Friday, March 21, 2008

Boss Stewie Falls For Peer Pressure

Okay so this is what struck me recently.

Here's how it was okay.

I was sitting in a meeting with some people from a Tech company. Now we were sitting around in the meeting and everyone put their phones on the table.

It was almost as if the phone was everyone's Avatar and the more Techy your phone is the more seriously I should take you. Heck half of them at the table even had Blackberrys right next to their phones.So with disregard of the environment I was in, I took out my phone and placed it on the table.

Instantly everyone around the table took a good look at my phone and then at me.

I left the meeting a little confused. I went home and told a friend about the weird experience only to get a reply from him
"OF COURSE LA!!! You are Co-Founder of Nuffnang, an internet company! You go around giving speeches for fux sake!!! You have an image to keep.
You're supposed to be TECHY... but look at your phone!!! It's not even the latest model of that particular phone!".

I got a little offended at someone dissing my phone.
"But... it's a DAMN bloody good phone. It's 3G, it's hardy, it has a 3.2 mega pixel camera, bluetooth, reliable... all for only RM1,200. That's great value for money!!!".My friend didn't bother to explain further so I forgot all about that incident.

Then last weekend when Ming was down for our Pajama Party, we had another meeting with another bunch of Tech guys who really wanted to work with Nuffnang.

Everyone in the meeting had their phones on the table... and they all had iPhones.

I didn't dare take out my phone from my pocket this time.

After the meeting I went on to ask Ming
"Oi.. how your iPhone.. nice to use ar?"

And he said
"Hated it at first but actually when you get used to it quite good. You should get one lar... better for image right as an internet entrepreneur."

That experience with Ming reminded me of the previous meeting I had some time ago. Then I asked that same friend that gave me advice before
"Okay fine... what's the hottest phone in the market right now?"

He replied
"The iPhone".The next thing I asked was
"How much is that?"

And he said
"Between RM2,500 - RM3,000 depends where you get it from".

Immediately I went "WTF?!?!?!?!?!?.

Now I know RM2.5K or so isn't a lot of money to some people. Heck I've seen Kids have phones that cost as much or more... but for someone who never really spent much of phones before... that is a LOT of money to pay for a phone.

I am just NOT used to paying this kind of money for mobile phones.

I mean heck.. a phone is a phone... you use it to talk, and you use it to text why the hell do you need one that costs so much!!!... that is until peer pressure got into the picture.

So everyone... see that smile on my face?That smile actually only lasted until I realized that I was so broke I had to be eating Bread and Kaya for the next 2 months of my life. *Sniff*

Anyone wanna hire me to do any handy work? Gardening.. anything? Please drop me a mail.

Only RM5.00 an hour. Just 500 hours of Gardening or painting houses and I should be able to make back what I spent.

Damn peer pressure!

41 comments:

Unknown said...

well...i think there;s no need to pressure yourself.
Alot of big bosses with huge factories and companies onli uses a nokia 3310.
i met one big boss b4 (*real big) n he said,
"wat's the use of using a high tech one?...my nokia 3310 had made me billions of dollars. Teens nowadays spent big bucks to buy flashy phones but can;t earn as much as they should be."
so dont feel bad about using an old one.

ladybird said...

Yea....Agree with Alvin.People nowadays especially teenagers spend too much on phones and they would change their phones once the latest model is out in market.

electronicfly said...

fuahhhh

eh boss, you better hide your phone from me the next time we meet. no guarantee that I won't hog it ah.

Super Gentleman said...

boss ahh... my house is messy like kenak typhoon liddat... cum help me clean lahh... i pay u... quite reasonable bahh... bt air tix is nt provided lohh... LOL...

David Cheong said...

lol I actually agree with you! Although you have an image to keep but the k800i is good enough already! heck, that's my phone LOL of course I likey lah =p

I wan Iphone!!! LOL

Unknown said...

I'm kinda new to this blogging community but the title of this entry along with the commercialisation of the blogging itself as a whole made me ponder...

What if say...Blogger A wrote something unflattering about a certain product or company , BUT it so happens that the object of that bloggers criticism is actually owned by a company which advertises heavily within the 'reader group' of that blog (for example if A writes an article totally bashing Sony products due to some unfortunate personal experiences involving said devices).

If said company objects to the post and demands it be removed or else it will withdraw all advertising with nuffnang, how would you resolve the matter?

