It must be embedded in my dna - the instinct to bargain for anything I buy from a vendor. It's as though I think he has no right to earn any profits!
I go vegetable shopping and I ask the sabziwalla - how much for the onions? He says, "20 rupees a kilo." And I go - "I'll give you 15".
Or he says, "madam your bill is 138 rupees" and I say, "here's 130".
I don't bother about his working conditions, I don't worry that he may not have money to pay his children's school fees. I saunter away feeling very pleased. I saved 8 rupees.
Then, on another day when I walk into a Reliance Store to buy rations a reverse action happens. And it has happened often - My bill is 2154.55 rupees and I walk out paying 2155. I gave 45 paise extra and I am still not thinking about the owner of this retail chain.
Surely - Just the electricity used to keep his multi story eyesore home in Mumbai running could light up the lives of all the vegetable vendors in our city.
I go vegetable shopping and I ask the sabziwalla - how much for the onions? He says, "20 rupees a kilo." And I go - "I'll give you 15".
Or he says, "madam your bill is 138 rupees" and I say, "here's 130".
I don't bother about his working conditions, I don't worry that he may not have money to pay his children's school fees. I saunter away feeling very pleased. I saved 8 rupees.
Then, on another day when I walk into a Reliance Store to buy rations a reverse action happens. And it has happened often - My bill is 2154.55 rupees and I walk out paying 2155. I gave 45 paise extra and I am still not thinking about the owner of this retail chain.
Surely - Just the electricity used to keep his multi story eyesore home in Mumbai running could light up the lives of all the vegetable vendors in our city.
Comments