My Induction Cooker

At last, I’ve got my induction cooker!

But not without a last chaotic incident.

 

Murphy’s law says, “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

 

Here is how it happened.

 

The brand promoter called me last Thursday afternoon (28^th June),

and told me that my items have arrived in the morning; ready for

pick-up anytime. “I’ll come tomorrow,” was my reply.

 

Tomorrow came, and when I walked in the store with my family,

it was about 6pm already. We sent the kids to watch some cartoons

they are showing at their gigantic plasma TVs, we tried to walk around,

looking for some available salesmen to assist us. We approached one,

and boy, oh boy, that was a bit of a mistake. The salesman was arrogant!

Let it go… I just told my wife that we’d better go over to the customer service

counter, which we did, signalled to one guy, who politely assisted us, and

paged for the concerned person. 2^nd page was aired, and nobody was coming.

45 mins was quickly spent, then we called another one, who went around

the area where they usually sell the brand items, asked around, only to

find out that the guy is on sick leave! Whoa! What’s worse, nobody else knows

about my items. One elderly guy picked up on my case, tried hard to get as much

sensible info from me, and tried even harder to put them together. At one time,

from a pool of 4 salespeople, one thought that we wanted to buy a washing machine!

I was getting a bit disappointed, especially when I learned that nobody seems

to know about my discussion and transaction, even the store’s store guys.

A few more rounds of questions and answers, and the elderly guy asked the

right question, “Is it an item you are picking up, or you want to buy it?”

Which I gave the right answer in return, “I wanted to buy.” “Ohhh…!”

was their response in chorus. To this cue, the store guy quickly ran inside

the store room, followed by the elderly guy. From outside, we saw them

taking from under one table our items. A few quick minutes, and the

elderly guy was coming out, carrying the boxes. While he was doing a

final check on the items, I was telling him the price of each, which he confirmed

as he searched for and examined the price tags. He assisted us over to the

cashier, left the items there for some time as we sighed in relief, contented

that we already have what we came for, to walk around the store and

check on some items randomly. We checked on the kids, got another item

believed to be of value and practical use, let the kids choose the color of

their liking, then got that small piece. The nature of the size necessitates

the salesperson having to bring the item over to the counter, personally

hand it to the cashier for price scanning, before telling the customer that

‘it’s yours now’ after making sure that it is a paid merchandise. The guy

tried to persuade us to go to another cashier counter, after seeing that

the nearest one has a queue, though not a long one. “We have other items

there,” we said, pointing to the counter with the queue. With that, we

walked to the cashier counter, with the salesperson queueing with us,

and when our turn came, informed the lady, who also recognezed us, about

the other items we’ve left there earlier. Opting for a 24-month installment

repayment mode, we closed the deal, and happy with our purchase, we

all went home.

 

Needless to say, I tried using the induction cooker, and although fully aware

of the benefits of reduced heat in the kitchen when cooking, and also some

harmful gases, if using LPG stove, aside from carbon monoxide from

incomplete burning, and the possibility of an explosion from a gas leak,

I dashed out to check the electricity meter whether the dial is turning fast,

or slow, while my wife watched the hob.

 

Min setting, very slow; max setting, it was crazy Dash fast! We settled on min

to middle setting, which we deemed was just like runnin a washing machine.

 

In the morning, the first victual that hit the pan, which, by the way,

came free with the induction hob, custom-made for that hob, and carrying

the same brand stamped at the bottom of the pan very clearly as the break of day,

are 4 jumbo hotdogs. We were ecstatic with our new gadget! Not to mention the kids.

They each had their turn of turning the 4 red, plump weenies, an ordeal that

didn’t last long. What followed next they like better. They enjoyed eating

the hotdogs very much!

 

Yesterday, 3^rd July, I called back the brand distributor, and let them know

that I have got the items which I’ve worked to get with them and the store

for about a month. The lady politely answered, “I know.” And she knew that

the brand promoter was on Medical Leave that day when I came. She did worry.

And her worry was allayed when she learned, perhaps the next day after,

that I’ve gotten the items after all. I gave my thanks to her, and to pass on

the gratitude to the brand promoter, which she welcomed with delight.