Our phone line, and thus Internet service, stopped working last Saturday. We lodged a report with Telekom and on Sunday, one of their contractors came by. He looked around, then left saying he needed to go back and get a ladder so he can get up onto our roof and fix the line. He never came back.

We spent the next four days calling Telekom at least three times a day to get updates. On Day 4, after much frustration, we were told, ‘Sabar lah kak... bulan Ramadan’ (Be patient Madam, it’s the month of Ramadan).

Now, I’m not claiming to be a perfect Muslim, so I’m sorry if I raised my voice a little. But given the circumstances, I was very frustrated, and it has been four days that Telekom did nothing to keep us informed or updated. It’s always us that has to call them and dig out information.

If at the very least Telekom called us to give a status on every delay, or explain why they still haven’t come back with a ladder (like, I dunno, a lightning strike that caused a flat tyre? I mean, seriously, anything) - then, fine. I’ll be patient. Because I know, and I appreciate, that you’re doing your best to help me and to keep me informed.

But do not expect me to bow down to your lack of customer service and be patient when quite clearly you are not doing anything to even try to help. And do not expect me to accept your excuse that you have no control over your sub-contractors either. I’m sorry Telekom, but your sub-contractors are operating under your name, it should be your Full responsibility how they perform.

And lastly Telekom, at the very least, please train your staff not to abuse the name of Islam. I’m sure I’m not the only Muslim who gets upset when the name of Islam is abused, whether it is for terrorism, or for any other matter.

The month of Ramadan, and Islam, is not a trivial matter that can be used as an excuse to cover up for your lack of service, so please don’t abuse the name of Islam with an air of ‘religious righteousness’ that is supposed to make your shortcomings forgivable. If anything, Ramadan is a holy month to strive for the betterment of ourselves in everything we do. Where then is your strive to provide better service and customer support?

It is now Day 6 as I write this. Yesterday, Telekom promised us someone will come today. Today, when we call them, they tell us because it’s a public holiday for Selangor (Nuzur Quran), the contractor might or might not come. We are told to stay at home in case they come.

‘Might, or might not, come?’

I guess the people who makan gaji (salaried) at Telekom don’t understand that for some people, business means time. I guess they think it’s easy for people to just stay at home all day, cause, after all, who needs to go out and earn money? (Oh, and besides that, people also don’t have other things to do, or family obligations and social lives either).

I guess, because the Telekom staff (and their top cronies who sit up high on the government contracts food chain) get paid no matter what their work performance levels are, they don’t understand that the loss of a Internet connection for businesses and home-businesses equals to affecting someone’s livelihood quiute badly.

I guess they don’t understand what it’s like to be the guy who runs the local telco shop in my neighbourhood, and how because his Streamyx has been down, he can’t connect to PosMalaysia’s system and, as a consequence, he has been losing business.

Or my neighbour, who like me, is working from the local coffee shop because he’s having problems with Telekom service too, and he needs access to e-mails and other Internet channels for work.

Or my friend, who has spent six days trying to call Telekom only to be put on hold every single time (for a running total of over an hour an half on hold) losing her time and her mind at work.

Maybe Telekom doesn’t understand. Maybe we should all be more patient with their excuses.

Or maybe, they just don’t care.