Slow Down and Take It Easy

"Rivers know this : There is no hurry. We shall get there someday" - Winnie The Pooh

I have read the article below a couple of years ago. I could not blog it earlier since I could not find it in my email collection box. After sometime, here is the article again, received via another email. 

Remember, next time you want to accuse someone of being "malas and lembab". That someone may be a sloth to you, but he may live a much fuller life than you. 

pic - http://www.cabrio-team.ch

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results.

Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results.

This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

1. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
2. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
3. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, are some of its renowned companies. Volvo even supplies NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work).

The first day, I didn't say anything, neither the second or third days. One morning I asked him,

"Do you have a fixed parking space?"

I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot. To which he replied,

"Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, don't you think that whoever gets in late will need a place closer to the door?"

Imagine my face.

pic - http://static-p3.fotolia.com

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart, Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fuelled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being".

French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity driven up by 20%.

This slow attitude has come to the notice of USA , the pupils of the fast and "do it now" brigade. This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity.

It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress.

It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living. It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive work place where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious to live for the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists.

We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment.

pic - http://fashionablygeek.com

Congratulations for reading this email till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this "Globalized" world...... !!!

** (Author not known)

Today's Lesson :

How to get there, yesterday.

Lesson Never Learnt :

Too Late.

About Cars - Not Driving Them (or Being Driven) To The Wall

This is to continue sharing my "experiences", last posted HERE, when me and family were outside from this "bumi bertuah".  Outside Malaysia, I had driven cars for quite some years, all around the eastern part of U.S. I had also driven rented cars from south to north of New Zealand and all over the U.K. I had done it twice at different times all over U.K. (except Ireland).

Driving with a GPS unit (nowadays) is marvelous! I was once lost my way for hours trying to get out from New York City, during those 'map' days.

OK. Outsyed The Box have talked about prices of cars, HERE (Cars in UK) &  HERE (Cars In US) and I will share my driving experiences in UK (no need about driving in NZ and US, quite similar in terms of driving attitudes). On our recent holiday in UK, we rented a medium sized 1.6 litre diesel engine car and at another time a small sized 1.5 litre petrol engine car. Both models are available here in Malaysia (except they don't bring in the diesel version here)

We rented from two different well known rental car companies, also doing business here in Malaysia.  When I took the diesel car, it had a mileage clocked at some 5,000 miles and the other was a brand new! (having the mileage clocked at 3 miles). Both cars  have  a gadget/meter to estimate how many more miles you can drive before the fuel totally runs dry. Neat!

I have never rented a car from a well known car rental company here in Malaysia. I have rented a Kia Carnival from a car rental company chosen by American Express Card. It was long time ago. I think the rental cost here (rented from a well known car rental companies) is more expensive than in UK. The amount of petrol I spent while renting that Kia Carnival? Mak Datok!!

Let me digress a bit, but still relevant when we talk about quality of things we get around here. The whole family was stranded beside a highway in Pahang, one day. Why? Because my SUV's  gearbox kaput! KAPUT THE SECOND TIME!! That's when I made an emergency call to AMEX and they sent a Kia Carnival since I had asked for a family/people mover vehicle.  The SUV I bought was a CBU unit from Korea. The SUV's gearbox KAPUTED the first time when it clocked around 60,000km mileage when it was 2 years 11 days old. And no, nothing! Naza people said the car was already beyond its 2-year 40k km warranty. No sympathy, no nothing. How's that for customer's service? This was not a power window that won't work. This was gearbox entirely broken down, kaputed the SECOND TIME !!  how's that for quality of a damn SUV thing that costed more than RM150,000?  When the damned gearbox broke down the first time, I had to fork out some 5 figures amount to pay for it! Almost 3 months stranded at service center waiting for a new gearbox to arrive from Korea and not even an offer to lend me another vehicle to go to work!. I asked them, "What if the gearbox give way again?" They said, "It has a 3-month warranty 10,000 km mileage". The "beside a highway stranded incident" happened just about reaching the 3-month and  clocked about 9,000++km  (after the new second gearbox installation)! Of course they did not charge for the THIRD gearbox, but they did not compensate me either on car rental, and several other components that went kaputed together with the gearbox, and again the time lost  while they  waited  for and installed the third gearbox! Luckily there was no towing charges by AAM since I am a member. The towing was somewhere in Pahang, all the way back to KL. When the SUV was back on the road again after being in ICU twice, I made the decision to throw out the JUNK SUV fearing for a third time gearbox kaput. So why did I choose to own a JUNK SUV in the first place? Prior to making that decision, I read a few car magazines which reported that the same SUV model won the "SUV of  The Year" award, 3 years in a row! Of course the award were in some other countries, not Malaysia. Since then anyone who have had asked my opinion prior to buying a car or SUV, my advice is "NOKIA". Of course I dont mean the nokia phones! I have decreed a fatwa on my family members too, "NOKIA".

