How to shop as usual and save money...?

Almost everywhere in the globe face a 'not-so-favored' economic situation. One may ask, will this recession be a short -term dip or otherwise? McKinsey Global Consumer Sentiment Survey 2016 shown that average optimism level about the respondent's country economy is only around 25%. 26% is living paycheck to paycheck. A large number of people fear of losing their job in the next year.

However, life must go on. People will still need to spend to buy things, but how could people be able to survive on their current salary while prices of items fluctuating up and down, of which it goes up mostly? There are 5 attributes to probably help to save money.

Proactive search for savings

Change your buying behaviors. Pay more attention to prices while actively look for sales and promotions. You can always delay purchases to get the best deal. Some people (like my mom) used to window shopping at multiple stores to find the best deals. There are people who can read the mind of the retailers expecting sales on certain items.

Another best saving option is on food. Always buy raw material and cook at home. You can always estimate not to waste them. Perhaps, you can share leftovers with cats around you :)

Be loyal to a brand only when the price is right

The best thing out of sticking to a brand is, you can easily compare the price between outlets. It is not practical comparing an apple to an orange as items might differ in terms of weight, features & benefits. Try to dig the most benefit out of the things you want to buy.

I have my own ceiling price when buying diapers for my kids. I will always keep the diapers price lower than RM0.40. For example, a brand selling at RM29.90 with 78 pieces in it. You'll spend around RM0.38 per diapers. You can quickly decide on the purchase once you know the price.

Always have a calculator with you, or install calculator apps on your smartphone!

It is best to purchase when the brand is on sale or perhaps if you have the discount coupons. It is also good to purchase in small quantities. The price might go down further, yeah?

Opt to less expensive brands

The brand comes with a price. The market would usually observe branded items or even shares to be pricier. My kids love that blackcurrant drink they claimed to be full of vitamin C (I hope you know which brand I'm referring to). I have been reluctantly bought the biggest bottle every time it runs out at home (you know how much it was priced) until the retailer themselves came up with their own version, which tastes no differ from the original. Those priced less a few ringgits per bottle until I went to Pasar Tani and found 2 bottles of blackcurrant drink + raisins sold at RM25. Then it was even offered at RM20 for 2 bottles.

That will save me for the next 3-4 months?

In mature markets, mostly in Europe, consumers has been opting to retailer's packaged items for more savings. This includes laundry supplies, cleaning products and even bottled water. Living in Malaysia, you should have brought your own filtered and boiled clean water from home. It will save you a lot!

Reluctant - may be a factor for not trading down but it may be worth to try. After a number of frustrating experience, I myself traded down on a few brands and live with it . Once it gets right, I have never turned back. The cycle goes on and on and on and on.....

Shop across channels

Malaysians are so lucky to have various places/channels to shop. We have retail, wholesale, online, Pasar borong etc. The only thing we are lacking in Malaysia is discounted market but since we are having so many sales in a year, who cares?

When I was looking for kitchen apparatus a month back, I spent three to four days to shop around, visiting various shops physically, retailers and surfed a few online retailers as well. I ended up buying a discounted built-in oven from a shop in Puchong (it's new, not pre-loved), instead of paying its original price of RM2.5k, I paid less than RM1k. I bought the hob and hood, with the spec that I was looking for less than RM1.7k online, both from different sellers.

The same spec of hob would normally price at around RM1.2 - RM1.5k while the same spec of the hood would normally be priced at around RM1.8 - RM2k. I would have paid almost RM2.8k more. That's a lot of money for me. The tolls and petrol expenditure was below RM50 for those 3-4 days. Spend a little bit for more saving.

Buy things that you need ONLY

This is perhaps the last but most important attribute when you go shopping. For me, shopping is for grocery, home, and laundry supplies. It is also good if you have a smaller refrigerator as we tend to fill more if it is bigger. We end up throwing things off once those turned bad.

For some people, shopping is for clothes. It is good that you can review your closet at least once a month, or before you intend to shop for clothes. Many end up bought clothing to wear once and forever it stays in the closet after that.

These attributes are supposed to be easy to follow. You just need to look around you to begin.

Will Warren #Buffett's 'Midas' touch work on Yahoo?

