Kampua Talk

I went to Ruby Restaurant for dinner after the All Saints’ Day mass on Saturday. I booked and ordered early so that we didn’t have to wait very long for the food to be served. I saw Suituapui’s SMS asking “Ruby for dinner?” only after the mass but I invited him anyway. Unfortunately, the old man was already in bed - at 8pm!!!

We ordered some dishes that I’ve blogged about before so I’ll leave the review to Alvin as this was his first time dining at Ruby’s. I simply couldn’t resist the Butter Scotch Prawns at Ruby’s and I have to order it every time I eat there.

This picture is to tempt Bongkersz! LOL

Let’s see what Alvin has to say about the food at Ruby’s as this was his first time there (finally!).

Something interesting happened when I went to pay for the bill after the meal. The total damage was RM49.40 but I asked for discount. The boss asked “You are a friend of Arthur’s, right?“. I nodded and he charged me RM48. After paying RM50 and receiving RM2 change, just for the sake of conversation, I asked the boss if he read The Star 2 weeks ago.

He looked surprised. Here’s the conversation that followed:

Boss: Yes, I did! You wrote that article???
Clare: Yup! Originally I wrote it.

Boss: Oh, if that’s the case, give back my RM2! My treat! (He returned my RM50!)
*clapped hands and danced around*

Boss: So are you The Star’s journalist?
Clare: No lah! I wrote the article after eating here with Arthur and then some lazy journalist from The Star took it from my blog and published it and didn’t even tell me!
Boss: Oh, like that! How come ar?
Clare: Don’t know. Can sue them wan lah but the process will be very very time consuming.
Boss: Ya lor!

Alvin came out from the toilet and joined me at the counter, wanted to pay for the bill.

Alvin: How much is the bill? Let me pay.
Clare: Almost Rm50. But taukay chia (it’s on the house)…
Alvin: Oh...
Clare: He will write the review this time because I already wrote about the dish we had tonight.
Boss: Good. Good. Write more and come back, I’ll treat you another round!
Clare: Hahahaha!
Boss: Ask Athur to come also, I want to treat him too!
Clare: Okay! Thanks a lot for the treat tonight!
Boss: No, no! Thank YOU!

We went back to our table to finish off our drinks when my mom saw the boss whispering to his wife and pointing at our direction. When we were leaving, the wife asked me “So you are the one who wrote the article har?” By then, I paiseh liao so I just smiled and nodded. She said “A lot of people has been asking us about it.” *damn kembang*

See, before I wrote a review on Ruby Restaurant, I went there myself, tasted the food and paid for the bill (well, Arthur paid for it but you get what I mean). Only then I voluntarily wrote about it because I found it worth a review. However, some irresponsible and lazy journalist from some national newspaper never left the comfort of her chair/air-conditioned office to taste and pay for the food, stole my review and edited it, both without my permission. That’s still not the worst part.

When I wrote the review, I didn’t gain anything out of it (I paid for the meal) but when some journalist stole my article and published it in the newspaper, she or rather the newspaper company is gaining profit out of it. So it is not right to say that bloggers do the same thing by quoting news from the newspaper every now and then. Because bloggers do not profit in terms of monetary from doing so.

And I did not foresee or expect any free meals from Ruby only because I wrote a review about the food there. The article made its way into the national daily not because I purposely put it there. From what I gathered, the previous journalist for that column would ask permission 2 weeks before he/she published the article from your blog (if he/she took it from there) but when the latest journalist replaced him/her, the newbie doesn’t even bother to ask! Worse, some bloggers actually wrote an e-mail to her to ask about their article but their e-mails ‘conveniently’ got lost in the cyberspace. Plus, that journalist moved on to a new target and doesn’t bother to take articles from your blog post anymore.

A good friend of mine who is also a columnist for that newspaper helped me ask the editor about it but to date I have yet to receive any explanation. That means they do it, i.e. publishing your article without your permission, on purpose! (Psst! Any lawyer can help me out?)

Oh well! I have gained my lifetime VIP card with Ruby Restaurant (Of course you too, Arthur!) because I put Ruby on the map, not the journalist who thinks Sibu is in Sabah! *evil laughter*

*flip hair and walk off*

Thanks a lot to Ruby Restaurant for the wonderful dinner!

PS: The boss of Ruby Restaurant asked Alvin and me to dine there again, on the house! Now, who wants free meal??? *create a “People Who Are Nice To Me” list*