Tag: Business

AUSTRALIA

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A United Society Transmitting Righteousness And Love In Abundance


Australia, the country of our choice

We hold you in great joy

May you ever be

A country for the free.


Australia, a united society

We stand in complete unity

May we not divide

Despite our differences wide.


Australia, transmitting righteousness

We hail you in fearlessness

May you always be fair

To everyone in your care.


Australia, a land of abundance

We greet you with substance

To make this a greater land

We must all render our hands.


Australia, a land of love and cheer

We shall always hold you dear

Let’s make this a better place to be

Towards this end will be our destiny.


Paul Chong

A Chinese by Descent

An Australian by Consent

Originally First Penned On Monday, 21 July 1991

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Miscommunication

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By P Chong                                          Tues. 7 September 2010

Miscommunication occurs due to failing to communicate clearly. There could be a lack of clear or adequate communication or people merely hear what’s said without really paying close attention through listening. Communication too can be misconstrued, misinterpreted & understood giving rise to a lot of complications and unwanted problems.

In most cases, we get different meaning of the words than they intended. Even body language can create a different impression, though in place of verbal communication it can be most effective.

Miscommunication can lead to misunderstanding, argument, hurt & anger and to the extent of creating personal conflict.

Communication Illusion

Who’s being heard?

Here’s an interesting picture on how miscommunication occurs based upon a written memo from the CEO to the staff of a particular organisation, as it filters through the hierarchy rung of management.

By the time the message reaches the bottom rung from the Supervisor to the staff, it is all distorted & reduced to just one sentence. The whole essence is filtered & lost in its downward transmission.

People only hear but not listen!

As a general rule,since God endowed us with two ears & one mouth, we should listen twice as much as we talk.

No Hearing, No Seeing & No Talking

Picture of misery

Picture & Illustration Source: Google

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The Bank of Time

On By Paul1 Comment

In recollecting my younger days in the challenging field of life insurance business, there used to be a favourite story of mine which I liked to relate & dmonstrate to my agency force & clients alike as “How much life insurance is enough?”

This story is “The Bank of Time” which unlike our conventional money bank does not permit any deposit of your very own except withdrawals – a fixed endowment amount is credited to you each day upon your awakening.

This is an interesting concept & certainly a worthy food for thought.

“Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course? Each of us has such a bank. It’s name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.” You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success. The clock is running! Make the most of today.

• To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.

• To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

• To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

• To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

• To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.

• To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.

• To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why its called the present.”

Story – Author Unknown

“The Bank of Time” that TIME forgets!

It’s the Bank that all or most people generally forget.

“The Bank of Time” is really YOU!

Your life is immeasurable & you’d like to insure yourself to the optimum limit in the event of accidents & untimely demise.

Qualitative and Quantitative Service

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Qualitative and Quantitative Service

SANY1839A Typical Self-Service Store

We are living in a time when the question of being personally attended to seems such a rare treat. The old adage of consumer being king is no longer fashionably true. Gone are the days when your pint of milk was delivered to your doorstep or your personal physician making house calls. The worst is being attended to by electronic recording over the phone. Everything is so impersonal. In time we are likely to be replaced by machines. As it is, the computers and calculating machines are functioning in our place.

In retrospect, the corner store is fast disappearing, engulfed by giant supermarkets. Onto the stage of marketing, online buying and selling is evolving to be part of our daily lives. The most prominent and frustrating aspects of the Internet era will be a world devoid of humans. In highlighting the automated age, its scenario will evidently be:

  • the phobia of dealing with ghostly machine

  • the absolute challenge of making contact with the human face or voice

  • big bucks are channelled towards the objective of making sales rather than helping solving your shopping problem

  • modern systems keep customer service at arm’s length

  • speaking to a machine programmed to understand human speech

  • to access information you’ll face the daunting task of punching or typing in a sequence of numbers

  • the exasperating experience of wearing out your human patience

  • the frequent endless waiting of being served by a human.

    unknownLast Time When – wind screen wiped, water & oil checked, tyre pressure pumped?

