Goodbye Singapore, hello Tokyo!

This will be my last post before I leave for Japan tomorrow. Will be back on 11 October, but I will bring my laptop there just in case I get bored in the hotel.



One of the highlight of my trip is the Grand Maze Palladium in Nikko, Japan. If I don't come back from Japan, well, you know where to rescue find me.

So let me end this post with one of my favourite quotes.
"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road."

Find every reason to smile, my friends!

Rich man's curse

Are rich people cursed?

Cursed with impending poor health due to his rich diet?
Cursed with unhappiness due to family politics?
Cursed with future dispute over inheritance when he passes away?
Cursed with higher chance of getting a spouse who’s only interested in the money?
Cursed with having little time left for the family?

When money comes into the topic among poorer or middle-class people, sometimes we hear phrases like

So what if they are rich? They are not even happy.
He may earn a lot of pay as an accountant, but he is working day and night. He won’t have time to spend it.
Rich people are like that one lah.

I used to stereotype the rich negatively when I was young. In fact, I nearly got a record in the police station when I was young, special thanks to a rich classmate who turned on me to save his butt from his mum’s cane. Anyway, as I growing up and reading more, I start realizing that these statements are lousy justification to remain poor. They are sour grape statements made by the poor either out of jealousy, or injustice.

If rich people are more likely to have diseases associated with rich food (gout is known as the rich man disease, and caused by high intake of seafood and alcohol), then poor people should more likely have exposure to diseases arising from hygiene or unhealthy cheap food (think McDonalds and oily fried kway teow). But at least the rich have the money for supplements and surgery if needed.

Often in family drama serials, the rich has been casted as snoobish people who looks down on their son’s girlfriend’s humble background. If that’s the case, then what about those stereotyped money-minded poor folks who are out to milk a fortune from their daughter’s rich boyfriend? Or the girl with big boobs and great looks out to score herself a rich angmoh (foreigner)?

Rich man’s kids who are portrayed as spoilt brats who believe money can solve anything. But I know a lot of rich kids who had great education from their rich dad to make money with money, as compared to aimlessly exchanging time for money. Think Robert Kiyosaki, his rich dad taught him to make money, while his poor dad taught him to study hard and earn money.

If the rich has to fight for the their rich papa’s family fortunes, then the poor has their own problem of losing a breadwinner when the poor papa dies – who will support the family now?

If the rich like to gamble huge amount of money, at least most of them gamble with their excesses (or the company’s funds. =p). For the poor, they are more likely to bring their gambling problems home. Look at those people who are barred from the Singapore casino, as requested by their family. Are they poor or rich people? Poor.

What about straying from marriage? Well, rich man has mistresses. And poor man has lovers – it’s the same. Lust does not exist only for the rich. As long as you are a uncontented low-morale god-damned son-of-a-doggy and you have the guts, then you will stray if you want to. You don’t need to be rich to be a playboy, you just have to go for a different group of girls.

And what about the stereotyping that rich people are always busy? I personally think this is another misconception. The idea of wanting to get rich for me is to have more time for myself. After all, rich people hire poor people to work for them. My angmoh boss goes back much earlier than us because HE WANTS TO. I have colleagues who work so long hours due to their strong sense of responsibility, even though they are getting much lower pay than the bosses. Even if the rich guy work long hours, he’s at least better off than being a poor man and still work long hours (or hold double jobs).

In short, rich and poor people have their own set of problems.
Don’t be biased and be fearful of getting rich.
And stop demonising the rich. They are like you and me - most have 2 eyes and 1 nose.

The rich have beer belly. The poor have char kuey teow belly.
It’s the same.

Giving sour grape statements about rich people will not make us any richer.
And it certainly won’t make us any better either.

Why be poor when you can be rich?

Wrong problem, Wronger solution

My Wifey has a issue of identifying the wrong problem, and then solving it with a wrong solution.

As I was hanging up the washed clothes to dry recently, I realised the house was out of clothes hangars. So I asked Wifey for a solution.

She said to buy more clothes hangars lor.

I told her that was solving the wrong problem. The problem wasn't the lack of clothes hangars, it's the atrocious collection of clothes that she has.

Being the naughty Wifey that she is, she probably might just take the chance to throw away the unwanted (and not neccessarily old) clothes.

And THAT, is still not solving the right problem.

When I get around to ruling the world someday, all online shopping websites will be accompanied with a warning label.

CONTENT WARNING
The site that you are about to view may contain sales only suitable for adults with plenty of cash to spare. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger Terms of Service.

About the Author: Shingo T's Wifey has 5 times more clothes than him. And he doesn't recall her bathing 5 times more than him.

Random Notes 36

(1) The problem with going on long holidays when you start working is that alot of work need to be settled before you go for the deserving holiday. And then there's that big pile of accumulated work waiting for you at the end of it.

(2) I wanted to find some time and write a long article on Network Marketing. People in this industry have been preaching why this low cost business will work, and yet so many people have failed and condemn the industry. I wanna give some inputs and clarify all the myths. Who wanna read it?

(3) My Wifey is going for the F1 race today with her friend. Even with all the barricades set up to separate the cars from the spectators, I can't help but feel a little worried.

(4) So the latest Miss Singapore Universe has unauthorised transactions using her customer's credit card? Gosh.

(5) I heard that if you play your own CD for your wedding march-in, you now have to pay royalty fees, so it's better to choose from the hotel's music collection. Same goes for the music that goes with your wedding video and montage. Getting married is now more expensive than ever.

(6) There are alot of good single men around. And there are alot of good single women around. So why are these people still single? Because they believe in fate. And I don't - I manipulate fate.

(7) I like to give myself a confident smile through the mirror. Confident man are attractive creatures. And damn, I'm sexy (even with a soon-to-be-receding hairline, and my belly). But sorry ladies, I'm taken.

(8) I was invited to a ex-colleague's house to celebrate Hari Raya. It feels good to be remembered by someone I haven't seen for a long time. Looking forward to catch up with him.

(9) Enjoy your weekends, everyone! And don't forget - you are one hell of a sexy person! So flaunt it!

Big John won't pay

One of those forwarded emails that I thought will bring you a chuckle.

---------
One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened - Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!"

The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, "Big John has a bus pass."

Management Lesson: "Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."

The only thing you need to know when travelling.

Have you seen the Visa advertisement with this guy dancing up and down, and jiggling his hands in front of signature monuments all over the world? I see this commercial alot in cinemas, and it give me a chuckle every time! ^_^

I thought this was a great commercial, as it associates Visa with the only card you need when travelling overseas. Hmm... try using your Visa card in a Ethopia village and see if it works.

So if Visa is the only card that you need in a developing city, then what will be the only sentence that you need to speak in the language of the country you are visiting?

Try this.

"Where is the nearest Subway?"

Now someone tell me how to speak that in Japanese.

In a week's time, I will be "dancing in Japan" just like Matt Harding.



But with a Mastercard.

About the Author: Shingo T will like to share with HappySurfer how he is going to survive in Japan - by speaking just one sentence in Japanese.

Random Notes 35

(1) Nino introduced Google Reader to me recently. And I think it's an awesome tool, especially for those of us who are keeping tabs on many blogs. Thanks Nino! ^_^

(2) Wifey and I will be going for a trip to Japan soon for 11 days. As the service apartment we booked could accomodate a third bed (at S$30 a night), I thought it will be quite a waste just having the 2 of us using such a big room. So I offered my bro-in-law (who is still studying) a all-paid trip to Japan for the price of S$500. And he rejected despite it being his school holiday. Wifey and I are still bewildered why he turned down what we thought was a fantastic bargain.

(3) Wifey spent the long weekends (thank you, Hari Raya) making mooncakes for the first time. The cost of the materials is only a fraction of what it is sold outside. Maybe only only 10%-20%. Which makes me kind of reluctant to buy mooncakes from retail outlets in future.

(4) I'm hoping my Wifey will make rice dumplings next year - I love eating rice dumplings.

(5) It appears that pirated CD stalls are on the way to extinction in Malaysia. Good or bad?

Misunderstood

I wasn't trying to hinder fellow commuters from exiting the train.
They were just hindering me from entering the train.

I wasn't thinking of not giving my seat up to the pregnant lady.
I just wasn't sure if she's pregnant or fat.

I wasn't supposed to be this late for work.
It's just that the alarm didn't ring, and the bus came late.

I wasn't supposed to lose money in stock.
I just bought too late, and sold too early.