Force the blogger to withdraw their post hence undermining blogging as a whole OR start alienating advertisers? =(

Chris said...

RM5 per hour? My gosh!
Why don't you go Singapore and selling packet tissue. They sell it here at S$1 for 3 packets.

So assuming RM1 profit for every 3 packets, you ONLY need to sell 7,500 packets of tissues. Not so much, right?

And with help from all nuffnagers, It can be done whithin one day!

1 iPhone = 7500 packets of tissues.

princessladyjane said...

=________________=""""""""""""""""""""

Hmm... Co-Founder of Nuffnang can be broke?

LAlaalaaa....

=___=""""""""""""

To be honest, I really think iPhone is not worth it at all... For that price, U can get a phone with more functions and better camera pixels than an iPhone... thats me la... cause i go for lots of functions in a phone...

pinksterz said...

rm5 per hour? okay you can come and work for me here. easy job only. clean the house, cook the meals, and drive me to anywhere i want.

deal? :D

p.s. will provide place to live but i charge you like urm rm30 per day.

cLaR@ said...

hmm that's an ipod touch not iphone right?

FeR said...

hurhur
not peer pressure but depends on whether you like(and can afford) gadgets or not. one of my clients...i'm sure his use of phone is also for calls only but recently got an iphone too...but he's into gadgets so..*shrugs*

to each their own! :D

Hungry Ping said...

well iphone is quite good... especially it has more 3rd party applications now

Cheng Chun said...

Iphone looks cool. I used it and it was kinda a nice though it really depends what functions you really need. I have a ipod too so I think it was redundant for me.

Though a HTC Touch is more cunnnnnn. :P

Chai Latte said...

wow. you weak willed lei. so easily affected by others. Dare to be different ma. anyway a phone is just a phone. Maybe iphone can do more but... guess you did not buy because you need its function. totally wasteful. if i were you i go for a diff. :p

Danny said...

Only thing I have to say - no, not welcome to the iPhone community; I hope you bought it from a good reseller.

In other words, when your iPhone goes boinkers you have to choices:

1. Solve it yourself
Most iPhone owners do this because they're techy. But most think they can do it but end dreading not being able to solve it later.

2. Head back to your reseller
I've heard horror stories where some don't know how to fix them or charge a bomb for something simple. Anyway, with the premium price of RM2500 you've paid; I hope your reseller will provide tech support.

p.s: You remember I showed you mine during the Samsung L760 thingy.

p.p.s: And, welcome to the iPhone users in Malaysia. :)

JacJac said...

boss...i tot they will bring out the iPhone 2nd generation pretty soon and it'll be sellin in Msia. I.e it'll be compatible by default in msia..don need crack etc

not so sure about dis tho...somebody please update me


btw.. saw ppl sellin new iphone online in ebay msia for RM1880++ nia...already cracked one sumore

Boon said...

u nvr see my phone..already fully koyak the outer part, but still can use, hahha!

eh boss! dun tell me u nvr wash ur pajama ever since u came bak from that party!!!

1 said...

Boss, I just get one iphone from my intel's fren.. Iphone really cool dude. It costs 1850 only. Not like u mention so expensive:P If u interested u can contact this guy.. quite reliable. http://nexus.mmu.edu.my/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2122

lainegal said...

i bought one recently as well. paid less than RM 2000 for it. and it's straight from the states...

eugene said...

boss,where u bought it?i wan buy also

meow said...

bread and kaya is delicious what! Hehe... RM5 per hour is cheap, be my driver be my driver!!! I'll pay you RM5.50, hehehe :p

Eugene Chee said...

oh boy, boss, so yesterday i saw u at low yat... u were looking for apple, so this is the phone u looking for... hahaha....

congrats on your new techy phone.. hehe.. fyi, i'm using K800i too.. it works perfectly well.

no regrets... hehehe

takecare bro!

.kitty said...

i don't think it was necessary for you to get such an expensive cellphone just to maintain your co-founder image or what so ever. i mean, it is just a cellphone isn't it? does it even matter to have such a techy cellphone? just to make calls and message?? think for yourself then. since you already got the iphone, congrats to you anyways boss ;)

Unknown said...

lol.. u make me wan to get a new phone as well.. haha.. still pondering.. since uk can get for free..

