DJs on Ice!

Last Wednesday was an exciting day for us. When Hitz.fm approached RedRibbon Days, asking us to organise and arrange a few exciting experiences for their DJs to carry out, we were absolutely thrilled! Talk about getting a bit star struck, but it's always a teeny bit more exciting when a cool hip radio station is your client..hehe

So last Wednesday was just one of 3 different experiences that we arranged for Hitz.fm DJs to experience - but with a slight twist. While carrying out the experiences, the DJs are to carry out a challenge at the same time. And the experiences are slightly on the 'extreme' side, so most of the DJs have no idea what's in store for them and have never even tried it before.

So the first experience we organised was an Ice Hockey challenge. Did you know that Malaysia has a National Ice Hockey team? Did you know that it takes at least 30 minutes for an ice hockey goalie to get all suited up?! One of the many great aspects of working with RedRibbon Days is that you get to meet new, fun, interesting people and at the same time discover and learn new things! hehe. Anyway, the challenge for the DJs were that they were suppose to become ice hockey goalies and to try save as many ice hockey pucks. Sounds easy eh? Well, not really, when you're actually going against the National Ice Hockey Team and the fact that the last time you've ice skated was 10 years ago! The exact sentiments of the DJs that were going to challenge the Malaysian Ice Hockey team - JJ and Ean from the Hitz.fm Morning Crew!

RedRibbon Days arranged for a private use of the Sunway Pyramid ice skating rink and had to gather the whole Malaysian Ice Hockey team for this special event. When the JJ and Ean arrived, first thing I asked them was "Do you know how to skate?"..and both of them said.."err yeah, like 10 years ago!..and that was on rollerblades, not even ice!"..hehehe that's when I thought.."ok! this if going to be fun!" hahaha

Before that we had to get them all suited up. I really didn't expect it to take THAT long! There were so many gears and equipment an ice hockey goalie has to wear - making them look 3 times bigger than they actually are. I heard that an ice puck can actually travel as fast as 100km/h, so go figure! You could tell there was a mix of excitement and tiny ounce of fear from the DJs, especially when the National Goalie was telling them how he actually had a concussion once, playing ice hockey! But everyone was telling JJ and Ean that they'll go slow and be nice to them! Borriinggg..heheheh

Here are some pictures of them getting ready

Ean

JJ

It really took about 20-30 minutes for them to get suited up. Beats a bunch of teenage girls getting ready for the prom! hehehe. So once they're both in their gear - looking 3 times 'macho-er' and a quick briefing, everyone was pumped up and ready to get into the rink!

Both of them had a quick warm-up session to get used to the gear and the skates. Here's a picture of Ean falling down. He fell down a few times and it's not easy getting back up with all those equipment on you..hehe

After the warm-up session, the challenge then started. JJ and Ean took turns challenging the team. Both were given 5 minutes and I was in charge of being the timekeeper and calculating goals saved. I must say, for first timers, they were not bad at all! During the challenge, the team Captain came up to me and said, "you know, actually 5 minutes just defending goals is considered quite long and tiring!" hehehe. I could tell, even looking at them made me feel tired! hehe. At the end of the challenge, the winner turned out to be DJ Ean, only winning by 1 goal! It was very very close. The verdict - JJ: 20 goals saved and Ean: 21 goals saved, both in 5 minutes!

After the challenge, you could also tell that both of them looked relieved! and they both looked tired too, but it also looked like that everyone had fun!

I believe it was a memorable and fun day for the DJs as well as the Malaysian Ice Hockey team - and not to mention for us too!. It's not everyday you get to play ice hockey with radio personalities eh?

See, we're not the only ones who were star struck..hehe

And of course, how can you not end the day without a picture with yours truly and the sweet Ms. Theing? heheh, sorry Theing, I have to say this - but she was really excited wanting to get a picture with the 2 DJs! heheheh

This weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday, we've got 2 more DJs carrying out an extreme challenge:

1. Saturday, 15 May 2010, 11am @ Kompleks Sukan Astaka - CHICKEN RUN PAINTBALL
This means the DJ will run around the paintball field, without a marker, avoiding from getting hit from other paintballers..ouch!

