The shy boy

The boy stood quietly near the lifts. Plastic bags filled with (no longer) frozen kuih rested near his feet. My colleague asked him, “Are these for sale?”. “Yes,” he answered. RM10.50 for 3 packets, 50 cents of which would be his upah. We bought some for ourselves. Other people started crowding near him, perhaps with a mixture of curiosity and sympathy. Afterall, aren't stories of 'budak jual kuih' belong to our fathers' or grandfathers' generation? Some gave suggestions, “Why don’t you go to the canteen? There’d be more people there.” “No, just stay here. People will pass by these lifts.” At the end, he just shied away “Err.. takpelah kak, saya balik dulu”. His face was red, he was rather close to tears, if I had judged correctly.

We had meant well. But perhaps he would be better helped if we had simply buy his kuihs rather than bombard him with ‘helpful’ suggestions on where he could get more customers. We treated him with pity, as if he's holding an empty bowl, rather than with respect, doing real selling, real work. This incident changed my perception on my buying power slightly. Nowadays, whenever I buy something at a haggle-able place, I try to judge the seller before deciding to do any haggling. Perhaps the 1 or 2 ringgit that I could have saved could be a sadaqah instead. Wallahu'a'lam.