You know that feeling or not? When you go to the coffee shop, and you see the Cai Png uncle looking at you with that “I know you have money” face.
Yesterday, I was feeling a bit rich. I just got my salary, so I thought, “Okay lor, today I eat like king.” I went to the stall, and the queue was long, but I didn’t care. I was on a mission.
The Selection I looked at the uncle. I gave him the “steady” nod. “Uncle, 1 rice. Take away.”
I started point:
- Steamed Egg: Standard. Safe. $1.00.
- Kailan: Need some fiber, if not later my mother scream at me. $1.00.
Then, I saw it. The Sweet and Sour Pork (Gu Lou Yok). It was glowing under the orange heat lamp like a legendary item in an RPG. I pointed. Uncle scooped. My heart skipped a beat because he gave me one extra piece of pineapple.
The Shock I walked to the cashier. The auntie there, her eyes are like scanners. She don’t need to press machine one. She just look at your plate and she know your bank account balance.
She looked at my packet. She looked at me. “Boy, seven dollars fifty.”
I froze. “Ha? Auntie, I only take one meat two veg leh!”
Auntie adjusted her spectacles and pointed her tong at my packet like a magic wand. “Where got? This one is Fish-Pork.”
“What is Fish-Pork, Auntie? It’s Sweet and Sour Pork!”
“No, this one the flour got fish taste. And the Kailan is Australian Kailan. Very expensive one. Then the egg… the egg is Japan egg. Total $7.50. You want or not? Behind many people waiting.”
The Hard Truth I looked behind me. Five uncles in GrabFood shirts were staring at me like I was blocking the PIE. I couldn’t back down. My ego cannot take it.
I paid. I took my $7.50 packet and sat at the corner. I opened the box. I bit into the Sweet and Sour Pork.
It wasn’t even pork. It was 90% flour, 10% hope.
The “Australian” Kailan tasted like the grass outside my HDB block. And the steamed egg? It was so watery, I thought I was drinking soup.
I finished the whole thing because $7.50 can buy two McChickens, but here I am, eating “premium” grass and flour.