I gave him one of mine

A smile costs nothing but gives much.  

It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. 

It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. 

None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. 

Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. 

Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

…… So few days ago I gave him one of mine

Every morning, on my way from the train station to my office I would see this old man – maybe in his late 60s or early 70s. I am not quite sure when I first noticed him, but it has been few months now. Sometimes I saw him sitting on the stairs at the  the train station concourse reading The Sun ( a free newspaper that was distributed at the train station). Most of the times we will passed by each other from different direction – and he’s always on his way towards the train station. He normally wearing ‘kopiah’ ( a kind of head cap that Muslim menn normally wear during prayer or sometimes the religious men will wear it in their daily life), shirt and trouser.

After sometimes, I started wondering where is he going or where is he coming from, until one day I saw him near the Masjed Jamek mosque. Ah, now I know …. he’s just completed his daily ‘Subuh‘ prayer (morning prayer) at the mosque. The actual Subuh prayer ended earlier than that but maybe there’s a morning sermont and those who doesnt have to rush to work will stay for the sermont after Subuh prayer. This a a normal scene at the mosque especially  in the village. So, he must be heading towards the train station every morning for the newspaper.

Normally when I passed by him, I will look up at him – none of us smile. He didn’t frown either, but the look on his face …. I am not sure how to describe it. His eyes look like there’s questions … look like he’s acknowledging me – a fartherly look, it just that he didn’t smile. Few days ago, I decided that I will give him my smile. To my surprise he smiled back!

So, that’s how it all began. Since then, each time we passed by each other I would smile and wished  him “Assalamualaikum” (Peace be upon you). He would smile back, nod his head and sometimes raise his hand. Today, I was reading the front page of the newspaper while walking and suddenly I heard a sound, not a hmmmmm sound but something like that, a sound like you wanted to say something but it doesn’t comeout ….. I look up and it was him, smiling and raising his hand at me. I smiled back and say “Assallamualaikum”. Could it be that he can’t speak?

What a Friday morning experience! :)

I have been a credit card holder of this international bank for sometimes now – maybe 15 years. Whatever people said about credit card, to me it always comes handy. Especially when I didnt bring cash in my purse and all of the sudden I saw something that I MUST buy at the shopping mall or when the queu at the bank ATM machine is too long and I am not that patien to wait . But I always believe one shouldn’t let the credit card controll one’s life. Just don’t spend the money that you don’t have … hehehe.

But I am not going to talk about credit card, instead about redeeming the reward points of the credit card. Believe it or not, I have never done any redemption. I don’t exactly know why but I just never bother to look at the catalogue until today. It all started when I was thinking of buying a decent backpack for my forthcoming holiday. But with the current economic situation and the current exchange rates of Malaysian Ringgit with Pound and Euro, I surely need to spend less and save more for my holiday!

So, this is the ‘exciting’ experience of my first ever rewards redemption:

1. I logged-in to the XX bank Online page. I have created my ID and Password few years back when I was bit younger I suppose   therefore I dont remember what was my ID and Password! My quick thinking told me, contact the bank! I  made a call to the customer service. I was greeted by a machine that told me the bank has currently updating their online customer service system, therefore I need to listen carefully to their new requirements before making my selection. So, the so-called new feature is that I need to key-in either my credit card number or my new Identification Card (IC) no. I keyed-in my IC number; the machine said it’s ‘invalid’. I changed strategy and keyed-in my credit card number; still it said ‘invalid’. I tried twice and give up!

2. I went back to the online page and started a ‘trial and error game’. I tried few IDs and Passwords that I possibly used . And after about only 20 trials, bingo! finally both the password and ID correct and matches! LOL. It must be one of my lucky day! I smiled to the computer screen! But, wait …. it asked me a ‘security question the sounded like this: “What is the name of the town your father was born?” What the heck? How am I suppose to know? My father was born in the mainland China before he and his brother sailed to Malaya hundred years ago!! Euwwww, now I need to tell the bank that I have forgotten my security question!!  So, I open a “Forgot your security question” page and was asked to create new password before I am being allowed to set 3 new security questions! 

3. To cut the story short , finally I managed to get ‘everything’ correct and able to login and proceed with the redeem process . The catalogue is categorised into few sub-topics which made it easy for you to browse or choose type of products you wanted. I placed 3 items in the cart and finally do the check-out and was given a confirmation page that listed out the 3 products that I have redeemed, the total points that was deducted from my accumulative points and the balance points. But when I look at the “Status’ column , the status for all 3 items is “Failed” What!??? I printed the page and re-login. I noticed that the reward points have already been deducted! Doh!

4. I tried calling customer service again and I got the same error response as earlier. There also another instruction that says “If you are not a XXX bank customer, please press * and 2″ . So, I did that!  I got another menu and choose to speak to their customer service agent. When I heard a sweet voice at the other end, first I appologised that I shouldn’t be talking to her but I just couldn’t get through because of the invalid message I kept getting earlier on. And to my surprise she replied to me with a smiling voice “Oh, it is ok , there seem to be an error in the system due to the updating that they are currently doing”. Phew! She appologised for the inconvenience. And I told her my story. After the verification questions to ensure that I am ME, she checked my redemption transaction and it seem that everything is in order! Or shall I say ‘on order’ instead of “Failed’ status that I got earlier. Once again she blamed the error due to the updating of their information system! NOW, I have a big questionmark: IS THIS BANK ‘s INFORMATION SYSTEM RELIABLE???

Oh, in case you wonder what I have redeemed: 

- 1 High Sierra backpack (for walking in the Southern France countryside)

- 1 Canadian Maple Excursion Travel Wallet  (also for my holiday – I haven’t had travel wallet which can hold my passport, ticket and money etc.)

- 1  Tefal Evidence Non-Stick Saucepan 26 cm (this is definitely NOT for my next holiday. LOL)