Nitty Gritty Stuff ..... Grrrr

Today's briefing/meeting.... was ... tedious.... I like my occasional colleagues in general because they are nice, normal, well-meaning people, but boy... they sure can talk..... for 3 straight hours :(

I am a strong advocate of short meetings. I notice they never get anything done in the marathon sessions.

And well, when I got to Da Bear's later, I found out that they had taken out the entire ceiling! Da Bear's shop is located in a building that was built in the same year I was born. Now that's really really old in Singapore where they are always tearing down and building stuff before its even a decade old. Unfortunately, due to bad bad mismanagement, the building is dark, extrudes a very very funky smell.... (F wrinkled up her nose when she passed by)... and has a constant source of giant flies.... (they have never ever located the source of these flies. I have swatted a few myself... You need to hit them a few times before they stop moving :P)....

I have this theory that they probably walled up some corpse when the building was first constructed. I mean, it explains the smell and giant flies. .... Of course, the other explanation is that the building has poor ventilation and according to the reflexologist on the same floor, the sewege pipe burst and was badly repaired... more than once. And I thought that the smell came from the Chinese herbal people downstairs....:(

I really really wonder why they put up with the place. I suppose there is no where along Orchard Road that is so decrepit that rental is at minimum level.

The dust from workmen ripping out bits of the old aircon really irritated me. Seeing I could not get anything done painting wise I left..... Hopefully, they would have gotten the place cleaned up by tomorrow.

However, my most immediate irritation comes from dealing with..... vendors.....:(

As a semi-employed person of variable income.... I've had to resort to peddling all sorts of stuff over the years to pay the bills and make my life a little more comfortable. I work with a friend in the local crystal and stone business... to get the certain rare items from contacts overseas.

The big big problem with some of the contacts is that they are terrible when it comes to simple customer service... You'd think that a person running a business would at least establish certain protocol like a proper system of answering emails and invoicing.... or even a proper payment system......:P Dammit.... some people just don't have any of that.... I really really hate it when people give me incomplete or 1-word answers to questions I've spent time to properly phrase in the email. I mean..... I didn't even get an order number for tracking! So HOW do they know who I am or what I'm talking about!

Grrrrrrrrr......

I'm really feeling a lot like.... NOT getting this latest order filled....:( Thanks to Doreen Virtue and the current fascination with angels, I'm now on the hunt for some "angel stones".... :( The problem is that these specific stones are pretty rare... the people that have access to them..... I swear..... they must be country hicks or something 'cos they are NOT running a modern business!....:P

Well.... I guess I'm feeling awfully grouchy... usually I don't talk about my businesses.... but really...... It's kinda getting to me I guess... :(