Tipping Vidyasagar

A friend sent me this:

[12/1, 23:07] Susmita Sivasankaran Pal: *Charity wrapped in Dignity!!!!*

She asked him, "How much are you selling the eggs for?"

The old seller replied to her, "Rs.5/- for one egg, Madam."

She said to him, "I will take 6 eggs for Rs.25/- or I will leave."

The old seller replied, "Come take them at the price you want... May be this is a good beginning because I have not been able sell to anyone today."

She took it and walked away with a feeling that she has won. She got into her fancy car and went to pick her friend, and invited her to a posh restaurant.

She and her friend sat down and ordered what they liked. They ate a little and left a lot of what they ordered.

Then she went to pay the bill. The bill was Rs.1,400/-. She gave him Rs. 1,500/- and said to the owner of the restaurant: "Keep the change."

This incident may seem quite normal to the owner of the restaurant. But it is very painful for the poor egg seller.

The bottom line is:

_*Why do we always show that we have the power when we buy from the needy and the poor? And why are we generous with those who do not need our generosity ?*_

Every time a poor child comes to me to sell something simple, I remember a tweet from the son of a rich man who said, "After every prayer my father used to buy simple goods from poor people at expensive prices, even though he did not need them. Sometimes he used to pay more for them. I used to get concerned by this act and I asked him about it. Then my father told me: " *It is a charity wrapped with dignity, my son.*"

Compare these two stories of social hypocrisy.

The first one is disappointing and the second one is inspiring...!

My takeaway from the 1st story:

We Love to practice our negotiating skills which we do with "low end" people. In a high end store, not negotiating and instead being dignified (big tip) is an expectation. Extrapolating this.. If we maintain a consistent image of being high end we end up being treated better than if we maintain an image of a "Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar".