His Grace for the Mission
Life at the Sports desk is full of surprises- some pleasant, others untimely & stressful!Was expecting a quiet day at work last fri- when suddenly the bombshell was dropped- get local reactions ahead of Jiawei's semi-final... ASAP cos we were closing the pages at 11pm instead of 1am. Siao man... giving me such late notice?!
1. Needed a photo of a family planning to watch the game on Sat- who??? Everyone seems shy or unavailable.
2. Needed comments- that was the easier part, but still tricky.
Thank God they tasked the most senior reporter to help me out- how much help was he gonna provide? Colleagues told me not to count on his input, but little did they know that I knew his daughter from my London days, so she told her dad not to leave me to die, and that was the first battle won, glory hallelujah! It happened without a word from me - she just happened to chanced upon my name at home, asked if that was the 'alfoo' she knew, and told him to help me..
Second fight: getting the photo
Made abt 8 phone calls to source for a family to no avail. Then a burst of sudden inspiration hit me- why dun I get this bowler's family whom i'm gonna interview later that evening? that was divinely orchestrated cos I've been putting off that interview for the entire week. Not easy as well- had to persuade the picture desk into giving me a photographer with insufficient notice.
Final battle: Getting kopitiam comments
Wah lau eh... this has got to be the hardest. Went around Toa Payoh Lorong 1 trying to find a kopitiam towkay or assistant to say they were gonna show the match, and that they hope it'll attract the crowds and boost business etc.
Jia lat man... at first I thought the 'first buy drink, then ask' trick would work, but no one knew or wanted to say anything.
Went back to office, asked around for kopitiam namecards- finally got 2. Called one up and the owner said he had quit, tried another and got a rude assistant unwilling to divulge her boss's hp number who eventually hung up on me...
With my editor breathing down my neck for the article, I got really exasperated. Then I decided to call the rude person up again- this time going for the sweet-talk approach...
Dialogue in Mandarin
Me: Hello, I'm the guy from the Straits Times calling again... need your boss's hp number for this story we're doing.
Her: Cannot give lar, he's coming in an hr's time- u call back later.
Me: pls, I need it asap... *getting desperate*
Her: Cannot give...
Me: U give me his number- I guarantee tm his business will be good!
Her: *long pause*... okie lar... it's blah blah...
Me: *phew* *dun have to try the 'flattering' approach...*
Game, set & match!
posted by Al @ 1:02 am
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