Saturday, July 16, 2005
"同人不同命"...This chinese proverb (is it a proverb?? but anyway...) is SOoOoOoo damn right!!!
I have been working at Hermes this week. Although the job is tiring, but it has been an eye-opening experience for me...
Last time when I'm still young and 不懂事 (which is only like last week...), my definition of a Rich Lady aka 富婆 is as follows:
[Rich Lady - Someone who lives in private housing, got around 2 cars at home (1 for husband to go work, 1 for herself to go market), buys an LV bag every 2 - 3 months or so.]
Now then I know what a Rich Lady is really like - Everything also branded.
I still remember the very first customer on my first day at Hermes. It is a husband-and-wife, should be quite young, about 30+. They seemed to be regulars as the staff there are all very friendly with them. All the staff there called the husband 'Ah Sia' - which if I'm not wrong means someone who is very rich and always anyhow spend alot of money (correct or not huh?? sorry leh, I'm not hokkien so hokkien not very good). Anyway, they started to look thru the 'On Sale' items...which btw although 40-60% off, it still costs at least 700+ for a top which can easily be mistaken as something from This Fashion if you didn't look at it carefully...They chose for about 1 plus hours and finally decided on 2 pairs of shoes and approx 5-6 tops. And guess what?? I got the shock of my life when I heard one of the staff say '$12,600..." (the figure $12,000 sth la...). Wah lau, $12,000 plus leh, just spend it on some-ordinary-clothes-with-a-'Hermes Made in France' -tag and 2 pairs of quite nice shoes la i must say...but it's still a humongous sum mah...
That is not the most shocking thing for me. After that, my manager took out the Hermes 'legendary' NEW Shoulder Birkin by Jean-Paul Gaultier in Havana for the Rich Lady to see. (See above pic. That is not in Havana though, that is the new 'pumpkin-orange' color) She saw and tried in the VIP room already then went out to her husband, who's at that time paying for the humongous sum of money, to show him the shoulder birkin.
Husband: Nice leh!!
Wife: Nice hor...
Husband: (Excited) Buy lah...I can pay together...
Manager: (interrupts) Eh cannot ah, birkin got waiting list one...
Husband: Okay loh Okay loh, just put your name on the waiting list loh.
Seems like a normal conversation right?? BUT... ... ...(hold your breathe)... ... ...A Birkin costs tens of thousands of dollars...considering that shoulder birkins are even more rare than regular birkins, my guess is that it should cost around $20,000. Wah lau, people don't know hear their conversation would think they are talking about normal bags loh.
How come people can be so damn rich? How they do it?? Plus, that day is a Wednesday (a working day) but the husband and wife are dressed very casually. Confirm the wife is not working coz she came with friends and her children the next few days again. The husband only talked on the phone for a few times on that day(from what I heard is like to delegate work ba...). Plus he mentioned he always go for meetings wearing jeans one. How come so slack still got so much money?? Sigh...
Apart from tourists, 0ther customers of Hermes are all rich people also...Both men and women are dressed either nicely in pants and dresses or dressed very casually in t-shirts and shorts. But if you look closely at what they wear, you will realise that their clothes are from Club21, Giorgio Armani...their shoes from Gucci, Prada...their bags from Chanel, Vuitton...very 'WaHHhh...' right...Plus some of the 'Tai Tais' got those super-glaring-under-the-lights-diamond-ring, which from the look of it should at least be 3-carat loh...not including the small small ones surrounding the big solitaire for design-purposes only (Sad right...their design-purpose diamonds are what normal people like us wear by itself). Heard the staff there say that their local customers are all from the top 5% of the society in Singapore (all those driving Rolls Royce and Ferraris), no wonder alot of Taitais although never come into the shop together but they always give cheek-to-cheek-kisses to each other in the boutique. Must be they always accompany their husbands go for those kind of super-glam dinners then got to know one another....
Really '同人不同命' right?? Sigh...Why is it like that huh...Some people poor until have to struggle to ensure the survival of the whole family while some people buy everything branded, even slippers also must be Gucci one. Life is really unfair right...
But for me, I don't need to be like that...As long as next time I can still maintain the lifestyle my family provides for me now, I'm happy enough...Living in a HDB flat, got food to eat, can afford to buy clothes and bags and shoes occasionally (ermm...ya...occasionally...haha), every year can save enough money buy 1 or 2 branded bags (Yeah!!!)...Ya, I'm happy enough if i can continue this kinda life...See, I'm so easily satisfied!!! So please do not say I'm a pampered girl anymore ya?? ;p
p/s: Lucky during my work i got try on a pair of 1000+ high heels and a 700+ hat. Mai siao siao hor...hahaha, cannot afford try also happy ;p
Elyse bitching @ 11:22 PM | comment
