You Had Me At...

It was a nice one and a half hour nap on the plane. Possibly my body is really craving for it considering I’ve been up for 28hours. And my right ankle is killing me after the Bowling session.

It was a cool damp morning here in Singapore. It’s drizzling. But the airport itself is really quiet and peaceful. And the immigration check point was quiet as well. There’s no need for me to queue and the officer that attend to me was an Indian lady. Unlike the officers I’ve experience in both M’sia and Thailand, she’s projecting a friendly, approachable face. I greeted her ‘morning’ and she did the same. She also nicely pointed out to me some areas in the immigration card which I’ve missed out. She flipped through my passport and then innocently asked if I’m working in Thailand. We said our goodbye after that. I’ve never experience such a positive interaction with the immigration office before.

While waiting for my bro to pick me up, my next stop is at Delifrance since Burger King did not look that appealing. There are a few bitches in front of me discussing what they want to eat loudly that you just wish to slap them. The staff, a 40+ Chinese lady greeted me in English and asked what I would like to order. Since there was no ‘ice coffee’ on the menu, I idiotically asked her if she had ice coffee. And here’s how the dialogue went:

Me: Do you have Ice Coffee?

Her: Yes we have. With Milk?

Me: Yes.

Her: That will be Ice Latte.

Me: Er….do you use only one type of milk?

Her: We have fresh milk.

Me: Oh…do you have low fat milk?

Her: Yes. Ice Latte then. Anything to eat?

Me: What’s this….Paris ‘brest’ (sound like Paris Breast)

Her: Er…it had cream inside.

Me: Okay, I’ll have one.

Her: Please sit down I’ll bring it to you.

(Minutes later)

Her: I didn’t put sugar into your coffee cos I do not know how sweet you want it. So I brought you the syrup.

Me: (Feeling very impressed), I told her I normally don’t drink coffee with sugar/syrup.

Her: Plain?

Me: Yes.

And it goes on……

She is really professional and friendly unlike those staff at the Delifrance in my office building. They had no idea what they are doing! And they will not be so courteous (going beyond their role as counter staff) and not even familiar with common request like toasting the bread, low fat milk, etc etc. Or perhaps Thai people are not as demanding/picky as me and most Caucasians. Spoilt by Starbucks, perhaps.

I hope this will just be the start with more positive experience to come…

Singapore, you had me at the check point!