Little money could be valuable

Money isn't money until you see and touch it yourself. This is one true story I would like to share with my readers.

20 years ago, I sold an endowment plan to a lady house keeper. She was 36 years old then, married with only one son. I remembered, when I was explaining the option and benefits of that plan at that time, the husband was not friendly and kept his distance from me. Those days, most life insurance plans were simple to cater to the undemanding consumers. The plan was for a cover of only RM20,000 with a yearly premium of RM1100 and maturing in the year 2007 April.

The lady was a simple person who was too happy to sign up for this plan. However the husband was very sceptical. He complained the premium was too high, the cover was too low and the 20 years was crazy, for it is too long the period to wait. She might not even be there to enjoy the cash at age 56. What more at that time on maturing, the money would be too small due to inflation. He commented as thought he was like an expert in economic.

Luckily the wife was positive and she knew what she wanted, signed our proposal later without the husband aware of it. During these 20 years, we developed a very cordial relationship. From client, we turned to be good and understanding friends.

Yesterday, exactly 20 years, without fail I took her full maturing payment to her home. She could not believe her eyes. The amount was written Ringgit Malaysia Forty Thousand Two Hundred only under her name. She is alive and I had promised that I would deliver no matter what happen! Her tears could be seen with emotion. She could not believe that time had passed by so rapidly.

I asked her, "Madam Tee, why are you crying?" You know what! She replied, "I should have taken your advise then. I regretted for taking less."

My conviction, no person in this world could say I don't need little money. When you are rich, you are blessed to have more, but when you are poor, the little money could be valuable as well.

"Even with a small bank account, the one who is contented finds himself with great wealth too."

Tipping reflects your personality

I did not know tipping could reflect one's character, until I had a chat with a hotel pub and restaurant supervisor. Richard has been working in the catering services for 30 years, understands what is tipping.

Tipping is to show an appreciation for services render. Most Malaysian are lousy tippers. They insist on best services but reluctant to tip or have no manner to tip. Internationally in most developed country, it is recommended to tip by a range of 5% to 15% whenever you are being served. Even if a waiter might not have given good services, it is still a manner to tip by the minimum. The minimum tip is to hint to the waiter, he isn't good at his job. If you offer a much higher tipping, you are appreciating his good services.

Most Malaysian are stingy and not generous in tipping. They could spend a lot on food & drinks, letting the restaurant owners make but try to avoid tipping. Not knowing the poor waiters depend on these extra tips because their basis salary are always very little.

According to Richard, there are many character and behaviour of a customer. Those who have very little thoughts for others, would not offer tip. They could be great pretender in life, claiming that they are generous or kind hearted, but the minute they tip by the bills, it would definitely reveal his true identity. When one does not have heart for others, he would be 'taking' more than 'giving.' He would only give, when he knows there is a gain by giving. Meaning, when he is surrounded with important friends or perhaps with his girlfriends; he would pretend to be generous by tipping lavishly. But his heart would have pain. This is another facts of life, "Give with joy or you would feel the pain."

Those who have heart for others are totally different. They appreciate any services render, especially if services are sincerely offered efficiently. They tip with appreciation and kindness, that could be felt. Believe me; "Kindness is a language, the blind can see and the deaf can hear." What more by waiters who are there to serve and to depend solely from tipping, certainly could understand a sincere or non sincere tipper.

To those who read this article, please be aware from now onward; have a heart for the waiters. Tip the correct way, for your manner and character would be shown and reflected.

You don't tip, you are a stingy and a miser. You tip too much, your heart has pain and you would grumble. Tip with sincere appreciation would be the best policy. Whatever the tipping style, only you would know the truth of yourself.

"True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." If you could understand this phrase, one would be too glad to tip for the sake of showing appreciation to the deserving one.

Why Mr Singh is stronger?

Are you aware that Punjabi is the most minority race in Malaysia. I think they are less than 1% of the population. And yet they stand tall because with their sharp pointed turban and thick beard, any one Singh could be seen from afar. Funny isn't it?

