At $37, it may not sound cheap, but I love my haircuts at Next @ Holland Village. Yazid is cool and the neck/head massage is almost orgasmic. (I just wish the washer/masseuse wasn't a mandarin-speaking male). The receptionist greets me by name, the smell when I enter is crisp happy shampoo fresh. The chic black decor synergises with the sharp, stylish get-ups of the hair stylists, and the high babe count is only augmented by their very glam haircuts. Ah. I always come out of that place feeling like a thousand bucks.
But my mum frowns at the $37 price tag for all this jazz -- a cut and wash at her place costs $17. IS $37 very expensive? Some people say I'm 'atas'. I disagree -- here's my theory: Pay a bit more for a complete package you like. It certainly works for me at Next! And I have two other examples to prove my theory.
1. Taxi Vs. Bus Travel
Let's say I want to go to the Tanglin area. Bus travel will cost me about $2.50; the taxi fare will probably be four times as much. But if I take the bus (two-legged trip), I will have to leave a whole n hour in advance, evaporate in the heat, drown in my sweat, and frus out while waiting for the bus and while standing on the lurching vehicle. I pay much more for the cab, but arrive there in half the time a happy man. To me, it's about a trade off between $7.50 -- and half an hour less of frustration, my happiness and peace-of-mind. Why not?
2. Buying cheap computer components at Sim Lim
I always frown when someone patronisingly advises me, 'why you buy from here, go Sim Lim la! Cheaper leh.' ...The men don't get it. Of course I know that it's cheaper in Sim Lim. But if it's convenient for me to buy say, a thumb drive, at Popular Bukit Panjang for $15 more, I'd choose that option gladly. I think the smart alecs forget that going to Sim Lim in the first place takes time, money, and effort. If I take a bus, there goes $4, one hour of travelling, and alot of angst trying to negotiate the crowd and the shop -I-will-charge-you-higher-if-I-see-you-are-a-noob- keepers. Again, I'd gladly pay a bit more for convenience.
It just seems like perfect common sense to me.
I think that the haters out there should be less quick to slap the label 'atas' around, and be more circumspect about material trade-offs in life.
PS: However, taxi travel has recently become quite quite maddening. I'll try to make sense of the phenomenon on my next post.
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1 comment:
Quick. Make sense of the taxi phenomenon on your next post.
I'll second you on taxis. It's my favourite mode of transport too.
My theory is: why buy a car and drive it when you can take a cab and have someone drive you? It costs less anyway.
And saving over half the time over bus rides? Nyet. In the ten or fifteen minutes it takes for my bus to arrive, I've already reached my destination via a cab.
Alf
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