I wasn't really two-timing her when I already had a girlfriend.
I was just exploring my options.

I didn't intend to keep the $10,000 that I found.
I just didn't know who to return to.

I wasn't going to lose my temper.
I was just provoked by her into doing so.

I wasn't planning to skip their wedding dinner.
The time just happened to coincide with the last episode of my drama serial.

I would have started my own business long ago and achieve financial freedom.
I just didn't have a rich dad, and no extra time to do so.

I wasn't trying to take over the world.
I'm just trying to make it a better place.

I'm not the villain that your friends perceive me as.
I am just a victim, and I'm being misunderstood. =(

Note: This post is meant to be sarcastic. There are 101 reasons we can give just to explain something. But most are not reasons, they are either one-sided perceptions, or just simply... lame excuses.

Coca Cola is good

Do you know that Coca Cola contains 8 teaspoons worth of sugar? Carbonated drinks has to contain more sugar than non-carbonated ones to taste "just as sweet".

Do you even put 8 teaspoons of sugar in your coffee?

Enjoy your coke.

Taming a shrew

According to Wikipedia, a shrew is a woman with violent, scolding, selfish or nagging temperament.

Lately, there was a series of photos circulating in Stomp, about a woman in Singapore who hits her man with her high heel shoes in the groin (ouch!)



Note: As I have emphasize time and time again, woman should NEVER make their man lose face in public. If Woman are made of Water, than Man must be made of Ego.

Shrews are generally at the bottom of my dating list, no matter how chio (pretty) she is.

So what happens if a man is madly in love with a shrew?

Well, I know of a gal who used to lose her cool every other day at home with her family members, even though she is a nice person in front of her friends. She loses temper if the cooked food wasn't to her tasting, or if her mum nag at her. She would quarrel with her ex-bf now and then, and they broke up. Eventually, she married a nice guy who looked mediocre, but was matured and understanding. Under the power of love, she changed to become the best ever person to her hubby and everyone. Now they are married, and she's happy everyday. ^_^

Then there's another girl who also had a nasty temper. She had a great figure during her younger days, and was known to change boyfriends a lot. When fire and fire collide between she and her young boyfriends, she got alot of unhappiness. But eventually, she settled for a man who’s about 5-10 years older than her. The guy wasn’t even as good-looking as any of her boyfriend, and nowhere rich. But now they are married with 2 kids. And she has grown fat after pregnancy, but I know she's so much happier now and no longer lose her temper. ^_^

The power of love is amazing. It can even turn shrews to virtuous wives. The guys in these 2 examples were both older man with a good degree of maturity and a good temper (that should not be taken for granted). They don’t return the shrew's violence with violence of their own. They have the patience and maturity to deal with the gal’s nonsense. And slowly, the shrews subconsciously changed to mirror their milder half. Now whenever I see these 2 couples, I particularly feel very happy for them.

The power of love can turn the hardest rock to gold.

How to make peace in marriage.

Alot of people have been asking whether I'm that peace-loving and nice when I am away from work.

The truth is Wifey and I have our fair share of disagreements, like most couples. Even though we are quick to defend our self-interest, we resolve issues very amicably in every occassion.

Every obstacle is actually a building block that makes the marriage foundation stronger.

Having conflicts is good ONLY IF it gets solved the RIGHT way. And it makes you better at handling future conflicts.

In worst case, learn to sleep and forget the next day.

Everytime you are pissed off about the other half before going to sleep, recall one thing wonderful about the person when you wake up.

And that's easy when it comes to me - I have alot of wonderful memories of my Wifey being really nice. In fact, it makes me feel guilty about losing my temper sometimes. =(

Sleeping over problems doesn't mean we avoid problems by sleeping over it. It's just that problems get resolved easier when both parties think with a clear head. It's also not about you getting the solution you want, but for both parties to agree on a compromised and sustainable solution, so that the same problem will not come back to haunt you.

Every problem needs a proper closure.

Learn to stop talking when you are pissed. Chances are that whatever comes out from your mouth may only make it worse. Don't win a war of words, and end up losing the bond.

About the Author: Shingo T does not make his Wifey kneel on durians for 3 hours whenever he's angry. 3 hours is too long and inhumane.