Do you Yahoo? That probably not as awkward as 'I Yahooed the web and found this'. To find anything, people google it, never yahoo it. Yahoo has never able to turn itself into a verb, despite numerous campaign, it does sound awkward.

Yahoo was in trouble and perhaps managed to keep itself being in trouble by having Marissa Mayer as the CEO. Her actions in Yahoo were exactly what Carly Fiorina did with HP until she got fired by HP BOD. Yahoo BOD should have been able to 'smell' issues as Marissa was once demoted by Eric Schmidt when she was still in Google.

Looking at Yahoo's performance, it has a gross margin of more than 50% all the way from 2006 to date, and it even went over 70% in 2013 & 2014. It drops below 60% in 2015 and this year. Their per share income was the minus in 2015 and this year so far. 2015 onwards are definitely not a good year for Yahoo. Other than experiencing declining traffic on its search site, Yahoo is also facing the falling revenues of their full of security issues advertisements.

Known as 'The Man' at Berkshire-Hathaway, Warren Buffett was known to turning struggling organizations downside up. Other than over $200k working stock at the Berkshire-Hathaway, he did the same with Media General, Nevada Energy, and Kraft Heinz.

Buffett is helping to invest in Yahoo venture by offering Dan Gilbert to be a potential partner. Even though verified on CNBC, no one is sure if Buffett will be watching and consulting as needed. One would easily perceive that he has no operating designs on the company. No one is sure if he is doing the right thing with technology related companies. Would he still be the hands behind the door having significant says in Yahoo? How should Google be viewing this, or should Google be worried?

The 'Midas' has not always succeeded in his ventures. IBM for example, faced major losses within 5 years after Warren Buffet started to buy tons of their shares. Would this indicate that he has no understanding in IBM businesses? Would that intricate Yahoo in the same way? Not to mention, AMEX, Walmart and Wells Fargo (and of course IBM) shares lose billion of dollars in 2015. Does Yahoo fit into his value model to be exact? Is Buffett losing his 'Midas' touch perhaps?

There are other parties also interested in acquiring Yahoo. Perhaps Microsoft is no longer interested after it got rejected in 2008. Despite being huge and having a large client base, no one can get a good design of growth for Yahoo. Buffett would perhaps look into a change of management in order to revive Yahoo to survive.

Perhaps by focusing on niche products like Mail service, News and venturing into the stock market and especially e-Commerce through joint-venture with logistics companies like DHL, Yahoo would be able to redeem themselves out of their current situation, and most importantly, to enable people to exactly define 'What is Yahoo', easily.

On another note, acquisition of Tumblr was definitely a big mistake and should be reversed!

Quality Influences in Malaysian Construction Sector by P.E.S.T Factors

Political

As in the construction industry, political is the major influencing factor in defining the strategic management of quality of an organization. One of the factors is the governing policy. As in Malaysia, construction companies are required to register with Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). In order to be eligible to register, construction companies need to be legally registered and licensed with certain bodies. The CEO and the technical person shall also be registered to CIDB with a valid Construction Personnel Registration card. The technical person should also be accredited. This will ensure only knowledgeable people be allowed to operate the construction company to ensure quality service avoiding problems in the future. Malaysia has a strict labor force, thus companies take a great precaution in this area.

To be approved for registration, the company shall also be financially capable to continuously funding the project. This is important to ensure the project will be continuously worked on. Otherwise, problems in financial may cost delay in purchasing which later may increase the cost of materials + fines if applicable. This in return would cause quality to be dropped in balancing the cost with the initial announced payment from the buyer; unless the cost is voluntarily to be absorbed by the buyer. Failure to commit to all these requirements will result a revocation of the permit issued. In this case, the company will ensure all the requirements to be fulfilled through a systematic Quality control in the organization

Infrastructure provided by the government like the highways, railways will also impacting the construction industry. It is normal that housing or industry development to be built surrounding or near the infrastructure provided. Properties can be build but many it should be a practice that more than one developers to be allowed to build property in the new area. Developers would be able to strategise to meet the quality requirement of the other competitors in order not to left out while customers purchasing.

