My 10th Valentines Day dinner
*long entry, don’t bitch
My friend Ayamas organized a Valentines Day dinner at one of Penang’s most ‘exclusively’ prominent private club last night - The Penang Swimming Club. You see, this particular ‘exclusive’ club restaurant, has a set of restriction against its patrons, be it their own club members or invitees - No slippers, No shorts, No non-collared T-shirts.
And last night? None of us guys wore collared shirts as we’re not being made aware about such ruling. And that was why we’re being confronted by the host waiter when we stepped into the premise. The captain/manager/whatever wasn’t very happy about it and since he couldn’t really oust all of us T-shirt hippies out of their club, he decreed one of his waiter to get us a few reserved collared shirts to rectify the grave situation.
And in bring the guy a few chintzy, long-sleeved, collared (of course) batik shirts. We’re supposed to put them over what we’re wearing, as such so that we’re ‘compatible’ with them boot-licking elitists’ standards there.
I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea and was very skeptical about putting it on, especially when I figured that the shirt reeked of some ‘Mopiko’ odor (a popular Japanese ointment to relieve insect bites). That ‘Mopiko’ smell is gonna ruin my expensive Ralph Lauren toilette and that’s not my original idea of an enjoyable evening with my friends and wife.
Not wanting to be a sourpuss in front of my companions (at such a place), I tried to put the gaudy batik shirt on nevertheless… but unfortunately (fortunately) it couldn’t fit my relatively WIDE frame (oh yeah bebeh) at all. So I flagged one of the Malay waiter down
“Excuse me, can you get me another shirt? This one’s too small for me”
The waiter replied to me in BeeEm (I forgot what he actually said, but it was more or less like this…)
“Oh sudah habis… tapi you cuma kena taruk macam ni dekat belakang. Saja nak tengok collar”
He proceeded to drape that piece of shirt onto my shoulder, which pretty much bewildered everyone at our table.
“Oh macam itu Godfather ya?”
“Ya.. ya..”
Sadly, the drape-over ‘cape’ sort of made me look like a cross between a Colombian druglord and a Siamese pimp more than anything else… (what Godfather??). That’s why it stayed for only a couple of seconds on my shoulder… before I ditched it to the side of my chair.
Really, I couldn’t get myself to understand these narrow minded bourgeois drones. What’s so wrong about wearing a non-collared T-shirt to a restaurant? What has this got to do with the dining experience that one’s willing to pay for? Is that club trying imply that round neck T-shirts are substandards of collared shirts, and those who wear it shall be deprived of the privilege to dine inside that restaurant?
I wondered what’s the rationale behind this. In a tropical weather like this, it is understandable that most people would prefer to slip into something comfortable and casual to go for a simple dinner. Something like a simple T-shirt or a wifebeater with jeans (bermudas for me). Not something you would wear to meet your father-in-law or for a job interview (and even that, is bound to change over time…)
I reckoned that this was probably enforced to prevent those “lowlife motherfuckers” that earn less than a hundred grands per annum to enter their premise and spoil everyone’s dining experience. But well, if that’s the main concern, perhaps they could have put more effort to improve their services and food quality instead. However superlative that team of ‘high-standard’ people think they are, it’s all right under that porcelain bowl I meditate on every morning.
Full of crap.
I’ve been there, dined with a pair of round neck T-shirt and I’d say the food’s nothing to shout about. There’s nothing exclusive about this bunghole establishment. That captain/manager/whatever is nothing but a despicable cocksucking snob. He’d only sssssmile and ssssserve his COLLARED clientele, but would never go near that table full of T-shirt clad social outcasts.
There’s more - The steak’s stiff and cold. Drinks not being filled when empty. Order’s incorrect. And those ‘high class literates’ even got our bill wrong. 10 standard sets of Valentines dinner that we had? They billed it for 8. Not that it’s a bad thing but, that sort of tell us a lot about these social class chauvinist. Fucking ironic indeed.
I originally intend to bring this up to the management or something like that… but eventually, put off the plan. I was thinking, who am I to complain? I’m just a collarless invitee and a nobody… like I’m gonna get some empathy from a bigger asshole of a smaller subset. Hahh
So, I decided to do it the ‘nobody’s way’… rant it out in my own private little blog, which very few people will even take notice… 
Alright, that was my 10th Valentines Day dinner with Emily… it’s kinda special in a way.
man, i tell u. The fucktup collar shirt is just to make us (non-collar t-shirt) feel inferior.
and they assume they are so fucktup higher class and charging us a bomb but at the end, hire cheap ass part time waiter and waitress (like i used to be) that cannot speak proper english or understand what the shit is serviette is.
your last sentence mentioned ‘…10th Valentines Day dinner with Emily…’..
i don’t know man, you like mentioned Emily only …once?