Do you have many closed or best Punjabi friends? Even if you have, there would not be many of them for you to know. However I am proud to say, I do have many Singh and Kaur as my brothers and sisters. I have more than 50 Punjabi friends and some of them are considered my best buddies.

Their race might be small in number but they are a special class above the rest of us. Have you seen any Punjabi beggar who begs? Not me! Have you heard or seen any Punjabi who is so poor to ask for charity? Never! Because they are very united within themselves. Any Singh who wears a turban and sees another turban Singh would greet each other from a distance. Even though they might not know each other in person. This is the manner and culture for all Singhs.

Most Punjabi of today are professionals or doing their own business or corporate figures. I considered them to be successful. Most of my Punjabi friends are doctors, scientists, engineers, architects, lawyers, nurses or self employed. These are the third generation Punjabi of Malaysia.

For what they are today, I think they have to be thankful to their grand fathers who first step foot in this country, which was Malaya then. Those who arrived from India at that time, brought nothing with them but just their bare hands and legs to work. The other races came as well but non could work harder and sacrificed more than the Big Singh.

Most people could work one or two jobs a time. Right? Not the first generation Singh in Malaya because they almost had four different jobs or income a time. Believe me!

The father Singh would be working during the day with a company, drawing a fixed salary. Meanwhile, his family would be rearing cows to produce milk everyday. They supplied fresh cow's milk right to your home at a reasonable price. In the night, when all would be going home to spend time with the family, the father Singh would be reporting to the Chartered Bank for night duty. Can you guys remember the advertisement, "Singh, the friendly jaga from Chartered bank?" They slept on bed made with rope when we slept on bed made with cotton.
One more before I forget. The family also had a private unlicensed money lending business.

So the sacrifices and hard work from father Singh and family, gave them an edge to earn the amount of income, when most other races were not prepared to do. The Singh also had foresight for their growing children. They made sure the children were given the best for education. Those days, most would be contented with a Senior Cambridge certificate or GCE level qualification to pursuit for employment. Not the Singh, because they could afford to send their children abroad for university courses which most could not dream of.

Today the Punjabi has gone far and progressed well in life. They are no longer termed as jaga. They don't have to supply milk to your home. They don't sleep on rope bed by the shop corridor. Instead of lending money, they give charity to the needed one. Small in number but successful in size. The next time you meet a Singh or a Kaur, please rub shoulder with them and you would be learning something great that your parents might have missed out. Just like me having to learn and inspire by these friends; Peritam, Sidhu, Manjit, Harcharan, Jeswant, Jagdish, Dhaliwal, Hanjeet, Nirmal, Dharamvir, Gurdip, Karamjeet, Joginder, Ranjit and others.

Thank you my brothers Singh and my Sisters Kaur, who had one way or another thought me to live right in life; "Life is largely a matter of expectation. If you want to succeed, you must expect to succeed. So if you begin with some wild expectations, you'll succeed beyond your wildest expectation. When you expect things to happen, strangely enough, they do happen. Expectation energizes your goals and give them momentum. When you believe something good can happen, it will happen. The dreams you believe it comes to be. Your life responds to your outlook."

My hobby selling life insurance

I have been selling life insurance since 1982. It could be my destiny that I am blessed to take up this career for I love to reach and touch lives.

Most of my fellow colleagues failed in this business mainly because they sold for the sake of selling. They had never understood the objectives of being a true life insurance agent.

Of course, all of us started the career with the intention of earning good money to fulfill our needs and dreams. At the beginning, all of us had to work extremely hard, to learn, to re-learn and to unlearn. The sacrifices and the effort we had to put out were beyond imagination. There would be no day and night, no weekend off and no public holiday and even no time for family at times.

We cannot be selling like the above way of life for too long. You would get tired at the end of it. The ideal way is to live by a well balanced or rounded life. Have time with families, have time with societies, have time with yourself and also have time with God as well.

To master the art of selling, we need to acquire knowledge and selling skills. These take time and effort again. Many could have learned the trick of the trade but yet get bored along the way. Reason, they had been selling or working too long in the business and got tired out of it.

There is a saying, "work is a chore whereas a hobby is fun." Another that said, "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy." So unless you know how to convert your work as a hobby, you would not be able to stay long in this career.

I have been fortunate with my career because I do enjoy myself with it. I love to talk as talking is my interest. I love talking to the young and old or to the poor and the rich. My talk and sharing are sincere and full of enthusiasm. All my listeners enjoyed my talks and sharing. I was actually having fun and not work as many thought I was.

I love to reach and to meet people and to share my knowledge and wisdom of life. Most people don't because most people are selfish. They thought by sharing, they are going to lose more by giving. They only give when they know they are going to gain. Is a very sad thing in life to think that way. They are not aware that,"The more you give, the more you should be receiving".

I hope my words would change those, who are reading these contents.

I could stay in this business for this long, when most would have called it a day; is because I love selling so much that it had never in my mind that I wanted to quit. Unless my company, Prudential do not need me any more or if I am called upon by God to be with him. I sell with compassion and joy. I sell with fun and laughter. I sell with hope and inspiration. I am having a marvellous time which I could go on endlessly. Selling insurance is really a hobby and interest to me. Please don't ask me to quit!

Words spoken by Mother Theresa; "We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." You are right, Mother, I am not a scholar, neither am I a great statesman. But I have true love like you and I strongly believe I can do small things to save more lives.

I sincerely hope my words could enlighten many of my fellow colleagues to understand the concept of selling life insurance and be successful in this career.

Indian mamak versus Chinese coffeeshop

Any one of us would notice that Indian Mamak are available almost every corner of The Klang Valley. Every township, every block of building and every Jalan, one would not miss Mamak shops for makan. They have Curry Fish Head or Banana Leaf, all branded in varieties.

Out of my 7 lunches per week, I would be having 5 at mamak. Not that I am crazy with mamak but the fact is our Chinese Coffee shop is getting out of place.

The Chinese do not serve the original Chinese hawker food like they used to cook 20 years ago. Most of the one in P.J. are actually own by Chinese but food is served by non Chinese, like Indonesian or Myanmar. What a shame! Chinese and not Chinese. (OCBC..orang china bukan china!)

I think, Chinese has dollar sign on their face. Imagine when food is served, you have to pay first. Where else, you eat first and pay later when you are in the mamak. The Chinese don't trust their customers but mamak do. Mamak knows and understands," one can't be cheating for filling one's stomach."

You can eat what ever you like and pay over the counter later, just by your words. I salute mamak for the trust given to their customers.

Any food order with plain water, mamak do not charge the water because it's too cheap to be charged. However, if is in the Chinese shop, plain water could be charged from 30cents to 60cents. They have got no heart for their customers. They just want to make money in every corner.

After a meal in the mamak shop, you can have a free tissue to wipe your mouth or hand. Ah! No way in the Chiness shop, they hope you don't carry any tissue cos this is another opportunity for them to sell a packet of tissue for another 40 cents before you leave.

Even before you leave, think twice before you intend to wash or to looloo at their toilets. Most ladies would not use their toilets because they really stink and smell. I wander whether they have time to wash and clean them. All ladies go to the wash rooms over at the mamak place for they rest assured, they are in tip top conditon all the time. They have special cleaners to clean and wash every hourly. I have even seen few mamak wash rooms of the 5stars standard. You really impress me!

Food wise is tasty, specially cooked by the Indian, imported from their motherland. Price is reasonable compare to the Chinese. However the original taste of the Chinese food had disappeared. They can take the non Chinese for a ride but definately not me and many of my friends. Non of my girlfriends would like me to date them in this class of chinese shops, except the old aunties who have no choices.

Sad for the Chinese because Chinese coffeeshops would be getting lesser by the days. Mark my words! Not the mamak. They were hardly seen 20 years ago but today, they stand tall to show that they are progressing.

Morale of the story; "People hate to change. If change can be for the betterment. Why not change!"

