Pickles n' Tickles by JJ

EVERYTIME things go terribly wrong for me, I console myself by thinking that it could've  been a worse situation - l ike, if my car breaks down at a petrol station, I'd thank God with a relieved sigh, because it'd be much harder to get help if the old Vitara died on me on a dark, desserted highway, with very little or no mobile signal at all. Fluttery, long-lashes or not, I know, through experience, that it's not easy to get help from complete strangers to jump-start a stalled car even at a petrol station full of people, who may seem like caring Malaysians. While I've had kind strangers offering help during emegencies, most are just plain selfish. It's sad, really. Though it wasn't car trouble this time, last Friday was a testing day. It was a working day, I was getting from one place to another, and in between that, I bought a black, babydoll dress I thought was nice and decent, for a Christmas party I was invited...

Check out the foot on the arm rest HAVE you ever put your arm on an arm rest in a cinema and felt someone's shoe or bare foot resting on it instead? Well, I have. Countless times. Sometimes I get stinky shoes right next to my face and that's one reason why I prefer to watch movies at home (although everytime I encounter one with such primitive behaviour, I turn back and tell him/ her it's rude). Just today I witnessed someone do that at an event I attended. Only difference was that the venue was an auditorium and the lights were full on. A woman, seated next to me, had her foot on the arm rest in front of her (above pix). How crude is that? I couldn't help but steal a photo of it when she was wasn't noticing(trick is to put the phone on silent mode so it won't make that snap sound, and to pretend like you're checking a text message). The biggest turn-off was when she burped openly, and a few times at my face too, a...

NOTHING against smokers but I just cannot stand those who smoke at No Smoking areas such as inside lifts, hospital lobbies, petrol stations and school compounds. I don't know if those who still do despite the warning signs are rude or simply retarded. But I guess we will always have such idiots around. Today I had the misfortune of attending an outdoor event, which, by the way, started two hours late. Waiting was one thing but having people holding lit cigarettes in their fingers like they were champagne-filled glasses throughout the whole time was certainly not avant garde.  Practically every single person, both guests and organisers, had a cigarette in hand. No concerns for the few who didn't smoke and worst of all they blew smoke at all directions, not bothering if it was someone's face that they were blowing at. Then there were those who held cigarettes at their sides. When they mingled, the lit and smoking cigs faced seated guests dire...

I was walking in Desa Sri Hartamas with a photographer friend, Chan Tak Kong on Wednesday and witnessed the incident above. Obviously the owner/ driver of the Wira, which was carelessly parked at the wrong side of the narrow street, had left his brains at home on that day. As a result, the poor Hyundai could not make a right turn, so the driver kept on blasting the honk (I totally understand his frustration). Making matters worse, there was a long queue of vehicles behind the motorbike, also stuck due to the brainless driver's action. How rude.

I figured Rude Malaysians need a label of their own since there are so many out there. At food stalls, posh restaurants, ticket counters, government offices, on the road and communal living arrangements such at condominiums, testing on decent Malaysians'sanity. It's an ugly phenomenon, really. For a long time, I chose to ignore and avoid such people but these days, I just speak out loud and tell to their faces of their rudeness. My rational is that maybe they are not aware of it so by telling them, they might realise something (and in my own straight-faced, demonic effort to hurt their ego!). I don't know if it works to move them from a lifetime of cutting queus and speaking at a rude decibel in hospital wards, but the idea is to basically get them thinking (if they think at all) of their actions.   Under this label, I will be relating stories of my rude encounters as I go on my daily chores. A few...