The thoughts of Irine

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I'm still alive

After two weeks in NY, back one week in Sydney, I realise I don't really like turning on my computer when I'm at home. So many things to write about and will not be justifiable if I start now. 11pm now. Will write a decent piece soon... promise!

irine @ 11:07 PM | # 0 comments

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

gasps

Just found out that the presentation that I've been making and preparing for the last week was on the wrong topic. Some stupidity on my part for misreading the list of topics for the different weeks. Walked from uni to Central station yesterday to offload emotional self bitterness.

Reading Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle at the moment, a little break out of constant work.

I've been hoarding Anne Rice books in preparation for the NY trip, will choose one book to read on the plane. It has to be a book I will be willing to dump in NY if I need to reduce my luggage weight. Which is a really hard thing to do... after my experience dumping a whole box of books leaving Singapore.

Despite everything, things are good. Just busy. :)

irine @ 9:02 AM | # 2 comments

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Unconscious spamming

I think I've been sleep walking.

In the past few months I've been emailing myself random things. Here's a screenshot...

LOL. Just kidding. I think it's creative that they've come up with sending spam as 'me' cos I do sometimes send myself something on my email just as a reminder.

irine @ 7:43 AM | # 0 comments

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

PMS

He complained, "She's always shitty."

She said, "But that's cos I've got PMS."

I said, "Is your PMS really bad?"

She said, "Yeah it's really bad and I'm usually really moody and shitty when I have PMS. And I always get really bad PMS."

I asked, "How long is your PMS usually?"

She said, "Usually about a week and a half before I get my period and then a week and a half after I finish my period."

Thinking on the way home... wait a minute, that doesn't make sense. 1.5 week before period, which is usually 1 week, plus 1.5 week after period equals to 4 weeks, which is the whole month? That means she's shitty constantly! I hope it was a miscalculation...

irine @ 4:43 PM | # 3 comments

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Please, can you lower the price?

Just thought I'd share this...

Before I buy things which cost a lot, I usually do a little research first. If I have heaps of time, I'd go to a few big outlets and check the prices. If I'm tight with time, online shops are a good guide. Then knowing what the cheapest price is, I usually try to get at least another 10% - 30% off.

So, a typical scenario would be:
1. Ask for price.
2. Ask for best price they can give me.
3. If best price is higher than lowest price found, tell the sales person that I've seen it somewhere else cheaper. If they ask how much, lie, and say a number lower than the lowest price.
4. If best price is lower or similar to lowest price found, then negotiate for a lower price (10-30% lower).
5. If negotiation stalls, I try the tactic of walking around the shop a bit. Then go back to the sales person, adding a little bit to my earlier price. And then loop to step 2.

Typical things I'd say would be:
"Come on, maybe you can help me out, my budget is only..."
"Are you sure you can't do better than that?"
"Maybe if you ask your manager?"
"I'm a loyal customer, I always buy from this shop"
"I'm sick of shopping around, and I just want to get the thing from here. But you need to help me out here so we're both happy."

Tips:
- I usually go for the male sales person hehe
- I smile a lot, but firmly tell them that I am serious with my purchase
- Persistence
- I try not to go for the sales gimmick of getting other things for free (i.e. umbrella!) if I pay that high price. If you think about it, those free things probably don't cost them anything. And I really don't need another umbrella.

However, sometimes I just run out of luck and don't even get a discount at all. Or just get some meaningless discount that in the end do not amount to anything.

Hubby always ask me to go and negotiate things for him. He says I'm better at it, and especially when it's a male sales person, because he thinks males will be more like to fall under my charm and nagging. Yes, nagging. He thinks the reason I get a discount is just because they can't stand anymore nagging and want to send me on my way.

Best bargain ever? $20k off the apartment by telling the agent that I'm sick of looking, and if he agrees to the price, I'll sign the papers immediately.

irine @ 1:00 AM | # 0 comments

This way home!