Do you find this strange?

[PrimroseHill]

why?
different mentality?
Or is it how they are rich and I am poor?

[PNGMK]

This family is probably the same family that will use the water from pool shower rooms to do laundry and cleaning.

And their maids....

We've had to install presto taps and lock the other water taps in all our common facilities to cut our condo water bill. I kid you not there was a line of maids out the pool Female bathroom for a while every evening.

We once caught a guy running an extension cord out of the function room up a level to his house with most of his household appliances plugged into it.

We have continual problems with out right theft of common property (4 new BBQ pit chairs).

Let's call it what it is folks; it's thievery and theft, not miserliness.

[the lynx]

This family is probably the same family that will use the water from pool shower rooms to do laundry and cleaning.

And their maids....

We've had to install presto taps and lock the other water taps in all our common facilities to cut our condo water bill. I kid you not there was a line of maids out the pool Female bathroom for a while every evening.

We once caught a guy running an extension cord out of the function room up a level to his house with most of his household appliances plugged into it.

We have continual problems with out right theft of common property (4 new BBQ pit chairs).

Let's call it what it is folks; it's thievery and theft, not miserliness.

Can't blame the maids; they are just another bunch of victims of the narrow-minded cheapskate employers here. Most of the maids' employers think they are too 'dirty' to use even the common bathroom, hence they are made to bathe in pool facilities.

[ecureilx]

Like the drivers who park just before the ERP waiting for the clock to click over so they can save 0.50c

like a local guy I know, who drives a Panamera, who stopped before the ERP for the cutoff time and was asking something and I was like "why stop here .. " and then he goes .. "save the dollar lah .. "

[x9200]

Like the drivers who park just before the ERP waiting for the clock to click over so they can save 0.50c

like a local guy I know, who drives a Panamera, who stopped before the ERP for the cutoff time and was asking something and I was like "why stop here .. " and then he goes .. "save the dollar lah .. "

Actually there is some logic in it. I believe many many of them are putting themselves in some serious debts to have the cars and properly show off. In other words, they need to save money.

[JR8]

An alternative viewpoint is that you might come to afford 'a Panamera', precisely because you have been so pecunious in other aspects of your life.

[Fortan]

An alternative viewpoint is that you might come to afford 'a Panamera', precisely because you have been so pecunious in other aspects of your life.

Kind of what I was trying to point out in my OP. However, how can a status symbol like an expensive condo and an expensive car be worth that kind of hassle....

[JR8]

An alternative viewpoint is that you might come to afford 'a Panamera', precisely because you have been so pecunious in other aspects of your life.

Kind of what I was trying to point out in my OP. However, how can a status symbol like an expensive condo and an expensive car be worth that kind of hassle....

You're considering the situation from your own viewpoint, rather than the potential viewpoints of others.

The 'status symbol' does not derive from hassle, but rather normal unflamboyant and unwasteful day-to-day life. The attention to not wasting money, is what allows one to occasionally buy products that bring you great joy (that might be 'status symbols' to *others*).

[the lynx]

An alternative viewpoint is that you might come to afford 'a Panamera', precisely because you have been so pecunious in other aspects of your life.

Kind of what I was trying to point out in my OP. However, how can a status symbol like an expensive condo and an expensive car be worth that kind of hassle....

You're in Asia. Especially in a country populated by majority of Chinese ethnicity. Status symbol is everything to them.

[Fortan]

An alternative viewpoint is that you might come to afford 'a Panamera', precisely because you have been so pecunious in other aspects of your life.

Kind of what I was trying to point out in my OP. However, how can a status symbol like an expensive condo and an expensive car be worth that kind of hassle....

You're in Asia. Especially in a country populated by majority of Chinese ethnicity. Status symbol is everything to them.

I've noticed that and to the poster above, I have been trying to see it from their viewpoint. It just still doesn't make any sense to me.

I've been sitting in bar in Shanghai, seeing a guy flanked with three gorgeous women buying a bottle of $5,000 Courvoisier L’Esprit Decanter + 6 cokes to mix it with.

I know of a professor in one of the campus' here who has a Mercedes 500 SEL and who rents it out to two different Ang Moh neighbors on a regular basis, daily rate, under the condition that it MUST be parked outside where he lives when they are not using it. He hardly ever uses it. The reason being he can't afford to drive much because of the gasoline prices.

All of these things just doesn't make sense to me. I do my out most to understand different cultures, religions and customs.... but sometimes - like in this instance - I just can't make any sense of it. Do they really get that much of a kick by showing off and owning status symbols? Not saying they are wrong and I am right - I am just trying to understand.

