Snippet Of My Life Episode 13 – A Thin Slice of Singapore, 7 Characters

“Have you eaten?”

That’s how the cleaning lady in my office and I often start our conversation.  It’s not “How are you” but “Have you eaten”.  As though in the eyes of the older (Chinese?) generation, if one is well-fed, one is “I’m fine, thank you”.  Strange, isn’t?  This late morning, we got further.  Leveraging on my close to non-existence Mandarin and a pathetic meagre level of understanding in Hokkien, the cleaning lady asked me if I have eaten.  I was puzzled, looked at my watch, and she laughed, “It’s too early for you.  I have my lunch at eleven.”

I guess lunch hour would be the best time for her to work, while most of us are away.

When I lived in Paris with my uncle who has survived the Vietnam war, he always reminded me how precious food is, how hungry he was during the war, and after the war.  Perhaps those who have lived through tough time tend to equate well-fed with “How are you and I am fine, thank you”.

On the same day, I bumped into the man who services our drink vending machine.  It is quite a repetitive job I think: clean up the interior compartments, fill up the powder, and fill up the paper cups.  We came out from the same lift and I tried to overtake him and his trolley but he reached the machine before I did.

“Hi… do you mind if I grab a cup of coffee first?  I really need it,” I pleaded nicely.  He smiled and said, “Go ahead.”  While the drink was made, I had a quick chat with him and learned that he drops by our office twice a week.  And he services 23 vending machines a day, throughout the island.

Did you know that the Subway outlet at China Square has moved to Far East Square?  I miss the lady who was used to work at the previous location.  Since I order the same thing every time, she remembered my preference, and we used to talk about everything under the sun including her driving trips to Malaysia.  Where is she now?  I don’t know.  At the new Subway outlet, there is this old man at the counter.  He is the boss, a very friendly boss.  During my visits, we would chat and chat while his rather inexperience staff made my sandwich.  So I asked: why do you need to be around?  He answered: Ah, I have to be around till these staff of mine know what to do.  Before I left the counter, he said in all sincerity – as always – “thank you for choosing Subway”.  I like his attitude.

The guys in Fuwell – my favorite computer shop in Sim Lim Square – are nice people too.  My friend Sing Chyun recommended Fuwell to me donkey years ago and he loves their “one-for-one exchange within thirty days” policy.  In fact, this time when I had to lug my heavy brand new computer for a diagnosis, that triggered a piece of memory; years ago, I had to do the exact same thing.  Lucky for me, this time my problem was easily replicable.  In less than a minute, this muscular technician named William from Philippines removed all the components and handed me the defective motherboard.  I ran back to the main shop and got myself a new one.  Within 2 minutes and 45 seconds, he put it all back.  And it worked.  Wonderful!  I can understand why Fuwell employs such a muscular man as a technician; these machines are darn heavy to move around.  God knows how many he has to handle a day.

Ever since my friend Alex Ang recommended where I shall get my guitar cables, I have been visiting the Sim Lim Tower whenever I need some (the 2 photos in this blog entry were taken in around that area).  There is an old man siting outside the shop Electronics Enterprise making cables day in day out.  God knows why he likes to dye his hair gold, but he is (also) a very nice guy.  I left my order to him, paid the invoice, and I headed out for lunch.  When I returned, we talked about food while he was finishing up with my order.  I told him that I love fish soup and the famous one at Berseh Food Centre has closed down.  He told me that there is another famous one near by that are always very crowded (again, I didn’t quite get the Mandarin he said).  He continued: if you want to do takeaway, you have to bring your own container and help yourself!

The last character in this blog entry is a girl scout.  One morning, during a weekend, a door bell woke me up from my beauty sleep.  Time to pay the newspaper agent again?  I was in my PJ and I saw a little girl at my doorstep, with an uniform.  Uh-oh.  She asked in all earnestness: are there works for me to do?  I wish I had read a SOP Manual on “What to Do When a Girl Scout Shows up at Your Doorstep”.  I couldn’t think of any good responses so I said: Sorry, not at the moment (I was really sleepy).  She looked disappointed, started to turn away, and then came back and asked: would you like to donate?

OK, that I could do.

So, have you eaten?  I just had my Subway meal and feel darn full.  Oops, there are still cookies in the refrigerator.