A Better Title

Dear Diary,

Yeah, this post is very lim. I can’t even walk now. Edit: Actually it’s not that lim. Just that I couldn’t find a good title.

Anyway, both scenarios, although exaggerated, are based on true stories, the first happened a lot of times, and the second just today.

Scenario 1

Suppose you are a guy. You go to this place called Sim Lim Square, the place where you can get bargains for electronic goods. If you’re good at bargaining, that is.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the crowd, you spot a shop. It looks rather promising, notebooks lined up for the passers-by to ogle and for serious buyer to take home. You walk into the shop. You take a look at the different specifications of a few different computers. You’re confused, because you’re not sure which one you should choose. You want a lightweight laptop, yet you don’t want to spend big bucks on one.

Thinking hard, you find a shopkeeper approaching you.

Shopkeeper (S): <Flat face> “Can I help?”
You (Y): “Yeah, do you have a model which is less than 2000 dollars?”
S: “Yes we do have one here. This model here is 1799 dollars.” <Points at a bulky laptop> “It is actually a desktop replacement. It comes with a 15″ LCD screen; large, comfortable keyboard; ATI Radeon 9200; etc; etc; etc. And it weighs at 5.6 kg.”
Y: “Um, actually I’m looking for a lightweight one.”
S: <Starts to frown> “Ok, if you take a look at this model here, ah. Twinhead one ah. Very good one. Comes with AMD Athlon. Cheap one, only 1999 dollars.”
Y: “This looks good. I’ll get this one then. It’s with GST isn’t it.”
S: “Yes, with GST.”
Y: “Oh ok. Can I pay by credit card? By the way do I get a mouse or something?”
S: “Yes but you’ll need to add 2% credit card charge. You can get a mouse but you’ll need to add another 30 dollars.”
Y: “Oh… Ok. But can I just keep the price at 1999?”
S: “You siao ah?” <Shoves you out of the shop> “You think laptops fall from heaven is it?!?”

Scenario 2

Now, rewind to the time when you were outside the shop. Now add a sweet-looking girl friend of yours. (note the gap between the two words) The two of you walk into the shop. The two of you take a look at the different specifications of a few different computers. Both of you are not sure which one to take. Your friend wants a lightweight laptop, yet she doesn’t want to spend big bucks on one.

Thinking hard, you find a shopkeeper approaching both of you.

S: <Smiles> “Yes, can I help you?”
Y: “Yeah, do you have a model which is less than 2000 dollars?”
S: “Yes we do have one here. This model here is 1799 dollars.” <Points at a bulky laptop> “It is actually a desktop replacement. It comes with a 15″ LCD screen; large, comfortable keyboard; ATI Radeon 9200; etc; etc; etc. And it weighs at 5.6 kg.”
Y: “Um, actually we’re looking for a lightweight one.”
S: <With a bigger smile> “Oh yes, we actually do have one here. This Twinhead model is running on AMD Athlon. It’s pretty cheap for its size. It has 12.1″ screen and it’s only 1.8 kg. It’s only 1999 dollars, and you can upgrade to 40 GB hard drive and 384 MB RAM by adding only 99 dollars. So the total would be 2098 dollars.”
Y: “Is Twinhead good? Is the brand reliable and what about the service?”
S: “Yes, Twinhead is actually quite established in Singapore. It has been here for 10 years, although they previously dealt with motherboards and chipsets and only started releasing laptops in the past 3 years.”
Y: “But will using AMD mean your laptop will be very hot?”
S: “You’re not going to play games are you?” <Your friend shakes her head> “Then it should be ok.”
Y: “Oh ok. This looks good. We’ll get this one then. Do you accept credit card? By the way do we get a mouse or something?”
S: “Yes we do accept credit cards. But you’ll need to add 2% credit card charge. You can get a mouse but you’ll need to add another 30 dollars.”
Y: “Oh… Ok. But can I just keep the price at 2098?”
S: “Erm, let me check with them first…” <Checks with colleagues, comes back after a while with an even wider smile> “Yeah, we can absorb the credit card charges, so we can keep the price at 2098 dollars.”

But then… Things are not so good for your friend, because your friend keeps on getting things like: “xiao jie, ni yao mai dian nao shi ma?”

Bastards…

Oh, in case you’re wondering, I got the friend a Twinhead Efio A121. It’s pretty good for the price, especially because she wants a budget small-sized laptop. I can’t comment on services yet as I really have no experience on the brand yet.

Not a bastard,

bcc

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 15th, 2004 at 1:24 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.