6 months plus ago I had my first encounter of ‘beggar’ asking me for duit bunga (money) right in front of my house porch. What a scary experience that was!
Last Sunday afternoon, we had a Chinese man walking into our porch asking for money. Our house is currently under renovation and we don’t have a gate outside you see. So anyone can walk into our porch. He was standing right in front of our ‘inside’ house gate for a very long time, smoking a cigarette and talking in Hokkien.
At first we didn’t realize there was someone outside. Dad was at the living room watching TV and everyone was at the back. Chester was barking but I didn’t bother about it. He sometimes bark at passerby, neighbor’s car, etc. But his barking went on and on so I went outside and check.
I thought the man was looking for my dad so I called dad but once we heard him talking about ‘fa chai’ or something like that we knew he’s asking for money. Quickly I dragged Chester to the back of the house. Dad walked away. I told everyone at the back and we quickly stand beyond this man’s sight.
He waited and waited and waited. And we hid and hid and hid. Finally he’s gone.
Then this morning, two Indian guys in a motorcycle came to our house. One of them came to the ‘inside’ house gate and requested to see the boss. Behind our locked wooden door we told him the boss is not here. Then they were gone. They came back in the afternoon just now according to my grandma.
Do they think we’re loaded because we renovate our house? Of course that is the impression always. Most people have to save money for decades before they have enough to renovate their houses. Hard work!
I don’t think this is the end of them, surely they will come back or maybe another beggar will come asking for money. Just hope we don’t bump into them outside.
Any suggestion what we should do in case we run into them face to face? For me I think we shall ignore them and walk towards a neighbor’s house. Don’t open our house gate. Who knows they will follow us in.
16 Comments
Save here cheh-cheh! My family saved for 2 decades and a few years ago spent around 25k to renovate our house. π
my god! these people are crazy. i think if u ever see them, make a detour to other roads. just don’t let them tail gate u or something.
Tekkaus, yup exactly. My parents saved up for many years.
Xin, hopefully we can have the new gate fixed asap. Aiyoo
Wow! Your house is a magnet for all these “beggars”! Maybe you need to “feng shui” your house so that it becomes invisible to them. haha!
PS: I’m not joking here. I heard this from Lillian Too – buy one of her stuffs & place in your house and the robbers will not see your house as if your house is inside an invisible shield! But that’s for robbers/thieves – not sure about beggars though : )
Wow, these ppl have really thick skin. Make sure Chester is always around and when he barks let him bark at them. That’s what I do when ppl walk up to the front door, ring the doorbell and starts solicitating even tho we have a sign saying “No solicitating”. The boys will normally bark till they walk away.
Foongpc, I think any houses under renovation will be magnets for beggars. I didn’t know feng shui can do that. It’s more to like witch magic. Haha
Dawn, problem is I fear they will do something bad at Chester. So I keep him away from the front door. Over worry again. Haha
be very careful yea? now that times are bad, people are getting more desperate for money…
let chester to da job to shoo them away! haha
Hedo, yes dear. Luckily they’ve put up a temporary gate outside.
Annant, when visitors come to our house the first thing they ask is will your dog bite me? hahaha
For me, I will just ignore them le…
Which area do you live? Seems a lot of beggars in your area.. π
Normally they come on sunday where no workers are working. So, one way to have some ‘bodyguards’ or security guards in your home is to ask the Indonesian workers to work on Sunday as well or work 24 hrs! π
Worst come to worst, report to police and lodge a case!
Keeyit, yes I will ignore.
Cecil Lee, I think every places is the same. No renovation also people come asking for money. Our place is an old neighborhood. The workers renovating our home is Chinese so I don’t think they wanna work on Sunday. π Plus I don’t think police can help much. The Indians that came twice asking for money… well it was on a weekday. They came when the Chinese workers were renovating our home.
This is terrible! Ask to get your main gate done first. Do not ever give any money to them cause they will come back to ask for more!
Jam, right now they install a temporary gate for us. They can put the new gate as the floor tiling is not done yet. Will blog more about it in the next post.
Invite them in for a cuppa tea? Hahahaha π
Neo, u invite them to your house better. Hehehe