Many have suffered since the Covid-19 pandemic began. One such person is my mechanic, Edward Yong, and his two brothers.
I have been going to their shop, HH Power Service, in Jalan 19/7, Subang Jaya, since my first car, a Perodua Kancil, in 2000.
Since then, I have upgraded to a Proton Iswara, and now, a Proton Exora.
I have found Yong and his two brothers very reasonable. They always ask before changing anything.
That is not always the case with other mechanics, some of whom always recommend I change this, or that.
Fifteen months ago, on the way back from lunch, the timing belt on the Exora snapped.
My colleagues helped push the car to the nearest mechanic, who recommended changing other items. I did, except for one, the battery.
I still remember him saying that the battery was going to die.
I am unsure why I did not listen to him. But guess what, I only changed the battery yesterday, when I serviced the car at Yong’s place.
That made me wonder, what else had I changed, unnecessarily.
While chatting to Yong, I found out that business has not been great. He has managed to hold on as he has loyal customers.
I can understand his predicament. I used to service the car every three months or so. But the last time I did so was on May 29, 2021.
Admittedly, it was about 1,000km overdue, but the fact that I was working from home for long stretches and had cut down on going out, meant that the mileage was lesser than usual.
Yong said the same thing had happened with his other customers.
“Many are working from home. Others said they only drive to work and back.
“Most only go out to buy groceries. No more jalan-jalan, or travelling to their hometowns each week,” he said.
“Chinese New Year was different as many finally took the opportunity to go back. We were busy, as many wanted to service their cars before the journey home.
“We have been operating here for 21 years, but the last 24 months have been a struggle.”
One reason for their loyal customers is that the brothers go the extra mile. Several times, they have delivered car batteries to my home, free of charge.
It helps that they stay close by and have no qualms about coming over to check if something is wrong with my car – at no extra charge.
Hopefully, Yong and his brothers can ride out the current wave of cases.
They deserve it for being great people who treat their customers right.
RECORD NUMBER OF NEW CASES AND RECOVERIES
The number of new Covid-19 cases hit record highs in the past week. On the bright side, it was the same for recoveries.
In the past week, we have had 201,848 new cases, including a daily high of 32,070 on Thursday. There have been more than 30,000 cases in the last three days. To date, there are 3,367,871 million infections in Malaysia.
In the last seven days, 140,168 patients, including a record 23,332 on Thursday, received the all-clear, meaning 3,040,850 persons have beaten the coronavirus. We reached three million recoveries on Thursday.
On the downside, there were 315 fatalities, taking the total to 32,591.
Worldwide, there are 433.2 million cases and 5.95 million fatalities.
SAD BUT TRUE
A friend, Jeffrey Miranda, shared this yesterday.
HOW ABOUT SOME CHEESE FRITTATA?
If you like eggs, here is a recipe for cheese frittata.
WHO WANTS TO DIET?
TOM’S DINER
For something different, here is German rock band AnnenMayKantereit with Suzanne Vega’s 1984 hit, Tom’s Diner.
Tom’s Diner is about a restaurant – Tom’s Restaurant – that Vega used to frequent.
Here is a piece of trivia. The exterior of Tom’s Restaurant was in the sitcom Seinfeld, where it was known as Monk’s Cafe.
Until next week, stay safe.