[JR8]

You might enjoy reading this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Status Anxiety - Alain de Botton

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Status-Anxiety- ... us+anxiety

In Status Anxiety, bestselling author Alain de Botton sets out to understand our universal fear of failure - and how we might change

We all worry about what others think of us. We all long to succeed and fear failure. We all suffer - to a greater or lesser degree, usually privately and with embarrassment - from status anxiety.

For the first time, Alain de Botton gives a name to this universal condition and sets out to investigate both its origins and possible solutions. He looks at history, philosophy, economics, art and politics - and reveals the many ingenious ways that great minds have overcome their worries. The result is a book that is not only entertaining and thought-provoking - but genuinely wise and helpful as well.

'Clever, wise. De Botton's gift is to prompt us to think about how we live and how we might change things' The Times
---
'De Botton analyses modern society with great charm, learning and humour. His remedies come as a welcome relief when most books offering solutions to the stresses of life recommend the lotus position' Daily Mail
---
'Measured, amused, compassionate . . . de Botton is a surefooted discoverer of the pungent but less well known quote' Daily Telegraph
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKkdFSqAxV8
Status Anxiety - Part 1

It also featured in a UK TV series of his. Just take a few minutes watching the above, and start to consider his propositions...

It helps me consider my own personal priorities and values. It also helps me identify others. So, the uncle on the next table has a $1k bottle of brandy he's going to serve up with Coke... good luck to him. We're all zoo animals, sending out signals. ... hahaha ...

[the lynx]

Kind of what I was trying to point out in my OP. However, how can a status symbol like an expensive condo and an expensive car be worth that kind of hassle....

You're in Asia. Especially in a country populated by majority of Chinese ethnicity. Status symbol is everything to them.

I've noticed that and to the poster above, I have been trying to see it from their viewpoint. It just still doesn't make any sense to me.

I've been sitting in bar in Shanghai, seeing a guy flanked with three gorgeous women buying a bottle of $5,000 Courvoisier L’Esprit Decanter + 6 cokes to mix it with.

I know of a professor in one of the campus' here who has a Mercedes 500 SEL and who rents it out to two different Ang Moh neighbors on a regular basis, daily rate, under the condition that it MUST be parked outside where he lives when they are not using it. He hardly ever uses it. The reason being he can't afford to drive much because of the gasoline prices.

All of these things just doesn't make sense to me. I do my out most to understand different cultures, religions and customs.... but sometimes - like in this instance - I just can't make any sense of it. Do they really get that much of a kick by showing off and owning status symbols? Not saying they are wrong and I am right - I am just trying to understand.

I hail from that background and ironically, even I find that repulsive. It is all about keeping up with the Joneses, or rather a game of one-upping. It all starts when a Chinese is born (is he a boy or a girl?) till the day he dies (will he have family members wearing light blue?). If you don't make up the mark, the society either ignores you and refrains any favour from you. If you do well, that's because you are being blessed. If you don't, that's because you have been cursed. Lunar New Year reunion dinners are nothing without relatives comparing their children's PSLE results, PhDs, houses and spouses.

[movingtospore]

We used to live in a condo where sending the elderly to take a shower by the pool was pretty common. Occasionally some dishes were also done this way.

I think some people get hard-wired (via poverty, war, or deprivation) to act like this, and they're like it for life.

My father has mellowed in latter years, but 30 years I could see him advocating doing 'the dishes' at the pool-side shower

Yes, I agree, my grandmother came out of wartime Gr Britain. She reused teabags until her dying day. Though..she would have been much too proud to do her dishes in a public shower, LOL. I could see her spiting the phone company though by using public wifi, for sure.

[JR8]

She reused teabags until her dying day.

I still do. The art is timing the first cup just right. Get that right and you can let the 2nd one stew until it's like tarmac.

I've known people claim to get 3 mugs off a bag, but don't think I've tried that myself (or perhaps I did, but then you need to stick 2-3 old bags in a mug, and leave them for half an hour)...

[PrimroseHill]

My extended family; paternal and maternal are like that, materialistic and competitive. I hate this keeping up with the Joneses stuff - your son has how many As? 20? Wah, your Ah Boy so clever, my son has 39As now in Oxford reading Classic.
Or as soon as they walk into the house, how much is your house worth? Wah Ashley Cole is your neighbour meh?
How much is your salary? How much is your bonus?

However, a lot of Europeans are a lot like that too now and a lot of Brits are like that. The Square mile & Canary Wharf are overloaded with them.

For the life of me, I don't understand. Seriously. Does it matter if I drive a Ford Ka and he drove a Panamera? I am not going to borrow from him and when he's dead I am not inheriting anything either, so get a life