Am sitting in a hall listening to Christmas carols sung by the students in our annual Christmas do titled ‘HOPE’. I’m tired, having worked since yesterday morning. I am hungry and desperately needs a shower and hit my nice comfy bed.
But for now, I shall sit here and rest, for my soul is being fed. 
Wed, 121207 @ 2000
I gotta show you these ‘Before’ and ‘After’ pics! Remember I blogged about the accident which involved my wife’s almost new car a few days ago? Well, we finally sent it in for repair over the weekend (when I had more time). Look at the results (I swear these pics were not photoshop-ed!)!!
Before…
After….looks as good as new, right?!!!
Good eh?
We sent it to this Malay chap who has a shop near our place. I trust this fellow because he did a superb job with my car when it suffered a heart breaking dent sometime ago and he charged me only RM50 then. Prior to that, I had asked a Chinese fella who’s shop was a stone throw away and he wanted RM300 to do the same repair work!!! Good grief!
However, this time, according to him, the damage was more extensive. Apparently looks can be deceiving and, according to him again, the car suffered more extensive internal injuries; for instance, some ‘bracket’ was broken into pieces, some wires out of place, the fibre glass bumper was cracked in a several places etc, etc. I didn’t really pay attention as it was raining and I hate to talk business in the rain! I told him to do whatever is necessary and left my number with him. He promised to get the job done by the end of the day.
That evening, he called to say:
“Bang, ada sket masalah. Tu foreman ah, dia bukak bonet kreta abang dan bawak pi beli cat tapi tengah jalan, dia jatuhkan bonet tu atas jalanraya. Dia takda kasi tau sama saya, bila saya nampak ada calar-calar sini sana dan kemek sket, I talipon dia tanya, baru dia cakap ada jatuhkan bonet tu. S’krang I kena ketuk balik tu bonet dan kasi cat. Dia tak mau bayar ganti rugi la. I rasa tak dapat siap hari ini. Sori eh bang.”
Translation:
(Bro, we have a situation. That foreman (he never actually mentioned who) carried your car bonnet to buy some paint of the same color as your car but on the way, he dropped your bonnet on the road and did not inform me about it. When I saw the scratches and dents on the bonnet I called him and he confessed that he accidentally dropped the bonnet! Now, I have to repair the bonnet as well. That guy refused to pay for the damages. I doubt I can get the car ready by today. Sorry bro)
Words failed me. I limply agreed to an extension of time for the added repairs.
The car was finally really for collection on Monday evening. I must say we were pleasantly surprised with the result, as you can see from the pics above. He really did a good job.
But this time, the cost of repair came to RM 350 (he gave a RM20 discount ~ after I put on my ‘poor-me-and-my-starving kids-housing loan-not-paid-parents-medical-fees-mounting-ah-long-beating-at-my-door’ look! I was about to put on the ‘we-will-be-eating-maggi-mee-till-New-Year’ look but decided not to (not worth getting another RM5 off and end up antagonising him, I may need his services again in the future, who knows).
I also wondered why I have to pay for the “iatrogenic” damage as well! 
Now I have internal injuries ~ located somewhere in the vicinity of the right back pocket. It’s a dull aching persistent pain and the wallet feels significantly lighter. Sigh.
Am thinking of calling off Christmas dinner this year…heh heh. Just kidding.
Wed, 121207 @ 0700; post call! yeah! I accidentally shaved a pimple just now ~ OUCH!
