relaxed bali

i decided last week, after weeks of indecision, to get away from KL for the holidays and go to a beach resort known for christmas bombings targeting bule (indonesian for matsalleh). december is just not turning out the way i would have planned. but, bali seems to be the trick to counter the past few weeks of unending work stress and of a looming holiday i wish to simply avoid. i feel better after a day here than i have in KL in two years. my image of indonesia was completely wrong, i am not sure if it’s the whole country, but this island is a gem that i hope to see a lot of.

landing in denpasar was an experience; water on both sides of the runway and landing over surfers riding waves was something you just don't see in KLIA. immigration was also and experience… well lets say its what i have expected to see in other parts of asia, and have been surprised when it was not. an hour long wait in a line of travel weary, and somewhat smelly, europeans. somehow the moods stayed upbeat, even while the single threaded queue stalled waiting for the pleasant drones to process and stamp the USD 10 “visa on arrival” that every passenger seemed to need. the process took three booths, one to pay, one to give visa, one to stamp visa. my ipod with “bowling for soup” and “r. l. burnside” got me though it.

the roads in bali are a mix of vietnam and india. motos create their own lanes on the littered highway; weaving between cars slowly passing rice paddies, with workers trying to squeeze out a crop. the interesting thing is that the roads also feel like the us. the shops on the side, the signs, the brands, the simple vibe of the people feels more like a summer resort in the us than anything i have ever felt in asia. renting a moto was the best choice i have made here. for the price of a round trip taxi from my hotel to kuta (34,000 rupiah or USD 3.60) i have complete freedom to get lost on my own.

my first full day here was spent mostly relaxing. i am on my 6th or so day of no hunger. i woke up this morning and stayed in bed, i had no need for food and no desire to get up to do much of anything. i was more than content to just stay there and ignore the rainy day outside. when i did finally get moving, i rented the moto and found that my sense of direction held together to get me back to the café i was in yesterday. coffee, baguette and a bit of lamb, and i was on my way back to the hotel for a massage. i had talked to two of the masseuse last night, one was working in the morning, the other at night. the first promised a harder massage, the second was less strong but said i might like her traditional massage also.

the first 90 minute massage was so nice, that i scheduled the second massage as 2 hours. i never have massage this much, or for so long. the second massage was not something i would have missed. the traditional massage was nice, very gentle and slow. while the moments were slowly slipping by, pushed forward by the sublime oiled hands on my skin, it began to rain. the light drops of the day were replaced by a down pour with lightening and crashing waves heard from the beach. the dark massage room, over looking the beach side pool, was a secluded location to watch drops splash into the water with explosive plops. the sounds were a mix of the storm, waves and music from pool side bar playing reggae and light rock for a few patrons staying out of the warm rain.

the massage ended with a ginger tea and a look at the calendar for the rest of my stay. i will not go every day, but at 300,000 rupiah (USD 32) for a two hour massage how can i not consider another visit. the fact that the masseuse is a beautiful woman who happens to have hands of sensuality is a bonus that i will not pass up.

bali is a place to relax. the surf shops, bungee jumping, white water rafting, shopping, scuba diving and all the other pleasures of a beach resort will simply need to wait. tomorrow looks to be another slow day. i bought a road map on one of my moto trips today, now i can find anything and go anywhere. i just need to decide what it is that i want to do. simply being in this wonderful town, meeting people, enjoying kari ayam or babi guling if i want to, having a drink and listening to the waves may be the only plans that i have for tomorrow.

no stress, i am relaxing in bali.

customer service rethought

my last post was about a bit negative. okay, so you sit in KLIA for hours and listen to the bell sounds with your number never seeming to get closer and see how you feel. tell me in the same situation you would not do the same. but, as time has passed i have realized there is also some very good customer service in the country. you just need to look closer and appreciate the things malaysia brings into your life.

the first thing i noticed was the level of service you can get at a mamak stand. we all have our favorite mamak place and i am no different. the guys at who work there know me, they remember what i like and they bring it to me almost without asking. but even if i were not a regular customer, i fully believe the staff would still go above and beyond for me and do the things that are really needed in mamak.

