1) She Can Tell It, Right Away
“New Taiwan dollar two hundred forty thousand.” The foot massage specialist who was at around her late 20s was able to quote the price of a branded handbag a female customer was carried along.
“What?” Her colleague asked.
“That handbag that she carries is about 240 thousand dollars (NTD).” She repeated.
(Wow…) Even I also joined in the ‘wow…’ group of people. I ‘wow’ in my mind. I looked at the handbag that was in the discussion. It was placed at the seat right next to where I seated. The owner went to the restroom before starting her foot massage session.
(Oh… This bag costs 240k NTD. Let me see, how much was it in SGD. Wah… nearly 10k SGD. Anyway, I can’t appreciate its design or pattern. Not my cup of tea.) I shifted my focus back onto the foot massager who was now pressing on the knot or nerve on one of my toes that caused me some pain.
“Your digestion system needs some attention.” My foot massage specialist reminded me.
“Yeah, I know. Thanks.” I replied to her.
(Okay, the pain is over. She is now focusing on my calf.)
I then looked at the foot massagers that were busy massaging their respective customer’s feet.
(What an up-to-date fashion follower she is…) My gaze stopped at that young lady who quoted the price of the handbag in split seconds, just now.
(With the monthly salary information that I happened to read from the vacancies page, in the local newspaper this morning while having my breakfast at local restaurant… A professional massager can earn around NTD 40k per month, if I am not mistaken.)
(If this young lady was just kept herself updated with the latest market information, then that’s good, in some way. But if, she was actually aiming to get one of those luxury items with her hard-earned money… Wouldn’t that be… a little too much? Well, of course, it’s her choice and her decision on how to spend her money.)
(I was just wondering… If he or she really eyeing for a 240k-priced luxury item when they could only earn 40k per month, wouldn’t it be more value-added if he or she could reconsider spending those money onto themselves first. How about invest in learning some other skills and knowledge that might be able to help them in advancing in their career opportunities? That could boost their income or even diversify their source of income. By then, it’s never too late for them to aim at those luxury item that they wished to have.)
(Well, this was just my own analysis… I am still carrying my black-coloured recycling canvas bag, for more than three years now. It is still in good condition though.)
(I wonder if they ever laid their eyes checking on what kind of bag I carried when I entered the foot massage shop just now. I don’t know if my recycling bag ever have a brand tag to it. I don’t recall any.)
“Heh…heh…” I chuckled a little.
(I hope that young massager won’t be another materialistic person who blindly chases for the latest editioned yet costly luxury items while not having enough to spend on her daily needs.)
My analytical mind was still working on this topic.
(Let’s say, she is really into that luxury handbag when that alone needs her annual salary (less the monthly fixed expenses she needs to spend on), what would a luxury handbag could bring her? By the time she bought that bag, its value drops instantly as it would now become a second-hand item if she decided to use that new handbag, unless she sold it as brand-new item right away.)
(There could be another possibility that by the time she gets her hand on that handbag, another batch of new designs have been launched in the market. How much up-to-date could she ‘chase’ in fashion trends? How many bags should she get then? Interesting, isn’t it?)
(Now, let’s take a look at the outcome or consequences after having that luxury item. What could she get for having a luxury handbag? Fame or the prestige feeling for receiving those ‘wah~’ ‘wow~’ respond from onlookers or her friends? Would she feel proud when other people show their envy on her capability in carrying such a pricy handbag? Does it feel good? Maybe.)
(And then, what? Would that feed her hungry stomach and pay her room rental? I hope no one is not tying themselves on a credit card debt just for the eager to buy a luxury item… Having a huge debt such as that, literally, means that, for the following few months, one has lost their financial freedom. They might not have room or flexibility to spend on other thing that might be more important to them. ‘Credit card slave’, was the term for this group of consumers.)
(If there’s a scale placed in front of you now, which one is more important or worth spending on? The luxury item or your financial freedom? To invest on yourself or those luxury items? What do you think? It’s your call. Not mine.)
“Alright, your massage session is done. Please have some hot tea.” The foot massage specialist told me and handed me a cup of hot Oolong tea.
“Thank you. I enjoyed the foot massage you did for me.” I thanked her. I took a few sips of the hot tea before making payment for the foot massage session.
