Swill Anyone?

I couldn't help feeling being looked upon like a pig when I ordered some satay the other day and looked up to find, to my horror, that this relatively new stall had been named 'Swill @ Siglap'. And it is housed in a traditional coffee shop under the name of 'Small But Big'. The shop owner must have been very pleased that one of his stall operators has shared his sense of humour. Some years ago, I came across a coffee shop at one end of Balestier Road under the banner of 'Ban Diao Zi' (半调子）。To be exact, the correct Chinese expression of '半吊子 ’refers to someone who is not perfect or up to the mark. Am I to expect some diluted coffee at that shop? Or perhaps it's a shop for people who are only half good. Wonder if the shop still maintains its humble name today!

Fighting Back At The Right Time

Darren finally resigned. To leave a place where he has carved out quite a reputable niche for himself for a good part of the last three decades, that's not easy! But for no fault of his own, he was pulled out from what he was good at and thrown into a pit where he was mauled and mangled by tigresses very much his junior. He was not given a chance to pick up the new trade at his own pace, but was chided and abused openly for not abiding by the rules of the new den within just a couple of weeks of service. Open insults form a prerogative of those females who have managed to climb to the top, or almost near there. I could still remember the first shout of 'no excuse' hurled at me by a lioness with a deep voice that can terrorise many husbands-to-be. I was new to the job then and was not really guilty of the fault that she had picked at. I had to swallow it simply because I wanted to keep my job in those still tender years. I was in no position to threaten with a resignation within 24 hours as Darren had done. He's got the capital as many would say. I laud him for his guts. In any case, a boss should not take it out on a subordinate just because he or she is under pressure. A boomerang would hit somewhere hard on one of those unlucky days. Anyway, Darren is a free man in all aspects of the word. He has fought back and freedom is his reward.