Final babymoon - booked!

We've decided to stay one night at MBS, woohoo!

But there was a problem with the online reservation* - so I called them instead. Settled everything within 12 minutes. And the confirmation email has come in too.

Sito and I had a little exchange after the call that went something like this:

Sito: Was it a Singaporean voice?
mf: Yup, very familiar accent..
Sito: Well, then it's true they are hiring Singaporeans in the IRs!

And this afternoon, when Sito and I made two calls to Citibank in Singapore about his annual fee - no, the wife couldn't call on the husband's behalf - we both got a Singaporean voice.

I have taken it for granted that when I call Singapore, I'll hear a Singaporean voice. Even when I called SQ's US number to redeem my miles, it was always a Singaporean voice; when I called Asiana, it was a Korean voice; when I called Cathay (argh!), it was a HK voice. So I never really thought much about it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it seems that reservation roles remain locally sourced as they need someone in the location itself to do it. Calls for technical support, on the other hand, are more likely to be outsourced to call centres. After all, the call centre just need a handy guide to provide support. Can't remember specific incidents in Sg but I had a very memorable one at this hotel in NYC when I couldn't get the broadband to work - was on the phone with the technician for 40min before he realised the silly solution!

Anyway, this was supposed to be about our babymoon... So, happy! :) I used my Sg credit card for the flights of our earlier trips to get cash rebates. This time, it's his turn to earn rebates - and he can continue to earn rebates on his credit spending all the way to December :p What? I'm not working yet what... Haha!

* Why oh why again?! Btw, Sito's flight is still not confirmed! They couldn't charge his credit card here so I called to use another card and after two days, the card still hasn't been charged and the ticket not issued of course. Crap.

Update 11 May 2012

I was going to call Cathay Pacific again but the e-ticket finally came in this morning, phew! So we're all set for home!