A couple of things happened in the last two weeks…but 1 upsets me most…why are things around us getting more and more expensive but my pay is not rising???? My pay is not being compensated at all for the rise in fuel and rice. Ok given that we’re both not great rice eaters, so the price increase wouldn’t quite get to us…no I lied, we bought a couple of 5kg packets of rice from the Pottery Shop and GKs to stock up…in case doom and gloom does happen and the government will start to force us to eat ‘broken’ rice and water. So yeah, suddenly, we are rice aware, suddenly it became important for us to ‘stock’ up. So now, we’ve got a couple of packets in our cupboards. Hopefully, weasels won’t find its way in there.
Then fuel increased by 40%, I’m now paying $2.50 per liter. Last weekend, it costs me $150 to fill up, used to cost me around $90, and that’s already high considering that just beginning of last year I was paying around $70 for a full tank. And during this time, my pay hasn’t come up a cinch. On average, I’ll be spending $450 (more or less) of fuel just to get to work and back and do some of the things I normally do….grocery shopping, meals and bank.
I’ve lost an average of $60 for every fill. Oh wait, if you walk into a restaurant and ask for an additional bowl of rice, you get slapped at least $1.00 and a small bowl, it was I remembered 50 cents. For breakfast, T-c-peng and mee kolok has increased too, guess how much, to around 40% as well! So my breakfast has increased by 40%.
Lets take a look at my usual dinner meal of bread and cheese, at GK’s, mature cheddar costs $27-28 a block. And that will last us about 3-4 days max on strictly bread and cheese. It was….$12-15 a block. So that’s more then 100% increase…and my pay…>_< ???? nada. So dinner has increased by 100%!
(Ironically, driving across the border, I can get cheese at B6 = $15 ish.)
Lunch averages to about $15-18 each for a serving of chicken, char siew and duck mixed rice + 1 lemon teh peng. I once remembered $12 was a luxury.
Benefits seems to be eroding too, we used to have a clinic and a bank near by, now that’s gone. Sure, you could call it a luxury to have the company you work for actually have a clinic and bank especially for the staff, but it was a benefit, I signed up for it. Now, I have to drive at least 20-30 minutes away to get to the nearest one – on my time and my gas.
Great…so, what the action plan?
1. boycott work 100% or reduce work done by 40-60%
2. rob bank just enough to compensate for my 40-60% loss of income due to rising consumer prices and eroding employee benefits
3. hijack the van that delivers the $ to the atm in the foyer
4. drive to Brunei and fill in my fuel there and buy cartons of cheese and overflow the market with my favorite cheese at a much cheaper price
5. promote/encourage anorexia as a remedy for price-pay conflict
6. picket in front of management
Hmm… being evil requires a lot more effort…I think I’ll just go home and whine….
