Shortchanged, as usual

Tread softly and carry a big calculator. Traders are always out to make you part with your money. The quest to being wise consumers is not easy, not without the gahmen looking after us. It is every man for his own, learn to be wise or perish. Malaysians always seem to get the short end of the stick every which way life goes. Perhaps the old saw that a sucker is born every minute really does ring true.

The following are scams I can see in this country:

1.Eggs- A sized eggs are not really A size in classification. I have seen A sized eggs in Singapore that look substantially bigger than those in Malaysia. Compared to these , our local A eggs are at best called C size. I wonder how this can happen as most of the eggs sold in Singapore comes from farms in Malaysia. Ah, must be the stronger currency from down south.

Are the so-called Omega rich eggs really worth the extra money? At over 50sen each,
they are are terribly expensive. What's more, they are puny in size; more like C-size
eggs. Break one into your frying pan and see what I mean. Two 'genuine' A eggs fill up a 9inch pan whereas 2 Omega eggs barely fill half of it. I understand that the orangish
yolk colour is derived from feeding the layers with carotene rich feedmeal such as
those made from oil palm waste. It is probably this vibrant yolk colour that make
consumers think they are really better than the plain yellow of ordinary eggs. Costing
more than 50sen a pop, these eggs really cost as much as 80sen for a regular A sized
ordinary egg (based on egg volume), that is a whopping 60% more.

Is it worth it? Make your choice wisely. I prefer the ordinary eggs, freshness being the more important factor.

2,Fried chicken. Chicken prices are high now, so fast food restaurants try to balance out by using smaller birds. Any sized chicken will yield 8 parts; so will a sparrow. I noticed that fried chicken parts are much bigger down south than in Malaysia- I thought there was supposed to be a specified minimum size to be used. Profiteering rears its ugly head again. Better to spend a little time and effort to fry your own chicken parts especially if you have a large family, no sense in enriching the fast food chains. By the way, the same company who holds the franchise for both Malaysia and its southern neighbouring country; serves much larger pieces in the latter place, why the discrepancy God only knows. Malaysians are such pathetic suckers that they don't know better?

3.Rice – cooked rice that is. Economy rice stalls usually sell the rice at rm1 per serving. Consider that they usually only the cheapest grade of local rice (with 10-15% broken grains) that costs at most rm2.50 a kilogram which yields at least 10 plates costing 25sen each – cooked rice must be the most profitable item in the whole menu. Just imagine- a 300% profit (on cost) margin! Economy rice is a misnomer, it ain't no longer economical – what used to be a poor man's meal has become unaffordable to a lot of people. Just don't make the mistake of ladling too much food onto your plate or you will end up paying through your nose!
This is probably why most women who tar-pau for their families will only buy cooked vegetables and meat dishes without rice, certainly cheaper to cook the rice at home. But hey, it is even cheaper by far to cook everything at home; lotsa recipes on the internet. So learn to cook, ok Honey?

4.Burgers. 'our burgers are the cheapest in the world' – trumpeted by a burger chain.
Hogwash and balderdash – just plain bullshit. Of course it is the cheapest, why shouldn't it be?. Just look at the paper thin meat patty, the small bun, the miserable slab of “cheese' – I'd be surprised if it wasn't the cheapest. Perhaps they forgot to proclaim that it is also the worst tasting burger around. Even the roadside burger stalls can often serve up a better version than this well known burger chain. Yet, the joints are often full at mealtimes – got kong thau ar? I probably eat there once a year, which I think is one time too many. I wonder how the local franchisee gets away with cutting corners to such an extent, after all the master franchisor has set standards for all its overseas operations. Well, wink & nudge – Malaysia Boleh!

5.Roti canai. Or roti paratha as it is known down south. It sells for 80sen at most mamak shops, no big deal when considering just the price itself. But it is small, mind you. I remember eating roti canai that were as big as the plate it came on, costs just 15sen apiece.. Now it is just a shadow of itself. Recently there was an article about a malay cooperative restaurant in KL selling a roti canai for only 40sen and a teh tarik for 60sen, a veritable breakfast for only rm1. The proprietor claimed he could get a 100% profit on the roti as production cost is only 20sen a piece. Just imagine the mamak shops selling the same thingy at 80sen, a 300% profit margin on cost alone! If this is not excessive profiteering, then I don't know what else to call it. A last gripe at the damnable roti canai – did you notice that they always give the same little miserable platter of kuah (gravy) whether you asked for 1,2 or 3 pcs of roti? You always have to ask for more – just don't get your noggin rapped in the process!

Shortchanged as usual, what else is new, huh?