Economy

More and more countries were liberalizing the economy. Liberalization means reducing the governing regulations and restriction. In the recent changes effective from January 1^st, 2012, foreign suppliers with 100% foreign equity in the company, is allowed to operate in Malaysian construction industry. This change the scenario of the local suppliers of which suppliers will need to raise the quality of the product supplied and the service provided in order to compete with the foreign suppliers. This change was believed to be done as to introduce more construction supply in the market in the move to control the sky-high price.

Given a competitive scenario in the supply industry, as when supply is higher, the price is expected to be lower. Construction companies will have a wider choice of materials to choose from. This is an opportunity for the organization to implement a quality standard towards materials to be chosen.

Based on the current slow growth economic outlook globally, it is important that construction companies to take steps to reduce waste as to improve on gaining in the profit. In uncertain economic condition, it’s very hard to predict the expenditure capabilities of the public. In the economy where quality is expected, people would consider to buy quality products. Quality product would result less after sales issues. Most construction organizations were focusing on completing the job quick without considering the impact to the quality. After sales issue can only be avoided if construction organization properly ensures quality in the material, work and the process since the beginning of construction. Buyers won’t simply return to the developers for issues unless they have real issues. By ensuring quality, it’s not only saving the construction company’s time and money but it would also save a lot of buyer’s time and money in return; a win-win situation.

As customers were looking out for affordable properties with a good built quality, it is good that even with a strict regulations and restrictions implemented by the authority; it is an equal opportunity to qualified parties to get registered and accredited with CIDB and later to form a construction company to build properties. This healthy competitive situation will help to promote each competing parties in the industry to strengthen the quality control and tighten the quality implementation in their built product; in order to gain buyer’s trust and favor. In construction industry, customer loyalty may not be gained but new buyers would be gained through a good reputation and good words of mouth from the past buyers.

Majority property buyers would not cash in their money for house. As for most Malaysians, house acquired through loans from the financial institution. Thus it is important for the Governing authority to ensure the interest rate is balanced with the construction demands as when the interest rate is too high, public will tend to save their money rather than to purchase. In the uncertain economics with averagely high interest rates, developers were having issue to produce affordable-to-buy houses to the mass but capturing high end buyers true a high quality built house is still possible.

Social

Construction companies, especially in Malaysia had been related in many social responsibility issues involving environmental pollution and demolition. For most construction companies, the demolition of the environment is part of the financing activities. Take for example a hilly area with half forest and half open areas. The forest will definitely be cleared and logs will be sold to saw mills. Cleared hill will then be chopped down to become flat land in order to enable construction to be started. The soil of the chopped land will be sold to other parties too.

By complying with the governing regulation of the authority, these activities cannot be simply performed. Selling off logs would require logging license while selling soil would also require sand digging permits. It is important that when these construction companies were registered to the authorized bodies, once they broke the rules their license and permits to be revoked.

As to avoid the revocation, it is important for the construction companies to set procedures to handle such situations. As for trees, the company might want to log necessarily, leaving some of the originals of which properties can be built in between just to ensure part of environment originality remains. As for areas of which trees needs to be totally chopped down, a replacement scheme would be necessary. This should be a quality control built in within all construction organization to ensure continuity of environment care be prolonged.

As in for development that was going on the in the community area, perhaps, the developer has a set of procedures and rules to govern their work. Protective walls and controlled pollution in order to protect surrounding community is important. Proper safety, precautions and security personnel shall be deployed as a social responsibility towards surrounding community; as part of the quality control measures. Deploying these items would in return results less issues that may be raised from the surrounding community, which in turn leads to less cost to entertain such unwanted incidents if occurs.

Technology

Safety is the most important element in the construction industry. Safety culture is a topic attracting considerable attention in the literature recently. As it was immeasurable and reliably changed, it was hard for the management to decide as of which is right and not right.

Recent technology in recording had helped safety experts around the world to observe the safety inspections made at the building. This would enable inspections made not only once but multiple times by observing the images or videos provided during the physical appearance of the inspector at the location. Safety experts may quickly determine patterns which can be extrapolated in predicting future injuries and incidents. Visually recorded data plus the hand recorded data based on the checklist can be managed and compared, with filters applied based on data, including location, contractor and the inspector himself. These data then kept in the database for trending data comparison in order to find abnormalities. This could be a good quality control measure in safety aspects.