Okay, back to the driving experiences in UK.

A full tank costed me about GBP60 for the diesel one and slightly above GBP40 for the smaller petrol one. It also depends on which fuel station you go to since different fuel stations have different prices per litre fuel. I think Shell seems to offer the cheapest fuel per litre there in UK 

I am quite sure that I had covered more than 700 miles before refueling the diesel; or was it more than 800 miles? Okay, let's talk about the 1.5L petrol one. I think it was 600 miles driven before next refuelling (mixed motorways and cities driving).

I drive japanese cars here in Malaysia. I had a 1.6 Proton Saga Magma engine before, and on my record, this car served me the best so far (Record in terms of less headaches in component breakdowns throughout the ownership time).

Yesterday I filled up my nearly empty tank, 1.5L petrol japanese car with RM63 of  fuel (the yellow pump, RON95? anyway, the cheaper one). Let's say RM65 for a full tank. Total distance this car normally does before next refuelling is around 400km before the fuel warning light starts to flash again. So RM65 for a total distance of 400km (mixed not KL city driving)

Let's be safe. Let's say I had clocked 500 miles (instead of 600 miles) for the UK rented  car. In kilometre, it is about 800km. Wow! 800km for a full tank fuel ?

Looking at the "500miles/800km GBP40 plus full tank in UK" versus the "400km RM65 full tank in Malaysia", my mind was lingering on few things.

Was it the high quality fuel in UK, be it diesel or petrol? They say the diesel version car won't come here in Malaysia because our diesel fuel will wreck the Euro-5 (?) diesel engine in no time.

Was it the engine efficiency ? The cars in UK are more efficient?

Darn it! I should have recorded the fuel quantity when I filled up the tank in UK. It could have been the larger tank they have there in UK, more fuel pumped in, therefore more mileage covered.

But before you argue (like the government always argue) that GBP40 is roughly RM200, please assume that you pay GBP40 in UK's environment (simply to say that you live there, factoring everything of UK environment including income tax etc). Dont simply convert the GBP to RM  and compare. It is not right to compare the spendings in UK while you are earning your living in Malaysia. Let's be a bit fair here when comparing. Assume that in UK the petrol's price range is from 1.13 to 1.26 unit price per litre and in Malaysia the petrol price is 1.85unit price per litre (forget the RM and GBP for one moment).

Driving in UK leave me the feeling "it is more economical" than in Malaysia. In getting around and moving about (to go to Poundland stores and moving about to buy White Bread, Clark Shoes, Underwear), I have not factored in the kind of public transport they have over there. The low cost carriers that operates there ( to be fair, cost of properties like homes too). Maybe I'll touch the subjects next. For now it is just cars and driving around.

What do you think? Between "speed" and "reckless", which one contributes higher road accidents statistic?

I don't really know. Due to my "affection" to the sign "90" I had a few times driven the car in UK with speedometer at "90". There were many more cars whizzing, overtaking me on the right lanes since I drove mostly on left lane on UK's motorways. Ooopppss!! That was 145km/hour speed! The speedometer in UK was in miles per hour, not km/hr !!

There was a man recently killed by a 3-wheeler (you know that motorcycle attached to a carriage) at Kepong (?). Do you think that 3-wheeler was doing anything above 80km/hr? 50km/hr? Which one is more scary to you, a speed demon doing 140km/hr on PLUS Highway or a "lipas kudung devil" zig-zagging the lanes (including the emergency lanes) in KL city at 70km/hr? I think the traffic police should use canggih "video camera" in the cities for Ops Reckless, more frequent than the "still camera" at highways Ops Laju.

I think driving attitudes in UK gave me a "safer and more comfortable" feelings when driving. Here, it does not take the "speed demons" to scare me on the roads. It seems more drivers here are in a rush to get somewhere, yesterday!

