ajcaaco - euphony of bonds across time: October 2007

The AJCAACO chalet on the 20th - 21st October is never the same as any of those we had in the past. Initially, it was as usual... with BBQ, with Mahjong etc. However, some dramas were added to heightened the novelty value of this particular chalet outing (stay tune for the dramas). Anyway, these are the people who went to the chalet. We are planning to get more people during the next chalet. Will try to book another one in December.

Lilian Chunming Zhiliang Xiuhua Shumin Zhongneng Jianjie Teresa Xue Xian Shihui Weilin Tat Kuan Lijia Xiuqin Qi Ling Erik Baohe Hui Ping Nigel Fukang.

(Top: NETHERAVON Block C with Qi Ling at the door)

(Top: Lilian and Xiuqin with the Chalet interior as the backdrop)

PREPARATION EXPERIENCES: HARD WORK IN PROGRESS

The BBQ preparation was divided into two groups. The kitchen people and the BBQers. When all the food was prepared and placed on the table, flies started hovering around our food. We tried to cover the food with whatever things we can find. Anyway, we had different types of food; Ah Moh sausages (two types of cheese sausages and the normal ones we used to eat), Taiwan sausages, ham, marinated chicken wings and corn.

(Top: The backs of our four BBQers )

(Top: Yeap. They are Chunming, Erik, Qi Ling and Fukang)

(Top: Shy Xiuqin using the wire gauze as a veil)

(Top: Qi Ling pointing to his ham)

EATING EXPERIENCES: PEOPLE AND CAT EATING

Just as we were preparing, we noticed a lot of small cats. We started 'accidentally' drop our BBQ food on floor to give ourselves an excuse to feed the cats with those food. =p The cat feeders include Lilian, Weilin, Qi Ling, Xiuhua, Xiuqin and me. Initially, there were only 4 cats. When the sky turned dark, the cats multiply to 9. The few of us kept laughing at the Mother Cat because she is pak4 jiao4 (See photos below)

(Top: The lucky Changi cats eating the cheese sausage)

(Top: The Changi cats drinking plain water)

(Top: CO ppl enjoying their food)

(Top: Huiling will remember Kah Yong's marshmallows upon seeing this pic)

(Top: Nigel staring at the cat. I think Nigel will be
"oldified" by us due to overexposure to seniors)

(Top: Lovely Chunming and Lilian... Woo Hoo!!!)

(Top: Teresa, Lilian and Zhiliang reminiscing their lousy
"Chemistry in Space" module they took in NUS)

Jianjie, Teresa and Xue Xian left at night. The rest of us went for supper in Changi Village at around 1230am after playing Mahjong (sorry Fukang for winning your money =p), "Blow wind blow" etc. Fukang did not follow us because he needed sleep as he will be giving tuition the next day. In the end, Fukang was left alone in the creepy chalet (Maybe Fukang can tell us whether it was a scary experience?)

(Top: Having supper at Changi Village. Delicious!!!)

EERIE EXPERIENCES: SCARY CHALET

Our chalet is probably a conserved building from the past. That explains why it looks kind of eerie. Xiuqin said that it is supposed to be haunted. When she went to this chalet with her NTU friends, one of the guys was disturbed by "something" when he was sleeping (find out more from Xiuqin). Her horror story led to some implications. When we returned to the chalet after our supper, Fukang asked me a weird question - about the weird door in his bedroom. It is actually a door to the balcony. But it looks kinda eerie. Probably he was disturbed by that weird door when we were not around.

There are two toilets in the chalet. One is located in the chalet while the other one is located outside the back door. Since we have around 16 people, it will take a long time to bath at the first toilet. Thus, the guys decided to do 'guard duty' outside the creepy toilet located at the 'backyard' (see photo below). Just near the creepy toilet is a separate small block with 3 locked doors. Gosh... They really look creepy especially at night. Even the girls gathered outside the toilet in the chalet so that the girl bathing inside feel safe to hear conversations from outside.

(Top: Xiuqin's scary head behind Tat Kuan)

(Top: Tat Kuan and Qi Ling doing guard duty outside the creepy toilet)

(Top: Tat Kuan kena 'possessed'?)

