Ways Of Making A Living (1)

Yesterday late afternoon, I saw a woman in the vicinity of Geylang. (It's NOT what you're thinking. Take your mind out of the gutter, will you?)


The woman I saw was about 80-year-old. She was rummaging through the rubbish bin behind her in Lorong 37 Geylang. She was taking out the neatly tied-up trash bags from the bin. She laid them on the floor and then untied them one by one. It seemed like she was looking for something. (Hmm... could she have lost one of her contact lenses? Nah, silly me, it can't possibly be that, can it?)

At first, I thought that she was looking for some old but still useful stuff that she could re-sell at Sungei Road for some money. Oh man, how wrong I was!

I took a glance at the shop which generated the rubbish. It was a coffeeshop that sold Teochew porridge. At that moment, a coffeeshop worker came out and deposited yet another trash bag into the bin. Then horror struck me! I realised that the old lady was probably looking for some food to satisfy her hunger, the most basic human need. (You certainly don't need renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow to tell you that, do you?)

To the old lady, any discarded food would do. However, I figure that Maslow would probably have listed her hierarchy of needs preference as follows:

(1) Surplus food which could not be sold;

(2) Leftovers of customers who ordered too much food; and

(3) Food that has gone bad (and unfit for human consumption).

I could not bear to see what the old lady's "choice" of dinner was. (I am aware that my use of the word "choice" here is insensitive and maybe even cruel because the old lady really had no choice at all in such dire circumstances.) It was indeed a very sad and depressing sight. I quickly took the above photo and hurriedly continued with my life. I was rushing home to pick up my wife and then together, go and pick up my younger son who was attending badminton lesson at Tao Nan School. In my haste, I have forgotten to give the woman a little money to buy a decent meal. Damn, I should have done that! Now my conscience is pricking me.

I wonder if this old lady got any social assistance from the authorities. If not, why not? Maybe the authorities didn't know she existed? Now that I have a photo of how she looks like and where she hangs around, hopefully the authorities could locate her more easily and render her some assistance. One more thing - did the old lady know that she could have claimed the GST Offset Package? Damn, I should have asked her myself!

So no matter what the official statistics say, there are still people in Singapore who live way below the poverty line - people who fall between the cracks. I believe that most of these people are old and unemployed. Unlike the old lady, some of them may even be too sick to go out to rummage through rubbish bins. Hence, the old lady may still be luckier than some other people.

Finally, I hope that no one will waste food after reading this article. It is also a timely reminder for us to spend our money wisely and save early for our retirement.

Up Yours?

Table in Today 25 Apr 2007 on what to expect for the impending GST increase

Singapore's Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be raised from 5% to 7% on 1st July 2007. From the same day, the Government will hand out a GST Offset Package which is a "set of comprehensive measures to help Singaporeans with the increase in GST, with more for lower-income Singaporeans". For my wife and I, we both get $200 help each. (Thanks for the implied compliment from the Government that we are not that poor but the reality is we are not very rich either.)

Theoretically, a $200 handout means that we can afford to spend more than $10,000 each after 1st July 2007 before wiping out the Government handout ($200 is 2% of $10,000). Now $10,000 sure sounds like a lot of money. However in practice, we would have used up the handout much sooner. Let me explain why.

A few months ago, Ya Kun Kaya Toast increased the prices of its drinks and toasts by at least 10 cents all round - about 10% increase.


A Sausage Egg McMuffin from McDonald's is now $3.50 instead of $3.10 before - about 13% increase.


My favourite popiah sold at a stall in a coffeeshop in my neighbourhood now costs $1.20 instead of the usual $1.00 - a 20% increase.

I don't earn very much, you know?

Perhaps most outrageous of all is that a can of Milkmaid condensed milk now costs $1.60 instead of $1.10 - a whopping 45% increase!

Granted, costs of labour, materials and overheads might have gone up but why must prices always be adjusted by at least 10% or more everytime? What I find hard to accept is the Milkmaid supplier's claim that the milk now "has more calcium in it", implying that the price increase is justified. Gee, I don't need more calcium, just give me back my old milk and charge me the same price for it.

I have yet to see a price increase that is limited to just 2%. The above are just 4 random examples which I quoted. There are probably dozens of other products which have their prices increased recently as well. Mind you, the above increases were effected even before the new GST rate kicked in. At this rate, you bet even bitter medicine is going to cost more. So it is better that you take it only once instead of twice (even though that might have been your preference in the first place).

Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but if you are a businessman and are putting up new prices for your products because of the impending GST increase, have you upped yours yet?