Christmas Piggies

This season I've noticed that there are plastic piggybanks in every store, corner, or really by anyone in a job related to serving a customer:

Photo by Ciro Duran

People are essentially asking for donations, or bonuses, mainly for Christmas and New Years festivities (aka partying and getting drunk). The piggy bank thing is a long standing tradition, but I feel it has become more prominent in recent years. It used to be by the side and some (not all) stores had it, but now everyone has one, and people go out of the way to ask for a donation. Even the guy who takes your parking stub as you exit a shopping center (because the machine that takes the ticket doesn't work or people don't know how to use it) asks you to give them some spare change for the piggy. Keep in mind that this is has nothing to do with their employer, but more for a personal benefit.

Some say that the "revolutionary" government has basically broken people into expecting that someone else will take care of them or that begging for money without doing anything productive is a fine thing to do. Sadly for most people here working a bit hard never seemed to be a thing, anyway, though in a way you can't blame people for not getting paid well. It's unfortunately that the money is all wasted for two parties instead of being saved up and invested in more necessary things, though!