I received a call at exactly 6.45 p.m. yesterday. There are a few disturbing facts about that call that still annoy me until this morning.

1. First of all, who in the right mind would call a potential client at 6.45 p.m.? I mean, isn’t it one of the worst times to call, if not THE worst time to call someone, like ever? What more a potential client. I don’t know about the rest of the population on planet Earth, but at 6.45 p.m. on a weekday I would either be:

• a. In the office still, doing some very urgent tasks that need to completed like yesterday (otherwise at 5.59 I’ll be at the edge of my chair, all ready to go home), in which case I will not be in the mood to entertain any calls whatsoever, much less from someone promoting something. OR

• b. Driving home like I was yesterday stuck in the jam, listening to songs as loud as my ears could possibly tolerate, thinking about what to cook for dinner, in which case I will not be in the mood to entertain any calls whatsoever, much less from someone promoting something. OR

• c. Already home, doing 1 million tasks (dinner to prepare, baby to breastfeed, “Mamaaaaa…. nak Milo dalam cawan!” “Mamaaaaa… nak nini!!” Mamaaaa…. kakak nak nasik dengan sup boleh tak Mama??” “Mamaaaaaa… kakak ambik toy Abangggg” “Mamaaa… tolong bukak lampu bilik air.. kakak nak ‘chin’’..)  all at the same time with my magical pair of hands, in which case I will not be in the mood to entertain any calls whatsoever, much less from someone promoting something.

2. Secondly, the caller told me she got my name from a friend of mine and told me who the friend is. Now, I don’t know what benefits this friend could get by giving out my FULL name and my phone number, but isn’t it common sense to ask for the person’s permission to give out her details before you do? Or at the very least, inform her after you do so. She won’t like it like I don’t like it, but at least you have the heart to inform her. ESPECIALLY if that friend of yours is someone you haven’t seen for 6 years, and only speak to like once a year, kot kalau ada once a year! Gosh!

3. Third of all, before calling up someone to promote something, can’t you just ‘study’ the name of the person first? I hate it when a person had to pause before saying my name. Pause, is no good because that means my name will surely, surely be pronounced wrong. I don’t have a difficult name, at least that’s what I think. Unique (ehem) maybe. But not difficult. How difficult is it to prounounce an L after AINI? There’s no such thing as silent L in my name ok? And double ‘E’ is pronounced as ‘iii” not ‘eii”, nor “eyy”. And why the heck did you just ignore the F in my name? I don’t know who Surina is, or Surena or worse, Surin. Isy!

4. Fourth and the last (for now)… When I told the caller that I was driving and I can’t talk (well, I can if I want to, loudspeaker and all, but I didn’t want to lah kan), she sounded so irritated that I could imagine her rolling her eyes when she said “Oh okaylah. Takpelah mcm tu. Terima kasih” dengan penuh sarcasticnya. Ehhhh… engkau yang telefon orang tak kena masa, nak sakit2 hati pulak! Pigidah!

Ahhhh… lega sudah. PMS? Agaknya lah. Haha..