To those concerned,

I am a reseller and have purchased lots of items from your outlet (Lot 2.68 ,2nd Floor) and I always deal with your employee named Andy. Last night, I dropped by to the same outlet again and I was told very rudely by another Viewnet employee named Yong Wei that Andy was on leave. I then told him that I needed to purchase quite a number of items (2 Bay NAS, 2 hd's, M.Office 2010, Win 7 Home, external cd drive, Kaspersky AV ) but I'm not sure whether the price he gives me will be the same as the price Andy gives me since I'm a reseller. Yong Wei then replies with a raised voice saying "If you dont trust me you can go buy elsewhere and I got no time for you !". I immediately replied asking him is this how you treat your customer ? He then replied saying that he is busy producing some bills for another client. I then told him that If you're busy with another client, please ask me to hold on/wait for a moment and I would have waited patiently rather then talking to me rudely and with a raised voiced. I also told him that his customer service is extremely poor and that he doesnt know how to talk and treat customers at all.

I then proceeded to call Andy on his mobile and explained to him the situation. He then told me not to deal with the "fat guy" as he is extremely rude but to deal with the "thin guy" Ah Kit. I then spoke to Ah Kit and told him all the items that I needed which he started gathering. Before billing me the items, I told him to please cross check with Andy on the prices for myself (especially on the DS 212j NAS as I bought the same item last month).
Everything went well with Ah Kit until he called Andy and speaking in cantonese, he was referring to me as "haak yan" and he also used the word "maa hai" and he put down the phone. I then asked him, what was the word you used on the phone to refer to me ? He then said that he spoke to Andy about the price. I told him that I understand cantonese and is that how you talk about your customer ? He denied using both the words. I told him that both you people dont know how to behave, one is extremely rude and the other uses foul language on the customer.

I then called Andy and told him that I heard Kit saying those two words, to which andy apologized. He said he was really sorry for the behavior of the two employees

I'm surprised that Viewnet employs such people and whether they are given proper customer service training ? If your employees are rude, how do customers communicate with them ? Being a reseller, I liaise with many distributors and this is the first time Ive seen such people who are not only rude but also RACISTS !

I'm very sure that I wont be dealing with Viewnet again !

memang kurang ajar like that haiz lowyat standard has drop a lot

No matter what shop, they always act like this.

hak yan should buy from Pakistan shop?

Macam macam ada bro. Don't waste your time dealing with such ppl.

What those two words mean anyway?

maybe "maa hai" not refer to you. it is the way they talking to each other.

like when i talk to friend also use "diao ni(f**k u)", "you sohai la", we used to talk like that to each other.

haak yan means customer, nothing wrong with that.
the word mahai isn't always used to curse someone and can be used without directing it at a person.

and the number of times you refer yourself as a reseller above as if you are some super vip isn't really helping against your case either.
just my 2 cents

I think he heard "black mang"...instead of customer in Cantonese. maybe over sensitive after dealing with fatty....mahai can be referring to cheap pricing andy give or "mai hai lor"....

right on for the super vip thingy.

lain kali beli dengan bangla,

"adik manis, cari apa? laptop ada, monitor ada"

haak yan = customer person.

Even if the 'haak yan' mean black people, i dont see a problem here. Thats nothing racist or degrading, but thats the way we speak. Give Kit and ur friend a break

Morning

I hope their boss read this; so can take proper action.

rempit banyak masuk fast food restaurant
ah beng plak banyak masuk lowyat

bangla jelah pilihan anda

Bila cainis racist banyak pulak interpretasi bahasa

If you actually know the language, you would know why.

Terrible!

yeah i stopped buying shit from viewnet as well. if their boss doesn't care about his worker's attitude then fak them, there are so many places over there that i will gladly give my money.

viewnet quite cheap among those seller in lowyat. for me la.. i only bought pendrive and memory card. hehe. oh yaaa, bought ram once.

in Cantonese pronunciation is important as well. if he just say haak yan, then could be customer.

but if he say sei haak yan, haha this one likely the bad meaning.

Claim warranty with them from January now entering April already part not yet arrive!

interesting....

when a Malay or Indian says something about the Chinese, it doesn't matter what is the real meaning or reason or even intentions. It will be deemed as racist.

But when the Chinese say racist words/phrases or even act racist in terms of how they treat other races, IT IS PERFECTLY OKAY! So many ways of translating it....this meaning that meaning.

I speak Cantonese and Mandarin fluently and yet i know what the sellers said was racist! No 2 ways about it.

Hope that kind of employee can take action by their boss..

