so that's how it is...

April Fools' day is more like a bad luck day... hah... it's good that I was dateless.. otherwise, would've to cancel... 'coz some problems cropped up at work...

Ok, warning first... below are all rants.. hey, I had to output it somewhere.. so this is how I chose to do it. Skip if you wish but it's quite entertaining writings, if you ask me :P

So as if problems at work wasn't enough, calling for a cab on a public holiday's eve is like a nightmare...after 10 mins of hearing the music, finally got the operator and she has to put me on hold for another good 5 mins before coming back with the cab num. But the cake on the icing gotta be this... waited for 15 mins, and still no sign of the cab, called operator and had to wait 5 mins just to get the operator to answer and another 2 mins for her to call the cab only to come back to say that there was no such booking. wth! So i said, can't you just go and get me one now? So I was put on hold again for another 5 mins... before she finally said, "I will call you back because haven't gotten any taxi reply yet" -_-''' She could've said that in the very beginning before putting me on hold.. i wasted 30 mins out of my 100 mins subscription... per month. *sob* *sob* As if that wasn't enough... I was in the midst of gastric pain 'coz i only got to eat past 9pm... triple *sob*

So when the operator finally called back after another 5 mins wait (my mobile battery was like very low..like gonna die soon kind) and confirmed the cab number, I said, "Are you sure you had KEYED the number into the system? Because I wouldn't want to WAIT for another 10 mins and still no cab is coming!" <--- can you sense the desperation in this?

Taxi finally came, and I sat inside, feeling a little agitated. So I commented to the driver that SMRT had lousy operators. I described the situation and taxi uncle agreed that indeed their operators are really s l o w. So he related HIS experience with the operators and the management of SMRT. Whoa, I don't want to hear your stories.. I just needed someone to acknowledge that I had a bad experience but noooooo, he just had to go on and on about how BAD his experience was and so, mine was like.. trivial stuffs... Sigh.. oki doki, got it.. EVERYONE wants to be HEARD but no one wants to empathize.. cool

Ended up, I listened to his stories, said my ahems, orh.. oic.. and I suppose I was a good listener and conversationalist (giving myself a pat on my back), so he felt pretty good after that and was in a good mood and wished me happy holidays and to take care when I alighted. Of course by then, I had cooled down and was no longer angry 'coz I realised, even if I am angry, what's the use? The world is not gonna change...

But seriously, SMRT should look into their processes and IT system. Here is what I observed:

1. Operator sounds like she was taking multiple calls at the same time. (how can I tell? To be explained below)

2. Operator tells you the cab number.. verbally. This is room for error as operator may tell the wrong number to the wrong caller. How I know? Because when the operator confirmed the cab number with me, she said, "You are Mr..?" and I had to tell her my name and location again. This is very big clue coz if her computer screen is already showing my phone number and location then this mistake will not happen.

3. When I called the SMRT booking line for the second time, it was able to state the last booking pickup point but not the booking number. This means some data was stored in the computer system. But when the operator picks up the call, she had to ask for the cab number again (??) Seriously, the system should store the cab number lo.. otherwise how they trace? No tracking one ha? Anyway, the operator had to make me wait for some mins before coming back to say the system did not store the cab number for my booking. Seriously, if the computer show no number, just tell the customer that prev operator (although I got the same one.. ) made mistake, say sorry and offer to call another cab la. Why must waste people's time? Common sense mah..


But I suppose, they had to keep the cost low.. so probably the operators are overworked, and just a bare minimum system to keep the business going. Eh.. sounds familiar!! Ha... ha.... ha....


I hoped your day fared a little better than mine!