end doesn't faze me. I will still enjoy it.

Besides, they'd make a great mid-day snack too.

Yum.

- Voxeros

Flush Here

Saw this little post-it note on my flight from Singapore to Hong Kong.

I was somewhat amused when I saw it.

No prize for guessing who the note was addressed to judging from the language on the post-it note.

I am not laughing so much that certain people need to be reminded to flush after using the toilet. Heck, we even have a national campaign and if I remember correctly, we even have a legislated fine penalty just for this.

I supposed the purpose of this post-it note was more of an instruction since the targeted group don't read English and probably are first time travellers.

We have entered a new era where the dragon awakes and its people start to take to the skies.

- Voxeros

McGyver Moment

Decided to chill with a bottle of Shiraz only to find that the cork had disintegrated while still inside the bottle.

Had I been in Taobaoland, I would have easily resolve the problem as I have Ah So (see left) just for such an occasion.

Alas, I am back home in my kitchen with a bottle of wine with a fragmented cork, which I had no choice but to push it through.

A quick rummage through the drawers and cabinets I found the solution courtesy of a coffee sock and a coffee pot.

With the coffee sock in the coffee pot, I proceed to pour the entire bottle into the pot through the sock and straining out the cork bits en route.

Then it caught my eye.

The shape of my coffee pot, being one with a wide flat base actually doubles up as a pretty good wine decanter.

Wide surface area for the wine to interact with the air. Perfect!

Yes, granted that compared with the actual McGyver who gets himself out of life-and-death situations, I nevertheless still took a step back and marvel at my own genius.

Yeah. I am quite shameless sometimes.

Heh.

Image Credit: https://www.mrvertigo.wine; https://www.slservices.co.za

- Voxeros

Slowing Down Your Pace II

If you recalled my earlier entry of a similar title back in 2006, I like to walk about looking at stuff whenever I have the luxury of having lots of time on my hands.

This trip back, I traveled to Bedok North en route to running an errand. Took the MRT via the Circle Line and made a change to the East Line at Paya Lebar Station to get off at Tanah Merah Station, followed by a short bus ride to Bedok North Road.

Saw a Malay encik selling curry poks out of a carton box by the street which I later regret not buying to try.

I like this sort of walkabouts on my own as it is a kind of "Me Time" as I disappeared amongst the folks in an area which I am a stranger.

I also made a slight detour to the kopi tiam at Blk 128 where I fondly remember the Katong Laksa stall where I used to drive there for lunch many many years back. Back at a time, I was working in Tuas.

Yes, you heard me. Tuas to Bedok for lunch and back. If you think that was extreme, then you haven't heard me talking about Tuas to Changi Village for durian chendol for afternoon kopi session.

Heh. My mastery skill of "eating snake" is quite legendary one.

- Voxeros

Pron Foot Cream

Found this lying around in the house and got me laughing out loud.

The unfortunate placement of the maple leaf in the back kinda masks away the "THAP".

Pron Foot Cream.

Are you thinking what I am thinking? Kinky!

I must get my head out of the sewers. Heh heh....

- Voxeros

Happy Lunar New Year 2011

 I had a good break from work coming back to Singapore for the Lunar New Year.

Very happy to see all the Barflies.

Yeah, that's me (going "WTF?") getting robbed blind by the xmms. Haha....

Happy Lunar New Year from the hive of scum and villany otherwise known as the CowBoyBar.

Image Credit: Big Brown Bear Bear

- Voxeros

Erasing Hard Disk - Jaywalk Style

Did a bit of spring cleaning for the Chinese New Year and decided to decommission my Thinkpads T30 and X41 Tablet.

However, before I give it to the rag-and-bone man, I had to remove the hard disk, lest I incur another bout of Edison Chen.

There are quite a number of software that wipes the disk clean but me? I do it old skool by driving a stake right through the platens, shattering them in the process into tiny bits and have the hard disk rustle like a percussion shaker.

- Voxeros