This post has been edited by Marz CJy: Mar 22 2013, 11:01 PM

haak yan as in 客人; guest or visitor, in your case customer.

But they normally call customer as hak zai also

Justifying the pronunciation is useless especially to those who already INSIST they heard the "bad version". ignorance can be damaging and we cant force people to read/learn more coz they're not obligated too (and its not even in school syllabus/history books)

I wonder how frequent are cantonese speaking people being 'forced to eat dead cat" because other non-cantonese hearing people overheard them, then butthurt.. then finally spread / makes conclusion (usually off-site, back home, in online forum and with own group ) that they are racist/insensitive .

All because of misinterpreted verbal phrases.

This post has been edited by alanyuppie: Mar 23 2013, 06:08 PM

Were you there with TS? How could you know what was meant, when TS only mentioned the two words? Nobody could tell without hearing the whole sentence. Even with my piss poor Cantonese and non-existent Mandarin, I know that words in Cantonese and Mandarin are very vague, when heard out of the context of a sentence.

It is a problem that does not exist with languages like English and Malay. When your son asks you how to spell a Malay or English word, you just tell him. When your friend asks you how to write a Chinese "word", it always needs to be put in the context of a short sentence or phrase. There'll be a short period of back and forth while he tries to communicate exactly which word is meant. I do not read or write Chinese myself. When I ask a friend to write it for me, or type it into a computer, this always happens.

Agreed dorg ingat kita x faham, bahasa cam sial..

A little bit of knowledge leads to misunderstanding. If you only learn the cuss words, then you'll think people are cursing you all the time.

Even if you're dark skinned, Chinese speaking people will not slur you by calling you "dark people" or "black people". "Black people" is not a racial slur. It's just a normal word that means "black Africans". The slur is "black skin".

yes they do use haak chai too, old skool cantonese normally uses haak yan or yan haak

TS

haak yan could meaning 3 different things depending on the tone it could be ;

haak yan as in a hakka

haak yan as in a customer

haak yan as in a black person.... if it was mean to be an insult he'll be calling you haak guai instead, or something more harsh there are plenty... Anyway you believe whatever you want i guess.

Wow... u're a genius

the worker is right to say those words to you ....coz after Andy apologize to you...yet still u open a thread here and bash them

report to hindraf. im serious.

PJ Digital Mall is way better.

+1

bla bla bla.

everyone is a racist in malaysia (and i mean everyone). deal with it.

My indian friend did misunderstood once as well. Haak Yan & Haak chai....he thought they are refering to him as a "blackie".....that is not the case. I explained to my friend those words are to refer to a "customer" in cantonese. Problem does crop up when the other races trying to decipher cantonese in an "expert" way.

Wow suddenly become so defensive with a lot of language expert explaining. When malay or indian say some thing, straight away mark them racist. That workers is racist and rude, if not this thread wont be opened.

coz babi quite easy to understand?

The beauty of being Malaysian, where you learned other people's mother tongue so you understand perfectly well what others say, but they don't understand you.

"hak yan" could be refer to "Guest" oso la, when i saw "hak yan" just now, the 1st thing im thinking is "Guest", later on only i realize the pronunciation is close to the "hak yan" u meaning...

and for bad word... i cant guarantee he is not talking bad about u, but when guy talking to guy, especially when they are close, that's always fault language involved, when i chitchat with my frend is full with bad word too. If u r guy u will understand too rite? When talking 2 ur frend "Where the F**k r u"

Thats a funny example in the mistake of mandarin pronunciation, "Shui Jiao" which can refer to Sleep, or Dumplings, "Yi Wan" can refer to One Night, or One Cup, depend on ur pronunciation.
If u walk to a lady, asking for the price for "Yi Wan Shui Jiao" cost how much,
If ur pronunciation are alrite, thn u r asking the price for one cup of dumplings.
If ur pronunciation are wrong, u will get a slap, becoz u r asking the price for sleeping one night together cost how much.

This post has been edited by ragk: Mar 25 2013, 03:12 PM

haha everyone is busy proving something,in other word,chinese are not racist

and suddenly the rude guy is out of the picture,and TS is at fault now

come on la give me a break

Don't be butthurt because Chinese is a tonal language. That is what made it hard to master. Same word with different tone carry different meanings. You seem so adamant that the 'haak yan' used by the guy in the shop means 'black people' instead of 'customer'. So suddenly you were on the scene and overheard that phone conversation?

where is it in my last post that shows me being adamant about that matter?

more importantly,does correcting it solves the fact that TS was treated badly?

it is more disturbing that you guys made it seems like TS is at fault for this matter.