MikeM said...

aiseh bro, y iphone? i mean it's a good phone but b careful wif it, do not update via itunes, it will b locked back. y not wait til full version in malaysia?

or get the latest LG WM6 phone?

.:Baby Gin:. said...

hahaha! very funny!!

sorry!!

i dunno why your post very funny.

anyway iphone sux ;p haha

joshuatly said...

agree with you!
i dont think a hand phone is everything for me.
so i will buy a phone that enable me to make/recieve call, send/recieve sms!
Thats all!

Terence said...

i want an iphone too!!!!!!! :(((

JenKin Yat said...

whoa..i think rm2.5k for an iPhone is a better bargain than N95 >.<

ahlost said...

I think it's a wise investment after considering some factors. Love your new babe. Hehehe..

Unknown said...

well, definitely peer preasure AND the cause of having the ability to spend.
iphone seems a bit fragile to me, where u need to constantly clean smudges, watch out not to scratch it, not to drop it (of coz you could probably get a case for it, but it'll defeat the purpose of having one right?)
what's wrong with your k800? its a bloody good phone, ok look, if ur planning to sell that phone off for a low price, you've got an interested buyer here ;)

Caneeliea said...

I agree with you Tim; why do people wanna show off their phones leh? It's just a phone what.. But then when I saw your iphone pics.. omg *drooling* LOL..

MrChrispy said...

Boss Stewie, why did you sccumb to pressure!!! Why!!!???!!!

Johnny Ong said...

aiyah boss stewie, why let kiasuism bothered u?

anyway, rm5 per hr is a good deal. will call u when my garden requires some 'un-weeding' to do

Peter @ Enviroman said...

Hi Timothy,

Remember me? I was the guy you took all the trouble to phone when the one in charge to the stuff I was supposed to handle dare not call me and pass the buck to you instead.

I think you should get a Merc or a BMW or even a Ferrari. Actually, to tell you the truth, I am not impressed by all these stuff, for after all, my nickname on the web is Enviroman plus I have a Zero Waste blog plus I only have a lousy cheapskate Nokia hand phone that don't even have a camera, PLUS I didn't even pay for it. It was a birthday present. But highly appreciated as it became absolutely essential as I had to SMS out to station master of polling center while acting as polling and counting agent in that election that gave Nuffnang HQ a new Chief Minister.

BTW I had another bad experience, the time with Wiley of "for Dummies" fame. See Why your comments and emails are not getting prompt responses.

I sent emails to Nicholas plus Yat and requested them to forward my message to you, but I doubt they would. Anyway even if they did, I doubt you have the time to read it. If by the off chance you did, I hope it wouldn't discourage you from giving me more challenges as I am a risk taker prepared to accept the consequences of failure.

Hope you have deleted "nofollow" attribute for comments from your template for this blog as otherwise all my effort at typing this long comment would be wasted.

From the only Malaysian Blog*Star among a handful.
Peter Blog*Star in official Google Blogger blog
Blogger for Dummies

Peter @ Enviroman said...

Darn sloppy typing. Part of the message should read "I was the guy you took all the trouble to phone when the one in charge of the stuff I was supposed to do dare not call me to announce the bad news and pass the buck to you instead."

Peter Blog*Star
Guide to Malaysia

peggy said...

i cant believe it! you fell for peer pressure la boss $#$@#^%&
and of all phones... an iphone?

funnily enough all i can imagine now is your mom questioning you on your purchase of the iphone like how you contemplated buying that rm1.8k chair. hahahaha

and i totally agree with alvin with his quote of that big boss.
tsk tsk

Simon Seow said...

iPhone, is over rated.

Jannah said...

Apa da. I was about to start a K800i fanclub in Nuffnang.

Love my phone. Though at the moment I'm saving up for K850i, 5 megapixel. Drool.

IPhones are cool if you're into ITunes. But don't think you can download songs through ITunes in Malaysia yet. Have to wait for our version first.

Please don't sell your k800i. Collectors item tu. Paling kurang auction off for charity :)

cindyluv said...

the weeds in my garden is already 5 feet high! Will also include ice lemonade and crumpets. =P

songlin said...

Yeah. I had to agree with you. Peer pressure can be stressful too.Money doesn't fall from the sky. But don't be tulan. In fact you bought a very useful gadget. Cheer up! (Blackberries looks uglier than your elegant iPhone.)