my random shopaholic anecdote

Good stuff, bad English.

In this past month, I've been to Jakel 3 times. Yup, three freakin' times. Oh sudah tentu bukan with The Diver... well once, with The Diver, tu pun lepas dia kenyang makan nasi lemak Tanglin, so he was happy enough to drive me there. The two times I went was with my partners in crime la, Pretty Zienta and cuppacakes. In fact, last Friday afternoon after our free lunch-cum-meeting at Concorde's Melting Pot we went straight there. (Agak kantoi kalau orang ofis baca blog aku ni, but what the heck)

I have a lotta respect for this Jakel sales people. Now this is the customer service that most retail outlets should emulate, they will consult you on the type of colours, materials, etc.. for whatever baju that you want to make. And they're quite knowledgeable I can tell you that.

But the best thing is, the salesgirls really know how to sell, and I mean SELL. They'll say such thing as, "Kak, kain ni bagus kak, chiffon pelangi, akak putih OK pakai macam ni" or "Saya potong eh kain ni kak, pakai credit card pun boleh...." or even "Kak, this one bestseller kak - last few metres je ni... nak habis dah ni kak lepas ni takde pattern macam ni" or.. "Tak beli pun takpe kak, saya nak tunjuk je..."

They even have suave floor managers that act as "fluffers" - their floor managers are usually guys in their early 30s, with Beckam-like hair, Raoul-like shirt yang probably dia beli kat Jalan TAR and jeans that will sweet talk the garangest of makciks into buying cloths that they don't even need..... Best of all, these fluffers can even give you discounts. Cool.

But the one that got me was this:

I was looking at this REALLY nice chiffon new arrival with geometric patterns... and was really contemplating on buying. But they're a bit on the pricey side la RM265 or something... So I told the salesgirl, "Takpelah dik, lain kali..." She kept on pestering me to buy, and finally said, "Kak, nanti malam tidur termimpi-mimpi kak..."

Now THAT really got me. Sekarang aku tidur tiap2 malam either mimpi kain tu or the dress that I saw at Ikano which is an exact replica of one that is RM100 more expensive at Great Eastern Mall. Heheh...

To The Diver: jangan lupa beli itu dress OK. Thanking you in advance.

Chow Kit and my jagung rebus

Last night The Diver and I went to buy groceries at the Chow Kit market. Yes, some of you might gasp... but it sure beats lining up at Tesco's fish and seafood section to get your fish gutted and cleaned.

We only go to Chow Kit at night, usually around midnight - parking's quite easy and best of all, I love the colorful characters that you can see around the area. For instance, we saw two prostitutes in full costume buying their vegetables and belacans, etc... You can also meet a Bangla that speaks Malay with an Indonesian accent... etc... Benda2 macam tu takde kat Tesco... or Giant.. or Carrefour.... And you'll get hit left and right by shopping carts yang ditolak oleh Ah Soh2 and Makcik2 yang kiasu je kat hypermarkets macam tu. Shit I hate being hit by shopping carts.

When we were done with our shopping, I told The Diver that I wanted to buy the jagung rebus from an Indon lady in front of the sundry shop. Wanna know why? It's not so much that I want to eat the jagung la... but it just reminded me of my trips to the wet market in Batu Pahat with my late maktok. When I was a kid I will always buy jagung rebus everytime we go to the market. You know, the unpretentious jagung rebus - no butter, no salt, just naturally sweet jagung....

I really miss my late Maktok. She passed away on 27th July 2008. Tetiba macam sedih, hence the posting.