2. Sphereing / Zorbing, 16 May 2010, 11am @ Tmn Tasik Titiwangsa - ZORBING CHALLENGE
A DJ will be rolling in a sphereing ball, together with dirty underwear, dirty socks and other slimy items..eeeww!

If you want to know which one of your favourite Hitz.fm DJ will be carrying which challenge, well, you just gotta come down and see for yourself! See ya!

Why I LOVE my job.....

There are soooo many reasons why I love my job. But I think what I'm about to share tops it all.

For the full story please visit our RedRibbon Days blog entry here

Nothing beats the feeling of being able to make customers really happy, to fulfill their dreams and to be able create unforgettable memories for them - in other words, knowing that we've made such a great impact on their lives.

Please do read the blog entry and you'll know what I mean. It also made our team beam with happiness the whole day after reading it :) Thanks girls for making it happen. Hope you guys truly understand why we get all stressed up about our customers' requests. Because in the end, despite all the potential dramas and stress, if we put our heart and soul into what we do, our customers will share their heart and soul to us too - and you know that all the effort will be worthwhile.

Bon Appétit

Personally, the gift of 'food' is one of the best gifts ever! It's soooo simple, yet it gives sooooo much pleasure. Especially for me! I wouldn't call myself a foodie but I just LOVE to eat. :D

So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I received this as a gift - Contemporary French Cuisine for Two.
(yes, we at RedRibbon Days get excited receiving a RedRibbon Day too! heheh). I don't go for fine dining very often so I was looking forward to this very much, especially when I got to share it with loved ones.

Ouh by the way, this was also one of the experience on my wish list so yeah, it just made the gift much more meaningful. I'm not much of a food critic but all I can say is it was AWESOME. Everything from the ambience, food, service and did I mention food? hehe. But seriously, I get lost for words when people ask me to describe food. I usually reply with 3 standard answers and ratings:
1. AWESOME!!! or It was sooooo gooodd!!!!
2. OK-lah
3. Yuck! or Tak Sedap

Hahaha ok, I'm probably despised by food critics right now.
Here's what I had and apologies for the poor photos. I'm really bad at taking photos. Sherin would know. hehe.

Crab and prawn bisque with crab quenelles, prawns poached in beurre noisette and a trail of Italian lemon oil - Yummy! One of my fav dishes for the night

Deep fried spice dusted soft shell crab with whitebouillabaisse sauce, tomato reduction, chickpea aïoli and saffron foam - Another yummy one! I love soft shell crabs

Pan seared Japanese mulloway with saffron risotto and romesco thickened bouillabaisse sauce

Crème brûlée, glacée, flambée

To sum it up, I would be so happy if I received this gift again. It's a great gift for couples to celebrate an anniversary, birthdays or even just because. You can never go wrong with the gift of food, what more when it's GREAT food and ambience.

The beauty of our website is, we've got an array of cuisines to choose from; be it Italian, Japanese, Thai, Lebanese, Korean, Croatian, Mediterranean, Western Fusion, Cuban and many more to come.

So if you're stuck on gifting ideas, just remember that although food sounds like a simple gift, it can turn out to be an experience they'll remember - because I sure as hell will never forget my Contemporary French Cuisine experience :))

Has Technology Killed Customer Service?

I read Sherin's blog and I too, would like to vent out my frustrations here. After all the drama, we came to a conclusion that you can have all the technology in the world or the best product in the world, but it's all useless if you don't have the right people at the forefront of the technology - in other words, customer service. You can boast and claim all you want in being one the country's pioneer in "providing payment gateway services and that you are dedicated to provide and develop high quality diversify network services to our customer". But when it comes to dealing with customer issues, all of that means nothing to me as they are probably too focused in developing and building their technology (which is not all great by the way) and forget the 'human' aspect of business.

Customer service is something I dare say we, at RedRibbon Days pride ourselves in (touch wood!). I say that only because we are soooooo passionate and particular about keeping our customers happy. After all, we don't call ourselves 'The Pleasure Team' for nothing. We really really get excited when we receive great feedback from customers and we actually do get a bit depressed when there are the occassional one or two unhappy ones who we just can't seem to satisfy.

