Computer Fair at Convention Centre

I went to the Computer Fair on the very last day held at the Convention & Exhibition Centre, Wanchai, on the spur of the moment. I took the cross harbour tunnel bus there. By the time I reached the main entrance, it was already 3:00 p. m. The Fair was going to end by 6:00 p.m. but I could see a lot of people still moving up the escalators to enter the halls.

As expected, the hall was fully packed with people, and I could hardly get the chance to move closer to any stall there. Judging from past experience, even if I did manage to come any nearer to a stall, I knew the merchandise displayed there would be disappointingly unattractive.

As I wandered around, I saw a counter with few people in front of the desks. It was a stall selling printers. On one of the display samples was attached a price tag in bold letters: HK$599. It's a B/W home office laser printer. The original RSP was HK$899. I was tempted, and I asked the sales lady there whether the price was truly what it said for that particular model.

"Yeah," said she. "But we just run out of stock now."
"How about this last model? " I asked. "Is it for sale as well?"
"Oh, you don't have to buy this display model," she promptly reassured me. "We've got brand new ones coming. My peers are just going to pick up fresh stock from the storeroom. Come back in an hour's time."


"In an hour's time?" I looked at my watch. It was almost 3:50 p.m. Anyway, since it was pointless to linger there, I walked away and continued with my window- (or strictly speaking, distance-) shopping.

So I drifted along the fully packed aisles, almost to the point of coming to a standstill as I was being pushed by people from all directions at the same time. Then I found myself pushed in front of a stall where the same brand of laser printers as the previous stall's was on sale. Only this time, the price tag showed HK$499.

I couldn't believe my eyes. So I asked the sales staff there,"Is this printer selling for HK$499?"

"Yes," said the salesman. "But it's own pick-up price. If you wanna home delivery, an extra HK$100 applies."

I looked at the outer box. It was about 2' x 1.5' x 2', quite sturdy a carton box. I tried the weight. It was manageable. But to carry this outer box and cut through the crowd would dictate the determination and the prowess no less than Moses' in splitting the Red Sea.

"Do you accept credit cards?" I probed, since I had no planned purchase at all I did not come fully loaded, half-heartedly expecting a negative response.

"Sure," answered the salesman gleefully. "For just one or two items, I'll waive any surcharge this time provided it's a Visa or MasterCard."

So up I gave my last line of defence and ended up with a buying spree just within a duration slightly shorter than an hour.

When I came home and began to think about all my unbudgetted purchases, I thought I'd vote for the GST now more than ever. A hefty GST would surely salvage me from such financial havoc!