One day in the summer vacation, my mum and I went shopping together. She wanted to buy a pair of sandals for me.

At a footwear store she asked me to pick a pair I liked. I looked around and decided on a pair pretty soon. When I asked her to pay, Mum did not take out her purse right away. Instead, she started to bargain aggressively with the saleswoman. A bargaining connoisseur, Mother was savouring every minute of it. After haggling for what seemed like ages, she was finally offered a 15% discount. It took such a long time, however, that she might be late for work. I reminded Mum that she should clock in by 4.

By the time we left the store, it was already 3.53. 7 minutes was far from enough to cover the distance by public transport between the store and her factory. Instead of taking a bus as usual, she hailed a taxi. Still, she failed to make it on time in the end. Following their rule, the boss punished her by deducting 50 yuan from her wages.

Upon reflection, Mother was so funny. On the one hand, she tried to save by bringing the price down at the shop. On the other, she ended up losing more because of the taxi ride and because she was late for work.

Was it worth it?