-

This post has been edited by seba: Mar 25 2013, 08:32 PM

the half of the employees in lowyat all also half-assed failed secondary school kids working. what you expect ts? bring it further up la. break their rice bowls.

"When Malay or Indian say the same thing"? What, where, when. I don't remember it on this forum. Care to post a link?

There are people (look in the mirror) who are mistaken (making such a simple mistake, like a 4 year old kid), but claim to be so "expert", and refuse to be corrected (unlike a 4 year old kid).

The people here trying to point out the mistake is not being defensive. They're trying to help you not make a fool of yourself next time. They are not language experts, and are not claiming to be. But the mistake being made here is the silly kind made by very young kids (or people who does not really know the language, but is overconfident and thinks too much of their understanding).

Now, just consider what happens if you're really mistaken, and that phrase really isn't a racial slur. As soon as you walk out of earshot, the entire staff in that shop will be laughing at you. 'So "action", thinks he understand Cantonese'. When Andy is at home having dinner, he will tell his family about this unreasonable customer, forcing him to appologize so many times, on his day off, for some imagined wrong. They will all join in cursing you.

Or you confront another shopkeeper, and he really let you have it (because, well, you deserve it) ....

Think of the embarassment when you repeat the same mistake when you visit a shop with a friend/colleague. After you leave the shop, they point it out to you, only for you to say "actually about 20 different people on this web forum tried to explain to me, but I didn't believe them".

Don't get me wrong. There are lots of racist Chinese people in KL and the rest of Malaysia. And they do call members of other races all sorts of epithets. But THIS isn't it. You're barking up the wrong tree. Come back here when you have a real example. Generally, this would be hard to get, because most people speaking the various Chinese dialects knows that people of other races who do not speak the language, nevertheless may have memorized the cuss words. So they wait until you're out of earshot before calling you that.

BTW: I think if your command of the language is good, when someone actually refer to you using a racist word thinkin you don't understand, the way is not to phone up someone else. You shout directly at the offender "hey, what did you just call me?" But you do it in Cantonese (or whatever language he was using). Boy, would he be shocked and surprised!

"black people" is not a cuss word or a racial slur. Somebody else already pointed out the correct way to refer to dark skinned people in a racist way. This isn't it.

Fatty probably was rude. There are so many rude sales people there.

TS's fault is that he imagined the second guy calling him bad names, when actually he didn't. TS only misunderstood. It cannot be the second guy's fault. (At least with regard to "hak yan", the other phrase, we need to hear the entire sentence to be sure).

TS dun understand fully the sentence he said so just by hearing Hak Yan he thinks they are referring to black person.

I agree the fat guy had bad service but since you already said the thin guy is ok so unlikely he referred you as black guy.

It's very rare to refer other people as Black Guy in Cantonese unless it's a real black guy, there're more common and more rude words to refer to black skinned people.

But of course it's rude to swear ma hai infront of customers but i guess he & andy know each other well.

poor andy also dunno how to react when you scolded him.

"Hak Yan" normally only refer to African/Nigerian, and "Hak Yan" is actually not an insulting term.

This post has been edited by ragk: Mar 26 2013, 09:45 AM

That fat guy is terrible, maybe if you make a complain to the boss or Andy and hopefully he'll get his ass sacked.

About the other guy, well like most here have said, it may not mean what you think it is. Not saying you're wrong, but it could be something really harmless too.

And "Mahai" may be a foul word but it's more of a placebo word. Like the word f***. Like say, "Eh f*** la I thought you said you're going to the toilet?" That word doesn't really make any impact at all.

But yeah Malaysian services in general is quite bad. Lowyat Plaza hasn't been good too. Miss those days when the bosses were the one servicing you like, Cycom and Czone used to be, and of course Robyncom. The 9800pro/9800xt days

This post has been edited by khelben: Mar 26 2013, 10:27 AM

KL people - unfrenly.

working pressure pls hope TS understand

Oklah, ngo tong yan. ngo im huey Viewnet.

TS, i'm cainis, and trust the others when they say chinese/cantonese is a tonal language, different tone means diff things, that's what we call hanyupinyin. Each word has 4 tones, but not all has a meaning or word associated to it.

Hope is just a misunderstanding, at least Andy apologized for his colleagues.

just fyi, lowyat.net is not affiliated with lowyat plaza in anyway, just the same name.

TS already MIA long ago, so this issue can be considered closed liau. The fact is that there are many rude and racist people out there.

