Every time we finish a drink at the hawker center or convenience store, my friend just toss the empty can straight into the general bin. Yesterday I finally asked him, “Bro, why you don’t just put into the return machine get back the 10 cents?”
You know what he told me? He deadass looked at me with full confidence and said, “Wah lau, stand there queue up just to tap EZ-Link get 10 cents very no face, like cheapo/beggar like that. Later people see think I cannot afford drink.”
I was literally stunned. No face??? Bro, it’s YOUR OWN 10 cents deposit! The government charge you 10 cents extra when you buy, so returning it is literally just taking back your own money, not asking for charity!
This guy is the type to complain every end of the month that he’s “super broke”, cannot afford to eat good food, and ask if can borrow $50 until payday. Yet he willingly throws away free money every single day because of some imaginary “face” to impress complete strangers at the hawker center who don’t even care he exists.
In my mind I was just thinking: poor people really make poor decisions, that’s why my this friend is forever poor.
It’s not even about the 10 cents itself—it’s the mindset.
- Zero financial discipline: If you treat small money like trash, big money will also slide through your hands.
- Excessive vanity: Care so much about “face” in front of random aunties and uncles, but end of the month eat Maggi mee inside his room alone.
- Lazy framing: Masking pure laziness as “pride”.
A few 10 cents a day is easily $5-$10 a month. That’s literally one free meal or one extra KOI bubble tea. Rich people stay rich because they calculate every single cent and maximize value, while broke people pretend to be balling by throwing away their own deposit.
Anyone else got friends with this kind of toxic “fake rich” mentality? How to enlighten him before he forever stays broke, or just let him suffer?