this afternoon, i had lunch with a colleague at the thomson road roti prata store. and while waiting for our pratas, a limping ah-soh walked up to me. she was carrying a huge blue bag and she had several packets of joss sticks.
she laid a few packs of the joss sticks in front of me and asked me to "kao kuan kao kuan" a bit by buying them from her cos her joss sticks were made from some 1500-year old trees. i told her no as i was working but she insisted. she started saying all the good stuff about how my face was bright and full of aura, how my high forehead showed that i am a person of good karma and that if i were to buy the incense and light it in my house's altar, it would increase my merits by many folds and so on. i said no again and that i do not have an altar at home. she tried to convince me again by taking out 3 joss sticks from an open packed and pushing it near my nose. she did so to convince me that the joss stick really smelled good and that because of the good wood it was made from, there was no loose powder from it. once again, i said no. she changed lines and now said that if i were to buy from her, i would win 4d. i said no again and that i do not play 4d. and our insistent ah soh changed tact again. she went on to say that i could consider buying and donate the joss sticks to the nearby temple. and if i were to do that, it would clear away all my bad karma. i was feeling a little irritated by then and again i said no.
sensing she could get no where with me with her religious angle, she changed her tact. she started playing the pitiful ah soh. she said she had not sold any joss sticks and that she was hungry and needed money to buy her lunch. and she went on to tell me that i should take pity on her considering her injured leg and all efforts in travelling from johore to peddle her joss sticks. once again, i told her politely that no, i did not want to buy her joss sticks. and i added that if she was hungry and needed money to buy food, she should just go ahead order the food and i would pay the food for her. she got flustered with my response and replied in a rather curt manner that she only eat vegetarian food. and knowing she was getting no where with me, she started saying rather bad-sounding things. she said something like how we singaporeans are heartless and how we would not even take pity on her, a 60-over limping auntie who was trying to earn a living and la la la... she muttered on and on as she walked off... and next thing i knew, she turned into a stairway less than 10 steps in front of me and went into the shophouse. she did not emerge after that. i could only assume that she knew the owners of the shophouse or that she was putting up there.
i totally did not like such experiences. her changing of tact to try to get me to buy the joss stick made me even more adamant not to do so. and my (malay) colleague was just too stunt to say anything after i explained to him what happened.
sighs!
she laid a few packs of the joss sticks in front of me and asked me to "kao kuan kao kuan" a bit by buying them from her cos her joss sticks were made from some 1500-year old trees. i told her no as i was working but she insisted. she started saying all the good stuff about how my face was bright and full of aura, how my high forehead showed that i am a person of good karma and that if i were to buy the incense and light it in my house's altar, it would increase my merits by many folds and so on. i said no again and that i do not have an altar at home. she tried to convince me again by taking out 3 joss sticks from an open packed and pushing it near my nose. she did so to convince me that the joss stick really smelled good and that because of the good wood it was made from, there was no loose powder from it. once again, i said no. she changed lines and now said that if i were to buy from her, i would win 4d. i said no again and that i do not play 4d. and our insistent ah soh changed tact again. she went on to say that i could consider buying and donate the joss sticks to the nearby temple. and if i were to do that, it would clear away all my bad karma. i was feeling a little irritated by then and again i said no.
sensing she could get no where with me with her religious angle, she changed her tact. she started playing the pitiful ah soh. she said she had not sold any joss sticks and that she was hungry and needed money to buy her lunch. and she went on to tell me that i should take pity on her considering her injured leg and all efforts in travelling from johore to peddle her joss sticks. once again, i told her politely that no, i did not want to buy her joss sticks. and i added that if she was hungry and needed money to buy food, she should just go ahead order the food and i would pay the food for her. she got flustered with my response and replied in a rather curt manner that she only eat vegetarian food. and knowing she was getting no where with me, she started saying rather bad-sounding things. she said something like how we singaporeans are heartless and how we would not even take pity on her, a 60-over limping auntie who was trying to earn a living and la la la... she muttered on and on as she walked off... and next thing i knew, she turned into a stairway less than 10 steps in front of me and went into the shophouse. she did not emerge after that. i could only assume that she knew the owners of the shophouse or that she was putting up there.
i totally did not like such experiences. her changing of tact to try to get me to buy the joss stick made me even more adamant not to do so. and my (malay) colleague was just too stunt to say anything after i explained to him what happened.
sighs!
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