SGQR At Hawker

In the picture, the customer is paying the hawker by scanning an SGQR code with their phone. The code is displayed on a small stand at the front of the stall, and the customer is holding up their phone to it while the hawker waits. What I also noticed is that the hawker is elderly and is watching the customer's phone rather than a payment terminal, so he may be relying on the customer to show him that the payment went through.

I helped my grandmother set up the app to check her bank balance on her phone. The hardest part was not the app itself but remembering the password, because she had written it in a notebook in a way that even she could not read. We changed it to something she could remember and I wrote the steps on a card for her to keep in her purse. She still calls me sometimes when the screen looks different, and I do not mind at all.

I feel it makes life easier for some and harder for others. For elderly people who are comfortable with phones, it means not handling coins and not worrying about being short-changed. However, for those who did not grow up with technology, it can be stressful, especially when a stall stops accepting cash altogether, and some worry about pressing the wrong button and losing their money. That is why I believe both options should stay available, and why younger people helping their elders is such a useful thing to do.