Sorry I stared!

Contented!

I pretty much feel very, very lucky. Very fortunate.


BUT. Just the other day, I was doing grocery shopping with my family. I'm like the official trolley pusher or something, because that's what I pretty much do - push trolleys. That, and also point out an assortment of junk food I would very much like to buy that my mom wouldn't let me get anyhow.

So I was waiting for my parents to select a bit of pork at the non-halal section, and chanced upon this huge three-tiered trolley. It had all the squashed boxes and dented tin cans of food stuff, and bottles of sauces so old the labels had begun to fade. I presumed those were the Unwanted foodstuff, way past their expiry date and forced to retire to the Trolley of the Worthless and Forsaken, awaiting their impending destruction.

So imagine my surprise (and truth be told, horror) when this middle-aged lady came up to the Trolley, examined a few select packages, and *shocked faced* puts them in her trolley!

She didn't have a lot of stuff in her trolley, so she wheeled it off to the "Below 10 items" lane to pay for her things.

I was still looking at her (the counters weren't far away) when this Bangladeshi came up to the Trolley and scrutinized several very badly dented cans, probably looking for the ones that were least dented.

He made his choice, took a couple of cans and a bag of Dunno-What that was leaking from one corner of the bag, and went off to pay for them.

Curiosity piqued enough, I went to the Trolley and noticed newer price stickers covering the original ones, the latter presumably bearing much higher numbers.

So so so. These pathetic looking foodstuff are sold at a lower price, but then again not too much lower. I mean, a small-ish box of cereal (obviously squashed and all) costed RM4.50. That's not cheap, so you'd wonder how desperate people have to be to be willing to buy something like that just to save a few Ringgit.

Number 1, I thought those were the stuff they put aside so they could throw away later.

Then the lady went and got a few things off the trolley, and I thought they were giving them out for free, which wasn't too bad.

Then, I realized people actually pay for these really really sad looking foodstuff.

I was feeling quite horrible then, I mean, I didn't know. I thought everyone could afford food.

Obviously I knew not everyone can afford to buy premium quality foodstuff, obviously I knew some people don't have much food to live on.

I knew in a theoretical sort of way, but I've never seen people actually want and would pay for a very badly squashed tin of food.

I'd expect everyone who could buy food at the grocery store can afford to, and thus obviously would choose to, buy food in mint condition. Fresh, clean, not yet expired.

It was still Chinese New Year then, of course, so it feels even more weird to know that we are packing our trolley with perhaps a little too much food.

I am also very sorry, for I think I stared at them a little too much.

I was surprised, so I stared.

I really must get out more often (out of my sad little bubble where things are dandy, not my house).

Anywaaay.

From the image-thing above, you may conclude that I am an extraly, ultraly, extremely, very amazing sketch artist, well worthy of my own exhibit.

Until, of course, you see my sad attempts at drawing a teddy bear.



Which explains the picture I had to retrieve from Google Images.

Happy Chinese New Year y'all!