Phone calls

British is inevitably one of the most polite, sophisticated and well-mannered cultures in the whole wide world. In the contrary, the way fellow Malaysian speaks is perhaps often regarded as too "straight-forward", to the extent of being almost barbarically rude and belligerent to those who are not accustomed to our culture. Having worked in event/PR agencies in these chalk-and-cheese-like cultural settings, I found some very interesting experiences to share, particularly in the occasion of making a phone call.

Brits on the phone: Hiya good morning! (In super high-pitched and enthusiastic tone, by the way) How are you? I’m good! Very good indeed. That’s amazing! Marvellous. It would be great if you could do me a favour of forwarding that email to me. You are the star. Absolutely. It’s my pleasure entirely. I definitely look forward to it. Brilliant. Thank you ever so much. Speak soon, honey. Bye!
Brits hung up the phone: Bitch.

Msian on the phone: Halo, ei how ah that thing tomorrow? So, you send to me can ah? No no no, not like that. I thought I told you already? What la you, aiseh man. How la you do things. Haiyo, then you gao dim already send to me again la. Yea, confirm already then I will let you know la. Ok bye bye!
Msian hung up the phone: Actually she quite nice also hor?

Chapter 1: London Pride

“Mommy mommy look at that man!!! What’s he doing there mommy…?” What can be more genuinely and purely innocent than this curious little 5-year-old boy, pointing at the man lying on the street and eagerly staring at his mom for an answer.

It is yet another typical gloomy and cold London morning, as I was listening to Amy Winehouse on my iPod and taking my routine stroll down the street when this high-pitched and excitement-filled voice caught my attention. There he was, a homeless man in his 50s, or so I presume if it were not obvious enough, sleeping on the street with sheets of newspaper underneath and absolutely curled up like a cooked shrimp in a cocktail.

“Now you see Danny, this is what happens if you don’t go to school. People sleep on the street if they don’t work hard to get a good life…”

It is such a shame that homeless people, beggars and drunkards are all over London, quite often we do come across one every now and then. Ironically, I caught a glimpse of an empty Fuller’s bottle next to the man lying on the street, which reminds me of the tagline of this English lager – London Pride.