Another Chinatown Ah Pek Incident
No, today's incident was not about an Ah Pek (old guy for those not well-versed in Singlish) who has frisky hands but an Ah Pek with a plastic bag wrapped around his foot...
Anyway, I was in the office, alone on the ground floor since my dear friend the receptionist has left. I heard this insistent knocking on the door, and, being the inexperienced receptionist stand-in and exhausted from editing bad English, I foolishly opened the door without checking if "the foot is white"* (bear with me, I'll explain this analogy later). This old man immediately shoved the door open and let himself in, despite me pinning him back while asking him what he wanted. Anyway he got in and started to tell me, in a mix of Hokkien and Chinese, that he has lots of medical bills to pay - a few thousand dollars, he claimed, and kept pointing to his foot wrapped in a plastic bag. He was begging for money, and demanded to speak to the boss. Of course I told him no way, and that we are in a meeting and he has to go. He started yelling that can't I see how pathetic he is, and proceeded to make his way further into the office to beg for money. I told him firmly but sadly we cannot help him and he better not beg here. He then yelled at me and asked me for money, but at this point I was beginning to get rather frightened because if he hit me, I wouldn't dare to hit him back or I might just kill him. So I told him firmly but politely "Uncle, please don't do this here. These people here are Germans and they are very fierce, they wouldn't be nice to you, so please go, Uncle."
That did the trick and he left, cursing and swearing...
*Ok about the "check under the door to see if the foot is white" is the idea behind mistrusting strangers in this charming fairy tale, The Wolf and the Seven Goatlets...er...Kids. Read it here.
Well I'm glad that in two weeks I can leave all these old men behind, although I will seriously miss the cats.
Cat Watch
Orielle Noire is still barely eating today. She seemed to be very hostile towards Pinkynose for some reason, always hissing and spitting at him, and even pouncing on him, but she can tolerate Cheenaeyes around. Poor Pinkynose was also apparently attacked today by Shag, as she has snuck in to eat the food but must have caught sight of poor Pinkynose hiding behind the bucket because when I went to investigate the loud crash, I saw the bucket upset and Pinkynose shaking behind the aircon and Shag sitting there. I had to hiss to chase her away but Pinkynose was inconsolable. I think the poor kitten will have some serious psychological problems after all this trauma...
No, today's incident was not about an Ah Pek (old guy for those not well-versed in Singlish) who has frisky hands but an Ah Pek with a plastic bag wrapped around his foot...
Anyway, I was in the office, alone on the ground floor since my dear friend the receptionist has left. I heard this insistent knocking on the door, and, being the inexperienced receptionist stand-in and exhausted from editing bad English, I foolishly opened the door without checking if "the foot is white"* (bear with me, I'll explain this analogy later). This old man immediately shoved the door open and let himself in, despite me pinning him back while asking him what he wanted. Anyway he got in and started to tell me, in a mix of Hokkien and Chinese, that he has lots of medical bills to pay - a few thousand dollars, he claimed, and kept pointing to his foot wrapped in a plastic bag. He was begging for money, and demanded to speak to the boss. Of course I told him no way, and that we are in a meeting and he has to go. He started yelling that can't I see how pathetic he is, and proceeded to make his way further into the office to beg for money. I told him firmly but sadly we cannot help him and he better not beg here. He then yelled at me and asked me for money, but at this point I was beginning to get rather frightened because if he hit me, I wouldn't dare to hit him back or I might just kill him. So I told him firmly but politely "Uncle, please don't do this here. These people here are Germans and they are very fierce, they wouldn't be nice to you, so please go, Uncle."
That did the trick and he left, cursing and swearing...
*Ok about the "check under the door to see if the foot is white" is the idea behind mistrusting strangers in this charming fairy tale, The Wolf and the Seven Goatlets...er...Kids. Read it here.
Well I'm glad that in two weeks I can leave all these old men behind, although I will seriously miss the cats.
Cat Watch
Orielle Noire is still barely eating today. She seemed to be very hostile towards Pinkynose for some reason, always hissing and spitting at him, and even pouncing on him, but she can tolerate Cheenaeyes around. Poor Pinkynose was also apparently attacked today by Shag, as she has snuck in to eat the food but must have caught sight of poor Pinkynose hiding behind the bucket because when I went to investigate the loud crash, I saw the bucket upset and Pinkynose shaking behind the aircon and Shag sitting there. I had to hiss to chase her away but Pinkynose was inconsolable. I think the poor kitten will have some serious psychological problems after all this trauma...
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