the last two times i have had mamak, the staff has stepped in and helped me in ways i would not expect for a cheap restaurant where tipping is not required. the first time a waiter i did not know swept by the table, knocked a thumb sized cockroach off the table and stomped on it almost without breaking stride. the next time a staff member saw the rat scampering between tables and chased it away before most of the other clients had noticed. i am just lucky that i see so much of what goes on that i can appreciate the extra service.

the next great round of customer service i had was at “the curve”. i had been shopping for paint ball clothes, stop laughing really, and i had somehow lost my parking ticket. when i realized this at the auto pay, i read the sign that warned lost tickets would require a payment of RM 50 (come on USD 17, no way). so i drove up to the booth and waved the loitering staff member over and told him my predicament. after a few moments of discussion, i was paying the bloke inside the booth a RM 10 note and he was sending me on the way. this is a fee five times the weekend cost of parking. i find this to be a pretty reasonable premium to pay for the mistake of losing the ticket. and to find a staff who was able to help me adjust this was a major plus for me. i plan to do all my parking at the curve, but i will try harder to not lose my ticket.

the last customer service i have recently enjoyed was last sunday morning. i was on my way to a well earned pancake and coffee. i was sending an SMS as i drove and did not see the signs of my favorite speed trap quickly approaching. i was told i was going 92 km/j in an 80 km/j zone. this was a RM 300 fine which i could pay once the ticket was written. the kind police man, in his nice blue and white suit was very interested in my nationality, my length of time in the country and my job. these are not normally questions i answer in the west, but he seemed like i nice guy so i went with it. the next thing i knew, we had a new approach to the situation. the nice police man allowed me to expedite the payment of the fine, no ticket to lose of forget and only a third of the price he originally told me. i was off and enjoying my pancake faster than i could say “terima kasih”.

so as these three events show, there is wonderful customer service here in malaysia. in each instance the staff went well beyond what anyone in the US would have done. killing roaches and lowering fines are not something we are used to the US. these are all some of the reasons i love this country. it does leave one thinking everything can be dealt with if you just believe there are ways to get around issues. the happy people of malaysia are here to help. doesn’t it make us feel better that even if we have to sit in a queue, later when we drive to fast to blow of the steam, it will only cost us a third of the price it could of otherwise.

customer service

i am sitting in the world’s best airport (voted two years in a row, 2005 and 2006 for airports with 15 – 25 million passengers a year). i am trapped here on a friday night because the airline i choose for a semi-planned christmas get away was unable to process my credit card without me showing up and waiting in a 5 hour queue. don’t think i didn’t try, i used the website, i called customer service, still i am sitting and listening to the most annoying bell sound with each ticket that is called. i feel like pavlov’s dog, each bell makes my head hurt.

i have a chair in the corner, i have a table, i have read four lessons in my “learn malay” book, and i realized “berapa lama” is meet with nothing more than a blank stare and that language books need really useful phrases like, “your customer service bites my royal irish ass hard”. i am sitting here and imagining my father in this situation. the man took weeks to get ready to go to the department of motor vehicles to ensure he was ready for the stress and pressure of the wait. i think he would kill someone here.

malaysia airlines is the most visible malaysian company to the outside world. to run the national airline’s primary customer service location like a delhi bus station is an example of why malaysia still has a third world mentality. or maybe i have that backwards, maybe its because the people don’t expect more that companies can do this.

i was trying to place an ad in the major newspaper in the country last week. the ad was to support the hiring of staff into our company. i have questions from the media group in the us, ones that i needed answers on. the sales people in the paper simply ignored my questions, and never got back to me. this means they are losing a sale of tens of thousands of dollars, not ringgits, when i say dollars it’s the real thing, green backs baby, USD. the countries major newspaper can not take the time to tell a multinational company the best file format to send graphics to it, so the money never comes into the country.

i am sitting in front of 12 customer service counters. six of the counters are un-staffed and the other six appear to be homes to employees who are given valium before each shift. slow and steady movements are the course of action. the 80 or so other customers waiting around me seem to simply accept this as the way it is and always will be. this might be the worlds best airport, but this airline has some horrible customer service. the last time i bought a ticket and had to come to “collect” the paper ticket i asked when they would have e-tickets. i was by the service associate she hoped they would never have them, she was worried she might lose her job. at that moment, i really wished i did not need to make this 2 hour trip.