Contractor current and past data can also be used to track contractor’s performance, and observing the safety measures being observed in a time period. At risk contractors can easily be identified for precautions. Ability to track and trend subcontractors would also be easier as the information can be used for continuous improvement through feedbacks. Historical data can be a big help for pre-bid selection, of which poor performers can be eliminated from the beginning. This would contribute a good control in measuring contractor’s quality in preserving safety while delivering good quality of work.

References 

Authors, CIDB. "REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURE." CIDB Website. n.d. https://www.cidb.gov.my/cidbv3/images/pdf/RegistrationRequirementAndProcedure.pdf (accessed February 22, 2014).

Authors, Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry. "Construction Industry in Malaysia." Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry. n.d. http://www.malaysia.ahk.de/fileadmin/ahk_malaysia/Market_reports/The_Construction_Industry.pdf (accessed March 3, 2014).

Saleh, Mr. Shaifubahrim Mohd. "SEMINAR ON IBS AND MECHANISATION 2012:." Liberalisation and Transformation. September 19, 2012. http://www.mbam.org.my/mbam/doc/news/Paper%202.pdf (accessed March 2, 2014).

Usrey, Cary. Using Technology to Improve Safety on Construction Sites. February 1, 2011. http://ehstoday.com/training/using-technology-improve-3004 (accessed February 20, 2014).

What is Full Employment

Basically full employment is achieved when an unemployment rate reached 2%. Readings made through books and internet shows that some would define variable percentage of full employment. There were 0%, 1%, 3%, 4% and even up to 5%. In this context, we will use 2% as the benchmark for full employment rate.

This 2% is considering only people who are eligible to work, at certain age for instance from age 16-60, not inclusive of children. These 2% is actually including those who were just graduated from university, those who were in between jobs and those who are waiting to get into a new job. Malaysia is considered one of the countries with full employment besides Austria, China, Switzerland, Germany and Japan.

Full employment is highly influenced by factors of production being fully utilized in the country. One of the factors is the land & premise availability factor. Mentioning Malaysia as an example, initiating a business would require a premise and probably a land to start with. Considering Malaysia has a lot of new business parks or shop house lots being developed, it is considered that the offering of premises to start a business is very high. Land would also easy to be rented out.

Other factor would be rising of public construction work like building highways, parks, public buildings, transportation and internet infra using public funds. These are the medium where people can make use to create business or to find a job as these projects would create many jobs and it will continue to provide jobs through maintaining the infrastructure build as using these infra will definitely for some payment.

Government may also impose other policies like active labor market policies of which to protect both employers and employees. Tax policies for start-up companies will also help to boost new companies in order to generate more business thus creating more jobs for the people.

When most of the factors above exist, more and more business will grow, thus more jobs created. With supplest job in the market, people would easily get a job or switching jobs thus full employment rate is achieved.

How to create a positive email culture in an Organization

Organizations can create a smarter email culture by asking everyone to do their part to save time with email. Email can be a pain to some people, as the more they are, the more time you have to spend reading them through. Some people prioritize, give immediate attention or simply skip emails, according to the priorities of the email.

It would be a lot different to send an email. There are a lot considerations to be thought off before pressing the send button on your email client. Things like, who are the recipients, was this information useful for the recipients or this would be just another junk?

Not everyone uses email the same way we do. Different people have different perspectives, priorities, experience, job scope, interest and so on when it comes to managing email; this would include reading email and responding back. We should all agree that too much email can be wasting your time, same goes to email that is too long or too many information in it, would a waste of time for you to compose as other people would just had a glance through without picking up the real points you intended to the recipients.