Beware the Office Printer & Photocopier

Most of us work in an office where the printer and photocopier is a shared resource. And because of that, one has to be nimble when you click the "Print" button on your laptop/desktop.

Because if you are printing something not meant for the roving eyes of your colleagues, you gotta be nimble. You have to intercept your printout before anyone does.

Failing to be prompt in collecting your personal printouts can lead not just to loss of confidentiality, but also to embarrassment.

Some of the "personal" stuffs that I have came across:
(1) Salary slips. Somehow I wasn't the only one who noticed. Soon, everyone in the department knew how much the person was getting.

(2) Bank account and investment statement. Equally dangerous.

(3) Course Notes from part-time schooling. Or hobby-related notes.

(4) Work-related complaint emails.

(5) Black-and-white pictures of scantily clad babes. Ok, I'm kidding for this one.

To my colleagues who are reading this, the next time you see me sprinting 100 metres to the office printer, do not even think of intercepting me.

Cos I will bite!

About the Author: Shingo T's teeth is rumoured to pierce through aluminium pots with ease.

How to win in the Stock Market

As an appreciation of your faithful readership, today I shall share with you the ULTIMATE secret to earning at the stock market.

We all know that buying stocks is about "buying low, sell high".
But what if you buy low, and it goes even lower?

After years of doing endless economic factors regression pattern forecasting, technical analysis and simulation using historical data, I have realised that the key to a successful and profitable trade is NOT about SKILL. And it's NOT about TIMING.

It is about LUCK! And thus, I ventured and explored through the Amazon forest (tons of mosquitoes), the Sahara desert, and the Himalayas in search of four leaf clovers. With each of these samples, I conduct rigoruos experimentation to narrow down my choice to three species of the LUCKIEST four leaf clover.

Engaging the help of prominent botanists (damn, are they expensive!), I have leveraged on the latest knowledge and CUTTING-EDGE technological methods of the latest pollination, cross-hybridisation and DNA mutation to come up with THE four leaf clover.

Yes, the SHINGO T FOUR LEAF CLOVER!
(I had to name it after myself. Hey, you gotta admit that I should get some credit for such a masterpiece)



This WONDERFUL four leaf clover is one of a kind. It may look ordinary, but beneath its mediocre look lies a mystic and intangible luck that attracts money like a magnet.

For faithful readers, I will part with my LIMITED stocks at ONLY $499 per four leaf clover.

In fact, I am so confident that this SHINGO T FOUR LEAF CLOVER will make you money in the stock market, that I am willing to return you back your $499 if you don't earn money (which is by the way, IMPOSSIBLE!).

Stocks are LIMITED and SELLING OUT FAST!

Hesitate no more. After all, the best way to beat risk is to START EARLY!

Bulldoze your way to financial freedom TODAY!

So how many do you want, suckers?

About the Author: Shingo T is making err.... little TONS AND TONS AND TONS of money in the stock market. And so can you!

13 September

Seven years ago, I held your hand.
Three years ago, you became my wife. ^_^

How many cats are there in Singapore?

One of the most interesting interview question I was given is to estimate the number of cats in Singapore.

I was given time to think it over, and write my answer down on a piece of paper.

There are no right or wrong answers. It is meant to test one's creativity skills (or "smoking" skills).

I remembered that Singapore has a population of 4.2 million.

For simplicity, I assumed that all Singaporeans lived in flats.
Each flat has an average of 15 floors.

For every 5 floors, I assumed there is a houehold that kept 1 cat (guesstimate)
So there are 15/5 = 3 cats per block.
(1) Adding a 0.5 cat for stray cats loitering in void decks, we get 3.5 cats per block of flats.

From observations, each floor has an average of 8 units.
And each unit has 4 people living.
So that would equate to 8 x 4 = 32 people living per level per block.
(2) Which equates to 32 x 15 = 480 people living per block.

And that means for every 480 people, there are 3.5 cats.
And since I remembered that Singapore has approximately 4.2 million people (at that time of my interview), the number of cats will proportionately be about

4,200,000 / 480 x 3.5 = 30,625 cats.
That's the estimated number of cats in Singapore!

Anyone else have a different approach?

About the Author: Shingo T did manage to pass this round of interview, but didn't make it past the 3rd round of test.

So what if you are my friend?

