Strike

Met my friend L during weekend. For obvious reasons our conversation turned to the recent strike, or, strictly speaking, attempt to strike.

"What do you think of that?" I asked.

"Alas! The basic problem is rather simple," he returned a distant smile, "If you expand the service and there is no corresponding increase in manpower, the system would be difficult to sustain - not to say there is now a deficit in our head count to start with."

I nodded.

"And, to go one step further, there is no point to beat around the bush and say the resource is coming; money would not solve the problem, for no one could turn cash into flesh-and-blood working hands - unless you are Hades and using the underworld bank notes (溪錢)!"

I chuckled, dare not pointing out that my friend had mistaken the old Chinese story of turning peas into soldiers (撒豆成兵) by Jiang Ziya (姜尚). In fact, I hallucinated I heard my friend murmuring about the subcontractor and various hidden agenda of different people.

After a long and uncomfortable silence, I asked, "Since Hades is sitting at the other side of the negotiation table, what should people on earth do?"