[ Chronicles of Central Market ]
- 8 August 2006-
Me, I, M, L and S went to CM to order custom T-shirts and keychains for our university's Malaysian society.. We went to a couple of places which offered the cheapest price.. So we paid the deposit to Mr. U for a hundred metal keychains and to Mr. K for fifty T-shirts.. The keychains would take two weeks to complete while the t-shirts would take four.. We gave them each a CD with our designs in it.. Mr. K said our T-shirt design wasn't in the format he wanted but he assured us that he'd take care of it by redrawing the design.. He even took note of all the font names we used..
- 30 August 2006 -
Me, M and L got a message from Mr. K telling us to come over to his shop to take a look at the T-shirts.. It turns out that the manufacturer got the design wrong so instead of having two stripes at the front, they're now on the left sleeve.. A SINGLE sleeve.. L went to check them out and asked him to redo the whole lot, which would set us back for another four weeks.. L was leaving before that, so she's no longer able to help us bring them back with her.. Mr. K said it would probably take time because they've run out of fabric for our choice of colour..
- 4 September 2006 -
I called Mr. U to ask about the keychains and he told me he's been on holiday for the past two weeks and I should contact the shop directly.. When I went there with M and L, they said Mr. U quit his job just a couple of days before and they didn't know a single thing about our order.. Unfortunately the keychain place's owner wasn't around so we had to come back later to discuss our 'missing' order.. Then, we went to see Mr. K about the T-shirts and since we were running out of time, we decided to just stick with the rejected T-shirts and get it finished ASAP.. Mr. K said we could come and pick up the order next week..
- 7 September 2006 -
I went to CM again to explain the keychain design and this time it was to the owner, Mr. Z.. To do this, I went back to Mr. K to borrow the designs CD we gave him earlier because it had the keychain design in it.. After settling things with Mr. Z - and resetting our waiting time back to two weeks - I returned the CD to Mr. K and discussed about the T-shirts.. He said there's another problem.. Our order was short by 3 pieces and since they've run out of material, those 3 T-shirts won't have any stripes or piping - basically the extras we wanted - on them.. I relented and said it's fine, just as long as we can pick it up by next week.. We ended up chatting for a good one hour before I left..
- 12 September 2006 -
Me and M called Mr. K countless times to reconfirm that we could pick up our order and he said yes.. Then the night before we were supposed to meet him, he called me up and said there's something wrong with the CD so he couldn't open the design.. He even mentioned that the other day, a "friend" of mine borrowed the CD and he didn't know what that "friend" did to it.. To this, I replied, "I AM THAT FRIEND!" and since the CD worked when I showed it to Mr. Z that day, I knew there was no way I could've wrecked it.. Then, Mr. K argued that the design wasn't in the format that he could work with.. I reminded him that he specifically told us that he would redraw the design himself and we had nothing to worry about.. Then he responded by asking what were the fonts we used and I definitely raised my voice when I told him we've already given him all that info since Day 1.. It was then that he admitted they needed more time to redraw the design and it would take another two days to complete the order.. We ended the call, and unfortunately the call took place in my mom's car so basically she heard every word I said.. When she knew that we had paid hundreds for the deposit, she said we were being duped big time.. I told A that we were going to CM tomorrow anyway to raise a ruckus but he just laughed, saying we couldn't even scare a mouse.. Nonetheless, I messaged Mr. K saying we were coming.. He replied telling us it wasn't necessary but I just said because of the late notice, we had no other choice..
- 13 September 2006 -
Me, I and M went to Mr. Z to refund our deposit since he didn't do anything about our order.. Then it was the main event: the showdown with Mr. K.. I don't know what caused it.. Maybe it was my mom's inherent disappointment at seeing me getting duped.. Maybe it was A's remark that challenged me to prove him wrong.. Maybe it could've been the fact that Mr. K and I were getting along fine last week just before he started stabbing me in the back.. Maybe it was a combination of all three, because I totally unleashed all my rage directly at him.. I said lots of unsavoury things so instead of reproducing them here, I'll just let I and M bear witness to my moment of histeria.. I asked for the designer's phone number so I could call him personally.. It took Mr. K ages - and a whole lot of fiddling on his phone, a message perhaps? - before HE made the call himself and conveniently announced that the other guy wasn't picking up.. I told him, "I asked for his number, not whether he's answering the phone or not!".. When he finally gave me the number and I tried calling myself, true enough, nobody answered.. We demanded to get the T-shirt today, even if it was in the evening and you know what Mr. K said? He told us to come pick it up at 3am.. Let me just tell you that it was really bad, to the point that I had to leave - drama queen style, for full effect - just to stop myself from raging on.. When I went to CM's info desk, they told me the place closes at 10pm, thus confirming that Mr. K was an outright liar.. After that, we scoured the place for another shop to order our keychains.. We found this lovely lady who was even willing to send them over to my house once the order's done.. But she couldn't open our CD so she brought us all to her friend's shop to borrow a computer.. Lo and behold, who did we find there? Mr. K, huddling over at another corner with another guy working on what appeared to be OUR T-shirt design.. I couldn't believe my eyes..
- 14 September 2006 -
At 3am, Mr. K sends me five identical messages, asking us to go and pick up our T-shirts quick because he was getting sleepy.. I wasn't asleep yet so I told him we're picking it up first thing in the morning.. He retorted, "Pagi tadi mintak macam dah takde esok," to which I replied that since I knew he was lying about the 3am pickup, I was better off sleeping at home than at CM.. That morning at 11am, there were four of us ready to pick up the T-shirts, only to find Mr. K still folding each of all fifty T-shirts into individual plastic bags.. I guess they're not as ready as he implied at 3am this morning.. An hour later, he's finally done and he gave us a RM100 discount.. Then he shook hands with the guys and apologized for all the trouble.. I went up and apologized to him for all the verbal assault.. And that was the last of our ordeal with him..
- 16 September 2006 -
I called the keychain lady and apparently she's having trouble sending them over to my house that night because she has a four-month-old baby to take care of.. She asked me to go to the nearby Puspakom centre.. Since I was home alone at the time, I tried asking help from my friends.. It was a long shot that didn't work.. She offered to send them to my house tomorrow but I won't be around the whole day.. So in the end, I asked her to drop them off tomorrow morning to my maid who will pay her for me..
- 17 September 2006 -
Keychains delivered.. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! :D
::
NHA at 2:09 PM ::
4 comments ::