In UK, you flip the signal and the drivers (including truckers, buses etc) will flash the head light giving you the safe opportuniy to cross the lane. The fast one will switch to the next right-hand lane, giving you again, the safe lane switching manouveur. Do you experience such courtesy when driving here? Yes I have, but still way far behind the courtesy as displayed by the UK drivers (the US and NZ drivers too! based on my experiences). But the UK drivers will become mad if you switched lane without giving the signal, especially when they are quite close behind you during the lane-switching manouver. Giving ways to other as and when appropriate, seem to be the attitude of the drivers there. During student days, we were once caught in traffic jam (but still moving slowly) on motorways leading to Washingston DC at peak time. We were weaving from left lane to right and right to left. Quite surprisingly, the American drivers' courtesy still gave us the space to switch lanes when signalled even though it seemed our car was the only one zig-zagging the lanes. I did feel ashamed!

Where do they learn these courtesy and civic-mindedness ? Certainly not in a kindergarten or schools where the subjects courtesy/civic mindedness/nation building not being stressed upon or nurtured while the kids are having good times mingling and playing everyday at school. But do the kindergartens and schools produce good citizens of the nation? (the schools and kindergartens which seem to drive the kids to the wall to score as many As and to finish tons of homeworks in all those many subjects "God-knows what", necessary for the young minds to grow up to become what ?!.. kiasu adults ?) Do they produce well-mannered and courteous citizen?  Or do they produce savage road bullies, speed demons and not-so-courteous lipas kudung zig-zagger devils? Do they produce the ever satiable "in god we trust" citizen, not those who live and die for this god alone?

This article is way too long! Time for Kempen Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua! Sign THIS please !!

 

CIAOW!!!

Average Malaysians Are Wealthier Than The British

My good friends, while well-wishing me for holiday,  told me to bring back "experiences" when spending time outside this "bumi bertuah". One asked me to look for RPK when in London! Ha! Ha! I have shared some "education system" and "language" experiences in my previous posts. 

And these below, are some of things that caught my attention during the month-long holiday in U.K.

1) White Bread

"Two slices of bread is already over eating", remember reading something like that when I was helping myself spreading strawberry jam on my breakfast bread in Malaysia. Two slices of Gardenia, when folded , the slices become slightly bigger and thicker than a piece of Jacob Cream Cracker biscuit. "Must be a remark from a skinny and starving female model who eats a few green peas for lunch" I said to myself, because eating the two slices of bread feel quite nothing in the stomach.

In UK the price range of a pack of white bread is something like from 40p (saw at Tesco) to GBP1.50 (the premium one), all packed in a quite same sized jumbo pack (I would say super jumbo pack). Now I can appreciate the remark probably made by the skinny female model. I felt really full with just two slices of white bread. The pack I bought was 79p, larger/longer in size compare to a-more-than-RM3 Jumbo size Gardenia's pack (ehem..jumbo pack not super jumbo). And each slices is double if not triple in thickness. Here in Malaysia, I bought almost everyday, a jumbo Gardenia's pack (consumed by 4 persons). In UK, we finished that 79p bread pack only after 2 or 3 days. That 79p bread is about RM(80 x 5), if you like to convert it.

So which "Roti" has value for money and more satisfying? Looks like Malaysians have more power to buy "rotis" than the Brits!

2) The "Everything is below 1 Pound" shops (i.e. 99p or less) - Poundland and other stores

Yes. Everything! Just like the RM5 Daiso stores at The Curve & 1-Utama Shopping Centers. Daiso probably brings the "Yen100" from Japan. The "everything Yen100" store I found in Damansara Utama has a price tag of RM5.60 on every item in the store.

No. The goods at Poundland and other below-1-pound stores are nothing like the China's goods you find at Nilai 's stores or at similar shops who sell goods that probably broke down soon after you bought it, or those manufactured with standards that could be harmful to human beings. They are not the products that have been dumped by "anti-dumping" law of USA either, I believe.

And no. Poundland stores quite many through out UK, not only one store in the "Rich & Famous"  area/shopping center of PJ.

Hmm.. one sells 3 cans of cokes at 99p and another store sells 4 cans!! My daughter had a field day buying colors pencil, pens, crayons etc all of jumbo sizes pack, below 1 pound each pack. Not that I really need them, but I got myself a set of drill bits and a pack of "gam gajah/super glue".

When my Black & Decker drill bit became blunt (out of service), I went and bought one piece of masonry drill bit at RM7 in a hardware shop here in Malaysia. Not a Black & Decker quality and the so called "local" quality (the wrapping said it is made in China) drill bit went blunt and useless after 3 times drilling. Out of "geram" I bought Poundland drill bits set consisting 5 different sizes masonry drill bits and 5 different sizes drill bits for carpentry. 10 drill bit pieces all together, all at 99p!

How much is that small bottle of "gam gajah/super glue" here? RM3 something, right? How much did I buy out-of-geram "gam gajah/super glue" at Poundland? You guessed it right! 99p for a pack of 10 !

