No Free Money For Him!

©Mike Ng 2002

I had breakfast with Dad as usual this morning. Our usual spots are closed on Mondays so we had to resort to eating curry mee at Bee Hooi. Darn kid never learns from his food poisoning episodes. Hehehe.

Then there was this guy who walked with a limp and had some speech deficiency who made his way to our table. He was carrying a bag of sweets and vaguely conveyed his message in Hokkien.

Feeling rather sorry for him, Dad handed him a dollar bill. He took it and then left a packet of four Hacks sweets on our table. Dad then took the packet of sweets and handed it back to him, telling him that it was alright. This guy got a little peeved and flung the dollar bill back at Dad. Feeling rather awkward, Dad offered to hand him back the dollar bill in exchange for the sweets. So we were back to square one. The guy happily limped off having made another sale.

This incident taught me a lesson that such people still have their dignity very much intact. Also, we shouldn’t equate people trying to make a humble living with beggars. Though they may appear the same at times, there really is a distinction.