The treat cost $108 after discount for the both of us.
We sat there from 12pm to 5pm and effectively ate lunch and dinner there.
And so as I sat there, I wondered.
I spent $108 on 4 meals. (2 people, lunch & dinner)
What is $100 worth?
What can $100 buy and also how long do people take to make $100?
So as I sat there spending $100 on 4 meals...
$100 can be used for 5 weeks of my utilities. I use around $80 for a month so $100 should cover slightly over a month.
$100 can buy me around 3 weeks worth of petrol after all my discounts and coupons.
After discounts, $100 could buy me a steak dinner for 2 at Lawrys. (I'm not sure about the pricing now)
Alternatively, I could buy 2kg worth of ribeye or tenderloin from Giant at $5 per 100gm.
An average serving of a steak meal is around 250gm per person.
So this means 2kg would be 8 servings.
If I go to Mortons, I've never been to Mortons...
$100 would probably only buy me a steak dinner for 1.
$100 also can buy my wife 3-4 pairs of shoes. She waits for a promo and gets them at around $25-$30 each.
Alternatively, $100 may only buy 1 pair of shoes at certain places.
Male shoes can range between $20 to $100 or more.
My working shoes used to cost $20 per pair.
Running shoes cost around $90-$130 or more.
Guys can get them for free at E-Mart.
$100 can also buy me 2 cheap IKEA dining tables. My dining table is $49.
My rice cooker cost me $82.
My halogen oven was $50.
I could buy 2-3 Transformer toys for my nephews for $100.
Or maybe 1 big combiner robot.
Below my house there's a coffeeshop selling food at around $3.
I can get wonton mee, chicken rice, economic rice at around $3-$3.50.
With $100 I could eat 30 meals.
I could buy a sack of 5kg rice at $10, this is around 30 cups of rice.
Go to Pasir Panjang every week, transport to and fro is around $3.
Pasir Panjang would provide me with vegetables for 1 whole week.
So in 1 month it's around $12.
1 tray of 30 eggs at $5. (Probably less than $5)
Maybe I could buy some meat if I feel like it at $6 per week.
You can get discounted 6 drumsticks at this price at Cold Storage. It's not frozen thawed chicken.
This would cost me $10 +$12 +$5 +$6 = $33.
So $100 could probably feed us for 3 months without any frills. Dinner only, cos I only cook dinner.
With $100 I could visit my favourite Korean BBQ buffet 5 times at $20 each time.
Or I could eat 12-16 McDonald's meals at $6-$8 per meal.
$100 pays for around 25 months of my handphone bills.
But this same amount only pays for 4 months of my wife's handphone bills.
I couldn't even buy a bottle of Johnny Walker at a bar with $100.
But I could get 2 bottles at the DFS with $100.
Or I could get around 3 liters of beer (6 pints) at Paulaner.
Or old uncles like me could get around 15 bottles of 600ml beer at coffeeshops at under $7 each.
Or 2 cartons of Carlsberg/Tiger (48 x330ml cans) during Chinese New Year promotions.
I don't drink much anymore, this is just an example...
Some expensive whiskeys are auctioned off at OVER $100,000 per bottle.
Most of these are probably as collections and not to be drunk, but if we calculate it...
A standard bottle is 750ml so... 1 freaking milliliter is $133.
Or there's this article where a Chinese guy actually drank an expensive whiskey...
7,810 pounds (SGD14,163 @1.81) for a shot of whiskey.
1 shot is 44.36ml...
So this works out to be... SGD319.27 for 1 ml of this whiskey
Or $100 for 0.33ml... What the hell man!!!
(* EDIT: As Sinkie pointed out in the comments, the whiskey is a fake and the customer was refunded. Nonetheless, there was a willing buyer and willing seller. Meaning if the whiskey was real, he would have bought it anyway...
Not to mention... he also was unable to taste any difference in the fake whiskey, also meaning... it's all in the mind.)
Some people drink an expensive latte at Starbucks at $6.50, that's 15 cups.
Or there's a cheapo coffee of the day at Starbucks at $3.70, that's 27 cups.
YaKun coffee is $2.30, so... 43 cups.
Coffee shop coffee is around $1.20... 83 cups.
And how long does it take to earn $100?
Some folks earn $100 per hour.
Meaning they make $100 x8 hours per day x20 working days = $16,000 per month.
This is probably what a senior manager earns.
If you earn $3,000 per month. This amounts to $18.75 per hour, so it would take around 5 hours to earn $100.
Or someone who earns $7 per hour, the usual part time rate, would take 14 hours, which is 2 days of work.
China girls who come to Singapore to work as escorts charge $100 per hour.
Cleaners make around $800 to $1200 per month. That's around $5 per hour to $7.50 per hour.
So it would take around 20 hours to earn $100 for some cleaners.
Paper sells for $0.10 to $0.50 per kg depending on where you sell them.
So the old aunties collecting paper need around 400kg to make $100. (Assuming $0.25 per kg)
So... what is $100???
$100 could be so much or so little.
It could be a meal for a family for a month, or just less than a drop of liquid.
People would prostitute themselves for $100, or it might take days of work just to earn the same amount.
Other people might be able to earn this amount in just an hour or less.
So next time you sit down enjoying a $100 meal... remember...
There's someone who's working a lot harder to make this amount and be grateful that you are able to enjoy this meal without sacrificing as much.
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