Believe or not

Poor sods. I understand how the 400,000 in the article below feel. For I too have had my salary withheld due to blinkin’ inefficiency.

You see, the word 陳 (Chén) is always transliterated as Chan in HK, but in Singapore, it can very well be Tan, depending on your dialect group. I should have gotten the Universal’s hint from the rising incidence of queries over whether I was Chan or Tan — little did I know, HR threw up their hands and told the bank I was a TANG!!!

So, I didn’t get my salary this week cos the zeroes and ones did not compute. So much for a nice dinner on my birthday!

clipped from money.guardian.co.uk Bank glitch leaves 400,000 without salaries Rupert Jones Friday March 30, 2007 The Guardian A major technical hitch means that up to 400,000 people will today find that their monthly pay has not gone into their bank account. Many of those affected could see their finances plunged into the red, as some will have mortgage payments and other bills going out today or over the weekend.

Flip side of the universe — my “personal effects” (shiver me timbers, but those were the exact words used by the shipping company) arrived today!!! To my books and assortments, with apologies to Aretha Franklin, Carole King and Gerry Goffin:

Looking out on the morning rain
I used to feel so uninspired
And when I knew I had to face another day
Lord it made me feel so tired.
Before the day I met you,
Life was so unkind
You’re the key to my piece of mind

Cause you make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like a natural woman

I struggle with my innate materialism every day.