The Experience Frill

The other day I walked past a Baskin Robin cake shop and was attracted by the cute and colourful display of its cakes in the fridge. On a closer look I was aghast that a 6 inch cakes costs $69. I wondered to myself who their customers are as I can never bring myself to buy one. At home a magazine article entitled "The Experience Economy Boom" caught my eyes.

I did a bit of research and learn that economic value follows a progression from commodity to goods to services to experience. For example if a cake is baked at home, the ingredients are the commodities. A cake sold at a supermarket has progressed from commodity to goods. A fanciful cake (a child's birthday cake for example ) baked according to customer specification has incorporated a large service element. Finally a fanciful birthday cake delivered to a party by a man dressed as a joker followed by some clownish acts has created a memorable experience. The price people are prepared to pay increases along this progression path.

It dawns on me that my unwillingness to pay for a fanciful cake means I am stuck at the goods level. I think many of the baby boomers are like me, which explain why they still have their cuppa at coffee shops while Starbuck and other gourmet coffee cafes are patronised by younger people who don't mind paying for the ambiance.

I think we baby boomers love to save and are reluctant to pay more for the frills of a product. For us the financial security in having a large reserve is top priority including leaving heirs with the means to live comfortably. Many of our parents struggled for a living and we hunger for that peace of mind that comes with financial freedom.

Nevertheless I feel baby boomers have also learned to embrace experiences, for example prioritizing travel above owning goods like expensive watches.  The younger people's spending habits has also rubbed off on us. The Millennials have been dubbed the "wellness generation" by Sanford Health ( a non profit health care delivery system ), spending more on health, wellness and experiences.

Still it takes quite some deliberation before we go for a "splash". For instance having visited London several times, my husband and I have viewed the London Eye and River cruise as traps for tourist dollar. Only upon the last visit we decided to "splash" . Oh my, how could we even miss this experience during the previous trips! Sometimes I look at my frugality with self pity and view my husband's value-for-money mindset as pathetic.

The magazine article on "The Experience Economy Boom"  described products packaged with memorable experiences and featured a dinner-theatre outfit providing an immersive dining experience.

Well I guess I need to buy the $69 cake for a start to get used to paying more for the Experience frill.

Alternative thinking

Listened to a BBC podcast ' The Happiness Lab'. A research carried out to study the facial expression of silver and bronze Olympian medalists found that silver medalists scored 4.8 compared to bronze medalists' 7.1 on a scale where 1 is agony and 10 is ecstasy. The results seem to imply that silver medalists felt the despair that they missed the all glorious Olympic Gold medal whilst the bronze medalists were thankful for getting at least a medal, being aware of the possibility of missing it altogether. It all boils down to the thought of alternatives.

This is the  power of comparison and we always use the people around us as reference points. In a study people were asked whether they would rather earn 1) $50k per annum where people around them earn $25k or 2) $100k where others earn $200k. It seems illogical that people will not want to double their salary but the result actually shows a 50/50 split among the respondents.

To promote happiness people are often asked to list 10 things they are thankful for upon waking up daily. In  a way this strategy uses a negative event reference. For example counting the blessing of good health contemplates the misfortune of illness. In doing so one avoids the natural tendency to be upset when comparing one's  achievements with that of others. It puts into perspective that we on our own are sufficient in many ways.

Fame and shame (sometimes also known as praise and blame) together with gain and loss are part of the 8 worldly winds which the Buddha spoke of that we encounter in our life. These winds are more acutely felt in cultures when social pressure is more pronounced. One needs to  be grateful for the good things in one's life and be more centered and aware of the real values that truly matter.

Our own Celebrity Chef?

At a dialogue during the launching of Mendaki's latest book which chronicles the Malay community's journey through education, Professor Yaacob Ibrahim expressed his hope to see "peaks of excellence" within the Malay community. He said "When I go around and ask people : Who is the top Malay doctor? Who is the top Malay lawyer? People are hard pressed to find them". He was encouraging the Malay community to "push to the next level" having done considerably well over the years.

A researcher Siti Hazirah Mohamad who was also in the panel of speakers however pointed out that they should not just benchmark themselves to the traditional notions of success. I agree totally with her.

One thing that strikes me when engaging with children in Pertapis, a Malay Children's Home, is their caring nature. Though there may be some teasing and bullying, generally the older children seem to care for the younger ones. I have on many occasions witnessed the welfare staff resorting to calling a certain older child to help pacify a younger child throwing a violent tantrum. The children also seem to provide moral support to each other. In my opinion these children will excel in human service related jobs like nursing and social work.

I also notice the children love to imitate the chefs in the Cooking TV shows. I think the Malays are quite artistic and may do well in culinary art and entertainment.

If Yaacob Ibrahim is spurring the Malay community to produce a famous lawyer or doctor, I think the children in the Malay Children's home are at a huge social disadvantage to achieve that. However if according to Hazirah Mohamad we change our definition of success, I am very hopeful the children in Pertapis will be successful in pursuing career in the service industry. That is why while engaging with them at pretend play I encourage them to pay close attention to customer needs be it as a nurse or as a chef. Who knows one day we may have our own Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver.

Dubrovnik robbed

The Airbnb which we booked at old town Dubrovnik was not easy to locate because there are no address on the doors of these old buildings.  With some help however we managed to drag our luggage on and down the narrow stone steps to the right wooden door leading to the apartment upstairs. We were still pondering and getting help from a girl when a fortish lady came out of the door and rushed pass us. The girl who was assisting us pointed at the lady and said that was the hostess we were looking for. I then called out the hostess’ name whereby she turned around and just pointed upwards signalling we should proceed up the stairs having been given the keypad codes in her mail to us. We thought she would return shortly to make sure we are settled in but no she did not.

During my one week stay in Croatia I have noticed that most of the customer service workers are not particularly friendly. If you have a query the best they can do is to provide accurate and brief answers without adding a smile. In fact they often make you feel you are intruding. I have suspected some racial bias against Asians but dismiss that after observing similar behaviour towards whites.

Croatia is a very popular tourist spot and the country is heavily dependent on tourism. Yet you feel people resent tourists flooding the country but persevere for the sake of livelihood. It is not uncommon for local residents in cities overwhelmed by mass tourism to feel frustrated. In Dubrovnik where each cruise ship dumps 2 thousand tourists into the streets of the old city, it is reasonable for the locals to be resentful that their city has lost the old charm .

From my room which overlooked the main street in the Old City, the sound of the band playing English evergreens late into the night and the loud chatter from the guests in the pubs and eateries make the town like a playground. Only when I was wakened at 6 in the morning by the bells of the clock tower and church and looking out of the window at the deserted street below did I notice how much we the tourists have robbed the locals of their beautiful town.