Friday, October 21, 2011

My Review of D-Lux Laptop Messenger Racing Stripe

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

A Racing Stripe Messenger with laptop protection.


Awesome bag, just right for me

By Inguzan from Solo, Indonesia on 10/21/2011

 

5out of 5

Pros: Comfortable , Attractive, Durable , Roomy , Good Strap Length

Cons: Not enough compartments

Best Uses: Day Trips, Office, Computer

Describe Yourself: Practical, Comfort-Oriented

Was this a gift?: No

I use it as daily bag, going with me everywhere I go. It is a perfect bag for me, the size is just right. Unfortunately the pockets are too flat to be useful. My Macbook Air fits perfectly and the padding offers adequate protection. Awesome bag! I wish I can afford to buy more. The delivery cost to Indonesia and custom tax equalled the price of the bag.

My new timbuk2 with NC16 pin

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(legalese)

Monday, October 03, 2011

Honesty and Money From Beyond The Grave

Last week was a weird money magnet week for me.

First, at the beginning of the week, there was a friend who asked me to help her invest her money. She was going to transfer the money to me straight away, but I refused, because I had not analyzed her risk profile. I was glad that she would trust me, but it would be unprofessional of me to simply accept that money without any sorts of assessment and agreements.

Second, on Wednesday morning I went to Bank ABC to do some banking transactions. I did some deposits and withdrawals from several accounts for business purposes. I should have received Rp 7,000,000 from the teller at the end of the transactions. After the teller finished doing the transactions, she stood up and gave me back my bank books and deposit slips. Apparently she forgot to give me the Rp 7,000,000 cash, so I asked her about the money. She was embarrassed that she forgot to give me the money, so she started to prepare the cash. I told her that I needed some small denominations too. I wanted some 20,000s, 10,000s and 5,000s. She started to get money out of the drawer, she took out more than 10 bundles of 50,000s and started changing the elastic bands with the paper money bands. While waiting for her to finished changing the bands, I was chatting on my Blackberry 9900. After a while, she asked me to watch her put the money into the counting machine, she took 12 bundles of 50,000s, 3 bundles of 20,000s, 3 bundles of 10,000s and 2 bundles of 5,000. I was quite amazed to see that much money. I only withdrew Rp 7,000,000 and she prepared to give me Rp 70,000,000. I could've said nothing and she would have given me the money! I told her nicely that I only withdrew Rp 7,000,000 not Rp 70,000,000. When I told her that, it was only then that she realized she had made a grave mistake. You should've seen her face, it was a mixture of shock, surprised and relief. She looked like as if she had just woken up from a state of dream or hypnosis and back to reality. She brought all the money back to her desk and started counting correctly this time. While counting, she muttered how glad she was serving me who reminded her of her mistake. She thanked me profusely while giving me the correct amount of money at the end.

I imagined how it would have been like if I had not told the teller and simply took the money. It would be disastrous for her, Rp 63,000,000 was a lot of money. It could've have been the total of three year salary for her. On the other hand, what kind of person I would have become, had I taken that money? I believe that my integrity worth so much more than Rp 63,000,000.

I posted this story on Facebook and one of my friend, Chuang, said:

I imagined if I was in the teller’s position, I would feel so relieved and glad that there was still a good person who was honest to return the money…and since I know that the teller was a person just like me, I would return the money. The value of money decreased with time and could not be taken beyond death, but we can always bring honesty, even to the next life. (Chuang, I translated this the best I could. I hope it meets your expectation hahaha)

I completely agree with what Chuang has said.

Third, the weirdest of all! On Saturday afternoon, I had two missed calls from unknown number, so I called back. A lady answered the phone and I asked her why she called me earlier. These are the conversations:

L: Are you Inge Santoso with hand phone number of 0856xxxxxxx?

I: Yes.

L: I called you because my husband just passed away last week and when I cleaned his desk, I found an envelope with some amount of money in it. Your name and phone number were written on the envelope. Did my husband owe you some money? If he did, I would like to give you the money.

I: I’m sorry. What was your husband name? I don’t think anybody owed me any money.

L: My husband’s name is A.

I: I am sorry, I don’t think I know him. I am sure that he did not owe me anything. You can keep the money.

L: OK, thank you then.

After that phone call, I was thinking…how weird! Even someone who had died wanted to give me money. It was like getting money from complete stranger beyond the grave!

Anyway, I am glad that I could still make the right choice in each situations.

What would you do if you were me? Please write in the comments.

Learn and Grow!