Malaysian culture that I think needs a change

Supermarket

My Angah has always reminded me how supermarkets in Malaysia mark up the price of products by a few cents sometimes a few Ringgits than the price they are showing on the tag. And you will only find out about it at the checkout counter. We later went to a supermarket and she bought a block of butter among other things. The price on the rack was RM9 but when she got her receipt, she had paid RM12 for it. So she went back and asked for the balance and got it. Now, I went to the same supermarket to buy fresh milk. It stated on the rack that the price for one pack was RM6.10. When I paid and had the receipt in my hand, it stated that the milk cost me RM6.30.What did I do? Nothing. 20 sen je...

Warehouse sale

Angah and I initially were planning to go to IKEA last saturday but made a detour because we saw a banner saying warehouse sale for footwear on the way there. We did get lost for like half an hour to try to locate the building. It's actually quite easy it's just that we kept on missing the entrance. I was already giving up and asked her to just go to IKEA. But she insisted that now we were in the area and it's just nearby we should have a look at the warehouse sale. We finally got there and there's not a lot of people. I remember telling Angah that maybe it's a small sale and there would not be many choices even though the banner said "Annual Warehouse Sale". I was right in that they only had less than 20 designs to choose from and because of the limited choice, we settled for slippers for the Angah, my mom and Farhan at RM45 per pair. Then we got to IKEA and Angah had wanted Chatime so we went to The Curve. When she was queuing for Chatime, I went to a department store next to it to window shop. Lo and behold, I found the same slippers we had bought at the warehouse sale just a few hours ago, with all that driving, getting lost, sweat and jostling in the non air conditioned warehouse topped up with burning, unforgiving Malaysian weather for RM44.50 per pair, in that friendly sales service, less crowd, air conditioned department store.

High End Store

I was at KLCC with Along since she wanted to buy something for her friend's mom and we went to this store to just look around when I found a purse which I liked. I have been wanting to replace my current more pathetic than the most pathetic purse. Along wanted to buy a purse there too, for the gift, but when the salesgirl told her that it didn't come with a dust bag nor a gift box, she discarded the notion. She said to me "That's weird. In Singapore, they would normally come with a gift box. They'd make it extra special if it was meant for a gift". As for me, I was happy with what I found and made my purchase with debit card then we went to have a drink. While waiting for our drinks, I transferred all my cards and money into the new purse but when I tried to close it (it had a turn lock key), it just would not close. Then I reduced the number of cards and still it would not lock. We went back to the store which was closing at that time and the salesgirl said that I had put too many cards in the purse and that's why it wouldn't close. I told her "This purse has 12 slots, it's supposed to serve that purpose. Now that it doesn't, I want a refund". However, we were told that the store's policy only allowed for exchange but no refund. So there we were with  only 15 minutes in hand to try to find something which would cost exactly the same as or a bit more than my uncooperative new purse. I didn't like the other purses there so we settled for biscuits for my cousin's hantaran for her August wedding. I know it's ridiculous, but what the heck. I asked the salesgirl if the store could throw me a ribbon since it's for hantaran and she said no since the biscuits were on-sale items. When we were at the counter for the exchange procedure, the salesgirl told me that she "Accidentally voided my previous debit payment" and told me to pay for the biscuits with cash. WTF??? I told her since the sale could actually be undone, that means I don't have to exchange for anything. But she insisted on the store policy which was not stated anywhere in the store and insisted that I pay cash. I was about to yell "Where's your manager?" before Along got out her notes and paid.

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Having had Malaysian hospitality throughout my 27 years as a Malaysian, I honestly think that we as the consumers should make a change by standing up for our rights - be it 20 cents or 50 cents or even to challenge the company policy. Seriously, I'm one of the many who let slide of what seem like little things like 20 cents or silly company policy.