i have a new theory. malaysians who emigrate and then never come back actually want to, they simply can’t come to KLIA from london to pay for the tickets. no, that can’t be right; they can book on expedia and have the tickets the next day. i think what really happens is they do come back, they stand in a few lines and have the experience of malaysian customer service after spending time in the US and realize there is a better way outside and turn and head back to the dysfunctional, but semi-efficient western world.

the upside to this is that i have had plenty of time to sit, study bahasa malayu saya, read, write, talk to friends on the phone and talk to the people around me. i just met a nice student who will one day build bridges and her mother who has promised to give me the number of her friend that can help me avoid spending my friday nights in a deli ticket airline queue from hell.

i guess this shows the real way locals deal with the horrible service they get in the country. they lepak with friends, they discuss and share the networking steps to avoid the issues and they survive by avoiding. malaysia bolehlah.

stress and release

here i am at 4 AM, writing for my blog while i watch a build [releasing software to the web], that i have been working on since 8 AM this morning, struggle to come to completion. today was a day of stress, a series of emails, phone calls, IM conversations and SMS exchanges which pushed the limits of stress; even for me. over the years i have gotten good at continuing to function under pressure that pushes others over their limit, its part of the job description. but i have noticed that i can only do this based on coping strategies and certain of my strategies have come into clarity for me recently.

first, when under stress i get very short with my communication skills. i am direct and to the point. when rushed i respond by going quickly. this is can be taken as arrogance or bullying, this is really not the way i want to be perceived. i feel bad about it when it happens. well no, when it happens i am fine because i am trying to get something done, its later that i am upset i could have upset others.

second, i react to stress with food cravings. the stress diet is not one of fruits and veggies, but sugar and caffeine. when under pressure i feel an urge, one that is hard to resist. i explained it today like a soft whisper that simply repeats in my head, over and over, “pop-tarts, pop-tarts, pop-tarts”. normally i am weak; sooner or later i cave in and reach for my little sugary friends and then for another. today i didn’t, i held firm and never took the sugar or caffeine fix that i deeply wanted.

next, i make random connections in my head and then ask others if they make any sense to them. i argued today that public safety announcements for seatbelts and helmets were counter to the public good. convincing people who cant figure out that safety devices are the smart thing for them and for their families is just stopping darwinism from succeeding via the inherent intelligence test. i am actually all for safety devices, but at the time, it seemed like an interesting argument and i needed the distraction, so i went with it. when i am under stress, when the pressure is mounting, expect me to just say random things and don’t convince yourself that i mean what i am asking. just that it was a thought that bounced into my head, and rather than think about the problem at hand, i thought it was interesting to think about this idea for a moment.

the last coping technique is that i tend to sing, dance, tap my fingers, and raise my voice just for the pure and utter fun of it. the asian kids in the office have gotten used to this i think. i am pretty sure they use this to read my mood. some people get gloomy, i tend to get jittery… hmmm, maybe that is related to the sugar and caffeine i had already ingested, and the fact that my mind is spinning with work and random thoughts which i am riffing at fast pace, but then again maybe its just another sign of pressure for me.

other than my response to the stress itself, i have noticed that post stress euphoria hits me pretty hard. when the pressure lifts because we have finally succeeded, i tend to go from intensely direct to wildly indirect and funny. i go into my full “stand up” mode where any need to limit the riffing associated with the random thoughts bouncing in my head is lost. i had a group of people laughing at this behavior today. they might be used to me in stressed mode, but in post stress i am just more than they expect from a boss.

i had my own boss a few years ago, who would start the week by saying, this is the week that you’re going to snap. i continued to say, “not now, not ever”. in the end i think he decided to send me half way around the world to see if that would do it. it hasn’t and in some ways it has made stress easier to deal with. i am sitting up watching colleagues finish things that have consumed the last 20 hours of my life, but they expect me to be asleep. its only when they realize that i am half way around the world and still up at 4 AM that someone might ask me to go to sleep and start working again in a few hours.