I'm amazed to see the popularity of Park City Mall in Bintulu. The mall is getting more crowded by the week.
Initially, I thought it was was a place for teenagers to just hang out. A place where they just cool themselves while looking around at people. Maybe, buying a thing or two.
Some parents would bring their children or their parents along to do some little family shopping. Or just to spend some relaxed quality time with the family.
But when I went last Sunday morning, people were busy cutting lines at the cashier, promoting new products to potentially foolish customers and some were busy skimming through a fashion magazine to decide what hairstyle they must have.
If you're looking for a quiet place to relax, don't put Park City Mall in your list.
Since The Mall's getting busier, the people too are getting more annoying. Congrats! Developing in both social and pestiferous skills. These are few things Bintuluans show their power of adaptation.
Escalators are fun to play with. Even among the adults. I was behind these two women who were chatting before they got on and when they got on the escalator. Once they reach the other end of escalator, these two women continued their chat while halting in front of me. In front of the escalator. I had to "politely" walk past through them. It's not my first experience though. Certainly not the last.
Then there are these sales assistants who won't stop hanging around your neck everytime you enter their shop. I just wanted to look at some clothes when a someone came up and said "Cari apa dik?". "Uhh, sikda pa pa. Tangga jak." Biasa jak first, but that was not the end. She will follow you wherevever you go in her territory. I'm sure in her mind she's thinking of other ways to annoy me and her distance from me is no more than 1 metre. Literally. Good thing also la, jaga kedai. Mana tahu saya ambil baju lupa bawa la.
Another type of sales assistants are those who do not know what they're jobs are. "Kak, ada jual crita "whatever" kha?". The reply I get is "Uhhhhhhhh.......", while smiling nervously. Sometimes, these people would pretend they know our needs and leave us waiting for them to search for something they don't know. Other than that, they will ask their other sales assistant help. They will give the most typical bewildered face and come up to me saying, "Sik tauk la. Coba kau carik sia."
And then, they are sales assistant who just doesn't care about their customers. There's no such thing as "customers first" policy. These are the people that turn away whenever your face shows the "inquiry needed" look. You look around to ask for assistance, and they all turn away. Great.
Anyway, who can ever forget those sales assistant who is in charge at the beauty section. Not sure what it's called, but it's where they sell all shampoos, lotions, deodorant and etc. These people just seems to be everywhere. They are the gurus of being irritating. Sorry offended people, but it's the truth. I know u want to sell your product, but please be nice la.
But nice also jalan-jalan in The Mall. Just the other day when I wanted to weigh my cabbage. The woman behind the weighing machine had a rather seriuos look on her face. The kind you would not want to bother. She was very occupied (looked stressful though) with weighing and wrapping. Thought she was an impolite worker. However, after I said "thank you" for her assistance, she replied "welcome" with a smile. Guess I should not have judged a book by its cover.
Even the waiters/waitresses in D'Junction are also friendly. It's easy to engage a conversation with them. Even the chefs do not hesitate to meet up with their customers to talk about their cooking and taking every bad review positively. Friendly Bintuluans.
Teens too find the mall a nice place to hang out. Especially during the weekends. The Mall will be crowded with youths. It's the place where they can be "cool" and show their unique fashion sense. A place where where youths bring the girlfriend/boyfriend for a special window shopping date. Save money bha. Economic problem now. Money all spent on hand-phone top ups for their partners.
At the moment, Bintulu has only one mall, so can't complain much la. I find myself going there very often, cause that's where I can see the diverse style of amazing Bintuluans.
Eta Carinae, a star in the Milky Way galaxy that is 7,500 light years from Earth, will become a supernova similar to those detected by Jeff Cooke and colleagues. In contrast, the newly found supernovae are more than a million times as far away. (Credit: Photo by NASA)
