| We live in DB too. Yes, we do refill her octopus card for transport. Whilst we have a golf cart, she doesn't drive so can't use it. We live in Crestmont, so it would be unreasonable of us to expect her to carry groceries and my unco-operative 2 year old up the hill. She also does school drop-off and pick-ups for my 5 year old, activities like ballet, multisport panda junction, and first friends for both girls, playdates, etc. She uses the buses and hire car a lot. I have never bought her a ferry ticket. She only goes into town for us for Panda Junction once a week and she can use cash or her octopus.
I've never heard of the rorts re octopuses. Overall, if you trust helpers with your precious children, they have to be the sort of person you'd trust with other things. Having said that, I'm an accountant and hopefully not too foolish with money. I have a reasonable idea how much things cost and I'd notice if the float was empty too quickly. No, I wouldn't notice HK$50 here and there, but I think I would notice if I was paying other people's grocery bills ! I never check the receipts to the nearest cent but I do give them a quick reasonableness check before replacing the float - ie just quickly add them up in my head, takes 2 seconds.  |