Friday 2 April 2010

That’s what I call a high-income economy

There was this department secretary in the division that I worked in when I was seconded to London 2 years ago. She was the person who booked my service apartment, arranged my transport from the airport, arranged my workstation in the office, books meeting rooms when there is a need for one, arranged my farewell lunch, things like that.

She was the department secretary… apparently the lowest paid person in the division.

During that period, her birthday happened on one of the weekend. Being a nice and all, I went to wish her a very Happy Birthday and asked her how she celebrated her birthday. Her reply was…

“Oh, I flew to Vegas over the weekend for my birthday”

How many department secretaries in Malaysia can fly to say… Singapore over the weekend for a holiday?

There was this guy whom I worked with when I was there. We are of the same grade in the organisation, i.e. same ranking based on internal hierarchy.

When I was there… he bought himself an Audit R8.

In the last 2 years, we have rose in rank and file. As of to-date, I think we are of the same internal grade, or maybe I am even 1 grade higher than him.

News came to me 2 days ago that he is going to upgrade to a Ferrari. No, I can't afford a R8, probably only the wheels.

Now, that’s what I call a high-income economy. And this is NOT an April Fool Joke.

Don’t be depressed cause at that time, I was
made to feel like shite too. Enjoy the weekend!


1 year ago…
Will you call?

2 years ago…
The prank that went wrongA toilet encounter

24 comments:

Birthie said...

There's a saying in Chinese, "thung sing em thung meng". Guess a lot of us can really relate to this.

Oh by the way, there's an extra "t" at the Audi.

Sabrina Tan said...

well cars in most other countries are cheaper than in malaysia.. dollar per dollar comparison..
a decent BMW or Merc is only about 50k to 100k...
in Malaysia the price is double that.. dollar per dollar...

whoalse said...

Audit R8? I know there's an Audi R8 and another R8 version with V10 engine similar to the Lambo...Look for it in Iron Man 2...! *wink*

Likewise, I would only be able to afford a much cheaper car if I still live and work in Pg. GTI rocks...!

Loving my GTI Pirelli limited edition even more now after driving the rented Swift while in NZ south island! lol

Have a good easter

Pinknpurplelizard said...

UK exchange rates are superior to US. So I can believe its easily done. It's like Singaporeans coming to Msia just for the weekend. It's common.

Those cars that we deem expensive here are actually much cheaper in Europe. Why? Look at the darn government's AP system and the tax incurred on imported cars.

But there are also ppl who are living beyond their means by taking loans and incurring credit card debt.

I think you could afford more than just the wheels of the R8. LOL

blackjack said...

you're too modest, only the R8 wheels? come on...!

InjusticeSistem said...

Ur an a-hole with a capital A.
Just bcos som1 made u feel like shite 2 yrs ago, now u hv to mk all of us feel like shite too....hahahahhahaha

2012 end of da world is coming. Swipe ur credit card to da max. Low low downpayment tk da beemer out 1st....within 1 yr da world collapse no need pay anything watttt.....so come on...enjoy...don feel so shitty

missironic said...

Damn! Some people have all the luck? Hahaha...

C said...

Hate you...Love you..Hate you...aih~ Love you still...Not sure if I should hate you or love you for making us consistently feeling depressed and to acknowledge how "shhhieatttt" our lives are

To make things worse...i'm in the midst of doing e-filing (earn peanut yet still kena tax)

Anonymous said...

r u driving a proton then? then, had it not been to proton, many low-income malaiseans today would not have their own cars. go ask the deputy finance minister...

TG said...

For some people few thousand USD or Euros are pocket money. Sometimes they show on German TV, how rich people splurge money in St. Tropez, Monaco, Milano, Paris... they're teenagers, drive Bentley's, come to a club with a limo, order a mega bottle of Champagne for few thousand Euros and party all days. Their fathers are CEOs who earn millions. I think it's perverted. But then, it seems it's more sociably accepted than poverty. People look away from poverty, but when they see rich people, they look interested. Yep, it's a crazy world.

deus X machina said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
deus X machina said...

i like Audi
because Audi is one of M.U's sponsor
hehehe

Anonymous said...

Hebrews 13:5

eiling lim said...

Wow an Audi R8 (u spelled Audit). Our cars are too freaking expensive and our incomes are freaking low. But at least I can say that at an executive level, I can fly to singapore for a weekend. Lol.. (err.. better than nothing?)

sinlady said...

cost of leisure, home and cars are just high in our countries. add to that, it's what different people will pay for different things...

Unicorn Girl said...

Overworked and underpaid ??? What else can one ask for from this ' bolehland ' country ???

ZACL said...

The grass is not always greener on the other side Zewt.

The departmental secretary in London has access to many low cost flight options, and if you plan well ahead, say for a birthday which you know will come, the weekend break is a viable possibility for any person who has a steady income and no major responsibilities.

You also have to remember, that you were comparing apparent low pay, from, I would guess, a pretty high base line in your office.

Personally, I would not want to cope with the time zone changes that fast.

As for the Ferrari guy, maybe his job was not his only source of income; or he spent all his income on expensive toys and did not have much else to show for his labours...who can tell.

This looks like the politics of envy, the influence of the green-eyed monster.

zewt said...

Birthmark - yeah... and lazy to change it :P

pavlova - and in malaysia, protons are of worse quality but at a premium price.

whoalse - GTi, of cos it's a good ride :P

pinknpurplelizard - well, we are just falling behind in the economic scale... thanks to?

blackjack - hehe... okay lah, plus the steering.

zewt said...

InjusticeSistem - i like being that a-hole that you mentioned :P

missironic - no, we just push ours hard enough.

Chloe Teah - i just done mine...shite, i paid so much!

anon @ 2/4 5.19pm - that's really a shitty statement. but then again, we dont expect anything better.

MKL - indeed. it's human nature to look for the better, for the rich... and neglect those who really need attention. that's where God comes in.

fufu said...

hahaha cannot compare like this la... imagine those in the third world ok? hahaha as long as we are living the life happily :) but we are all human beings after all... we tend to compare, jealous, complain, etc

zewt said...

deus X machina - really? sure or not?

anon @ 3/4 10.40am - what does it say?

eiling lim - you are enjoying life ler... definitely high flyer :)

sinlady - well, in my country, it's worse. no worries, i am going to join u in your country :)

Unicorn Girl - nothing much indeed.

ZACL - indeed, perhaps that dept secretary has planned ahead. a cheap flight to vegas from london, that's certainly very appealing. as for ferrari guy, well... i cant comment more. we will never reach there.

zewt said...

fufu - the problem is... we are heading there if we are not careful. not comparing, but our PM say we wanna be high income economy mah... so i just blog along :P

Anonymous said...

i totally agree with you and felt the same way. we can compare to the tiny island down south. dollar to dollar comparison, they can afford go vacation in the US coz x-change rate is only 1.5x. not much sweat. For Msians to do that, it wud take a quarter of yr annual salary. wtf.
sigh. Sekian, salam 1Msia.

i-dont-want-to-be-a-malaysian a.k.a Brenda

zewt said...

brenda - well, if you cant beat them... join them :)