Coming home from Macau this evening, after a marathon 2 days management retreat, I was………..kind of exhausted. Management retreat to me, at the very least, is like a death sentence for senior staff member. The whole purpose is to lock a group of ‘old age pensioners’ or ‘dinosaurs’ or undesirably over-weight members in a room and make them think.
You know how difficult it is for stubborn old goats to admit their mistakes? ....I couldn’t categorically remember the exact place and time it took place, but I was most unfortunate to be there, and quite rightly made a haste decision. A decision that, given ample time to deliberate, weighed the pros and cons, subsequent consultation with the legality of the matter……..bla bla bla……yes, I would have made otherwise. Why can’t they admit in just one sentence, “Yes, it was a mistake, an over-sight in hindsight”?
You know how long it might take them to finish whatever they want to say? ....Let me see, now where was I…….ah! We were, as we are now, in the wake of a crisis. We don’t have the resources, as we have in the past when you and me were bright young lads eagerly trying to conquer this world……..ah…….yes, coming back to this point that you have just mentioned, I, or rather we in a collective manner, would want the decision to be made by a committee of able young bright sparks, supervised by the middle managerial working task group, submit in clear and concise report to the management a full review of the study we have in mind and………bla bla bla…….zzzzzzzzzzzz. Why do older people have this mentality of letting everyone a walk in the bush and purposefully seek to deliver a point that is like eternity???
Can you imagine the gratifying looks they have when they triumphantly located the right button to switch the projector? Yes, after hours of trial and errors, may I add! ....Ho ho ho, I knew it, I knew it, that was least expected as it all modern gadgets!
Anyway, that wasn’t the real reason for today’s blog (gee, that’s contagious or am I one of those stubborn old gits!). What I was trying to say was; I was dead tired. And as I finally slumbered onto my sofa, I received this unwelcome car from the car park attendant. My little car’s siren simply went crazy with the loudest and most persistent of noises that I have had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing. Utterly unpleasant incessant noise coupled with echo effects from the car park is no where near a symphony recital, I regret to say.
See…..a) I can’t open the doors of my car with my Smartkey because the car internal circuits over-ride everything. It took my ages to locate the metal key locate inside my key fob. Now I know why they use SmartKey and still retains the metal key inside. They are meant for oldies like me who still hung on to the past even with newer technologies, and b) when I finally got inside the car, it just wouldn’t allow me to start my car! Pretty smart German technology, if you ask an old fart like me. And worst of all, when I opened the front engine I couldn’t, for the life of me, locate the car battery. You would think that since the engine is in the front, the battery must be there too. Wrong! And after an exhaustive effort to locate the battery at the front, my friend and I are convinced it is at the car’s rear end. But we can’t open the back; the little circuit board simply over-rides everything. It is like an immobilization device, shutting down everything. 
CAN YOU FIND THE BATTERY HERE?
Clueless, we reluctantly called up Benz service centre, which came to the rescue and did the whole job in just under 9.254 minutes. It took me 2 hours 39 minutes and 28 seconds to find out the problem, not solving it though………life can be that cruel, you know! And if this wasn’t bad enough, it cost me $880 for the two technicians to come, and not forgetting I have yet to know how much will a replacement battery cost me.
Mercedes Benz, where style and craftsmanship is the truest measure of sophistication, you should demand nothing less than perfection from your car. And an exceptional blend of luxury and technology that makes every Benz a reflection of discerning taste. May I add, they do give you the trouble of locating a simple battery, be it the heart or the ass of the car?
Take the Mass Transit, or the bus, or a taxi, for then it will be others problem in locating car batteries……………I rest my case. And I am seriously considering changing the Benz to a Proton Saga, I bet I can effortlessly find the battery and immobilize the siren with just my last finger! Trust me, bagi uncle yang ketinggalan zaman ini, life can always be made simpler.
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