thin king

Good morning,

A better deal is the result of a good choice.

Many years ago, at a talk on Finance, a participant asked.
"What is the difference between Budgeting and Forecasting ?"
The speaker hesitated a moment, then said,
"Well, for one thing the spelling is different."
Many of the participants laughed. But what a son-of-a-gun,
joking at the expense of a participant like that.

Well, what is the difference between Choice and Choose ?
Ha ha ha, for one thing, beside the spelling, there is a difference
in them in grammar !
When we make a choice nobody can see, but when we choose it is obvious.
And here lies the fun when people choose when they buy things.

A fishmonger taught me this, "Press the pomfret below the eye and observe
the liquid that exudes: its bloody colour indicates its freshness."
But people know better. They open and look at the gills and the eyes,
press the body for firmness, feel for its sliminess or smell it.
Alas, fish do not smell fishy or feel slimy anymore, firm fish is a quality
of only those just taken out of the ice-box, and fish pressed too often
are not worth buying.

How to choose okra or ladyfingers? Bend its little end. It it snaps,
it is tender; if not, it is good for exercising teeth.
Buying okra with bent ends is being ignorant.
What about a tied up bunch of spinach, chyesim or other vegetable.
They all look about the same. But people would turn every bunch over,
check and test its weight, and finally pick one that did not look
much different from the others.

Choosing apples is more fun than buying.
Pick one up, press it a bit and throw it back.
So, the smart thing here is to choose when the staff just opened a new box;
these have not been dented yet, with or without fingernail marks.

Ah. Observe people choosing water melons.
Pick one up, hold it with both hands and shake it.
Turn it on one hand and slap it with the other.
It seems that they can tell how juicy it is by slapping it.
My simple method is to feel how heavy it is;
by logic the heavier one should be more juicy.

And I always like to observe people choosing tomatoes.
Nowadays the tomatoes are so well kept when displayed.
Yet, what do people do ? Pick one up, press it, and throw it back.
I cannot figure out why, but my guess is that they enjoy feeling the tomatoes.
How does one explain that after handling so many, they chose only a few,
and the choice is not based on size, colour or texture. Poor tomatoes,
poor later choosers and poor shop owners with the remnants !

Perhaps people should choose things the way they did with bananas;
look at their shape, colour and texture and point, and the fruiterer
will take the bunch down and put it in the bag, no handling.

Once I was buying some Fuji apples at the Bedok branch of Giant.
A young girl passing by spoke to me, "Uncle, there are bigger ones upstairs !"
She was lugging two bags of them, one in each hand.
The apples were sold by number, usually in fives.
Naturally I put what I had selected back and went upstairs.
True to what she had said the ones upstairs were bigger and not handled yet.
There were two girls picking them there.
And they were not satisfied with those on display.
They opened up the boxes there beside and choose from therein.

Oh my, how can people compete with people in Singapore ?

Have a nice day.
Ronald