So you’re just about to go into the cinema when you think you should get a drink incase you become thirsty.
“Can I have a bottle of water please” you say to the nice assistant.
“$1.50” they reply.
So far, so good – just the usual customer/retailer conversation – then you get handed this …
Yep … a bottle of water with a fucking sticker on it that proudly states, COMPLIMENTARY FROM CAPITAL CARD.
Now it’s one thing to flog stock you got for free – but it’s another thing altogether when you don’t even attempt to hide your deviousness from the customer.
I’m sure Capital Card wouldn’t be too happy to know their brand is being used in this way – however In one simple transaction, a couple of classic Asian traits came to the fore … waste not want not and if you can get away with it, make money out of it.
To be honest, my favourite embodiment of these traits is what is known in Asia as a ‘Thieves Market’.
Basically these are little street fairs that specialise in selling ‘odds and ends’ … with emphasis on the odd!
Every stall sells things like a single shoe or an obviously fake watch or a bunch of old magazines or some fake DVD’s or a set of 3 cracked egg cups or a cracked vase or a 1980’s LaserDisc player or a broken lamp or … well you get the picture.
Every Sunday, we have one of these markets near our house, and I have to be honest I love going around them because in this World of image and illusion, there’s something really lovely about being able to buy a single sock. But then as I wrote in a post a couple of weeks ago, single socks have multiple uses.