As a starter, try calling up your neighbours or friends, and increasingly you’ll get the answering machine. Taking a step further, with large commercial establishments or departments, you’ll be confronted with the labyrinthine menus that accompany most phone-based systems. The maze and impersonal instruction will infuriate your patience and load you with frustration.

Increasingly, it is the phone and the Internet that engender the frustration. Everything is digitised. Sales items are bar-coded. The human brain is increasingly functioning less and less and no doubt robots will replace humans. You and I must be prepared to be bar-coded or fitted with “smart card” and be treated as mere digitals in this fast changing world.

Last but not least, there is nothing you can  label in terms of qualitative & quantitative service with the like of such  tradesmen as the electrician, plumber & carpenter. Even the smallest  job is measured out by the hour. They’re just minting gold much more than would any professional. Discounting good will & customer relationship, it’s a one-off kill!

Don’t look back to the good old days . . . brave yourself to the GREED of this corrupted world.

Paul Chong ©

A Chinese by Descent

An Australian by Consent

Dentists Galore . . . Services Deplore

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Army Dental Surgery. Display at Army Medical S...
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Dentists Galore . . . Services Deplore (By Paul Chong)

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Kalamunda is a delightful place up in Perth Hills reflecting its glorious days when it used to be a weekend retreat for folks down in the City. Needless to say, you’ll find a greater number of retirees living up here with every conceivable human conveniences. There are banks, shops, shopping centres, post office, restaurants, bar lounges, lawyers, doctors & of course dentists – all in close proximity & within walking distances.

Dentists are found in every nook & corner whether it’s in Kalamunda, Lesmurdie or Gooseberry Hills. Like the medical doctors, they’re expected to perform a worthwhile dental service in true professionalism. With their numerical spread, one would expect the convenience & choice of excellent dental service.

To begin with, we as patients are much to be blamed when it comes to dental care. Though an essential part of health, we invariably neglect this area of care, especially when it means visiting a dentist. The very thought of the dentist’s drill sends chill down my spine. For that alone, we tend to postpone our dental appointment and seldom maintain our regular visits (at least speaking for myself).

As though it’s not painful enough, more pain is being extracted out of our pockets & wallets. This is because dental service is unregulated and charges & costs can hit the roof without any control. Unlike consulting your personal physician, you can be sure you’ll never be ripped off. But with the dentist, it’s said they make more money than the medical doctors!

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The shocking thing is that in Kalamunda Shire where I have chosen to live for the last twenty odd years, dentists galore . . . but service deplore! Our Government has a scheme in place called EPC (Enhanced Patient Care) for diabetic patients, where dental charges are reimbursed by Medicare. The nursing sister at Stirk Medical Group told me that she wrote to all the dentists seeking their services under the scheme without getting as much as an acknowledgment. But why would they want to come under the scheme with restrictive charges? I have personally sought out some of them myself but to no avail with the exception of one pretty dentist, whose gentle hands & soothing voice release your tightening grip on the dentist’s chair.

Are dentists trained just to make money? With due respect & without prejudice, lots of the dentists are brilliant & bright, but I guess their lights shine along more on the financial path than on the path of care & service to the community at large. Diabetic patients requiring dental care are ever increasing but will be facing increasing deplorable dental service. Really a pathetic state of affair.

There is however one dental practice in Kalamunda, Jan Yeo Dental Surgery, that deserves every praise for the services rendered. Staffed by two very proficient dentists I(both ladies), it’s also staffed by a well qualified dental therapist (complete with a Bachelor of Oral Health), whose gentlest of hands render you a scaling & cleaning service virtually free from pain or uneasiness.

Dental care begins with oral health and here you have it at no. 1 Kalamunda Road, Kalamunda.

Paul Chong

Monday 23 September 2008

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