I met Jarrett Chin online. He sent me a message and his profile looked quite interesting. So I replied and we started corresponding and chatting casually.
He travels to Singapore frequently cause his ex-agent is from Singapore (Jarrett is a struggling actor). But he has never been to Malaysia despite the two countries merely divided by a causeway.
In December last year, Jarrett was travelling to Singapore again. This time he was making a trip to Malacca and then come to KL to meet up with me.
Despite being an American-born Chinese and having been to Singapore countless times, Jarrett doesn't know what is kuey teow and nasi lemak. Don't they have kuey teow and nasi lemak in Singapore?
One of the most irritating things is having to explain to a Chinese what kuey teow is. It's like trying to explain what pasta is to an Italian, and it irritates the hell out of me.
So when Jarrett got his arse to KL, I brought him to Little Penang Cafe in Suria KLCC where they have both kuey teow and nasi lemak dishes.
After scanning the menu, Jarrett decided to order lam mee instead cause it reminded him of his childhood and he hadn't had it for years. He didn't want to try the kuey teow or nasi lemak, which was fine with me.
During dinner, I learned that Jarrett is a 40-year-old struggling actor with no steady income. Despite his pitiful background, he is looking for a life partner.
(At this point I'm gonna digress a little ... Lo and behold to the lady who ends up with guys like Jarrett. Guys in their 40s who are not financially stable and who are still unsure of what they wanna do with their lives will most probably die misers.
And any lady who is blinded by love and still wanna be with losers like that, would most probably have to sell hotdogs to feed the both of them.)
Soon dinner came to an end and the bill came to RM41.30, which was approximately USD11.80.
Before the meal, I was already planning to foot the bill. But I let the waiter bring the bill to Jarrett cause I wanted to see what he would do.
And you know what? The cheap bugger hesitated to pay. I mean, wtf is USD11.80 to an American? Is that a lot?
I quickly handed the waiter my credit card to save Jarrett's face.
Then we walked to Pavilion to try the roti bakar at OldTown White Coffee.
You see, prior to his KL trip, Jarrett was praising the Singaporean Yakun toasted bread. And after tasting it for myself, I know Malaysia's roti bakar is far better (sorry, Singaporeans!). So I wanted to prove my point.
After whacking the OldTown roti bakar, Jarrett agreed it's better than Yakun's (thank goodness for that!).
Bill time came and it was about RM17 something. Jarrett hesitating to pay again. But this time I didn't bother to save Jarrett's face, so he had to foot the bill. But come on ... RM17 should be nothing to an American, right? After all, he has money to travel to this side of the world, and frequently too!
Before parting ways, I tried to be courteous and told him to keep in touch and to inform me if he plans to make another trip to Malaysia in the future.
The story however does not end here. In fact, this is the part where Jarrett takes the cake for being a super huge bastard.
When Jarrett got back to the States, we continued corresponding casually, albeit less frequently. But one fine day I saw he had unfriend me from Facebook !!! WTF is that ???
I sent him an email asking why he did it. But obviously he didn't reply.
After paying for his food in KL and bringing him around, is this how you repay a person??? I think he was just trying to take advantage of my hospitality.
So I decided to let the whole world know how cheap Jarrett Chin is.
9 comments:
Yohhh, you still on this?
forgive and move on...
It's strange that he came here so many times and didn't even taste nasi lemak or kway teow. Pop into any hawker centre here and these are two of the most common food.
But I do agree yakun kaya toast is nothing much to rave about. Its just a normal kaya toast.
One wonders why he's 40 and still wants to waste his life away...
Something else to add : your story reminds me of my own experience. A few years back, I met a guy online too. He claimed to be a regular in the army (as in those who continued serving the army after their national service stint is over. These people will work full time and get regular incomes.) We chatted for a few months then he initiated meeting up.
The first time we met up, he insisted on going to some high class restaurant for lunch, even though I told him just a simple meal would do. He claimed what kind of man is he if he could not even date a lady in style?
Ok, so we met at that high class restaurant for lunch, and the bill for both of us came up to about S$80.00. I didn't know how the bill would be split, so I ordered something simple. He ordered a full main course, complete with appetisers and dessert. At the end of the meal, he told me he forgot to bring out his wallet and if I would mind getting the bill.
I was shocked! Which guy would ask a girl to pay on a first meet up, especially since he insisted on going to a high class restaurant? But he sounded so apologetic and sincere that I let it be. I paid for it.
After that, he kept apologising and told me we would do dinner the next time round and he would pay me back. The next time he asked me out, it was to go clubbing. And he chose it on lady's night, so I could go in for free and my companion discounted. Then he offered to get us drinks. Because it was one-for-one, he got us two drinks each, but he asked me to pay again because he didn't have enough money. The drinks cost me S$50.00. Needless to say, he ordered the most expensive drinks.
Around midnight, I told him I needed to go because I had to work the following day. He just said, bye, and continued dancing. He didn't even have the courtesy to see me off to the taxi stand! I had to walk to the taxi stand on my own and take a cab back, with the midnight surcharge and all.
The next day, he sent me a message, asking why didn't I let him know when I was home? So I asked him how did he get home? He said he managed to meet some friends at the disco and they gave him a FREE lift back (emphasising on the word free).
I was thoroughly disgusted! After that he didn't ask me out again, but a few months later, when he finally got in touch with me, I casually asked him if he had been busy. He said, no he got sent to India on an army mission. So I sarcastically told him I thought he had disappeared for good. A few days later, I found out he deleted me from msn.
Meeting guys like these really kind of turn me off! There are many cheapskates in the world, and sometimes we just happen to be unlucky. Having said that, there are also many nice guys in the world who are worthy of befriending too. :-)
Urgh! I hate cheapskates. Bleargh! Such a turn off. I think you need to tell the guy before ordering that you're going dutch...straight forward. LOL!
When I was dating my bf (now hubby), he was merely 17, a school boy but he never fails to pay for my food and drinks. He's from a middle income family (not rich). But he saves up pocket money to spend. That's why I fell for him :) Now he's 34, still paying for my stuff. LOL! Okay that's because I'm a stay-at-home mom.
Juphelia,
Yes, I know nasi lemak and char kuew teow can be found in many places in Spore. That's why I'm wondering how come this fella is not familiar with these foods. He is truly ignorant lah ...
Queen of Hearts,
According to "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," it is in a guy to "provide" and he would feel offended if the girl offers to help him in any way. So that's why I dare not suggest going Dutch to any guy! But this guy is truly a cheapskate lah!
Responsible hubby you have there :-)
Hi there, I found this quite accidentally and was shocked by what was written.
I am Jarrett's friend from Singapore, and it is my fault partly that he wasn't acquainted with those local food. I seldom eat Kuay Teow and Nasi Lemak myself, and I don't really remember did I ever introduce him to those dishes. So you can blame that on me, and not that he was being ignorant.
I am thankful that you have shown him better roti, Kuay Teow and Nasi Lemak. Now that I think about it, I remembered him asking me why I didn't introduce him to those food, and didn't tell him Malaysia has better food, after his trip to Malaysia. From what I remembered, he had a good account of his friend in Malaysia, and was thankful and happy for the trip.
As for footing the bill part, I don't have that problem when Jarrett and I met during meal times, so I can't comment on that.
As for the facebook incident, there was a time I found out he "unfriended" me too. Later I discovered either his account was hacked into or that he had encountered some technical problem. Since I was his friend for more than 10 years, I took the initiative to add him and message him to find out what happened. So after solving his online problem, I am back on his friend list. I am kind of blur sometimes, but I think he even went through setting up another account when he encountered the problem. So I think it might be due to the same reason that he "unfriended" you on facebook.
However much you were unhappy with him and/or his conduct, I felt that you at least could have just stopped at writing about it, cos you definitely have the freedom to rant about your experience. But his photo perhaps could have been left out.
Please forgive me if you felt that I am being intrusive, but I think you would understand that to a friend who knew him for more than 10 years, I am shocked and sad to see him so described and with his photo attached to the article.
No one else knows him better than the many of us who have known him since elementary school. He still remains the same. You just hope that one day he may figure it out even though he's in his mid 40's. It's validating to know a community who shares your experiences and thank you for it.
I know many men can be quite an ass but we need to look deeper into ourselves too. On one hand we are shouting for our independence, pride ourselves for being equal with the men...and on the other hand we are asking for a man who to treat us like a queen (to me that goes back to being the fairer sex) and asking a special coach for ladies - which actually takes women back to 50 years ago where women were seen as incapable of taking care of themselves.
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