Had a great day out today going shopping with my family for some new household furniture, especially since the old one died quite abruptly. Had a nice long drive into town to Millenia Walk's Harvey Norman, before traipsing halfway around the island back to Tampines Ikea.
Think we made quite a few good buys.. =) Especially liked the part where you head to the "warehouse" section and drag your choices off those huge shelves (well, its my first time buying real furniture off Ikea, and not just going there for the meatballs).
Anyway, we dropped by Giant supermart across the road after that to grab some groceries. Was walking past the fresh fruits section, when i came across this booth-like-thingy selling longans from Thailand. The staff was there helping to separate the longans from the branches (i mean, it was sold by weight, so branches are a no-no), and there, I saw the ever-ugly Singaporean.
The display of longans was hemmed in by 4 plastic panels, with a "moat" like structure around it. And you know what? The moat was filled with empty longan-skins and seeds. 2 small kids about Primary 1-3 were just standing at the side, eating away at the longans, as if they were free. Before I knew it, there was this middle-aged uncle, who walked past the display, and as if thinking that he had on some invisible cloak, snaked out a hand and grabbed a fistful of longans before walking away quickly and devouring his "prized longans" which were going for 22 cents per 100g. Oh, did I mention that he came around again after that with his same trick, rather oblivious to the signboard with the price on it?
Oh please. I can tolerate the Singaporean mentality of "trying before buying" where you, yes, maybe eat one or even two, then if you're satisfied with it, buy a bag home for yourself. But since when have we become so cheapo as to walk past the longan display and repeated grab free "samples" AND not buy anything? Wait. Samples are even the correct word. Should it be stealing?
As if things weren't bad enough, the longan seeds and skins were dropping all over the floor around the display and giving the cleaners one heck of a cleaning job.
Sheesh.
Think we made quite a few good buys.. =) Especially liked the part where you head to the "warehouse" section and drag your choices off those huge shelves (well, its my first time buying real furniture off Ikea, and not just going there for the meatballs).
Anyway, we dropped by Giant supermart across the road after that to grab some groceries. Was walking past the fresh fruits section, when i came across this booth-like-thingy selling longans from Thailand. The staff was there helping to separate the longans from the branches (i mean, it was sold by weight, so branches are a no-no), and there, I saw the ever-ugly Singaporean.
The display of longans was hemmed in by 4 plastic panels, with a "moat" like structure around it. And you know what? The moat was filled with empty longan-skins and seeds. 2 small kids about Primary 1-3 were just standing at the side, eating away at the longans, as if they were free. Before I knew it, there was this middle-aged uncle, who walked past the display, and as if thinking that he had on some invisible cloak, snaked out a hand and grabbed a fistful of longans before walking away quickly and devouring his "prized longans" which were going for 22 cents per 100g. Oh, did I mention that he came around again after that with his same trick, rather oblivious to the signboard with the price on it?
Oh please. I can tolerate the Singaporean mentality of "trying before buying" where you, yes, maybe eat one or even two, then if you're satisfied with it, buy a bag home for yourself. But since when have we become so cheapo as to walk past the longan display and repeated grab free "samples" AND not buy anything? Wait. Samples are even the correct word. Should it be stealing?
As if things weren't bad enough, the longan seeds and skins were dropping all over the floor around the display and giving the cleaners one heck of a cleaning job.
Sheesh.
penned in the diary of memories by Alvin at
8:43 PM
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