mum has had so many issues with ang pows this year.
previous years, i would prepare ang pows for her. in demoninations of $4 or $8. took me a long time and a whole lot of effort to convince her for this amount as she had wanted to only give $2. it would be so below market value! haha... and i had to pack them in different types of ang pows so as to aid her in giving the right ones to the "right" people.
this year was even more interesting. as in previous years, she wanted to give only $2. after a lot of coaxing, she agreed on $4 and she flatly refused anything more than $4. might as well, i thought. one flat rate for all would save me the need to prepare different ang pows for her and better still, save me the need to educate her on what is what. but to me, a $4 ang pow is too far below market rates, especially if it is for relatives, close friends and people whom we owe our thanks to. added to that, she insisted only need two ang pows - for my brother's kids. despite her protest, i packed 24 ang pows for her. i convinced her that holding an extra few would be handy if the need arises. so, after much convincing, we were all set for the new year. this was what happened this year...
first, it was my second sis. my sis has always pre-packed $20 ang pows and asked me to pass it to mum so that her children can get more pocket monies. but this year, my mum, in her enthusiasm to give away ang pows, gave my nieces the $4 packs before my sis could pass me her $20 packs. so, in my attempt to savage the situation, i quickly ask mum to give them 2 ang pows each, to which she did, cheerfully and very very happily. well, $8 would be at least a more decent amount compared to $4. first battle done. after that, mum continued to happily give away ang pows freely during the first 4 days of the new year.
of cos, to prevent her from mixing up those ang pows she received with the ones she should be giving away, i would take those she received from her and safekeep it for her in my safe. but i forgot to do so for one... and that led to more interesting stories. yesterday, the first day of her returning to the rehab center. learning from past years' experiences, i had packed more ang pows for her cos she would end up giving away ang pows freely at the rehab center too, despite insisting that she would only give it to the center manager. yesterday, she ended up giving the driver a $50-ang pow that she received from a close neighbour that visited us over the weekend (and that i forgot to take from her) and gave a $4 ang pow to the center manager. to make matters worst, the driver went around telling people that my mum had given him $50. hahaha... and since she had been giving away ang pows freely, she had only 2 other $4-ang pows left to which she gave to the rehab center staff. this, by itself created an issue cos there were so many staff! and i understood from the maid that those who had been closely involved with taking care of her did not get any ang pows! so last night, i quickly packed another 10 $4-ang pows for her. gave it to her this morning and she chided me for doing so. too many. no need, she said.
it was barely an hour after she arrived at the rehab center and i got a call from her. i just finish giving out the ang pows, she said.
lol!
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