What we as buyers need to do is not to support such buyers. It does not matter what we say or explain here - TS felt that he was wronged and treated badly.

No matter how we explain ' Hak Yan" as "Guest", etc, the mannerism of the staff there, tone of voice is something that we cannot experience cos we were not there.

TS will never go back there again. Period. As for the rest of us, we should take everything with a pinch of salt.

Popcorn mana?

Normal la. Cainis go malay shop to buy stuff, the malay staff also call us cina babi wat. Maybe not directly but with thier collegue

some lowyat staffs memang very cocky one.. maybe because of their lala look ? is like the customers beg them to serve them..zzz

Only 1 post from TS....ooooo

so with just an apology everything is settled? We forgive but we do not forget. If I were to hit u half dead and said sorry u will just walk away nicely assuming that it didnt happen? Whatever damage done..its done.

Would calling a guy wearing glasses 'sei ngan chai' be insultaing as well? Or a fat guy 'fei chai'?

Saying 'ma hai' with a close friend is ok, actually. It's acceptable to hear one guy say to another in a friendly way, 'ma hai, fai lan dit la' (faster la).

This post has been edited by Dannyl: Mar 29 2013, 10:21 AM

Hakyan means customer
Maa hai is foul language but then this doesn't mean he is insulting you
chill brah

Hak gwai could mean black caucasian. Gwai means ghost by itself. But Gwai lou means foreigner as in caucasian. So shoudl be black caucasian.

ya, ts made too much assumption

maahaaii is use like the f word in english
u can slip a lot of f's in between words

wat the fark..

u are being over sensitive... dealing wif ppl like u is even more scarier... got on ur nerve even on slightest small issue....

u paham sikit tarak paham sikit then wanna fark ppl up? u bodoh ke aper?

haak yan = customer
ma hai = common open quote and close quote to every sentence the cantonese ppl say... i use this damn often on daily basis... more like >100 times a day...

next time better be damn sure only u complaint... the fat guy u fark him up, i got no issue, but the thin guy and Andy damn innocent kena scold by u....

geezz... damn overly sensitive...

buy from lowyat but expect good service.

lol.

Didn't andy apologize on behalf of the two workers, thin one might not have been that innocent

u guys eat dead cats?! ewww.... thats like worse than eating dogs...

Isn't it funny how god made humans?

ts open thread then lari

if u are reseller u shud go direct to the distributor not just normal shop
dis way you can get a nicer treatment if u reach certain sales target etc

coz kena backfire of coz lari

people say haak yan he tot ppl say him black people

even if people describe this ts as black people is normal what,you dint even introduce yourself at first.

last.....you are black and is a fact unless you go bleach yourself become white and people will start calling u "pak yan"

"black person" is not a derogatory term, in Chinese. Nor in English.

Hak Yan Nga Kou... = DARLIE toothpaste.

ah beng ah seng lo

Maa hai is phrase that always added in to spice up the conversation, similar to English when we like to put the "F" word or damn to make the conversation more lively

Yes, maa hai if you translate is mom's vargina. I don't why Chinese always like to use the word hai (maa hai, so hai, ma chau hai etc etc) but mix up with diiuu (F***), the conversation certainly become more fun and lively

This post has been edited by beck_ken: Apr 7 2013, 02:13 PM

lol i said maa hai to my friends everyday.

TS, we were never living in a country filled with rainbows and butterflies to begin with.

This is the reality of things.

your ego hurt or what?

when you have problem getting service, aren't you suppose to complaint to the company?

you already complaint to the who is incharge, so what's the point come here to cry father cry mother?

you think all employees are perfect, professional?
next time when you running your own company, make sure you hire "perfect" and "professional" employee, else your customer will face same issue and do the same thing b****ing about your company.

Spoken like a boss.

"If my employee screws up and treat the customer badly, just tell me and nobody else. My employees bad behaviour should not rub off on my business. But whatever good things they do, I take credit for it".

1. in your dreams!

2. if everybody did that, there'll be no incentive for the company to do anything. They'll just sweep everything under the carpet.

They bad publicity you get is what keeps us from getting even worse service (bad enough that they already are).

Disclaimer: though in this case, I think TS might be actually mistaken about the second guy being racist.

I was told "maa hai" loudly when negotiating with seller, now I know it means

Well, maybe TS misunderstood, but all this won't happen if one were to be polite in the 1st place right. Malaysians have tendency to be rude even amongst each other, let's be polite with each other, problem solved. in front of customer don't la use bad/cuss words...professional la sikit bro...

Wow so impressed with your explanation..

