Thoughts - Inflation vs Emotions vs Context

Inspired by a true experience.

In the light of Singapore’s record inflation, hawkers have taken to raising prices. The minimum order for food has increased by at least 50 cents, and the smallest order is now at least $2.50.

So there I was, in a coffee shop, eating my $3.50 bowl of porridge when I overhear a conversation between a hawker and a customer.

The customer was negotiating. I think he only had $2, and wanted to order some chicken rice. The hawker was being polite and said that $2 will get him very little chicken. The customer was resigned to that, but was trying to get the hawker to throw in some pieces of the breast bone. (it is de-boned chicken rice, and there will always be some meat left on it)

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Think about this.

If I had told you that the customer was an old man in his seventies, dishevelled, his skin wrinkled and his back hunched – a result of his hard life. What would your reaction be?

But if it was a young teenager, no older than 18 years of age, in a branded t-shirt, and complete with earlobe expanders in his ears, would you feel less sorry for him?

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Inflation is affecting all our lives. But some more than the others.