[nono1973]

Originally Posted by Hurhurrahrah

Confirm plus chop better than Google

Hehehe...thank you for the offer. Much often, i have my so call "long-haired translator" with me as well wherever i go.

Nonetheless, if fate allows, we can still meet up for coffee or tea in Batam tho.

Originally Posted by miumiu6464

When I used to roam Joo Chiat's pubs & ktvs, long hair dictionaries are easily available for translation.

Those cost money,hehehe...

Originally Posted by miumiu6464

Totally remember that incident.

Then you should be able remember that smiling face. I think if i am in your position, i might tick too. I am already very unhappy and yet what i get is no solution but a happy smiling face. Makes me feel as if i am the stupid one becos i went to a shop that says they are selling apples but when i reach there, they tell me they ONLY sell grapes and they still very happily tell me they dont sell apples at all.

His type of happy smiling face easily makes customer more angry.

Originally Posted by miumiu6464

I did the same thing to a waitress at Richeese. Been queuing for 15 mins and she chose to serve an Indonesian who just wanted to buy mineral water. I gave her a piece of my mind. After that incident, my girl always volunteer to help place orders, afraid that I'll get into trouble with the locals.

I think thats more of different culture in different countries. I have been observing myself and others (Indonesians) whenever i am in Batam.

Once when i was in Tea story, upon sitting down on a table, i notice the table was a bit wet and have some small scrap pieces of food leftover by previous customers, just barely visible to the human eyes (meaning the waiter previous clearing the leftover eating utensils from previous customer didnt clean the table clean enough). Immediately,i called the waiter to come over and was about to ask him to help me clean up the table.

Before the waiter could reach my table (when i called him to come over), my girls who were siting near me already starts pulling out a few pieces of tissue paper from the tissue box and start cleaning up the table,hehehe...

What i am trying to say is, a situation met by 2 people from a different culture and brought up, they both probably react differently.

All the time while i am in Batam, i have been observing these behavioral culture. What would probably piss a Singaporean off in Indonesia (Batam in this case) might just be a normal thing they do on a daily basis.

Just share a little more since we are on this topic.

I remember some time ago when i brought some aunties over to Diana Layer Cake home factory. I got a surprise when none of these aunties actually buy any of the layer cakes after tasting the samples. Do you what reason they gave me?

They tell me becos the worker making the cake didnt wear gloves when they handle the cakes....hehehe....and one of them was digging their nose,didnt wash hand and continue to handle those cakes.

(note : the girl who dug her nose is not in the photo)

...me and some uncles who tagged along kept laughing at them (those aunties).

Originally Posted by miumiu6464

Next, looking into buying direct from China.

Whenever i am in China, i look for what i wish to buy from the respective province's export market（批发市场）.

Example, i wish to buy souvenirs for my colleagues, i saw those items in some shopping mall, i will take a photo of it and head down to the export market to hunt for it.

A hedgehog bag like below cost around S$99 in Singapore.

China shopping mall probably cost S$40 to S$50 or so, but in the export market, it most likely cost about S$10 to S$20, but need to buy minimum 10 pieces. And if i buy 1 or 2 pieces, the pricing usually cost about S$25 each after bargaining,hehehe...

(price stated above were just illustration)

My friend is now trying to test this out, buying an "apple" for S$242.80 in Batam and be trying to sell it for at least S$350. If it works, its gonna be cool,hehehe...and we got this "inspiration" from a girl who bought a "dont-know-how-many-hand" electronic item at S$120,use it for around 2 years and manage to sell it off at S$S87.40 within less than an hour on Feb 2019....hehehe...