As part of my business strategy to promote Catalyst, my newly formed marketing agency I started two months ago, I put together a module on all my experiences in customer service, and decided to share them for free with anyone and everyone willing to listen. I have also documented my thoughts in an e-book, which will be made available free on my website that is due to complete in the next few weeks.

To date I have done more than a dozen presentations, one went better than the previous one.

Tuesday night, I was invited to a second presentation to the first company I ever worked for, after my initial presentation with their administrative staff the week prior.

I was excited and happy to be there to catch up with old colleagues, who gave me the warmest reception. There were about 40 people, old and new listening my talk.

Because I have done the same presentation repeatedly many times, and because the time frame given for me was half an hour, I decided to forfeit on using my power point slides and planned on telling 3 stories, which would leave my presentation short and sweet.

You know what was coming. One thing led to another, I stumbled and could not recover. Most of you would not understand the unforgiving minutes of standing before 80 eyeballs, thinking of you as an idiot unless you have been in the situation. This is the kind of embarrassing moment that I do not wish on anyone at all.

There was no graceful exit on my part, however hard I tried. From the scale of 1 to 10, my self confidence reached an all time low of minus 5 that evening. You can understand why, my reputation, my company’s brand was destroyed beyond measure to the eyes of these audiences.

They say, word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool, I say word of mouth will be equally as catastrophic in ruining one’s reputation in this instance. Thank God for my wonderful wife and my dog who loved me unconditionally, that I could go home to.

Instead of burying my head in the sand, I did it with the blanket all night. For the record, I did not shed any tears. But it was painful.

The story does not end there. I had an appointment with a bank the very next morning, to discuss about a proposal that I submitted a while back. By the way, I also sent the marketing guy a brochure about my customer service talk, which I did not anticipate was going to form the agenda for this meeting.

There were 6 bank officers surrounding me eager to hear about my presentation that I stumbled the night before. Even I wouldn’t have wanted to listen to myself at that point in time. I was able to draw energy from one of the kind faces among them and pulled off what would have been the most difficult presentation of my life. There is a God out there, and God had mercy on me that morning.

The bankers would have felt my rocky confidence that morning, but was probably won over by the substance of experience I had to share. I was invited for a second meeting to discuss further on the subject.

Yesterday, I provided another presentation with every ounce of my energy. In my book, I executed it to my satisfaction. You do not just bounce back from a minus 5 to a 10 over night.

It is still a healing process, I am still beating myself up over that night, I wish my very short term memory would spare me the recollection of that night’s ordeal, and I would be able to burry that one day.

I document this because in every failure, there are lessons to be drawn from. Here is what I learned, I hope you will not repeat my mistake:

On Presentation:

· Be over prepared. I could have drawn from the rescue of my power point presentation. · Avoid evening presentation whenever possible. At least for me, my energy level drops low come the evening. If I really have to, I will take a power nap to allow myself to bounce back.

On Life:

· Stand up from where you fall on. In hindsight, I am grateful for the ‘surprise’ arrangement the next morning. I would never have been able recover otherwise.

I wish to thank the following people whose kind words have helped me to stand up again. Deon, Maki, Sebastian, CY, Paul, James, Azlan, Nana, Vincent and Izan.

A wise man (Paul McNamara) wrote me this note: “screwing up is the single most important part in learning new things” to that I will always carry along in my mind.

I spoke to a group of 30 in a company this morning. 3 hours long, ok, about 2 1/2 hours. It was nevertheless, long. I had a few bottles of drinks in between, called several timeouts for the toilet. My throat needed it. My bladder needed the relief too.

Happy to report that the talk went well. At the end of it the body language of the listeners were the best signs of approval.

This was a speech I practiced for a long time. One I dragged the most to face, because of the group size and dynamic, which was identical to the one I failed two weeks ago.

I left nothing to chance. I was there a lot earlier, not only that, I even checked out the place yesterday. I doubled the number of slides in my power point, so I do not miss any thoughts. Yes, I brought my laptop along! I practiced to who ever that would listen. I even rehearsed the entire speech to Maki while walking her this morning.

It must be noted that it was not entirely my own credit to stand up from where I fell. Thanks to you, who cheered and lifted me up. You know who you are.

I’m back!

The kid and his mum that appeared in the mirror behind me did not look happy at all. He was involuntarily put on the heightened stool atop the barber chair, with tears quickly filled up half his eyes. I knew exactly what was going through the boy’s mind, while the barber was cutting his hair; “touch my fringe, I promise I will punch you in the face”. It did not help when the mum was standing right beside, commanding short and shorter.

I saw much of the boy in me. A point in time when the selection of the salon made as much a statement as the hair style you receive; as long as it looks like all your peers, who aspired to look just like Aaron Kwok.

One day, the boy will come around telling the world that the Indian barber shop experience is his very favorite pass time, just as I am doing now. That one day will come, when image no longer means anything, when the amount of hairs remain on your head no longer makes good economic sense for you to patronize with the salon that offers $50 per hair cut that includes hair dressers with an attitude, plays cool music and offer free soda in the upper class shopping mall. The realization for some people WILL come sooner than anticipated, so savor them while you can.

