Sounds like Evil...

There is evil lurking all around us. Evil lurking everywhere.... At times like these, we might not even spot the evil anymore. But evil is indeed amongst us. Evil has taken a form here for around a decade, and maybe older. That’s right. Be afraid my friends. Be very afraid. Evil has bestowed upon us, in a form that you see everyday.

Evil has taken the form of a van.

That’s right. This everyday transport vehicle is now mobile evil everywhere. Recently, my best mate -d- had been coaxed into what he thought was a good deal. Unknown to him, evil was at work. Its not new though. This form of evil has been around for quite awhile.

If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, then please read on, and please pass the message on to your friends and family members who drive. This evil I’m talking about, are people who drive around in vans and offer to give you free sound systems for free.

Yes. For free.

Here’s the pitch. You could be in a car park, or even on the road driving and they’ll just pull up right beside you and tell you they have alot of excess stocks of really expensive speakers that they cannot sell, and they don’t want to return it to their boss because he’s a cheebye. Then, before you know it, they’ll quickly unload the speakers from their van and try to load it into your vehicle. Then, the money part comes in.

They’ll ask you for kopi-money. And we’re not talking 5 or 10 bucks kind of money. They’ll want at least a couple of hundred bucks for these premium speakers, and if you’re not convinced within the first 2 seconds of their value, they’ll whip out a catalogue showing you the price of the speakers, which normally ranges in the thousands of dollars. Of course, when you actually see the thing in black and white, you’ll think, maybe those REALLY are expensive speakers. And to make it even more convincing, these speakers also have their own manufacturer’s website, and come with warranty. They’ll even give you a receipt that bears a local company name. So, what’s to lose?

EVERYTHING!

When -d- got hit by these very eloquent bengs, he called me and asked me if I knew anything about sound systems.

"Hello, eh, ask you ah, you know anything about sound system anot?"

"Er, sound system ah? Why leh?"

"Just want to find out if you know anything about this brand call what Sound Sonic ah."

" Sound Sonic? Familiar lah. I think got heard about something Sonic one."

"Or how about Glatten Audio? Some German engineered brand."

"Har? Glatten what? Eh, I driving now ah and I don’t have my bluetooth with me. I call you back later."

"Okay okay. Bye."

Sadly, my not having a bluetooth headset that day cost my dear friend 600 bucks. If I had my headset, I imagine the conversation might go like this:

"Hello, eh, ask you ah, you know anything about sound system anot?"

"Er, sound system ah? Why leh?"

"Just want to find out if you know anything about this brand call what Sound Sonic ah."

" Sound Sonic? Familiar lah. I think got heard about something Sonic one. Why you asking anyway? Christmas want to buy sound system for who?"

"No lah, cos got some guy want to give me free speaker, but he want abit of kopi lui lah, so I wanna...."

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE! THOSE CHEEBYE KIAS ARE FUCKING TRYING TO CON YOU! THE SPEAKER GOT NO VALUE ONE! YOU GIVE KARANG GUNI FOR FREE HE WILL THINK YOU TRYING TO SCAM HIM AH!"

That’s only in my head. Anyway, -d- purchased the speakers and then found out from forums when he was at home that he had been scammed. Being human, he felt cheated, and a surge of rage and sense of helplessness came over him. How could anyone do this? How could anyone treat another human this way? How could they con people like this and still sleep at night? I felt for him man. I really did. So, we tried to focus back to see if there was anything we could do to get his money back.

Yes. He didn’t just give up hope like that. -d- being -d-, he would not give up without a fight. So it began. The battle with evil had begun. And if you thought this is the end of it, you are wrong. Stay tuned to my next post for the climatic battle between good (the cheated), and evil (the cheaters).