Judge each person individually; not as a group, race or company.

When it comes to Telecom Malaysia, the major provider of telephone and internet services, there had been times when I had been exasperated with its staff. This was especially so when a complaint was lodged against a member of the staff who was in charge of repairs and who did a shabby job besides being rude in simply accusing the complainant of things which were not true. When other members of the staff would not want to encourage or take such a complaint, it could be understandable but no less frustrating.

First, the Telecom man came when I was not around. So I phoned him to make an appointment as he left a note in which it was stated that they would like to proceed with the repair and requested me to contact for such an appointment. While talking to the man about the appointment, he told me that there was nothing wrong with my line outside the house. So I told him that the telephone was still dead with no sound emitting from it. Then, he accused me of not having paid my bills and according to him that was the reason for the phone being dead. I told him I have always paid my bill on time but he insisted that that was possibly the problem. As he insisted on that although I told him that was not the case, I got irritated with him as felt that he had no right to make such an accusation. He told me to go to the office to see if my bills have been attended to. And that was what I did. I waited for my turn to be attended to for about an hour. Of course, the staff told me I did not owe anything. So I told the staff what that technician had accused me of. So, instead of fixing an appointment for me that technician had caused me to lose more than an hour.

Two days later, the rude technician came and told me there was nothing wrong with my phone. I told him I was more concerned about getting into the net.According to him, that was not his problem. If he was not the right man for the job, why did they sent him? A few days alter he came again to find my phone dead. He told me to change the wire connecting the phone to the outside wire. And that was what I did. Still, the problem was not solved. By then I realised that it had nothing to do with a faulty wire. So, that technician had me spend money unnecessarily to change that wire.

Fortunately, they did send some staff who were polite and tried to look into the matter properly.

During that frustrating almost two month period, I was unable to surf the internet and had to go elsewhere to enter this blog as well as look into my email. Eventually, I had no alternative but to meet the manager who looked into the matter.

And two days ago, I was unable to enter the internet again. This morning I found the phone dead and so phoned the Telecoms about it. They sent someone at about ten thirty that very morning but I was not in. Then at about two o'clock I tried the phone again to discover some sound from it. However, the link light on the modem was still blinking. I lifted up the phone a short while and the link light came on. However, when I tried to enter the net, I get a notice indicating the server could not be found.

At about four o'clock, I tried again and the same "server cannot be found" note appeared. So phone Telecoms to inform them that their technician did come when i was not around, my phone was no longer dead and the link light was stable but I was still unable to enter the internet.

The man who spoke to me was very calm and told me that there was connection since two o'clock. However, since there seem to be a no server problem, he told me to switch off the modem while he did something in his office. Then I was told to turn on the modem again and wait for the lights on the modem to stabilise. I did that. Then he told me to try to enter and I did enter. The problem was gone. Not only was this Telecom staff efficient in handling the problem, he was always so polite and calm. May God bless him! He impressed me and I know I ought to talk about such people in this blog, that there are nuggets if we look around.

It is such incidences that get us to realise that no group, company or race is totally bad. Every group, company or race have its good, bad and ugly. We only hope to find more good wherever we go. But sometimes it is the bad and ugly that makes us see the difference and be more appreciative of the good.