Our past history can be so dark, and ironically, it gets darker when our lives get brighter. As I dug the details of my past, it seemed to be more horrible than what I actually went through. And so it happened to me again last Friday.

I went to Menara Celcom to have my prepaid migrated to minutes postpaid plan. As I parked my car at the most horrible parking lot in the world, I was smilingly thinking of the prospects of post-paid services as compared to the prepaid ones – more voice calls, more free SMSes, cheaper call rate, and save more. It is just like what Maya Karin keeps asking in Celcom ad, “Lebih apa lagi?” She is right. “With Celcom Postpaid, you always get MORE”. Okay, I am going to do it right now.

As I was sitting at the counter, the customer service officer smiled at me.
“How can I assist you, Sir?” she said politely.
“I would like to register for minutes postpaid plan.”
“Did you register with any network provider before?”
“Yes, I once registered with Maxis in 2002 and I terminated the line two years ago. I am sure there is no outstanding balance and I am definitely free from any debts. You know, I am a good paymaster” I said so proudly and confidently.
The officer looked at me expressionlessly and said in a monotonous tone, “Why don’t you fill up this form first while I am checking you records.” I smiled since I know there would be no problem.

After several minutes, my perspective towards my history was about to change.
“Sir, have you ever registered with a line besides Maxis?” the female officer asked me rather innocently.
“Er…” I began to get panicked. “I don’t think so, why?”
“In our record, it shows that you once had a 013 number in 2001 and it was terminated by Celcom in 2002. And it seems that there is an outstanding balance.”
Outstanding balance? That was ridiculous! It must be a mistake. That couldn't possibly be me! Who was that bastard!? Could you please check again, dear officer? Helllooooo!!! Are you listening to me?

I tried to act cool and asked her, “How much?”
“RM543.30”

There you go.

I couldn’t believe with what I had just heard. That I did such an ugly thing in the past. That I was such an awful customer. That I was so careless. So stupid.

I guiltily excused myself and went out of the building immediately. I sat on a bench outside and started having aggressive intrapersonal communication with myself. Ashamed and offended, I practiced self-comfort as I was recollecting any hints from the past that led to the unexpected debt. I was thinking real hard, looking for sound explanations. I couldn’t remember anything related to this. What have I done in the past? Was I that bad? No way! Cekmi is a good guy. He is perfect. Yes. But... could he be wrong this time? Wait a minute...

For one terrible moment, I was struck with all the dreadful details of my past life. Apparently, this was not the first nightmarish monetary experience ever happened to me. In fact, there has been a chain of such occurrences. Let’s start with two.

1. My car loan was rejected due to a shocking reason – I had a bad record with one bank. I found out later that my cousin had, without my knowledge, sold my ex-motorbike to a stranger and that particular stranger soon disappeared together with the motorbike. He never paid the installment. It was my mistake – I did not the change the motorbike’s ownership before I sold it to my cousin. And up until now, the debt is still on my shoulder. My cousin refused to be accountable for what happened. My cousin and I never speak again to each other after that incident, not even during last five Hari Rayas. Practically, we are not cousins anymore. For my current car, I am using my sister’s name.

2. My personal loan with Bank Islam was rejected because, as a guarantor for my friend’s loan at the same bank, there seemed to be a certain amount of debt accumulated by my friend. Unless I had paid all her debt, I wouldn’t get my personal loan. She paid anyway at last after being forcefully persuaded by me, and I finally got my personal loan, but it was the results of months of emotional agony and mental suffering.

After some time, I thought I wanted to cancel the postpaid registration, run away freely and forget about the whole thing – the debt with Celcom particularly. But, after much consideration, I convinced myself that I should not be irresponsible. I should settle this immediately before it starts haunting my life here and there. Sooner or later, it would come back to me again, in a much more horrifying face. Even though the causes of such debt were still mysterious, I did not want to prolong this newly discovered debt. No matter who or what did to me in the past, the past financial experiences have been almost unbearable. It was enough. The bearer of the debt would still be Cekmi, no matter who the culprit was (and it could be me!). So, I decided to settle the payment.

“Sir, we have a 40 percent discount for an old debt like this,” the lady officer said.
I was pleasantly surprised and asked her about the newly discounted amount.
“It is RM326.28.” Good.

Welcome to Celcom. It’s in your hands.