I left the shop with my black canvas ‘no-brand’ handbag. “Ha-ha~”
2) They Scan My…
“Welcome, please have a look at our shoes. We have promotion going on now.” The sales girl at the shoes section that carried brand A, in a department store (i. e. Sxgx) greeted me when I walked into their shoes section as their customer.
My eyes were looking at those shoes that were put on the displaying racks; I concentrate on each of the shoes’ design. I love shoes. But my side gaze was able to tell me about the next move the sales girl just now did. She was looking straight on the shoes I was wearing.
(Was it due to her professional behaviour for working long enough with shoes products? I wonder. Maybe I was sensitive; I could sense that her hospitality level was no longer the same anymore, not like when she was greeting me just now.)
(Why? Well, I have the answer to it. I was wearing my orange-coloured slip-on sandals; in a shopping mall that have many branches worldwide. Ha-ha… That’s me. I wear heels when I feel like it; I wear sneakers when I feel like it. And now, my knees were still in pain after a long walk visiting places of interest, in the morning, I just want to wear my sandals.)
I ignored her gaze and continued on my window shopping.
I then walked to another shoes’ brand’s section; same thing happened, again. Those sales girls uniformly looked at my feet; checked out what shoes I wore. And then, they went silence after seeing my no-brand slip-on pool sandals.
One of them frown a little and tried to analyse what brand it was. (Well, don’t waste your time, I didn’t know it myself. It was random brand on the shelf of a sports wear store. I can sense that their energy changed right away; no more courtesy greetings right after. Ha-ha~ Oh, well. That’s reality. I don’t care.)
(I, as the customer, am looking for something that I want to buy from this shopping mall. And you, as the salesperson, your job is to promote and get consumers to spend on the products that you’re in-charged of. As long as the consumer can pay for it, you have done a good job.)
(What is the meaning of assessing if the consumer wears a Prada or no-brand T-shirt? Well, maybe a salesperson needs to gauge if a particular customer has the ability to buy their product or not. So that, they could decide how much ‘efforts’ he or she should put in to hard-sell their product to that customer? Is that so?)
(Let’s take a step back and do a little reverse-engineering. When A salesperson was hired, was there a condition that they should conduct such assessment on each customer before carrying out their duty in promoting their products? I don’t think so.)
(Salespersons are hired to promote a company’s products to ALL customers. Since when were they given the authority to ‘filter’ customers before rendering their sales attitude and services to customers? Did their manager tell them to ‘filter’ customers like that? I doubt so, unless the said manager also carries such bias view and prefers ‘filtering’ customers.)
Anyway, I didn’t get myself any new pair of shoes that evening as I have planned that, in this trip, I just wanted to stuff my luggage with yummy local food and cookies.
3) He Scans Me, From Head-to-toe…
“So, I would send you to Terminal x for your 3pm flight. May I know which airline?” The taxi driver asked me, in the lift. We were heading down to his cab. He helped me with my luggage.
“XYZ airline.” I replied.
“Oh, I see. Which stop would you be landing then? Japan or Singapore?” The taxi driver clarified further, in a curtesy way.
(Oh… He is aware that this airline stops at two places.) “Singapore.” I smiled and replied to him.
There was another man , local (I believe), in the same lift, overheard our conversations. He, who was in his formal office wear with coat, turned his head and looked at me, for a second. He then looked to his front.
(Funny thing was, I can tell from where I stood… That he kept looking my way, scanned me, from head to toe.)
(Hey, mister, what’s the matter? The way you scan through people from head-to-toe, that’s rude, you know? How I look or how I wear doesn’t represent Miss Singapore or Singapore style, you know? I’m just me.)
He kept observing my outer look and outfit, from the moment he heard ‘Singapore’ until the moment I stepped out from the lift when it reached ground floor. I ignored his gaze as if he was transparent.
(Oh yeah, how could I forget that we are living in a place where quite a lot of people emphasize on outer look or surface level than the inner beauty, i. e. one’s character.)
“Is the air-cond. okay?” The taxi driver asked me before he started driving towards the airport.
“Yes, it’s good. Thank you.” I replied and then paid my attention to the views outside of the window. I tried to catch a few more glance at the beautiful scenery in this country before I jumped on the return-flight.
(Thank you for having me! I have great time exploring the nature’s beauty and relaxing myself this trip.)