My point is, we try our best to attend to our customers the best way we can and go out of our way, even if it means breaking a company policy or two, to satisfy them. Of course, having said that, we can't keep EVERYONE happy and there are times where we are unable to keep them happy and can't make any exceptions because if we did, we might as well be running a charity organisation. But at least, there's this conscious in us that we are aware of how we address and handle our customers to not offend them in any way.

But this is not the case for that particular 'party' that we were dealing with as how Sherin explained in her blog. Talking to their support team, I may as well be speaking and complaining to a 5 year old child. There was not a sound or hint of empathy and the person who I spoke to sounded like.."that's too bad, there's nothing we can do..it's not our fault"....well not in the exact words, but as a customer, that's how I interpreted it. The least she could say is something along the lines of " I will bring this up to mgmt and will try to see how we can resolve or compensate you" , especially when it's kind of obvious that they were at fault as well. On top of that, I was trying hard to understand what all her emails meant and trying to make her understand what I was trying to say.

But being a Msian, I've kind of come to terms that as a country where we're far from being dubbed as 'developed' and where English is not a first language, I guess these are things that we have to put up with. I'm pretty sure everyone here in Msia has experienced really bad customer service every now and then, even with big organisations like telcos or banks. I guess we have a long way to go if we want to be known as a developed country.

Well, my thought is that the people who you put in the frontline to attend to your customers as a first point of contact represents your company, which we strive to continue providing; to set ourselves apart from the rest. I know now is the new Internet age, where technology is suppose to make things easier and to cut costs, - but I don't think it will ever replace human interaction. There are some things that machines can' t handle and we shouldn't lose focus on that, no matter how 'canggih' the company is.

But to be fair, after all the 'ding-donging' around and numerous emails and phone calls, they eventually said that they will compensate and really want to resolve our issue. A bit too late for me though as it already left a really really bad impression, not to mention a horrible experience. All they needed to say was that they will 'consider' us the compensation if the issue couldn't be resolved. Simple as that. Wasted my time and unnecassary rise in my blood pressure. Don't charge us the 4% transaction fee for nothing, especially when you admit that it's your fault as well.

Oh by the way, I hope it's not too late to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! Here's to a 'roaring' year of the Tiger! Both personally and for RedRibbon Days!

Whoa, 3 entries in one night..that's a first! haha

And after reading through my entries, I just realised I use the phrase...'oh boy' a lot, which is funny coz I never reallyy say it out in real life. OK that was just a random statement.

Til next month for my next entry! hahaha..kidding, let's hope not. I'd like to share my 3rd experience for the year...

On The Water and In the Air! - Part 2

Pilot for a Day

I had mixed feelings about doing this experience. Both good and bad.

Good - because how often do we get the chance to help fly a plane!? Super exciting! and;
Bad - only because I really really hate rollercoaster rides and the feeling of turbulence in a plane feels like that; so I was worried that I would feel queasy. I even took a motion sickness pill before my ride! haha how bad is that.

BUT..so far I've never turned down an offer to try out an experience. I've been through White Water Rafting, Abseiled down a building, ATV-ed through muddy jungle tracks, went through a Skydiving Simulator and even Zorb-ed!! which by the way was wayyy worse than a rollercoaster ride..Sherin could tell you how loud I screamed which I think made her temporarily deaf coz she was in the ball with me..haha!

Sooooo I thought..how bad could this be right? Turns out, it wasn't all that bad at all and I have not one ounce of regret trying it out..again, this is something I would never forget and the feeling was surreal, especially when you are trying to face your fear.

We started out with an on-ground briefing. The captain explained to us pre-flight checks that are usually done to a plane before flying. He also explained some technical parts of the plane (like the wings and flaps..hahaha sorry I didn't take notes!) which helps control and manoeuvre the plane. He also went through the control panel and oh boy were there were a lot of buttons and controls and to be honest I paid little attention but only because I was nervous of the actual flying experience!

Then came my turn to fly...oh boyyy..i was turning pale. I entered the cockpit, put on the headphones and was a bit amused at first and distracted by the voices from the control tower. It's amazing how a pilot can know which command or instruction to take note of because you'd hear so many voices and instructions for other planes as well! But they have like cool nicknames for each other which sounded like 'Eagle 123' or 'Sparrow 456'...hahaha ok those were not the exact names but it sounded something like that. Like from a scene in TopGun..hahahah..

