My dad, in the recent past accompanied me to a Shopping Mall. While I was waiting in the long queue to pay the bill for the clothes I purchased, he was looking around.
When I finally paid my bill and joined him, he smirked and said, you people do not have happiness anymore. I was puzzled and asked him to explain. He pointed to the people in the queue and asked me what I saw. I was a bit irritated and said… I see people waiting in the line impatiently to pay the bill. He said “Exactly”.
I was unable to comprehend. On probing further, he reminisced and said… not very long ago, when people purchased any items (clothes, appliance etc.) you could see the happiness on their faces of having purchased something that they liked or wanted. It’s not the case anymore. Most of the people now run up bill in thousands, yet, you can only see the impatience to pay the bill and get out of there. Where is the happiness?
That got me thinking… he is right. Has money lost its happiness buying capacity? Or, do we have so much of everything that it does not excite us anymore? I bet it is the excitement and easy availability.
Let me explain… in the beginning of the month, my wife and I splurge on household goods. Money is no criteria. Literally! The reason being, we are blessed to be working in companies that give us more than sufficient Sodexo vouchers. We walk into a retail chain and pickup anything that we can lay our hands on (for my global readers, Sodexo vouchers are given as a benefit to employees to buy food. These vouchers are also accepted by retail chains instead of money).
As the month progresses and our Sodexo’s spent, when we require household provisions and visit a retail chain, we delve into our dwindling cash reserves. Its then we choose the required items wisely. We discuss the items that can wait for the beginning of the next month and the items that we require immediately. We make a planned purchase. My wife and I can then cannot stop ourselves from commenting on how sensible people we are, and how happy we are with our purchases. Every single item of purchase is discussed and every deal we got on the items is commented on. We are content and happy with the purchase.
What has changed? Did Sodexo not have the same buying capacity as the real money? It did, but why did it not hurt us so much when we ran up that huge bill? Why did we not have the same happiness? The answer is simple, with Sodexo, it did not feel like we were buying from our money and we purchased items without a thought. When we had to pay cash, we felt the pinch and that is why we discussed and decided what is right for us and hence the happiness.
With all the mindless spending that is taking place due to the availability of easy credit, people now buy things that they do not require. Not many years ago, buying clothes was a yearly affair (for birthdays, festivals, marriages etc.) and it was something that was looked forward to. Now a days’, shopping is a past time and has lost its charm.
I am not saying it’s wrong… all I am saying that the Money is now unable to buy happiness it used to.
If money can talk…. mine is only saying Goodbye!