For budding franchise entrepenuers, do you know that Subway has one of the cheapest franchise system around? About US$10k for annually licensing. Anyway, if your good friend one day tells you that he has opened a Subway franchise in the city area, will you go and support him?

Will you support him if you are not a fan of the sandwiches?
Will you support him if you live and work far away from the city?
Will you support him if the sandwiches are more than double the price of your favourite chicken rice?

I am not one who do things for show (except attending weddings and funerals, which I consider basic respect). I will not show support to a friend just because I want him to earn my money. Friend or stranger, you will have to work to earn my cash.

I can help you in other ways like publicity. These are ways in which I won't have to force myself to contribute cash, but you will still get that incremental marketing (no matter how insignificant) required for generating more sales.

If the business you offer does not appeal to me, I will tell you straight in the face. If the prices are steep, I will not be a sucker for it just because you are my friend – but I will tell you which of your competitors are offering a better deal.

I am one who believes that money should be circulated within the inner circle. After all, that's what those rich people always do. Small companies often subcontract to a company or subsidiary belonging to his family or friends. If a friend and a stranger are offering me a insurance policy from the same company at the same cost, I will try to buy from my friend, or his recommendation.

A person’s nett woth is determined by his network.
It’s something that network marketing industries always emphasize on. A friend’s friend will turn out to be your friend. For every friend you have, you are looking at him and his 200 other friends.

The real estate agent I engaged is a church friend of my insurance agent.
And the renovator I engaged is recommended by my colleague.
And one of my insurance agent is my former colleague.
And my broker is the dad of a friend.

But still, just because you are a friend doesn’t mean you can give me less than desired services. Remember the power of the word of the mouth. If an insurance agent who is a relative gives me poor service, you can be assured that he will not be getting any referrals when my friends ask me for recommendation.

Also, just because you are a friend doesn’t mean that I should be serviced by you without any profits or at steep discount. Recently, a insurance agent of my wife offered to help us buy our travel insurance without charging us a single cent (his family is pretty rich, so he’s doing it for friendship). I denied the offer, and asked that he charge us the same amount that any insurance agent from his company will charge. After all, he has to help us get quotes, run down to the office to make apply and make payment etc... if he doesn't charge us a cent, he is actually earning negative profits for this transaction.

I know of another insurance agent who was mercilessly asked to be treated free meals by his prospective clients (who are his colleagues) in consideration of him buying numerous policies. After he had his fill, the client ended up buying a cheap policy. Well, obviously the agent ended up being the sucker in this case.

I don't expect my insurance agent to treat me drinks. In fact, I buy drinks for my agent because of all the hassle that she saved me from.

Business is about making money. And your time is money.

I do not take advantage of anybody. And don't expect to take advantage of me.

Business is a transaction.
Be my friend, and I guarantee you first consideration.
But bite me once with your lousy service/products, and you can say goodbye.

Earn my trust, and convince me why your goods and services are superior.
Then we can talk about how to make me part my cash.

Chicken or egg

After the previous "Fruit or vegatable" post, Roxy suggested that I can probably touch on the famous question on whether the egg or chicken come first.

This circular referencing has been a intriguing philosophical question for donkey years. There are many ways to argue which came first. I did a little reading over the Internet, and I am tending towards the argument that the egg (ie. chicken egg) came first.

The reasoning is as follows.
Evolution has a crazy way of randomly mutating some of the genes. And that’s why we get evil geniuses like Hitler, who were born from very normal people.

A lot of creatures roam the earth millions of years ago when chicken does not exist on the face of Earth. What could have possibly happened was that somewhere along those years, some egg-bearing animals (maybe a bird?) laid eggs that hatched into mutated variants of themselves. Through generations of mutation, one of the mutated egg hatched to be a chick.

So this chicken-producing egg is the first ever chicken egg.
And it broke to produce the first ever chicken.

So Chicken egg --> Chicken.
(Solved)

On a related note, it appears that this circular referencing is also a very part of social life.

Fresh graduates couldn’t get a job because they have no relevant experience. But the reason why they have no such experience is because they were never offered a job in the first place!

And then there’s demand and supply. How are people going to boost the economy, if they are poor as a result of the poor economy?

Everything goes around in circles. But somehow, somewhere, the circles will be broken.

Such are the wonders of life!

Difference between fruit and vegetable

Recently, me and a group of friends were asked whether tomato and cucumber are fruits or vegetables. Most of us, including myself ended up giving the wrong answer.

Some of us thought "fruits are sweet, vegetables are not" etc... Well apparently, that's not the case.

In case you are asked the same question in those game shows or whatever, I thought it will be good to give a little refresher course on the difference between fruit and vegetable.

According to WikiAnswers
A fruit is a ripened ovary, enclosing the seeds which are the mature ovules. They can arise from a single carpel, or several carpels fused together,or seperate carpels. A vegetable is not developed from a flower. English speaking, if it has seeds, it is a fruit.

A good way to determine whether it is a Veg or a Fruit is after being picked a Fruit will ripen, and a vegetable will rot.

To keep it simple, just remember
Fruits have seeds.

So tomatoes and cucumbers are fruits.

CORRECTIONS: Sorry, peas are legumes (not fruits or vegetables), as pointed out by Nat.

Cheers! ^_^

Claiming free movie tickets

I pay my credit card bills regularly using the self-automated machines. And during one of my payments, I won a lucky draw for 2 movie tickets.

As with most free or discounted tickets, they came with many restrictions so as not to hurt their bottomline.

Condition (1): Pass not valid on Thursdays, Fridays, weekends, eve of public holidays and public holidays.

This implies that I can only watch the movies on most Monday to Wednesday. I have no issues with that, since it’s a rule that makes economic sense to the cinema operator. Giving free attendance during lull times comes at no extra cost, especially if it is given to people who already have no intentions to watch that particular movie show. Hopefully, the free show will translate to the patron generating interest to visit the cinema again for more sales to the company.

Condition (2): Pass not valid for advance bookings, telephone and internet bookings.

This continues to build on the “free or discounted means you will not be treated equal” rule. We won’t be able to get choice seats for free tickets, since we can only redeem the moment when we reach the cinema. For us working folks, that normally means just within an hour before the show starts. But it's fair enough.

In general, free also means that we should not complain too much (Asians have this very bad hanit of complaining even if things are free). After all, no one is forcing us to redeem the tickets. It is an option we can choose to execute if the benefits outweigh the inconveniences.

What bothered me was the next condition.

(3) Pass is not valid at all Golden Village cinemas, IMAX Theatre and at The Picturehouse.

It list the cinemas we cannot redeem the pass at. For the layman (or possibly the naïve), it means that I can go to ANY theatre that distributes the show, other than those listed.

And so, Wifey and I went to the Filmgarde cinema in Iluma to redeem the tickets. When I gave the ticketing staff the ticket, she started looking a little confused. It appears to me that she has not being briefed about such a promotion. She went on to read all the terms and conditions, and then moved on to ask another colleague about the validity of the ticket. Her colleague was not sure, and she ended up going into the office to check with her supervisor. When she got back, she told me that it cannot be redeemed at Filmgarde.

What the POOK???

So Wifey and I made a wasted trip down to Iluma, and I went back home, a little pissed.

That night, I called the credit card company to question and told them that the redemption does not work at Filmgarde. So which cinemas were eligible? The poor customer service guy who answered the phone didn’t knew the answer, and just paraphrase out what was written on my redemption voucher "All participating cinemas except Golden Village cinemas, IMAX Theatre and at The Picturehouse". That’s not exactly very value-adding. So I got him to ask his supervisor, who couldn’t give any better answer.

I was told to check with the various cinema myself. Back to square one.

Due to the restrictive days of the tickets, and the fact that I am not always free on weekday nights, I almost ended up missing the deadline of redemption of the ticket.

I finally ended up watching in another Cathay cinema (since Picturehouse is mentioned as one of the cinemas not eligible, it means the parent company, Cathay must be inclusive in general).

The moral of the story is that when you do any marketing or sales, keep it simple for the layman. You can state terms and conditions to cover your backside, but make it clear so that you won't suffer any repurcussions. Or even lawsuits - there was a recent lawsuit for a local bank over some "Terms and conditions".

In my case, I thought they could have used a mixture of inclusions and exclusions to define the participating cinemas. Probably something like "All Cathay, XXX and YYY cinemas except The Picturehouse."

Don't assume common sense is very common.

No “No” is normally treated as a “Yes”.

About the Author: Shingo T does not understand why a minibond has the word "bond" when it's not even one.