There was a letter in this morning’s edition of TODAY that made me chuckle. Read on:
Can’t recall wife’s birthday, so no help from telco
byXXX
Two days ago, I received a frantic call from my wife who is on holiday overseas, saying that her handbag containing her mobile phone had been stolen.
Immediately, I called M1 to ask for her phone line to be suspended. I was asked to provide my wife’s name, phone number, address, postal code, IC number – to all of which I gave the correct reply. Then, I was asked her date of birth. When I said I could not really remember, I was told my desperate request could not be acceded to. Weren’t the correct replies I gave earlier sufficient for them to act?
As the last straw, I was told to call my wife to ask for her birth date. How could I, when her phone had been stolen!
I hung up the phone and am now waiting for the phone bill to come.
It shouldn’t take a fetch to conclude what’s so funny about this letter. No, it’s not about the telco’s insistence on doing things by the book, but of this fellow writing to a widely distributed newspaper announcing to all and sundry that he doesn’t remember his wife’s birthday! I wonder if he was thinking clearly when he wrote this letter, because the online community responding to this letter are all having a good laugh at his expense.
This letter brings to mind our wedding, like 4.5 years ago. As customs go, in order for the bridegroom to get to the bride, he has to get pass the sister-ette party. The local practice here routinely demand lots of willingness on the part of the bridegroom to basically, well, grovel and beg and do nutty things (in Western terms, it’s called ‘ragging’). Having a big wallet stuffed with notes, especially of the blue kind i.e. $50, helps to grease the wheels too.
In my case, I’d already declared to Ling the week before our wedding that while I was willing to partake in a small bit of these customary festivities just to get into the spirit of the occasion, I was not going to beg, nor grovel, nor do demeaning things to myself just to get past the gate. Thankfully, the sisterette party heeded and obeyed – mostly. When it came to the Q&A portion, they thought they had me nailed when they asked for Ling’s NRIC number – which I easily rattled off my head!
The long and short of it is that there are a couple of things you must always remember of your spouse. The telephone number, birthdate, and the NRIC number – and I’m glad to report that I got all of them on permanently imprinted in my brain, very early on.
Now, if only Ling could say the same… :)
Fun times, indeed. I remember standing there, looking on as I blankly held the gift basket, thinking, What the hell is an NRIC number? The guardians were clearly impressed that you rattled off the number in no time flat. I was just confused!
That letter writer is a joker.
Cannot remember wife b’day still dare to announce to the world.
I really must salute him if I have the chance to meet him. He got balls of steel.
I hope his wife has arranged for some “corporal” punishment to him.
Forgetting wife b’day is like “death” penalty. No excuses.
Forget NRIC may be excusable since it is still personal info to some people.
I can’t remember my hubby’s IC number but I can remember all the other stuff. I guess I never had any need to fill in his IC number so overtime, I’ve forgotten about it. My hubby, on the other hand, was able to remember everything about me except for my working schedule, even when I told him just the night before!
Goes to show we do remember things about our significant one but just, not everything.