The drill bits and "gam gajah" essentially cost less than 50 sen each if you were to convert it to RM. There are many more items at Poundland store. Those items that "rakyat marhain" buy every now and then each day, essential daily items. Can someone tell me what "marhain" really means?

And at a Clark shoes store, I bought 2 new pairs of Clark shoes! One pair at GBP10 and the other GBP15. How about a "nice and comfortable to wear" decent quality underwear (undies) 4 pieces at GBP2?

Less than RM50 for a pair of Clark shoes? Can you get similar branded shoes here at that price? There are many more, but I am not going to blabber all those here, but on average, suffice to say that we Malaysians have more money than Brits! errr... not having more money, but pay more money for a lesser product compare to the Brits. (and probably of  lesser quality too!! - I mean do you like to buy a grade 1 Quality Check (QC) than a 3rd grade or fake QC product? Do you like to own a finnish Nokia exported to UK market or a chinese Nokia  exported to third-world countries market? Are you sure the Nokia that came from china is really a Nokia? Under licensed by Nokia or "under-table fake" Nokia?)

Waaa! Only "Roti" and "Poundland" this post has become this long? I still have car fuel, low cost carriers, boot sale, watches, getting around, driving in UK, Malaysia - a solution to the chinese to circum-navigate anti-dumping law, and quite a few more "experiences" to talk about. But I better save them for latter. That is, if I remember to write all about them in future posts.

No wonder "datin-datin" like to shop in London, is it London or the greater UK? he..he..he..Maybe the government can subsidize us, rakyat marhain, return air ticket to UK so that we can replenish our weekly  or monthly household needs at Poundland. Maybe RPK can slow talk to the guys or guy he knows to provide us a decent place to sleep while we are there? No need to be in central London. Maybe that guy who is going to buy GBP8.5 million home in London can spare a maid-room for us to stay for a while. Maybe the "48-peti-besi-dalam rumah" guy can lend his "peti besi" so that we can ship out items we bought at Poundland to share with our other rakyat marhain at home, whom may be don't like to travel that far. Maybe Taek Jho Low can provide us English Tea Party every night we are there, air-freight nasi lemak straight from Sungai Besi TUDM airbase as well! Dah lepas makan malam tu!. No need champagne la!

What is "marhain" again, anybody?

For A More Polite Life

Bahasa Inggeris, sebagaimana yang lazimnya dipertuturkan dewasa ini di bumi yang mana di suatu ketika dahulu penduduknya terkenal dengan sopan santun serta halus budi bahasanya. Kiranya bukan penjajah yang memperkenalkan bahasa sebegini rupa....

WHEN GIVING A CUSTOMER BAD NEWS

Britons: I'm sorry, sir, but we don't seem to have the sweater you want in your size, but if you give me a moment, I can call the other outlets for you.

Malaysians (?): No stock.

RETURNING A CALL

Britons: Hello, this is John Smith. Did anyone call for me a few moments ago?

Malaysians (?): Hello, who call?

ASKING SOMEONE TO MAKE WAY

Britons: Excuse me, I would like to get by. Would you please make way?

Malaysians (?): S-kew me.

WHEN ASKING FOR PERMISSION

Britons: Excuse me, but do you think it would be possible for me to enter through this door?

Malaysians (?): (pointing at the door) Can ah?

WHEN ENTERTAINING

Britons: Please make yourself right at home.

Malaysians (?): No need shy shy one lah!

WHEN DOUBTING SOMEONE

Britons: I don't recall you giving me the money.

Malaysians (?): Where got?

WHEN DECLINING AN OFFER

Britons: I would prefer not to do that, if you don't mind...

Malaysians (?): Don't want lah.

WHEN ASKING SOMEONE TO LOWER THEIR VOICE.

Britons: Excuse me, but could you please lower your voice? I'm trying to concentrate over here.

Malaysians (?): Shut up lah!

WHEN ASSESSING A TIGHT SITUATION.

Britons: We seem to be in a bit of a predicament at the moment..

Malaysians (?): Die lah!!

WHEN SOMEONE DID SOMETHING WRONG

Britons: This isn't the way to do it. Here, let me show you.

Malaysians (?): Like that also don't know how to do!

WHEN ONE IS ANGRY

Britons: Would you mind not disturbing me?

Malaysians (?): Cilaka Lu!

Is it simple, short, concise, straight-to-the-point, effective etc.

or is it simply the need to live

FOR A MORE POLITE LIFE?

(http://gakcity.com)