EP, phone home

My disabled brother needed a new cellphone;  his present one, a Nokia, was getting wonky. He needs just a basic feature phone, no frills... it is essentially an emergency phone (EP).

I saw this "one-day special"ad in the papers: "Mobile phone $29 (Usual price $60). Limited to 100 sets only." Hmm, first come first served, I guessed. The store opened at 11am.

I got there at 11am. There was already a crowd. The mobile phone special was not the star deal, and the  crowd-catchers were items like the 32" HD LED TVs going for $448 (UP: $1,099; limited to 50 sets).

But I had a chance, because selection was by balloting and the ballot boxes were not closed yet. I filled in my details on the ballot slip for the EP. No more entries were allowed at 11.15.

The emcee was quite noisy but entertaining, like at a getai (road show, typically during the Chinese Hungry Ghost festival). He liberally used Hokkien words like "Huat, ah!" (very lucky) when winners came forward. One winner with part of his name Heng was told, "Wah, you very heng today" (roughly translated, heng also means lucky or fortunate).

The balloting process itself was transparent and open for all to see in the crowded storefront. There were several boxes, for the various items from the 32" TV to the mobile phone (the cheapest item). But all items were "oversubscribed".

Every paper slip was checked to ensure that the ballot box was not "stuffed" ie no one was allowed to slip in more than one entry (of course there were; but the store graciously allowed one of the "spoilt votes" to be counted in). Then, all the valid slips were put in the box again and the requisite numbers drawn, eg. 50 for the 32" TV. Later, if a called name did not appear, the emcee would declare "Going, going, gone!" and that person -- who might have gone to the loo to have a leak -- forfeited his or her chance.

All winners had to produce their ICs for verification! Hey, that's good; in my case, I was balloting for an EP. Don't pray, pray, system has to be squeaky clean, man.

But it all took a long time, and knowing the EP balloting was last, I wandered around the mall. I got back to the "counting centre" in time... a little past noon. I got the EP for my bro. I was number 24. The next queue was at the cashier's. When I finally collected the $29 phone, it was 12.30pm... time for lunch.

So, that was how I spent this morning. When I got home, I found -- from another ad -- that I could buy a Samsung no-frills cellphone for $38 (it comes bundled with a $8 prepaid SIM card) from a different store in a different location. No need to ballot for this one!

But, then, if I had known about it and bought this other phone, I would never have realised that there were so many people -- some in long-sleeves and tie, some in military or school uniform -- willing to spend an entire working weekday morning going to "vote" -- with their wallet.