P.I. For the Day - Reflections.

So i stood for 25 minutes, could have stood for longer - and counted 101 bags. No, i did not make the figure up even though it looks really nice and...made up. I did count 101. And i could have counted more had i stayed longer - but i am really sorry, people, i really have like, a crapload of homework i know i should have done eons ago but haven't done. But 25 minutes - isn't too bad, huh?(:

And so for the aspiring investigator, here's what i learnt from my one day stint as miss private eye:
1) Choose a persona, anything. So long as it doesn't make you look suspiciously like an Anti-bread terrorist or some secret agent from sweet secrets, or something. I chose for myself someone really annoyed and angsty about having to wait for friend/boyfriend/whatever.
2) Then stand in a corner and watch. Doesn't have to be all that inconspicuous - if it is, it probably means that the counter with the bags is likewise invisible. Just make sure you aren't in the way, aren't obstructing the flow and aren't standing too awkwardly in the middle of nowhere.
3) Watch. And count. But never look like you're counting, never strain your eyes look real nonchalant about it like - oh i'm waiting for my idiotic friend, see, see, i am even glaring at my watch periodically and angsting at his lateness but oh in the meanitme i shall stone at the bread and customers. And so you get to see the bags, but nobody knows you're counting or even thinking
4) Hold a handphone. Waiting friends always hold handphones because they're ever ready to launch a gigantic tirade past the fifteen minute mark. But more because handphones are good for recording the number of bags. I can't count past 4 if the whatever i am counting comes at irregular, longish intervals- can you?
5) Always have an excuse at hand - just in case. Although if you have to resort to this step, it probably means your crap at spying. Mine was made up on the spot - some typical girlfriend nonsense about counting the number of bags given out in the interval my evil boyfriend takes to come. The prissy salespeople will probably sympathise, see. Also, i think everyone knows not to throw out The Angsting Girlfriend. Hell hath known no wrath like a woman's fury, see. Or something. Whatever. The point is, it works.
6) Be nice - buy a bread when you're done. It's morally right - you immoral imbecile. For the services rendered - unwittingly or not. And anyway, Breadtalk has good bread, seriously. Also, if you have enough guts, you could smalltalk that guy and very casually make some phoney comment about oooh how there is so much human traffic and - say, how many bags do they give out a day, man?
7) I suppose you could be even nicer and not ask for plastic bag while you're at it.

And so yes. It works. So for those who havent completed their task...why haven't you?! And use this method. (: Remember, i only left after twentyfive minutes because i had homework. (:

And yes, the number if 101. And i was at Ctiylink. Which was probably why, my guise worked. Because it was so near the MRT station.

Lesson of the day: Their banana danish is reeeeally good! (: