Sunday, July 16, 2006
[CIP = Free Labour (for the organisers that is)]
[CIP = Free Labour (for the organisers that is)]
Today we had to do CIP.
Yes, the "hold-tin-cans-and-beg-for-donation" thing.
Started in Ang Mo Kio at around 8+ am.
But didn't get much because got a lot of my classmates there snatching business.
So Cassandra, Wan Zhen, Cinny and me went to Northpoint in Yishun.
We split into pairs. Wan Zhen and I stood at the pavement between Northpoint and bus interchange. Cinny and Cass went further.
Wan Zhen and I decided to face different directions, so she would ask for donations from people coming out of Northpoint while I ask for donations from people going to Northpoint. (My mum later said I made a smart move - the people I approach haven't spend a single cent in Northpoint but Wan Zhen's crowd had already done so)
Anyway, we each had about 3/4 full before we decided to slack... then Cinny and Cass came to us for help. Each of them had less than half. I was already damn tired lah, I didn't sleep until 2am last night, but Wan Zhen helped Cinny to ask for donations.
Then Clement came by and joined us in the begging. Apparently the kids are frightened of him.
At around 12.30, all our tins were already at least half-full, so we went to Yoshinoya in Northpoint and slack there until 1.30pm. Then we took MRT back to Ang Mo Kio.
My Observations:
1. Best Donors - Malay families, in general, families with daughters.
2. Worst Donors - Middle-aged English-educated Uncles.
3. The Good - A mother with two kids donated $2 and got a souvenir (the towel dog)and were about to leave, when suddenly the little girl said, "Mummy, where's my wallet?" And the mother handed her the wallet. At first I thought she was going to hang the dog on her wallet, but later she took out a $1 coin and put it in my tin. There were also cases whereby the kids wanted to donate while the parents were reluctant.
4. The Bad - Many instances of people walking past me as though I'm invisible, or simply say, "I don't have small change" or even pretend to catch a bus from the interchange... sigh. If you're not willing to donate just shake your head lah! Assholes.
5. The Ugly - An Australian woman with her young son donated $2. While the mother was choosing a bookmark, the son pointed at the picture of a disabled man on the tin and asked, "Who's that freak?"
6. Honourable Mention - A man who donated $5 but didn't want any souvenirs.
So that pretty much sums up my day, because when I got back the only thing I did was sleep.
[fangying] [9:28 PM]