DRAMATIC EXPERIENCES: LOST-&-FOUND DIAMOND RING

The drama starts in the middle of the night. Erik was dead drunk after drinking Martell VSOP with Chunming and Baohe. However, this drama was nothing as compared to the morning's drama. And what was that? XIUHUA LOST HER DIAMOND RING!!! Gosh. It was a really scary experience. I was kind of lost also... Don't know what to do... It happens like that. Xiuhua took out her ring and put it in her handphone pouch when she was preparing food for BBQ. The next morning when she went to Changi Village with the rest for breakfast, she dropped the ring when she called me to ask what I want to eat (I was still sleeping). When we were about to check out, she realized that the ring was gone. The atmosphere was really tense. Everyone was searching for the ring. Luckily, Shumin found it at corner of the hawker centre. THANK YOU SHUMIN!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! I guess it was this "Lost-and-Found" drama that makes this chalet extremely memorable (Maybe Xiuhua wants to thank some ppl at the tagboard?).

After that, Xiuhua and I decided to treat everyone at pizza hut in Tampines Mall. The next drama happened while we were eating. Nigel and Erik was drenched because a waiter spilled water on them on two separate occasions. Other services were also below standard. Even the restaurant manager failed to respond appropriately. Here are the details of the feedback I have sent through their online form available at their website.

Dear Sir/Mdm,

I will like to address a few unpleasant incidents which I have encountered with 15 of my friends in the Tampines Mall branch (21^st October 2007 between 12:15pm – 1:30pm). We were supposed to celebrate a joyous occasion together at the restaurant but our moods were dampened by the very poor services.

Firstly, one of the waiters spilled the glasses of ice water, not once but twice (once with 1 glass, the other time with 3 glasses), on two of my friends within a five minutes interval. My friend needed to blow dry his t-shirt sleeve while the other was very drenched as the waiter toppled off three glasses of plain water on his back. Though we understand that it was merely accidental, the Pizza Hut staff did not respond to the situation appropriately. The waiter simply apologized twice over the two very unpleasant incidents without even providing towels for my friends. In the end, we have to use all the paper serviettes available to wipe his top. There is just simply no follow-up to check if my friends are fine, or if we needed any help.

Initially, we intended to forget about that incident and carry on with our food since my two friends did not complain. However, the subsequent bad services are unforgivable. Since we have used up the serviette, the staff did not replace our serviettes and clear the used serviettes on the table.

While one of the waiters served a large Deluxe Cheese to our table, my friend kindly lifted up one empty pizza pan to clear the table (our table is already full of empty pizza pans that there is no place for the waiter to placed the large pizza) so that the waiter can place the pizza on the table. However, it was shocking to see that the waiter simply placed the pizza and left without clearing the empty pan (and with both hands empty) which my friend was holding on to.

Finally, when my friend gave feedback to the restaurant manager about what can be improved in terms of the services, the manager apologized and ‘asked’ us to “understand their situation as many of the staff is new and this is only their second day of work”. Neither does he show empathy to what we feel and the poor service that we received, nor is he taking responsibility (by his emphasis that we have to understand their circumstances). My friend asked whether it would be possible for a wavier, at least to take away the service charge (since the service was so bad), but the manager said it cannot be done. He offered instead some desserts as an apology but we were too angry and disappointed to even continue to stay in the restaurant. After I have footed the bill, he repeated that we must understand their situation as “Singapore has a lack of manpower”. My friend was so angry by his ‘excuses’ that she responded by saying “and who is going to understand us”. After that, we stormed out of the restaurant after footing the bills.

I am very disappointed with the Tampines Mall Pizza Hut branch due to their extremely poor service standards. Thus, I hope to receive a reasonable follow-up on our unpleasant experience in the restaurant.

So was the chalet dramatic enough? Hahaha. I bet this chalet will be an unforgettable experience for everyone. I hope more new faces can join us for our next chalet.

@@ AJCAACO - A Chalet Full of Drama @@
~~ AH LIANG ~~