Journal - Home to Sabah : Day 3

Well, it's Monday and again I woke up late at 8:40am. Missed the sunrise again, drat!

As usual made hot nescafe, browse through my IPAD. Sis said I should stay home to help mum support dad when he wants to move from bedroom to the hall, and vice versa. Hot day. Watch a bit of TV and dozed off. Lunch at 12:30 after mum gave dad some bread and stuff. Initially we were worried cos he didn't want to eat since yesterday. I was glad to see he finished his lunch. Soon after mum and I helped dad into the bedroom for his nap.

After lunch I was toying with the idea of going over to Dongongon town instead of being cooped up at home all day. My brother, who dropped in for lunch, said I could use the Kancil. So when I was about to go out at 1:45pm we couldn't find e key so my mum said to walk there. So into the hot blazing sun I walked for 15 mins. It's really not that far.

The Immersion
The shopping mall was my first stop. Had to cool myself. It was recently built, so far around 70% occupancy, 3 floors, with Giant as the anchor tenant. Nice place with retail lots catering to simple people like us. It is built just adjacent to the shop lots so it seems a little bit odd that when I stepped out of the mall I find myself appearing in the old town instantly.

I just walked and walked among the shop lots and after buying some kuihs stopped by at a mamak restaurant for a drink, and just immersed myself in the environment. Just needed to feel I'm back in my homeland.

The Gimmick
After 2 glasses of "teh peng" and half an hour just sitting there, I decided it's time to go. As I went back into the mall I was fleeced by some sales people who were introducing some new brand and said I was entitled to a free gift. I was directed to a seat in front of a computer where they explained that I was entitled to 3 clicks which could win me some more gifts. They reiterated that I was not compelled to make any purchase as they claimed that they just want to promote the brand. One gift was already in hand for me, a gel pack for the eyes.

As I began to click on a random boxes on the screen I was instantly rewarded with 2 out of 3 mystery gifts. The second one entitled me to another round of random picking which, after complying ton their instruction, sort of hit the jackpot - a Home Theatre set worth RM4K, plus 3 other stuff worth RM300 to RM1000. They were very surprised and asked me thrice if I had clicked on the icon twice, and I said no, only once. They mentioned that it was very unlikely that 3 gifts appeared on screen, usually only one item would be displayed. So they called their 'boss' on their mobile, and the boss spoke to me, which I handed over to the sales person for I could not really understand why the boss was ranting. It turned out that I had to fulfill 3 criteria in order for me to grab all 4 gifts for free.

The Criteria
1. I have to promote their products and brand. Just use these at home and tell friends about it. No problem there.

2. Take photo with the sales people. I guess they want photos of winning customers to convince new blood. No problem - no harm there.

3. Use up the RM300 voucher. I just knew it. They would introduce me to high price products and knock off the voucher's worth.

Mistake! They didn't know who they were dealing with. I was almost duped once in KL right and my wife and another friend had to coaxed me out of it. So I smiled and said Thank You but I have to decline their 'generous offer'. They were surprised (another drama there) and said even if I buy their products with the voucher, and go for instalment payments, it was still worth it, as the 4 free items were worth more than RM5,000. I stood my ground politely and it didn't take them long to admit defeat. Once that realization dawned upon them the sales girl playfully asked me to belanja them drink so I obliged. They're nice people anyway, not overly persuasive and I felt pity that so much of their energy and effort didn't go in their favor. Anyway, I got my free gift of the gel pack for the eyes.

By 4:30 I left for home on foot in the slight drizzle. I was extremely tired and sleepy but when I lay down to nap I couldn't sleep so I just went for a bath. Simple dinner and the rest - no further happenings. Goodnite all...