Sunday, May 4, 2008
Some thoughts
Today I was thinking about the theater when I watched IRONMAN. The whole theater was full! It was a public holiday, and tickets were $10.50 apiece. So then again, actually Singaporeans are still willing to spend. What was all that hoo-ha and gripes and complaints about price increases that the papers put up?
Actually, we Singaporeans are not poor, but neither are we rich. If you actually do some soul-searching. You'll notice each and every one of us have our own form of indulgence. Each of us are willing to actually spend a significant portion of our finances on something that actually makes us happy and we turn a blind eye to it deliberately.
We complain about the $5.00 bowl of noodles and $1.80 cup of drink, but don't bat an eye-lid on spending $60 on a shirt, or $400 on a PSP game console, or a $69.90 computer game, or a $1,800 laptop?
We may gripe, sulk, complain, grumble about a few cents here and a few dollars there, but at the end of the day, our stomachs are still full, we have a roof over our heads and clothes to wear and yet still have spare cash to spend on something else that makes us happy. Be it clothes, or entertainment, or a new toy, or a new gadget, it all still requires money.
Yes rice may have cost another $2 more, like the amazing Royal Umbrella rice now cost $26.80 for a 10kg sack, with the golden phoenix brand $0.50 cheaper. (don't be surprised, I do groceries shopping as well!), but you still can opt for FairPrice's fragrant white rice which is going for $5.60 for a5kg bag, that's half the price of Royal Umbrella.
Okay lets talk about oil.. Okay maybe not. $2.10 per litre of unleaded 98 is a serious burn in my wallet. A litre of petrol is now more expensive than the latest most expensive version of Coca-Cola! A bottle of coke-Zero costs $2, which is consumed in a few minutes, but petrol is another matter all together. Okay fine. Don't drive and don't drive coke zero.
You still have options. There are still $6.50, $8.00 movie tickets available. But given the culture and the unique mixed diversified background we all come from, we are good at whining and complaining just for the sake of it. The Straits Times newspaper recently ran an article and found that a mere 6% of the population would actually go forth and complain any grievances to the management, but as you can see, the majority of the populace will merely whine amongst themselves and not bring it another step forward. Some quote that it's just too much of a hassle or a loss of face if they were to make a formal complaint.
Does this sound familiar amongst ourselves? We keep saying "go complain", but we don't actually get about doing it. We keep whining and griping that we are poor or broke, but we can still afford to go out, go for a movie or go shopping. Don't look elsewhere, we are all guilty, I am. =)
Daily expenses have increased tremendously over the past few years, but we've all grown to adapt to it. We definately can't be eyeing the latest Ferrari or 2-million dollar condominium if we're griping at $0.50cents increase in cooking oil or rice.
I am from the middle class, plain and simple. What I am trying to say is that I am not rich, but we all still have options, and we're not that poor that we cannot afford a small matter of luxuries in our daily lives. We still can go to movies, go out, have meals, and still be happy without being overly spendthrift or exceedingly wasteful. We can still go on being comfortable.
Well, Singaporeans haven't really flinched at another dollar increase in movie tickets. Just when will it stop?
Posted by MK at 10:32 PM