Anyway, back to my fear of flying…we were about to take-off and the pilot told me to manoeuvre the plane on the runway..Obviously I forgot which pedal to push and which way controlled the direction so I kind of nearly steered it off the runway for a while...hahaha..plus to distract myself I wanted to take a video of the take-off. Then suddenly it was time to actually take-off....and it happened quite fast and smooth actually.

In the air, there were times when the wind was a bit strong and the plane shook a little. I have to admit I was kind of scared at this point, and I actually told the captain to land the plane like 5 minutes after we got in the air! Haha..So ‘chicken’ of me. But I kept myself distracted by admiring the awesome views from the above.

I kind of had the feeling that the pilot had just a bit more fun then I did – watching me squeal and scream every time I felt a bit queasy. He even said he was being very nice to me by not nose dipping the plane or making sharp turns. Well, I think he didn’t think he have a choice because I said I’d scream to the control tower if he did…hahahahah

Eventually came the time when we had to land and again, there were mixed feelings. Just a teeny tiny bit of relief but alsovery sad as I felt that I was going to miss the awesome view and the feeling of actually being in front of the plane’s control panel like an actual pilot – well, minus the squeals and cries for help..haha!

But I can totally imagine how great this gift would make for husbands, boyfriends or even daredevils alike. It’s such a rare opportunity and an awesome chance to fulfil someone’s dream. To date, this experience still remains as one of our best sellers and I’ve just come to understand why til the day I actually experienced it myself.

On The Water and In the Air! - Part 1

Oh boy, another overdue entry. Time really does fly and it feels like only last week I thought I posted the last one, but it's already been a month!

I wanted to blog about my first 2 experiences for new year - Langkawi Sunset Dinner Cruise and the Pilot for a Day. Both are totally opposite experiences, and although it's been about 2 months since I've carried out these experiences, until today I can still remember the exact emotions felt and some mental images of the day flashing in my mind. That's the beauty of experiencing new things and adventures and what better gift than the gift of a memorable experience!

So I'll start off with the Langkawi Sunset Dinner Cruise first and continue on with the Pilot for a Day in my next entry

Langkawi Sunset Dinner Cruise
Thanks to Sherin and Ming Ne who made my year end trip much more memorable. Year 2009 was one helluva rollercoaster ride and I can count the fingers on one hand (less actually!) the number of holidays I took the whole year. But I would always make it a point to take a couple of days off to celebrate the new year with hubby or friends outside of KL and this experience was not only the icing on the cake but the cherry on the icing of the cake! To summarise my whole feeling about this experience - it just makes you want to leave everything behind and spend your whole life wandering the seas and becoming a beach bum! haha. I was very tempted.

I believe for this experience, pictures should suffice to describe the feeling so I'm probably going to turn this entry into a photoblog instead. But that's the beauty of this experience, you're not suppose to do anything but enjoy the ocean breeze and views while your mind tunes out and wanders off - all within the company of great friends and loved ones. Trust me, if you know anyone who lives in Langkawi or Kedah or if you plan to visit Langkawi, please please please do try this out and you'll know what I mean.

All smiles at the start

Imagine a view like this everyday!

This is pretty much what we did the whole time..haha

Okay this is probably the highlight of the whole experience which I have to explain..hehe..It's called a 'Saltwater Jacuzzi'..imagine holding on to a big fish net while you're gently being pulled by the yacht! so the bubbles created sort of feels like you're in a real jacuzzi! It was a bit scary for me considering I don't know how to swim so I kind of held on to my life..hehe..but it was awesome!


A portion of the 9 course BBQ dinner which included a selection of seafood, appetizers and salads and an Open Bar! Yup, you read right an all you can drink open bar..bet I caught the attention of drinkers out there..hehe..you'll feel like you're in a MTV Hip Hop music video on the decks of a boat holding a glass of Bacardi..hahaha

Hubby giving a go at bringing down the sail. Not as easy as it looks! Takes quite a bit of strength to wind it up!


Beautiful ending to a beautiful experience! How can you forget something like this?