That said, let me justify my favorite Gentlemen’s Experience. I paid $3 for the happy combo yesterday at the barber next to mum’s tailor shop in KB. Such involves the hair cut [#2 on the side, slightly shorter on top], the shave, one that I pointed to the Sultan’s picture and said “macam itu”, [for the sake of hygiene, DO NOT let them use the decade old smelly shave brush on you, ask them to hand wipe the shaving foam on your face instead], and man to man massages on your head, neck, shoulders, hands and back.

The whole experience lasts between 20 – 40 minutes, depending on the mood of the barber, and also largely depend on how busy the shop was (for the best service, go early in the morning or at 3pm during weekdays, when its not busy). There is really no justification for any complain at that price!

I average 2 to 3 visits to Indian barber per month. Mostly for haircut, occasionally I would go in to get my regular lunch time massage for two dollars. It is especially rejuvenating, when you allow them to crack your neck and enjoy the thrill of the second chance in life through the merciful hand of the Indian barber.

The layout of the Indian barber shop I visited since young has not changed in 20 years. Still as clinical, still the same portrait hanging down the wall. It is visible that the leather barber chair withstand the test of time, and the shaving knife has not improved with technology. It even smelled the same too! What changed, was the Indian Barber, who has put on a few more pounds, slightly more gray hair, and perhaps a bit more money in the pocket to be able to afford some younger staff to sweep the floor the same way that he did 20 years ago, while waiting for the next poor victim to execute.

God bless the Indian barber next door, God bless all the Indian people in Brunei! I only wish my hair could grow quick enough for my next Indian barber experience.

End Note:
>>> Indian Barber Pricing:
>>> Hair Cut – No more than $4.
>>> Massage – $2 to $4
>>> Shave – $2 to $3.

Normally the whole combo would cost no more than $10. Some shops even offers in-ear cleaning as well.

I was charged $3 because we have long lasting relationship. 25 years to be exact. He’s done my dad’s hair, my uncle’s hair, my brother’s hair and all my cousin’s hair too! He has seen me with hair, he has seen me without. Hence the buddy buddy price tag. You can however, start sending your kids to him, over time, he may even give you a discount!

Theme: The Art of Appreciation

You cannot not totally immerge yourself into a culture until you show a genuine appreciation of the food, its origin and the art of eating it!

The real Hainan Kopi Tiam that I am accustomed to growing up, produces 3 kind of buns; Big Bao, Char Siew Ba & To Sa Bao (bean curd bun).

For your information:

1. We, The Hainan dialect invented Kopi Tiam
2. We, The Hainan invented Bao, not the Shanghainese.

In the spirit of focusing on the topic, I digress to discuss any further beyond this mention. Century old myth will now be confronted head on once and for all; To Peel or Not to Peel.

Why Peel? 

No, the Shifu who makes the bread do not use their saliva as part of the ingredient to make the skin of the bun. Even if saliva is part of the ingredient, peeling of the skin will not solve the problem. Not eating the bread entirely, does. Perhaps, that (the chef’s saliva) is what makes Pao tastier than the best McDonalds Burger any time of the day.

From a totally non bias point of view, the texture of the bao (skin off) do indeed taste a lot softer and delicate, taking the dining experience to a whole other level. Scientifically, the risk of having heartburn due to indigestion reduces significantly without the skin (just ask Dr. Alan!).

The reason why my view is non bias is that, 1/ it is my blog. 2/ I determine if my view point is bias or not.

Disclaimer #1: I have never eaten a Bao that is not peeled growing up, worrying there some element of spits on the skin. I wish I could I brainwash myself into being a non believer.

Why Not to Peel?

In all fairness towards this sacred topic, I can’t say for my fellow Asians who eat the bao skin on, because I’ve never tried it. The most ridiculous argument I came across on this topic is that, it is good for the environment that you do not waste the skin! Is that all you non peeler could come up with?

Perhaps you have a say to this…

End Notes:

• For those who have no idea what I am ranting about, please come to Brunei! The legendary Hing Nam Foong, 60 years old Kopi Tiam in Kuala Belait (1hour from the Capital city, BSB), makes the best Bao! Mention my name, mention this blog, and get your Bao for free*.

• If it doesn’t work, they do not accept credit card, but at B$0.80 per big Bao, B$0.60 Char Siew Bao and B$0.50 To Sa Bao, you wouldn’t hold my words accountable to this, or would you?

• Disclaimer #2 – Do not ask me how a To Sa Bao tastes. I’ve no idea. I’m a carnivorous. That means, if there’s no meat…. count me out.

• Is there any taker on turning the Bao into the next McDonald’s Dynasty? I’ve even thought of some cool business names:

• Dragon Bao
• Bao King
• Bao Pah

• This article is NOT inspired by the following sorbent advert, despite of its striking similarlity in the genesis of the thought. I present to you one of my all time favourite ads in Asutralia: here