May be We Don't Look Good to Be Potential Customers.......

A long time friend from Sarawak came and stayed at my house for few days. She was here to visit me, her aunt and of course shopping. Since I was not in a busy schedule and haven't done shopping for quite sometime, it was my pleasure to accompany her. We went to Bukit Bintang as she wanted to buy computer devices. I really can't remember when the last time I went there because I don't like the hustle & bustle in that area. She got everything she wanted and we headed to Sogo and again I couldn't remember when was the last time I shopped here. May be it was since i started my phd, haven't got friends and time to indulge myself with shopping here (I still shop with my sister but in more peaceful areas). Not my interest to be in the crowded place especially during SALE.

As it was Y.E.S in Sogo, and I have nothing specific in mind to buy so a set of miniature perfume attracted me very much. The sales assistant at the perfume counter showed us the latest collection of the perfumes and persuaded us to buy 2 sets and we will get a free miniature. I declined since all I wanted was just a miniature perfume. Then came a sexy lady asking which perfume that can be used day and during night. We waited him to entertain that lady until it became a quite long waiting. We looked at each other and whispered maybe we didn't look like a potential buyer compared to that lady and nobody cares because we just want to buy not so costly perfume. We watched them ended their conversations and it seemed the lady didn't buy anything. Don't ask me what evil thought came straight to my head as I saw the lady didn't buy anything and at the same time we had been ignored.

The next day we went to a boutique as my friend wanted to look for tudung and jubah. Again, I became a very unsatisfied customer's friend the way the sales assistant treated us. My friend asked for the jubah they display on the mannequin. Since it was the last piece the sales girl seemed reluctant to take it out from the mannequin for my friend to try. She kept repeating and sceptically said "padan ke??". I felt like saying hello my friend is as slim as that mannequin, just give her a try on that jubah. The way she entertained us was below my satisfaction as a customer. All she did was talked about the price and discount given. When the owner of the boutique came and asked my friend to try, only then she took it out from the mannequin for fitting trial. And as I thought it fits her well. As far as I'm concerned, the customers are usually given a chance to try the dress/ jubah regardless whether they want to buy it or not. As I talked to my friend the way the sales assistant treated us, she also didn't feel satisfied but but had to ignore it since the jubah already had caught her eyes.Well... again we thought we were treated like that because our appearances didn't look like a potential customer. Sigh!

Another Notch Up

Alhamdulillah, another notch up. I passed and can proceed for the thesis writing.

Salam Maal Hijrah

A new year, a new start, a new chapter and hopefully a new beginning to become a better Muslim. May this year brings us more barakah and rahmat from Allah and please forgive for all my wrongdoings throughout last year. So, Salam Maal Hijrah 1431 to all my Muslim sisters and brothers.

It's very difficult to explain when somebody ask....

1. how is your Phd progress?
2. what stage are you?
3. You still haven't defending your proposal?
4. have you done the econometric part?
5. You are still not writing anything?
6. Blablabla etc

People keep asking me these questions.Sometimes it is very difficult to explain to those who are not familiar with the route I've taken. Most of them are more familiar with Phd using research/thesis writing. So let me explain that I'm pursuing my study using the coursework + dissertation route. When I enrolled to this university they made compulsory to anyone from the education background to be in this route so I've no choice. The reason they made it compulsory because those who are in education line will have to use all the theories when they go back teaching in their universities (this is what they said and I've no argument about this). We have to spend 2 years for coursework and another 2 years for dissertation. Even the study plan given by the university itself didn't show that we manage to finish in 3 years like using another route. So, for this almost 2 years I've finished my coursework + comprehensive exams and haven't started with a writing but Insyallah it will be soon.

Tudung & Malaikat

I was reading and overheard somebody happily said "I will only wear tudung if I go back to Malaysia but not in Australia". Her words automatically had made the evil thought came straight to my head and saying "kat Malaysia je ke ada malaikat, kat Australia takde kot'( Ya Allah, I beseech your forgiveness for saying this in my heart to this person whom I didn't even know her)

It reminds me the story of me & my ex students. Due to the lack of the class available during day time, I did a replacement class at night from 8.00 to 10.00p.m. When I entered the class I felt something wrong somewhere where and a lot of unfamiliar faces in my class.Half of the female students didn't wear tudung and as far as I could remember only few students didn't wear it in the class. I thought I was in the wrong class and asked them to confirm it. The students said it was my class so I asked again why there were unfamiliar faces and I hardly recognized them. The guys definitely gave a very straight answer "ramai tak pakai tudung malam ni". It gave me a chance to reply " apasal, malam takde malaikat siang je ada". You can expect the action from the guys they were laughing like they never did anything wrong in my class and the girls of course could only gave sour smiles.

I didn't mean to be sarcastic far from trying to humiliate anyone but I know I have the obligation to educate them and not just to teach them. I hate nagging to others and been nagged by others so if I gave a ceramah about pahala & dosa or syurga & neraka after seeing my female students were not in the proper attire definitely they wouldn't listen to me or just ignore everything. What I could do was saying only a short and simple remarks and hopefully it was effective. Whether the students understood what I meant or not, my intention at that time was really sincere. I'm not saying I'm good, far from perfect enough to give admonition/advice in this matter but I believed the students and myself too should be reminded when we did something wrong.

Note : The entry doesn't mean to condemn anyone. It just my experience as an educator and a muslim woman who tried to educate the students. If the way of educating my students and writing it here didn't seem right I accept it solely as my own weakness