Really N.G.U.M!

About a fortnight ago, a colleague emailed me a link to Mr Brown's new production called N.G.U.M - National Go Up Month. As are Mr Brown's other productions, this was very funny. Check it out in mrbrownshow.com!

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Last week, R, WY, WF and I decided to stop by McDonald's for an ice-cream cone each. As we took our seats, I handed WY a $2 note.

WY proceeded to place his order for the 4 cones. Moments later, he turned to signal to me that the $2 was not enough! Ha?? I was puzzled, too, until the counter staff 'part-shouted-part-gestured' to me that another 40 cents would be needed!

She 'explained' that because of the increase in the GST rate, each cone now costs $0.60 instead of $0.50! Wow! That's a hefty 20% increase, leh!!

This was ridiculous, I thought! McDonald's is a gigantic entity, so why squeeze an additional 10 cents for the smallest item on its menu?!

Then I suddenly remember that this is N.G.U.M. and so, I instinctively took a quick glance at the prices of the McDonald's value meals and ala carte items. Oooh, everything now costs more! *tsk* *tsk* *tsk*......

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On Tuesday, I went to a popular stall at the food centre next to my office during lunch hour to buy a few 菠萝包 for R and WY's breakfast the following day. There was no other customer at the stall. So I told the lady worker there that I wanted 3 菠萝包 packed. To my surprise, the usually jovial and chatty lady hesitated.

Worker: 呃，现在一个是 $1.40，你知道, hor？不再是$1.00了。

I: 什么？！现在一个菠萝包是 $1.40？！为什么涨价涨得这么高？！

Worker: 老板娘吩咐的。我们已经跟老板娘反应了，可是她还是说我们要卖一个$1.40。我们打工的，也没办法咯。我见你是熟客，先跟你解释，要不然怕你误会，那就不好意思了。

I: 一个菠萝包$1.40，那我不要了。(I pointed to the plain steamed buns at the display counter.) 那个鸡蛋糕有涨价吗？



Worker: 鸡蛋糕没有涨。可是大包、小包、韭菜角和其他的点心，每个都涨价$0.10。海鲜角现在一个是$0.90，不再是$0.80了！



I: 哈？！那今天我只要鸡蛋糕好了。

When I returned to office after buying my lunch too, I told my colleague what I had been told.

My colleague confirmed that she has had to pay more for almost every breakfast since the GST has headed north. She usually buys different food for breakfast each day, so she knows.

She says that the hawkers now charge $0.10 more for coffee, $0.10 more for each 笋糕, $0.10 for 猪场粉, $0.10 more for 芋头糕, $0.20 more for mee siam, $0.20 chwee kueh, $0.30 more for congee, $0.50 for 炒菜头糕 etc etc. The popular 炒米粉、炒面 which many office workers like to eat/buy for breakfast now costs a minimum of $0.80 and no longer $0.70 as was previously.



She even commented that for those food items whose prices have not yet been increased, the portion served has been reduced.

I didn't believe this last point at first, but when I opened my $3.00 bowl of 鱼片汤 lunch and looked at it, I knew she was right. The 鱼片汤 used to come with about 5-6 relatively thick slices of fish. Now, only 3-4 ultra-thin slices float amidst the chopped parsley and deep-fried shallots on top of the clear steaming-hot soup.



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Sigh, Mr Brown couldn't have been more right to call July 2007 the N.G.U.M........