The Chinese loves to profit without accepting changes and they are finding it difficult to survive at the moment. The mamak accepts changes with willingness and they are advancing rapidly.

I wrote this article specially for my friend, Sheikh Jameel who invited me to a very presentable mamak restaurant in Sentul, where this topic was discussed with laughter. Thank you for the marvellous lunch, Jameel.

Blind but with determination

We don't need to go afar to hear or to see what true determination is. Our local news talked about this recent title on our people; "Nothing is going to stop this man from getting a job".

Partially blind Che Yatim Yahya travelled from his home in Kuala Lumpur just to try his luck at finding a job in Penang.

Che Yatim, 32, his blind wife, Rohazanah Ismail, 32, and partially blind one-year daughter, Amy Nadhirah Syazwani, boarded a bus at Puduraya on Tuesday night and arrived in Penang at 5am on Wednesday.

They returned to Kuala Lumpur after Che Yatim applied for various positions during the Career Day for the Disabled held at St Nicholas Home in Penang on Wednesday.

Che Yatim said he did not mind travelling that far to secure a stable job to support his family.

"I do not want to be a begger. As long as I am able to work, I will."

"I worked in a factory in Penang for eight years until I was forced to take up a voluntary separation scheme offer four years ago."

He said since then, he had been doing odd jobs. Despite being totally blind, his wife makes kuih and sells snacks on the street and at market.

"I need a stable job, my older children, Amy, is partially blind," he said.

Che Yatim said he came to Penang with hopes after learning about the Career day programme through the Blind Based in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

This is a true spirit of a Malaysian, who is blind but spoken with a powerful statement, "I do not want to be a begger. As long as I am able to work." Yes! Malaysian Boleh!

Never give up:

"Everytime we fall in life, we give up. We give up our dreams, give up ourselves.

Waves are inspiring, not because they rise and fall, they never fail to rise again.

To win, you need to try, try till you will."

Younger wife & older husband

Yesterday I had a chance to talk to a young client of only 26 years old. His father is also my current client. I knew him when he was still schooling. Today he is working and we can talk like friend without barrier. We are comfortable with each other. I gained his youthfulness and respect and he learned my wisdom. Just address him as Chan.

I could see Chan's eyes were full of love and joy. I asked him, "Are you in love?" He told me he has found a new girl friend of the same age. They are very happy, except that they have little time to meet because Chan has to work long and at odd hours of the day.

A lot of youngsters at this age fall in love quite easily because they have emotion and feeling too. For a young man like him to have girl friend is alright but for him to fall in love and soon to get marry is definately too early. On the hand, for a girl of this age to fall in love and soon to get marry is perfect which is my personal opinion.

In nature, most girls develop faster and mature earlier than boys of similar age group. Look around yourself and you would see the different. I told Chan, "good for you to have found a girl friend but have you seen enough of many girls to know she is the best."

Our eyes are very deceiving, we always look and judge by the external rather than the inner of oneself. I quoted this meaningful phrases, "The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows." This article was posted also in March recently.

"Marry to a person who loves to listen to you, and marry to the person who loves to talk to you". If you believe these words, you would never fail in your marriage life. "Husband loves to talk and wife loves to listen." This type of interesting relationship would last a life time.

Marry to the woman who is much much younger than you. Don't be afraid to look for a partner who is 10 years younger or more. For the man would always see the woman as young. Just imagine when he is 60, his wife is only 50. She is still pretty and young to him. The vast different of age would also allow the man to be smarter and more understanding in the long run.

Chan, you need to have many girl friends at this age. Work harder now and build yourself a good career and be successful by 30. Consider a good wife who is a caring one and if possible she has to be much younger than you.

Chan was very engrossed to this conversation, a facts of life very seldom spoken in the home or among friends. I was supposed to explain my products but instead I spoke on the hidden facts of life to enlighten him, I hope.

For what I had done I was happy coz; "Happiness is to know that my life has meaning and purpose, and that every day my life touches others in a positive way - whether to make them laugh or learn or both at once!"