The following would be some tips of getting the positive email culture in your organization, probably it can start off with YOU :)

1. Possibly refrain from sending email - Keep it human. Go talk to the intended person, either face to face or via a phone call. 
2. Keep your Distribution List (DL) updated - You need to get updated if the recipients in your DL really needs your email or otherwise. This should be done at least after a few cycles of sending out the email
3. Send only to relevant stakeholders - Some people would just click reply to all or put everyone in the CC list just to get them notified on issues. This would definitely create unnecessary email chain going on and on. By not doing this, you're ensuring only relevant people gets the info and probably CC you manager just to get him notified, or possibly as he/she requested
4. Compose a short and clear structured email - Write a clear subject of the message so your recipient would have a clear picture of the subject you're talking about. It would later be easier accessible from the archive if they need to find it back. Possibly write one issue per email as having multiple issue per email would result a branched email to many possible subjects later would result possible delay and confusion. It's proven that email with specific content is getting responded/resolved faster
5. Try to summarize - When there's an email chain, and it's going to be redirected to some new recipients, try getting it summarized, so it will eat some of your time but save a lot of others. Prioritize top 'Action Items' so people would be on the same page. This is helpful, especially for mobile users.
6. Check your Inbox in a smarter manner - After some times, you would be able to predict what kind of email to be coming in to your inbox. You may skip and prioritize based on the sender or subject. If you're a mobile user, you should be doing this from time to time so it will save you time on your desktop later
7. Structure your mailbox - You may create rules or automatically copy all your mailbox to another local folder. Accessing your email locally is normally faster and save a lot of time. Probably create folder named tasks or something. Be smart
8. Be a role model - Set a good example for others to follow. Once you're comfortable you may give other constructive feedback to help others in your organization practicing these best principles.

Hiring Decision :: Do it based on Big 5 Personality Traits

How does Big 5 personality framework affect a manager decision in hiring a subordinates. Big 5 traits had become a topic that was widely discussed in Organizational Behaviour or Management in Organization subject for years. Some would highly depend on it but some just took it as a steering guide without having to be steered exactly by the trait.

Let's have a look at the Big 5 Personality traits.

Extraversion

It is the level to indicate how outgoing or how shy a person is. Extroverts or high extraversion person have a tendency to seek a place and being comfortable in a social situation while seek stimulation within company of others. Introverts or low extraversion people tend to seem quiet, low-key, deliberate and shy away from social situation

Agreeableness

The level of how approachable and welcoming a person is. People with high degree of agreeableness have a tendency to be cooperative, compassionate and warm. People with low degree of agreeableness would normally suspicious and an antagonist towards others and always make an excuse not to be in a social situation

Conscientiousness

Person with high conscientiousness is a person with high self-discipline and rather approachable, very organized, very focus on achievement, never take responsibilities for granted, reliable, dependable and accountable. Person with low conscientiousness is disorganized, easily distracted, no discipline, not someone you can rely or account to and will always try to give excuses when assigned a task or responsibility iv.

Emotional stability

Also known as neuroticism (high emotional stability = low neuroticism). This is indicating how good a person may understand and manage stress level. People with high emotional stability tend to have high self esteem and self confidence. People with low emotional stability have the tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability while showing signs of nervousness, anxiety and insecurity 

Openness to experience

It is a magnitude that typify the level and range of interest or curiosity of a person towards creativity and a preference for novelty and variety. People who are very open to experience appreciate arts, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, very curious and may offer variety of experiences (creative). People who are less open to experience tend to be ‘old-school’ conventional type and prefer not to take risks of trying new things 

How these attributes might affect a manager’s own behaviour in dealing with subordinates?  By understanding Big 5 Personality Framework, a manager may find ways to deal with subordinates in many better ways.

A manager may have hired a subordinates based on the Big 5 Personality Framework attributes, based on the job scope or role of a position, or a manager may use this Big 5 Personality framework to assign a role or tasks to subordinates. A subordinate will be comfortable doing tasks assigned, based on their attributes and it may help a subordinate to perform in his tasks or roles. For example, to get a sales person or a Public Relation executive, a manager would want to hire someone who is high in Extraversion and Agreeableness trait as people from this trait were easy going, approachable and welcoming. By doing this, it will help a manager to appraise or evaluate subordinates as objectively as possible because it may impose significant effects in people progress, rewards and satisfaction level and may help locate the subordinates in a specific status socially, and this is much easier as people were doing job suits their traits,

A manager may also avoid perceptual distortion caused by stereotyping, halo effects, projection and self-fulfilling prophecy in understanding process of a subordinate. This will help to maintain good relationship with the subordinates while giving good impression of these subordinates to the higher levels. A manager may be seen as a manager who is successful in managing subordinates.

A manager may also learn subordinates uniqueness and respond differently to stimuli and subordinate request or retaliation based on the knowledge of the person attributes. Generally Big 5 Personality Framework will help a manager to find commonalities and differences between subordinates. This is useful when assigning tasks that requires group/team work effort. Unnecessary conflicts can be avoided in advance.

-Izham-

Japanese Manufacturing :: 3 defective parts per 10,000 have been separately manufactured....

This speaks a lot about the Japanese quality standards and also cultural misunderstandings.

They're still laughing about this at IBM. Apparently the computer giant decided to have some parts manufactured in Japan as a trial project. In the specifications, they set out that they will accept three defective parts per 10,000 .

When the delivery came in there was an accompanying letter. "We, Japanese people, had a hard time understanding North American business practices. But the three defective parts per 10,000 have been separately manufactured and have been included in the consignment. Hope this pleases you."

Sourcing - As in 12 Strategic Principles

Sourcing in the 12 principles means to Put the right sources in the right hands. ITS has always been employing the right people to perform tasks like complex problem solving, incident management and coordinated project implementation and execution, in a way that these people in ITS may carry out the best out of the tasks as desired by customers.

From a pool of subject experts, ITS management places them in an empowered position to execute daily tasks, even though resources may have been over-utilized due to so many reasons, we’ve almost never failed to serve the customers based on the SLA

Since sourcing is one of the major growth factors for most business giants in the market now, it is very important for line managers to start drafting a skill list of their subordinates now, as the company may require their services anytime. It is just like a platoon of soldiers selected from an army battalion and sent out for a critical rescue mission. Start identifying talents in your team now for what they are good at and get ready to groom them to serve the company

What does it take to be a boss

taken from an email sent by a friend this morning.
.
.
.

When the body was first made, all parts wanted to be the boss.
The brain said "Since I control everything and do all the
thinking, I should be the boss"

The hand said, "Since I must do all the work and earn all the
money to keep the rest of you going, I should be boss"

The eyes said "Since I must look out for you all and tell you
where the danger lurks, I should be the boss."

And so it went with the Heart, the ears, the feet, the lungs,
etc. Finally the A**hole spoke up and demanded to be the Boss.
All other parts laughed at the idea of the Asshole being Boss.
The A**hole was so enraged that he blocked himself off and
refused to function.

Soon the brain was feverish, the eyes crossed and ached, the feet
were too weak, the hands hung limply at the side, the Heart and
lungs struggled to keep going. All pleaded with the Brain to let
the A**hole be the boss.

And so it happened. All the other parts did all the work and the
A**hole just bossed around and passed out a lot of shit.

Moral: You don't need a brain to be the boss. It's the other thing :p

HOW SMART IS YOUR RIGHT FOOT ?

You have to try this please, it takes 2 seconds. I could not believe this!

This will confuse your mind and you will keep you trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't. It is pre-programmed in your brain!

1. While sitting in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.

I told you so! And there's nothing you can do about it. It well goes to the organization. While you're doing something right, the other part of the organization is doing something wrong, real hard!

Bloodstained surgical gloves in pillows?

As reported in China Press yesterday, a pillow which was bought at a promotional price of slightly over RM10.00 from a hypermarket was producing a fishy smell.

Suspecting it was caused by the buyer's child's urine on the pillow, it was later found that the pillow also had a lump.

Being more curious, she operated it and found a lot of recycled materials, includes a bloodstained surgical gloves!

Who is to be blamed actually; The Manufacturer or the Seller?

I'd like to quote my wife saying, "Price never lied".

I have always been comparing prices when buying things from the supermarkets. There are expensive supermarkets and there are actually cheaper supermarkets. I think you guys knew which is cheaper and which is more expensive.

I'm a regular user of Downy, the cloth softener. When it was first introduced, I find it very nice. The liquid was thick and a little consumption is enough.

After a while, I went to the hypermarket which advertise cheaper price for Downy and buy another bottle to top up my finished bottle at home.

When I opened it, how surprised I was to find the liquid was very thin, seems like it has been added with water or something else.

So I thought the manufacturer did that on purpose to attract customers at initial stage and sell lower quality product in the end, but when I went to the shop that I initially bought Downy with a slightly higher price, the quality as same as the first time I bought it.

I keep buying it from the shop which sells it slightly more expensive in price since then.

Not jumping into conclusion right here, but is there a possibility that these hypermarkets are able to sell a lot cheaper by reprocessing other manufacturer's product and try to make it cheaper by putting in something else into the product?

No wonder they can sell a lot cheaper!

Shay Day

This article was actually being forwarded to my email and the email sender asked me to actually forward it back to my friends. Instead, I'm just gonna post it here.

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Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never Be forgotten by all who attended.. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked,

'Do you think they'll let me play?'

I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said,

'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling,

'Shay, run to first!

'Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled,

'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

B y the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming,

'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted,

'Run to third! Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming,

'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day',

said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face,

'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

---

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.

MY QUESTION: WOULD YOU DO THE SAME TO THE PEOPLE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?

80% vs 20%

Nice article being forwarded by email from a friend. I just got it this morning. I hope piah zadora won't charge me guilty of plagiarism for putting this article online ha ha ha. Yeah, this is not mine but I do think it's worth 3 minutes of your time, so please please read....

Interesting quote from the movie 'Why did I get married?'
In most cases, especially in relationships, you will only get 80% of
what you NEED and you will hardly get the other 20% that you WANT in
your relationship. There is always another person (man or women) that
you will meet and that will offer you the other 20% which is lacking
in your relationship that you WANT And believe me, 20% looks really
good when you are not getting it at all in your current relationship.
But the problem is that you will always be tempted to leave that good
80% that you know you have, thinking that you will get something
better with the other 20% that you WANT
But as reality has proven, in most cases, you will always end up with
having the 20% that you WANT and loosing the 80% that you really NEED
and that you already had.
Be careful in deciding between what you WANT and NEED in your life.


Adultery happens when you start looking for what you don't have. 'Wow,
this girl in my office is a real looker. But it's not her Wynona Rider
features that got me. I'm crazy about her because she's also
understanding, intelligent, tender - so many things that my spouse is
not'

Somewhere along the way, you'll find a woman or a man who will be more
charming or sensitive. More alluring. More thoughtful. Richer. Have
greater sex appeal. And you will find a woman or man who will need you
and pursue you and go loco over you more than your spouse ever did.

Because no wife or husband is perfect. Because a spouse will only have
80% of what you're looking for. So adultery takes place when a husband
or wife looks for the missing 20%. Let's say your wife is melancholic
by nature.

You may find yourself drawn to the pretty clerk who has a cherry laugh
no matter what she says: 'I broke my arm yesterday, Hahahaha . . ..'

Or because your wife is a homebody in slippers and pajamas, smelling
of garlic and fish oil, you may fall for a fresh-smelling young sales
representative that visits your office in a sharp black blazer, high
heels, and a red pencil-cut skirt Or because your husband is the quiet
type, your heart may skip a beat when you meet an old college flame
who has the makings of a talk show host.

But wait! That's only 20% of what you don't have.

Don't throw away the 80% that you already have!

That's not all. Add to your spouse's 80% the 100% that represents all
the years that you have been with each other. The storms you have
weathered together. The unforgettable moments of sadness and joy as a
couple. The many adjustments you have made to love the other. The
wealth of memories that you've accumulated as lovers.

Adultery happens when you start looking for what you don't have.

But faithfulness happens when you start thanking God for what you
already have.

But I'm not just talking about marriage.

I'm talking about life!

About your jobs.
About your friends.
About your children.
About your lifestyles.

Are you like the economy airline passenger that perennially peeks
through the door of the first class cabin, obsessed with what he's
missing? 'They have got more leg room! Oh my, their food is served in
porcelain! Wow, their seats recline at an 80% angle and they've got
personal videos!'

I guarantee you'll be miserable for the entire trip! Don't live your
life like that. Forget about what the world says is first class. Do
you know that there are many first class passengers who are miserable
in first class -- because they are not riding in a private Lear Jet?

The main message???

If you start appreciating what you have right now, wherever you are,
you are first class!

Have a pleasant day .