Coming frm a background that uses many local languages, sometime, we Malaysians can get confused either, as I also tot TS was slammed with a racist slur, until I put on my Cantonese hat did I et that the first word meant something else which was not racial.

My mother tougue, Thai has also many words which has different meaning when pronounced differently, same like Japanese, Korean, Vietnam, etc.

if i were the seller and wanted to be rude, i'd use sei hak pei...

learn more la before whinig

TS felt disrespect and shares his story. A lot of lawyers coming out.

Ts juga ada salah tak korek telinga?

Haak (ends with a high note) yan = Black people
Haak (ends with a low note) yan = Customer/Guest

This post has been edited by ChaosXP: Apr 13 2013, 11:22 AM

DevilProtege
DevilProtege

why u diam diam there?

busy digesting cantonese lesson from all the bros here....those who doesnt understand cantonese, not surprise lo...bashing here and there...keyboard warrior...spice up things and get quiet...typical... " sek siu siu, pan toi piu".... @DevilProtege ...u should re-learn your cantonese...might help you in the future...to all the other keyboard warrior, stay in your small world la...chinese language and their dialects too hard for you to learn...better learn A to Z enough d..

You would be relieved if you understand the language better. There are so many pronunciations in the Chinese language and IMO, this is actually quite funny

"Mahai" is a common vulgar phrase used amongst close friends.

Assuming "haak yan" that TS heard means "black guy", I see nothing wrong. It's not a derogatory term. In some Cantonese-speaking areas in Malaysia, even the word "k*ling yan" is used to describe Indians. Again, nothing derogatory in this term because it has been in use since a long time ago. But due to the politically correct environment, many modern youngsters now use "yandou yan" (literally, Indian person).

I have Indians and Sikhs who know Cantonese and we trade friendly barbs "sei haak guai" (literally, "bloody black ghost"), "chibai tongsan guai", etc, but we're not butthurt or anything.

Hahah! Try la.. they even sell C2D laptop with the price of i7 but the only different you got VVIP service from them..

u are over sensitive laaaaaa!!!!
haak yan is custermor!!!!!
mahai---- yalorr!!!!

u is indian so u sensitive with tis word maaa......
chill lar....ur Cantonese not good then ask with proper manner lar....

I think is partially ur problem oso larrr.......

becoz u feeling ego so those ppl oso don like u......

i agree!!!

nowadays the lowyat seller is like from pasar malam from drop out school...one..

especially those from chinese school



that why in lowyat viewnet ...i always look for malay seller..

i'm sure you can find some malay seller in viewnet.. got one near projector dept

the pakcik is damn nice .. it just that those chinese youngster is so f***up mentality

i don;t mean to be racist.. because i'm chinese myself..i cannot deny the fact is those chinese seller can be so impatient...nowaday..feel so ashame of my own race

Bro, not only u la, I oso kena during I visit Viewnet shop yesterday. Some of them really rude. May be what ppl said is true, most of them even less then SPM level, never study or go for training course for Managing people, they are just like pasar malam ppl selling product.

This post has been edited by carlosandy: Jul 15 2013, 01:34 AM

tbh, czone nvr give me such problem. i love dealing with a guy name johnny, the other guy who i used to like no longer working there... he is working in the lowyat branch, i bought a lot of computers there (more than 30k)and he always give me cheap prices and some freebies too, such as Diablo 3 mousepad..

lagi satu.kalau nak order barang dari kaunter sana cuba check harga yang ada dulu.aku pernah sekali kena kat viewnet jugak.aku mintak wireless mouse combo pastu dia kata rm68 kot.pastu tiba tiba aku rasa mcm nak jalan jalan kat situ pastu aku terperasan harga bende yang sama model yg sama promosi rm58.

aku sound dia.dia buat bodoh.lepas tu kalau aku beli barang dari viewnet aku avoid him at 1st place.kadang kadang aku nak buat dia sakit hati aku bagi duit kopi member dia yang layan aku.orangya kulit putih putih pakai cermin mata.

if not mistaken, "han yan" means customer, "maa hai" means ur mother's ****,nid more details to guess wat his saying on the fon..haha

If I'm urs, I will not spend time to argue with them any more and straight away sent email to complaint their staff, enquiry@viewnet.com.my or sales@viewnet.com.my

Just like yesterday, I meet one guy call Ah Wai wherw he is selling console. I just share some info with his customer, but he is totally rude to me and blame me. Some more I bought some games from this Ah Wai before. Is it I didn't buy games from him, then he can simply blame me? Btw, I didn't argue with him and just sent email to Viewnet to complaint.