My initial idea was it head down around 2300hrs to join the queue. I thought that Changi City Point (CCP) was a relatively deserted branch and hence I would face little competition for the plush toy. Boy was I wrong, totally dead wrong.
Michelle was pretty excited and wanted to head down earlier but I dissuaded her from doing that. Later though a friend sent a picture if the queue developing at Yew Tee. I dismissed it as a 24-hours branch located near neighbourhood housing estates and hence such branches would face such issues but on the other hand CCP was located in the east and was relatively secluded to IMHO. Nevertheless we went down earlier than planned to try and get into the queue earlier. Here is her leading a fast march towards kitty.
Both of us were carrying bags to stuff the food into. This would become handy as the plan changed later.
We reached around 2215 and a long queue had developed. The queue got pretty long within the next half an hour and the manager of that branch started issuing Kitty Coupons (actually scraps of paper with hello kitty on one side).
Almost half the queue was sorely disappointed that the coupons ran out and as those kitty-less people left some were furious on their mobile phones deciding on their next move. I was lucky! I was standing safely away from that set point. Later we found out from Michelle's colleagues at other 24 hours branches that this was a similar situation elsewhere. Most of her friends sadly failed to get their kitty fix.
Still people kept coming as they did not know that the CCP branch has already reached their kitty limit. Several times I saw the queue grow again to double the length and only to collapse quickly when informed by the staff of the unfortunate news.
An overseas Indian who was working around there had obviously not seen such Kiasu-ness in Singapore before and approached someone in front of me to ask what was going on. Cracked me up.
eBay quickly sprouted sellers of the Singing Bone and outrageous bids like over a 1000 dollars were reached but I did notice that for a lot of them, the first and last letter of the bidder was exactly the same in all bids. Also the buyers' rating were 0. I quickly surmised that someone was spoiling the bids perhaps in frustration at all this scalping going on. 10 Million for Singing Bone Hello Kitty? That is even better than selling property! Haha.
Initial plan was to walk home in order to save costs but Michelle had a change of plans, she was actually short of 3 Singing Bone Hello Kitty! Argh and she badly wanted to get them for her colleagues and friends.Very badly to the point that it was not funny. She had thought that re-queue was a possibility but hell it was not for sure with the high demand. At the same time almost all her friends had failed to secure any as they were late in the game in other 24-hours branches like Woodlands, Queensway.
We discussed and decided to take a taxi back to another McDonald's branch but this time the regular branch type that opened in the morning at 7am/8am type. We decided on Parkway branch as it was nearer to our home and I was familiar with the surroundings. One thing is some branches are not directly accessible and are located in the shopping centre but not at the sides. So where to queue in such an instance. At least the Parkway one we knew where the entrance was.
Meanwhile back at the CCP, after almost one and a half hours, we reached the counter and ordered 4 double cheeseburger sets, 4 fillet o fish sets and changed all drinks to ice milo, my favourite drink of all time. EVAR. And of course finally got our Singing Bones. With that, we managed to get a taxi immediately at the taxi stand and asked the driver to wait for us as we got home, packed her work attire with her and I carried a spare bag to stuff the food into and left for round 2! I thought it was crazy but oh well there are those days...
We arrived at Parkway and as expected a queue had already formed. They consisted of those who were disappointed from the other 24-hour branches which I correctly predicted and the "first-timers". This branch had more creature comforts as one of the guys commented. We could sit on nice seats while in the queue overnight.
Staff from the 24-hour East Coast Seafood Centre branch were re-deployed there to help out and the coveted Kitty Coupons. Here is a shot of how it looks like.
This was an even closer shave than round 1 at CCP. We were about the last ten people before the cut-off. So finding ourselves in the "confirmed list", we sat down and tried to prepare for what was surely going to be a long night. I packed 2 double cheeseburgers, 2 fillet o fish, 1 packet of fries and 4 ice milos as a night snack which Michelle once settled down nicely started to dig into. Nom Nom Nom Nom.
Fast forward, skipping the dozing parts, walking around Marine Parade Central in the middle of the freaknig night, killing of cockroaches, 7am could not have come sooner. Some people who were not in the cut-off decided to stay and try their luck as some of those in the confirmed list would give up their places...just like the BTO scheme!
At CCP I did not see any ugly sights of Singaporeans but over at Parkway it was a different story I am sad to say. Some people unhappy for some reason, 2 ladies who came later in the morning argued with the staff but they stayed to try their luck. One of them demanded those in the "confirmed list" to show their coupons to prove that something. To me, she had no right and we need not entertain her. A guy in the queue with me commented typical Singaporean.
1 young girl came like past the 7am timing when the show started rolling, she begged people to spare her a Kitty. The guy just behind me was a very nice Malaysian just behind me, gave her one ticket which later she said, she was looking for 2 and continued asking around for her...I really not too sure what to say about it. On one hand, she was very very determined on the other hand. People queued like for 7+hours for that hello kitty, people behind the confirmed list are trying out their luck. I felt she was a bit too much, but on the other hand, her persistence paid off? I don't know what to say...it is a tough situation.....she was SO DAMN LATE IN THE GAME WHAT MADE HER THINK SHE COULD BEG AROUND FOR 2??!!
3 aunties kept asking me and those who go the kitties to spare a kitty for their grandchildren or twin grandchildren and so on...sigh I did not know what to say about that situation as well. While we were queuing overnight, the haze and its distinctive BBQ smell started coming back. Oh well we all knew it was a matter of time...
It was home sweet home for me after round 2. Michelle had changed to work clothes earlier before 7am and we took a bus to Paya Lebar MRT and went to work in the other direction. 2 small hiccups to the overall well executed plan. I brought 2 chocolate bars thinking I would be hungry and put it my backpack...then I put the meals in the backpack. Now the aluminium sealed foil has "liquid" all inside it and had to freeze it back. Also, I accidentally put hash brown forgetting the oil will seep out, so my Deuter bag is being sent for washing.
With that I took a long nap. Check out the next post which will be the review of the Singing Bone Hello Kitty itself. Boy was it an adventure and a hoot to get it! Here is the shot of most of the kitties we got lined up and ready to receive their new owners over the next few days as friends and colleagues come and pick them up. 4 of them were already distributed by Michelle. Darn cool if you ask me.
[Update 27th June 2013 2245hrs]: They have released a PR statement on the Hello Kitty promotion which they do not condone staff doing any reselling and that they remove posts on their FaceBook of resellers. If you ask it, things are very hard to control and the main way to kill of reselling is to simply have a very large supply to squash it (like what the G did with N95, they flooded 9 million in, now where are the queues) or alternatively have rounds and rounds of Hello Kitty promotions which will devalue the secondary market.
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