Good Timing

Just two days ago, Tharman was taking great pains to educate/persuade/advise workers not to demand higher wages, but rather asked them to work smarter to earn more money. This is to prevent a so-called wage-price spiral (higher wages, higher business costs, hence higher prices and so on...).

Then yesterday, the Ministry of Transport declared: bus fares are going up. Period.

I guess those policy-making people in the ministry and the public transport companies are smart people, and to resort to increasing fares means they must have reached the peak level of productivity already. How can you drive the bus or MRT any smarter than they already are, right?

But we workers, we can work smarter. The hawker can fry kway teow with two woks and toss them with both hands simultaneously. We double the productivity, we earn more.

The foot masseur can also sell insurance policies while performing foot reflexology on clients. As the clients grimace in pain, the masseur can say:" You want to buy or not? I will stop pressing on this spot as soon as you sign." The chances of success should be very high. Not only can he collect massage fees, he can also earn commissions.

We can all work smarter to counter inflation. Who cares if bus fares rise or not.

I certainly don't. Apparently, the fares become cheaper if I transfer buses. The more I transfer, the less I have to pay, so if I believe if I make enough transfers, I won't need to pay at all! That's smart.