As soon as I got to the counter at Istana Budaya to pick up my LAT The Musical tickets this morning, I was not greeted by the lady behind the counter. She did not even look at me when I said my Selamat Pagi. I waited for her to say her Selamat Pagi back, but I would probably have had to wait until I heard a rooster crowing cock-a-doodle-doo the morning of April the first, or I might have to wait a year there – at the counter. So I decided not to bother.
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I asked her if my reservation was still kept since it was a day overdue. And when I showed her the reference number, she just glanced over it. No expression on her face. She still had not turned her face to look at mine. After about 20 seconds of silence and her tapping on her keyboard, she asked for the reference number again. L2C7WN it was. She could only recall the first three (L2C).
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“El dua si… apa tadi?”
So I gave her the full reference number, “El two see, seven double you enn.”
She repeated after me, “El dua si, tujuh… apa?”
I was just about to frown, but I didn’t. “Seven double you enn.”
She looked like she was ready to glance over my face, “Tujuh dabaliu en?”
“Ha’ah, tujuh double you enn. El dua see, tujuh double you en. Ada?”
“Enida Johnson ke?” Only then did she look at me and the bindi on my forehead and my cobalt blue punjabi suit..
“Ya, saya.”
“Enam ratus sembilan puluh sembilan ringgit. Nak bayar cash ke?”
“Ya, ya. Saya bayar tunai.”
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I said my “Thank You” twice. Once when I handed her the seven hundred ringgits, and once more when she handed over the one ringgit change. But today I just learned that at Istana Budaya there is no such thing as “Sama-Sama” or “You’re Welcome”. And oh, smiling is not allowed there too, if you work there.
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Questa è Enida 
Hi nice reading yourr blog
So this is your blog thats cool !!!
Di pejabat saya, tidak ramai yang menyukai saya kerana saya suka menegur para pensyarah dan pekerja yang pada saya amatlah berpendidikan tinggi. Kalau tidak, tidak akan menjadi pensyarah, kan?
Contoh :
1. Pensyarah X: Eh! Boleh tak hantar kat saya borang original? Skarang tau.
Lisa: Sini sekarang takde staff lain yang boleh tolong hantarkan. Saya boleh tolong scan dan email dekat you.
Pensyarah X: Tak nak. Kitaorang kena ada original. Hantarkan.
Lisa: Sini takde staff lain. I sorang je tinggal. Kalau you ada staff yang boleh datang sini?
Pensyarah X: Sini takde orang. U hantar la.
Lisa: (Kehilangan kata-kata di dalam Bahasa Melayu)
– It’s like this, I am all alone in the office and I have my own work to do. Therefore I am unable to send you the form myself. If you have extra people there, please send one of them over because all my assistants are out. If it is really urgent then you arrange for someone to come. If not, then you just wait to wait until someone sends it over.
She put the phone down. !!!
2. Cashier at Cafe: “Five! Five” (Sambil melihat tempat lain)
Lisa: “I’m sorry?”
Cashier: “Five ringit la.” (Sambil menghulurkan tangan minta wang)
Lisa: “I think you should have said five ringgit please and I think you should smile and treat every single customer properly, no matter whether they are students or staff. The word please is very important.”
The cashier just gave me an annoying smile. So I decided to tell her Supervisor about the incident.
Ada macam2 Lat Enida, salah satu daripadanya ialah kelat!
Betul Wizz, ralat betul bila orang muka kelat gitu yang Istana Budaya letak kat front desk. I would rather deal with orang yang cakap pelat. Nasib baik saya ni bukan jenis mencarut, menyebut lat yang pangkalnya ‘pa’ kan. Tak baik. Takut je si muka kelat tak tahan daulat.