Sometimes we underrate what basic courtesy does. This became clear to me this morning after I had an interview with Fuji Xerox at the Singapore Science Park. There is only one service, 92 which serves the Science Park, and after my interview, to get to Buona Vista MRT, I waited for the bus for at least 25 minutes. 92 is a loop service, so you get to see the bus on the opposite side of the road before it turns around to get to the bus stop that you're waiting at. So it's a little frustrating when the bus is off-service when it passes by your bus stop when you saw it 10 minutes ago going in the oppsite direction.

Anyway, when I finally boarded the bus, the driver gave a cheery "Hello, good morning!" and I smiled back. And I forgot about how frustrating it was to be waiting 25 minutes for a bus on a hot, stuffy Tuesday morning. It struck me how the driver's cheery greeting just made things seem better. Just like that.

Read Mr Miyagi's thoughts on National Service here. The actual post is off another blog by Mr Miyagi, Days Were The Those. All I can say is that the guy is one lucky person. I've fired an M203 before, and well, if one lands next to you, you'll not be in one piece.

And of course, speaking of the SAF, I have a little to say too. But it isn't really a complaint, more like an observation. I called up Mindef's eServices hotline to find ot about exit permit stuff for my brother and me. My queries were answered pretty well, though I did get bounced around the various departments a bit in the beginning. At least they were all polite and helpful. For my brother, who is a pre-enlistee, things were a little blurry. We're going off to Canada for a week in June to get some admin matters for our PR done, so I called to find out if he required an exit permit. After navigating through the maze of menus, I managed to find out that he didn't need an exit permit as long as the trip was less than 3 months. However, they also had this query where you could enter your IC number and they'd tell you whether you need an exit permit.

So I entered my brother's IC number, and was notified that he DID require an exit permit if he was travelling with an international passport. Which was not what the general information menu had said. So I spoke to a customer service officer, who said that he DID NOT need an exit permit if his trip was less than 3 months, just a notification to Mindef of his overseas trip. This was a little confusing as nothing was mentioned about notification before I spoke to the customer service officer.

And the MIW website was not too helpful either. Take a look at it's general information on exit permits here. Real helpful that.