Today there was word going around that the government would stop subsidising petrol, which meant that the price was going to be raised, as soon as midnight tonight. So what does every proud car owner in KL do? They rush their car to the nearest petrol station to fill up, of course.
I don't know about you, but to me, this is just another example of kiasu-ism. Yes, it exists here too. (In case you don't know what kiasu-ism means, go read Stark Corner) I mean, even if you bought petrol today, it's going to run out eventually, and you'll have to buy fuel at the new higher price anyway. The difference is when, meaning if you chose not to buy fuel tonight, you'll have to refuel a couple of days earlier than those who did. What's a couple of days, huh? If you really wanted to save money, you can cycle to work, though I doubt most car owners would do that. Besides, are you telling me that because of the price hike, you'd be broke before your next paycheque if you didn't refuel tonight? Come on, you're car owners. You can afford the car, certainly you can afford the fuel too. Or are you unable to sacrifice the other things you spend money on? If this only affects poor people, then there'd only be old broken down cars lining up for fuel. This obviously wasn't the case, since I saw everyone, and I mean everyone line up at the petrol stations for fuel. And sadly, my sister decided to do it too, and worse, my mum was practically egging her on!
I tried to tell them that this was a silly thing to do, but as usual, no one is going to listen to me. Mum goes "See, everyone is doing it. We should too. It's the smart thing to do, buy while it's still cheap." Great. If everyone chose to jump into a lake, should I do it too? I think not. And my mum just goes on and on and on and on. She observes all the other people filling up and starts saying things like "Wow, he's filling up a lot!" Or "That guy's car must have a really big tank." Or the kiasu's favourite line, " Hurry up, get into that pump before that guy does!" And I'm stuck in the back seat having to listen to my mum go on every ten seconds.
I'd tell her not to do that, but why bother? She's not going to listen. It's my mum. She's a good person, but very kiasu.
When I think about it, I don't think anyone would listen to me. If I told everyone else my opinion, they'd scoff and say "Ah, but you don't own a car. You won't understand." Well, maybe. But everything in life comes down to choices. Even this. I for one, would not choose to line up with hundreds of other people at the station at ten o'clock at night just to buy fuel, when all I want to do is just go home and rest after being at work for nine hours. Hmm, I can almost imagine my sister telling me that I have it easy because I wasn't driving. Like I said, no one listens to me.
It's nice when people pay attention to you, I admit that. But it's better if they do so when you're right.
I could have ended the entry there, but I hate leaving without showing my readers something. So here's a movie trailer, a horror flick called The Strangers. Enjoy.
1 comment:
Wow, I can compare that instance to our rice shortage here. People queue to buy the affordable, low-class NFA rice, because the other class of rice has raised its price. But talking about the fuel crisis there, I think if I had a car and lived there, I would do what the crowd did. I would lie up for those cheaper gas for atleast I have saved.
It's sad that mojor products such as oil and rice are raising prices. I believe even in the US it happens.
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