Friday, March 20, 2009

When do you know Hong Kong has been hit by recession?

A randon observation-



  • House rents have FALLEN down (but not crashed)
  • The shopping mall in Times Square is empty (and deserted by HK standards) on weekends nowadays
  • People are no longer queuing outside Louis Vouitton to window shop
  • I call up my salon and get an appointment for the same day (surprise)
  • Outlets like Wanko are offering 70 per cent discount almost two months after CNY ( quality of clothes though is bad)
  • Pacific Coffee in IFC looks deserted during lunch
  • Getting into the Metro at 8:15 am has become easier (debatable)
  • A female colleague showed no interest in ‘only HKD 10,000’ hand bag (I made this up but women in HK are known for their thriftiness)
  • A roundtrip from Hong Kong to India costs less than HKD 4,000/person (Jet airways is allowing an extra 10 kilo of luggage says a friend)

From the ladies community…

  • Travel agents offer you packages at prices which stun u... too good to be true? Only time will tell!
  • Less work in office & can leave at 6 pm
  • People are interested in buying property to take advantage of the CRASHED real estate market!
  • People visiting our firm to find ways on securing or safe guarding whats left than investing!
  • Hiring is frozen, layoff big time and existing employees are overloaded with work
    Receptionists and secretaries are fired and 2 floors of office space are crammed into one
  • Sometimes when my shop is not packed with ppl even on week ends (Rachna owns a Subway outlet in TST)
  • Parents are defaulting big time paying the school fees and eventually having less children per class
  • Can check and reply to emails, unlimited browsing on the net, chat with friends both online and over the phone and much more that too at WORK can u believe that... Business has almost come to a stand still
  • Jan 2008: You call Dimpy (the lunchwala) at 10 am for a lunch to be delivered and he says, "boss if you need lunch, please call me before 9.30am." Jan 2009: Dimpy calls you at 10.30 am, saying "Sir, aaj lunch bhej doon ?"

No comments: