Monday, March 06, 2006

What you'd do for 70sen!

.
Every driver in our household is familiar with papa's instruction not to mix different types of petrol in the car's fuel tanks. So, it has always been Shell and nothing else. I've consulted my automotive engineer friend and he said it's OK to mix them, all petrols has the same basic component, they only add different additives to enhance each product's performance.

But NO! don't mix your petrol, said papa.
He would drive an extra 10Km to get to the nearest Shell station!

But yesterday was different. I was going somewhere with Imran and noticed that the fuel indicator was spot on 'E' the moment I started the engine.
I realised that I sent the car to service the aircon the day before and my mechanic sent the car back with an empty tank!

mama: macam mana ni Imran, I don't think I have enough petrol in the tank to get to the next shell station! mama hentam letak Petronas ajer lah ye!
Imran: mana boleh mama, nanti papa tau dia marah!
mama: pastu kalau kita stranded lagi worse!

And I cornered to Petronas station which is 2Km away from my house.
mama: Imran pergi bayar kat counter, RM20.00 saja sebab minyak Petronas. Nanti cepat habis kita boleh letak shell semula!...Konspirasi mama and Imran.....

After Imran returned from the counter, I reached for the nozzle and started pumping the petrol.
The meter stopped at RM19.28.. .. before I could say D.U.N.K.I.N. D.O.U.G.H.N.U.T!

mama: Eh! kenapa tak cukup RM20.00??!!??
Imran: mungkin dia nak bundarkan to the nearest litre.
mama: Did you pay by litre or by RM?
Imran: By RM!
mama: I'm going to inquire at the counter, you wait here by the car...
Imran:...(rolled eyes)....

At the cash counter:
mama: Adik, kenapa meter tu berenti kat RM19.28? Akak bayar RM20.00.
Cashier: Tank akak dah penoh!
mama: Hah?? RM19.28 dah penoh?..Betul ke ni? Tank akak kosong giler tadi, meter kat 'E'!!!!!
Cashier: ..(reluctantly return 70sen back to me)....

I walked the distance back to my car. Tried starting the engine and the fuel indicator moved only one bar!!!!!... I was half hoping that Petronas could really fill up my tank with RM19.28 as compared to RM60.00 by Shell.Then I can fight my case with papa!!he,he,he....

Imran: mama, you actually walked to the cashier just for 70sen?
mama: It's my money, I have the right to it. Itu pun sepatutnya mama collect back 72sen!
Imran: You throw the money into the coin box anyway. If I were you, I won't bother.
mama: You tell me how on earth can you get 70sen right now other than asking for it from your parents?
Imran: simple! I just walk into Ikram's room, and transfer 70sen from his drawer into my pocket. I bet he will not notice it even after he is married with 7 kids...

mama: It's so clear that you don't have the right mentality to become rich. Do you know that Paul Getty even picked up the 1shilling which he accidentally stepped on?
Imran: who is this Paul Getty?
mama: our version of your Bill Gates.
Imran: well, Bill Gates made millions whilst he sleeps....

Me and my 14year old son, we came from 2 different schools of thought. I spent 10 days reading 2inch thick book on Paul Getty, Imran made 2clicks on the computer to learn about Bill Gates.


At night I told papa about my misadventure at the Petronas station.
Papa said that if the cashier repeated the act to 100 more customers at the station, she would have collected RM70.00 for the day. In one month her tip would be a cool RM2,100.00!!!!!

papa: I told you to go pump the petrol at Shell!!!!!
(nasihat yang tak ada kena mengena dengan the dishonest behaviour of the cashier at the Petronas Station!)
.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

one time after i paid the cashier and something like RM1.22 was due me, the cashier said that she didn't have 1 sen coins in the drawer and asked if i wanted the 2 sen, and i said of course! it's mine. this is a big retailer mind you. what if i don't have enough money to pay for my purchase, can i say, "alamak, tak cukup 5 sen la, kira halal ajer, bole?" u think i can get away with it?

Anonymous said...

The tollgate guy shortchanged me by 10 sen which I realised after driving 30 meters away. Dont tell me you'd want to reverse to get your 10 sen back kan ? Because you'd be thinking " alah..sepuloh sen ajer.... "

Imagine if 1000 cars are shortchanged driving through his booth daily ??

A cool RM 100 per day....

Anonymous said...

hi,
shell ke project ke came from the same tank: petronas..pastu shell will upgrade sikit- and claim that theirs could og miles away, project terus jual..macam tu la..sama je..except for mobil

mama irma said...

utama,there are people out there who enjoy taking advantage of our generosity.
Mak Andeh, it's much better to use touch n go,eh!
traveler, thanks for the clarification.

Anonymous said...

Salam there.. am a Srikandi too.. batch 90-94. Been reading ur nice blog.