This blogpost was originally intended to be about our Tsuta (takeaway) lunch yesterday. But after a trip to Waterway Point for lunch today, and the events that ensued, I decided to tweak this blogpost so it’s about this thought: If we were deemed “UnderHappy” back in 2014, which now seems like such happy days without COVID-19, then are we well and truly unhappy right now? I was initially quite pleased that it was SO easy to get a table at the Koufu foodcourt in Waterway Point because many people still chose to dabao though we can dine in already and there wasn’t a queue at the drinks/fruits stall when I wanted to get some cut fruits. Then it went downhill from there. At the bank, both cash deposit machines didn’t work so I had to head to the counter where I had to produce my IC, pull down my mask so the teller could confirm that I’m the same person whose picture is on the IC, and then count all my money on the spot even though she’s the one with the banknote counting machine (usually I just dump it all into the cash deposit machines and let them do the job – correctly or not, I don’t know/care). SIGH. Then, I decided I needed some sugar. Went to Chateraise to get a mochi and a slice of cake. The lady was glum-faced, uttered no greeting, and just placed my change on the counter – including six 10-cent coins which I had to pick up one by one. Wow. In Japan, she’d probably be fired right away. No, she’d probably not be hired in the first place. (@_@)
Anyway… I came to the conclusion that there’s just so much dissatisfaction, resentment, discontentment, and all-round fed-upness with the upheaval COVID-19 has caused. If we don’t learn to look at the bright side of everything that happens, then we’ll truly be miserable. The level of service I’d experienced at the bank may have been pretty bad but at least I was in the position of having money to deposit instead of having to ask the bank for a loan (OMG… can’t imagine what that would be like). And perhaps the Chateraise lady might want to start feeling thankful she still has a job instead of being unfriendly to customers.
It’s by no means easy, but we have to try. I don’t think us vacation-loving Singaporeans will actually be able to travel for leisure any time soon. Even a weekend trip to JB at year-end seems like a pipe dream.
If you think the COVID-19 situation is improving, and maybe you can actually go on a holiday overseas sometime end-2021 or in 2022, you might want to think again. The fact that we’ll be getting another round of free masks (this time with N95 masks too) makes me worried. I don’t think we’ll be getting N95 masks if the situation is getting better. Only if the war on COVID-19 is intensifying. The Delta and Delta Plus variants are indeed scary, but the even scarier thought is… ‘What’s next?’
For now, let’s enjoy the little ‘privileges’ such as being able to have our favourite food at the malls.
I spotted this manager-type guy in black asking a diner why he doesn’t have a sticker to show he’s been fully vaccinated (and therefore allowed to dine in). The diner is actually a friendly uncle who chats with everyone – the cleaning lady, the fruits stall lady, etc. He explained that he pops by every single day so the person manning the counter in front knows him and his vaccination status and so they decided to do away with the sticker requirement.
I wanted to drop two emails – to the bank as well as the cake store – to offer feedback about their staff, but in the end, I decided to just walk away. If they continue with their current level of ‘service’, someone would complain about them eventually.
I should learn to be more like my darling, whom I’ve never seen write a letter of complaint before. LOL. Yesterday, we had takeaway from Tsuta – their 1-for-1 mains promo is still ongoing… but only for takeaway. We ordered the (salmon) Kaisen Don. And as usual, they packed each ingredient separately, so we had to assemble our kaisen don when we got home. My darling dumped everything onto the rice while I decided to spread them out…
“It’s all the same after it goes into the stomach”
Go ahead and get takeaway from Tsuta. Assembling your own don can be a lot of fun. 
And *ahem* you save on service charge when getting takeaways, so… why not?
I guess we should also give service staff a break. Even the best of them can let us down at some point. Just the other day, we went to a McDonald’s Drive-Thru to get the Hainanese Chicken Burger meal. And as luck would have it, the Banana Pie wasn’t even warm! At room temperature, the pie’s actually not very tasty. Some things just have to be eaten while they’re hot. And the staff even forgot to pack our free McNuggets (given to those with the Drive-Thru VIP decal)! (@_@) We only realised that much later. I did send in feedback via the app and McD gave a really satisfactory response.
So… OK lah. We may have gone from #UnderHappy to #Unhappy but there will still be happy moments and happy places. We simply have to look for them and keep doing the things which make us happy.