…Would have been our baby’s full moon.

We collected the keys to our new home in Setia Alam today!

We can’t move in yet because we are still waiting for the Certificate of Fitness (CF). We are expecting to get the CF in July. Give or take about two months for the developer to rectify the defects (we’re being generous here by giving two months). Then another 2-3 months for some basic stuffs like grilles, kitchen cabinet, etc…

We should be staying there by end of this year!

Three months ago when I was at Port Klang, I never expected to return so soon… What more, for a similar reason.

It was another ‘closing’ for Mrs Tai and myself. It was difficult to let go because it a way, it meant saying goodbye… But we knew we had to.

Goodbye Seraphine… Mummy and daddy will always love you. Though we say goodbye to you, you will always be in our hearts.

For most companies, SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedures. But for some, they actually stand for Silly Operating Procedures.

I can easily give examples of how these SOPs are designed by people who are not in touch with reality. For example, last year when a tenant moved out in a hurry, I did what was considered the SOP — call the utility companies and check to make sure all bills are paid, etc… One of them was of course Telekom Malaysia. They said there were some outstanding payments. I told them that my tenant had actually ‘migrated’ and will no longer be using their services. My tenant was no longer in Malaysia and could not be contacted. I advised Telekom Malaysia to immediately terminate the phone and broadband services.

Telekom Malaysia then told me that their SOP does not allow anyone other than the customer to request for termination. I can understand the logic behind this… Eventually, the phone service was terminated but not the broadband. When I asked again much later, they said broadband services had to be separately terminated. And if the user does not issue a termination notice (or do not realise the termination notice is separate), the service will still be active. The thing is, the broadband service requires a phone line. So I asked if there is no phone line, how can the broadband service still be active? The customer service people said its SOP.

Fast forward till nine months later… The outstanding amount is accumulating. Since I was still holding some deposit, I told Telekom Malaysia I would use the deposit to make partial payment (outstanding bill is more than the deposit). Again, I told them it is pointless to continue to charge for it since the tenant has left nine months ago… I was told the same thing — SOP. The service will be automatically terminated once the outstanding amount reaches a certain limit… Wait… I just made partial payment… So I asked them, does it mean now it will take Telekom Malaysia even longer to deactivate the account? The answer is — YES.

How silly can things get? I know that TMNet (Telekom Malaysia’s internet subsidiary) will sometimes issue a notice if you default payment just after two months. So how come this one can still go on after nine months? I suspect the notice is just notice and the limit is something like rm1000. So, if you wanna abuse their Silly Operating Procedure, you just need to sign up for the wireless access, which costs an extra rm10 which you will not pay anyway (this way, even after the phone service is terminated, you can access from their wireless nodes). Then don’t pay your bills. If you sign up for the rm66 per month unlimited package and add the rm10 per month for wireless access, you should be able to get 13 months of free internet. But of course, don’t blame me if you get blacklisted or this don’t work. But so far for that ex-tenant of mine, the service is still on!

Another case of Silly Standard Operating Procedure, this time with one of our local bank (this is also the bank that at one time said they will only deal with bumiputra companies for purchases, etc). It seems that to open a joint account in this bank, the relationship must either be parent-child, siblings or husband-wife (we are not talking about business accounts). And for husband and wife, you actually need to bring along your original marriage certificate! This is the first time I have heard if such thing. Banks are now charging service fees so I would expect them to be providing me with SERVICES not DIS-SERVICE! And I think our government’s effort to promote MyKad is definitely not working with LOCAL banks. This bank still requires us to fill up something like 2 sets of forms (that’s like 6-8 pages)…

Mrs Tai and I got annoyed and decided to walk down the block to another bank. We walked to the customer service counter and asked for the form. We also asked in advance if they needed to see our marriage certificate. They said there is no need for the certificate and there’s no form to complete. We just need to produce our MyKad… The process was impressive. The relevant information was extracted from MyKad and the details were then inserted into a form which was then printed out. All we needed to do was just sign! This is service we don’t mind paying. Shame on you, Maybank!

I just have to take another shot at Telekom Malaysia. I am sure many would have seen this advertisement before:

It’s written very clearly in the advertisement… “No fixed line rental*” with an ‘*’. How bad can the ‘*’ be? Look closely at the bottom and it says:

“Streamyx Combo monthly subscription fee is inclusive of monthly TM fixed line rental”. I must hand it to the marketing genius who came up with this… Is this actually legal — to claim NO fees and then say the fees are included (which actually means there are fees to pay)?

This afternoon, we went back to University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), formerly known as University Hospital. Seraphine’s hospital bill had arrived in our mailbox last week. We decided to settle the bill today as well as to thank the team at UMMC for doing their best for our Seraphine. We also wanted to thank Professor Lum for all that she had done.

We bought two fruit baskets. One for our doctor and her team of nurses who had attended to Mrs Tai during the ultrasound sessions. Mrs Tai had told me lots of wonderful things about the team when she was there. They were very helpful and friendly. The other was for Professor Lum and her team at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. They had been very accommodating and understanding. They were very diligent, caring and had attended to Seraphine (and the other babies in PICU) with all their hearts. We know that. And like Saraphine’s chinese name (Ern, 恩), we are grateful to everyone.

When we dropped by the PICU, Professor Lucy was in. She looked shocked to see us but she remembered us and asked how are we getting on… We told her what we would tell to our family and friends… We are as ok as we can be at the moment. We wish things had turned out otherwise but it didn’t. We have accepted the fact and we are adjusting to it.

Visiting the PICU brought back memories. Painful ones. As we entered, we saw a family sitting where my family was seated just a few weeks back. I could see this lady crying as she spoke on the phone. I know how it feels to have one’s child lying in PICU. I can only pray that everything turns out well for this lady and her child. And how I wish I had walked up to her this afternoon and told her that her child is the hands of a very good team!

We still have a few more items to sort out for Seraphine. After all the items are sorted out (my guess would be by next week), it would be our ‘closing’. It does not mean we will forget Seraphine but just that we have to start moving on…

It has been more than a week since Seraphine passed away.

Both Mrs Tai and myself are still adjusting to the fact that our baby passed away just after two days due to lung complications as a result of the congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Both of us are now still at home, being there for each other and to get through this together. Once again, I have to say that we are very glad to have so many relatives and friends who are there to lend a helping hand, an ear, etc… It makes going through all these a lot easier.

I would be lying if I said otherwise… We still miss Seraphine very much…