MY FIRST MONEY WOUND 💸
I made real money for the first time in 8th grade. I was mad for manga and so were half of my classmates.
In front of our school gate, there was a shop selling manga merchandise. Everyday kids like me drooled over those keychains, badges, and pins.
One day, I had a brilliant idea: why not try to make those keychains myself?
I went to an internet shop, browsed Yahoo images (yes, Yahoo) for artworks of the hottest manga characters, and saved them in my dad’s floppy-disk (yes, floppy-disk).
I had them colored-printed, and then ran to the old uncle who had a “laminating shop” - one rusty machine on the back of his 200-year-old bicycle - to laminate those pictures for cheap.
With my dad’s 2-hole mini puncher, I punched holes to attach keychains on them.
Tada! My products were complete.
The next day, I showed up in class with a dozen of those keychains. I sold everything in one morning.
The following days, my keychains were sold out again. Soon enough, kids from other classes started to hand me their pocket money. Lo and behold, my business had expanded!
One afternoon, I sat in the back of the class with my red kitten wallet, counting money. I had a “boyfriend” at the time and he was sitting next to me. I turned to him beaming:
“Look, how much money I made!”
He did not smile.
Instead, he gave me, my money, and my red kitten wallet a cold look. He grunted:
“Money, money! Now you always think about money! What a girl you are!”
I went silent. I was shocked and then I was ashamed. What he said confused me.
“Maybe I’m really becoming bad…” I wondered.
I stopped making keychains after that.
Now, looking back I think:
“Dude, what a dumb thing to say. You could’ve had chè with me for free, every day after school!”
At the same time, I wonder:
“He was a young boy! What must have he heard from other people to have such a negative view about women making money?!”
Until now, this story and its cultural implications still surprise me.
This is one of the stories that later shaped the way I felt towards money.
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