Food Courts and Agents (Property, and then some)

A friend from Germany recently visited me and asked me how he could try all sorts of local delights in one sitting. Cheap (for obvious reasons, considering the financial turmoil of the EU). Instantly, I thought of food courts. We have Kopitiam, Food Republic, Food Junction... the list goes on.

Food courts are usually operated by a third party who brings together various local stallholders creating a mish-mash menu of local food variety on a single platform. Many even have their own cash card and reward points system. They are like an agent, or middleman, so to speak. Just imagine if you had to try all the char kuay teow, rojak, yong tau foo, chai tow kueh, satay, bee hoon goreng, roti prata, tau suan in one sitting. It would have probably taken you one whole day across the island.

Actually, mankind survived eons ago without such agents or "in-betweeners".

Today, we rely on agents all the time.

Buy/sell houses - property agents
Send letter - postal agent
Daily newspaper - news agent
Get milk - milkman
Send money - money transfer agent
Get insured - insurance agent
Get a (new) job - recruitment agent!

... and then some.

Question then: Why do we pay extra for all these?

Imagine a world without agents. On a typical day, this happens.

07:30-08:00 - Wake up, walk over to the convenience store to get milk.

08:00-08:30 - Wash up and breakfast.

08:30-09:00 - Prepare letter and get dressed for work.

09:00-10:00 - Commute to office from Bedok to Jurong and drop by IRAS to hand deliver (remember, no postal agent) letter. And oh boy, I'm already late for work!

11:00 - In a meeting but not paying attention. I need to plan for the next days' schedule - obviously - as I do everything MYSELF! (Oh man, I just asked the boss to repeat his question TWICE!)

13:00-14:30 - Sneak out during lunch to handle house viewing myself. Because my house is in Bedok and office in Jurong, the to and fro commute and viewing already ate into my work time!

15:00 - Get big scolding by boss for coming in late and having super long lunch. :(

16:00-16:45 - Sneak out during tea break to attend interview for new job. Realised only after that it was a waste of time as the job description had little detail and they did not mention they really wanted a MBA holder!

16:50 - Called into boss office again and given warning letter. "Come in late, super long lunch, can still go for long tea break!?" :( :(

17:00 - Feeling sorry and miserable. 8~(

18:00 - Knock off time, and I need to visit Western Union to send money to my retired parents in Australia. Really tired and zero energy. Maybe another day. They are sure to call me and scream.

18:30 - Just realised I have not visited the insurer to discuss my medical coverage extension... :( :( :(

19:00 - Sitting at home completely dazed. Hungry but no mood to make dinner. Knocked out on the sofa from sheer exhaustion.

Now I know why we need agents.

For the uninitiated, it's because as typical Singaporeans, we like to pack as much as we can into a single day. Hey, we even use 'agents' (foreign domestic help) to take care of our children! What else can't we accomplish?