Mario, the fisherman from Goa, sat on his boat, resting. Suddenly, Mr. Flip walked up to him and asked him how long he spent at sea, what he did after that, and other things.
“Well, me and my mates we go to sea for a few hours each night. Morning we come and our women folk take the fish to the market. We men sleep it out. Then, in the afternoon, we all get together and chat, laughing, dancing, or just being. Evening, we get home and it is time to set off again.
“Really? You could earn so much more!” Flip was visibly agitated.
“And then what would we do?”
“Well, you would get more money, build better houses, live more comfortably.”
“And then, what would we do?”
“You would get surplus money which you would save and invest in bonds, and all of you could get so rich! By putting just 4 more hours per day, you could increase your catch by 50%!”
“And then, what would we do?”
“As you earn more and put your money in bonds, that money will earn for you. Then you can sit back, chill, and relax.”
“What do you think I am doing now?” Mario chuckled and went right back to his nap.
The CEO of a large multinational company fell ill on a day when he had tickets to see a grand concert. As a gesture of kindness, he gave the tickets to the company’s Efficiency Expert to enjoy the concert with his wife.
Next morning, the CEO was surprised to find a report on his table, written by their Efficiency Expert and this is what it said:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for sending me to the concert last evening with my wife. My observations are as follows: The highlight of the evening was Schubert’s unfinished symphony. Although personally I think unfinished works should be disqualified, I did watch the performance and here are some, but not all, of the malfunctions I found:
The most obvious problem was that they had 22 violinists playing the exact same tune. Such reckless waste! I believe that at least 21 of them should be fired.
The drummer was doing nothing for long stretches of time. I would suggest he be put on a different clock, so we can keep an eye on him and only pay him when he actually does any work.
Many of the musical segments kept repeating themselves, and I fail to understand the point of having the flutes play the same segment as the Oboes. If we can cut down on these repetitions, we can finish the symphony in 20 minutes instead of 2 hours.
Regarding the equipment: I noticed a horrible lack of standardization when it comes to musical instruments, and especially when it comes to string instruments. I’ve seen small ones, big ones, one you hold under your chin and some you hold between your legs. I think that one size for all these instruments will save time, money and confusion, as well as make maintenance easier.
The conductor, the most senior employee, did not play as much as a single tune the entire concert, and showed a complete lack of respect to the customers, while standing with his back (his back!) to the audience. There were even a few times he was threatening his staff with a stick, which should never be allowed publicly. I would suspend him with no pay until we can get to the bottom of this. Psychological counselling may be advised.
To summarize: I am quite sure that if Mr. Schubert had avoided these issues, he would have managed to finish his work, instead of leaving us with an unfinished symphony!