i think it would be more appropriate to rephrase it to ‘…10th Valentines Day dinner and beef against non-collared T-shirts’.
heh.
fark up service at so called high class eatery. Full of crap. It reminds me of school uniform, yuck.. yuck. Anyway, happy valentine mike!
ya, i never like that pg swimming club. cannot wear slippers in when i wanted to go swimming! so what, i have to wear sneakers with socks issit? and wear jeans when i come up from the pool.
wah, that was like…15 years ago! the rules are still the same??
tsk tsk…*shakes head*
frostier - I don’t know man… I just feel damn pissed with their fawning act over someone they think highly of. Especially mat sallehs… damn fucking pathetic…
din - Well, would it make any difference if I were to mention Emily 500 times over the same entry?
bongkerz - I’ve no qualms about school uniforms… except that most of them are kinda thin… and they looked very sexy (back then) on school girls with humongous tits…. ahaksss
eriza - I was totally blown with the fact that I was required to at least ‘drape over’ that fugly shirt over my shoulder. Fucking ridiculous.
guess this is how the bourgeois poison the minds of those weak proletariats, making them slaves, turning them into bourgeois-wannabes…
btw…batik shirts?…. reminds me of Genting wor…
It does say a lot about where our society is heading doesn’t it? A society where you are judged not by how intelligent or polite you are, but how you dress. It sickens me really.
Oh and by the way, school uniforms on girls are still hot. And I think they always will be! *drool*
Hehe. I would have kept on the drape and pretend I AM the Godfather. That would have really pissed off them collar-stiffnecks.
That’s why I hate going to fancy clubs where you can’t wear a collar-less shirt. Full of pretentious stuckup people who think they are better than others because they worry more about looking like the people in the adverts :(.
I prefer outdoor trance parties (yeah, you can even get something to eat there
) where no one gives a fark what I am wearing or what I look / smell like. Hehehe. It also reduces the burden on me to make sure I have shitloads of different shirts etc.
You can dress the biggest c*** in the world in fancy clothes and he/she will still be a c*** (and vv.).
souplad - The good old days of Genting. You wanna get into the casino? You must wear a fucking coat, or a batik. But ever since the economy deteriorated, they revised the rule to just collared shirts.
yoong wei - Those are some fucked up practices by the old British farts (that club was started by the Brits). You know, definining standards encouraging discrimination… And these people, our very own Asian/Malaysian… would just follow blindly…
andre - You spoke my mind. Couldn’t agree more. I’ve been to numerous informal restaurants where you can even dine in without your shirt… and they have waaaaaaay better food/service than that fucked up rathole.
lagak gaya konon…
but the staff cant speak good english wht good?
i dunno…classy classy establishment doesnt exist in malaysia…as far as i thought…it just doesnt mix in with our ‘bolehlah’ culture…
we arent caste based society..are we?
was in a club previously…
and each visitor had to have their picture taken ala passport and be printed out immediately and hang on the neck…
sigh…
now i should avoid penang swimming club by any chance
Which private little blog… this private little blog?
Few people read… really??!
zbjernak - If I were to have a chance to set up my own club, I’m gonna ban anyone from wearing anything inside it…
vincent - Yes vincent, this private little blog. Any problem?
yeah! I love the baju kurung
:D especially when the non muslim wear them.. kah kah kah!
yeah! white baju kurungs are SEXAYYYY!!
Stupid restaurant. A real V-day spoiler. I can only say sorry to hear about it…
Well while maybe it isn’t nice and cuddly, let alone PC to judge by looks, dress as a dirt bag be treated like one. I am a waiter and far from the evil social high class literates. While you may consider me a sell-out, if you want a simple dinner go to TGI Friday’s. I myself am only wanting a decent living and I certainly don’t get it by a bunch of hypocritical wife beater wearing trashy assholes that come in. Sorry if the people wearing collers and suits actually pay for a nice dinner and want something other than a burger. I think its quite ironic that you think you are getting pissed on by going to a fine dining club and actually be expected to look like a memeber of society. Yet you piss all over an employee who is doing his best to make a living by making rascist remarks because as a man born in a foreign land he has an accent. Didn’t know it was such a shamefull thing to be literate by the way, I was always brought up to present myself at my best,regardless of income or race, act and look like trash? No wonder you recieved poor service. Some people just don’t belong and it has nothing to do with race or income, just class.
That may work for you, waiter. But that ain’t our principle of life.
you see, we asians? We dine with basically everyone. Indiscriminately. We respect each other on the table that we eat. We don’t judge a person by what he wears (that’ll be shallow).
And it’s kinda ironic for me too, having to learn that an American waiter who reads this doesn’t understand the true cream behind that anecdote. I’ll give you hint, dolt… it’s about the stupid things you do in the name of bureaucracy.