The way the world works is that we pay for goods and services, even if the job takes as quick as five minutes.
If that’s the case, how should the costs be justified?
A Singaporean man recently reflected on this after paying S$100 to have his choked toilet bowl unclogged.
Source: Matthew Zachary Liu on Facebook
Despite gawking at the price at first, he rationalised that the price was acceptable as consumers pay for the time, experience, skills and solutions of people who are good at what they do.
His thoughts and experience evidently resonated with many others, as the post has garnered over 1,200 shares.
According to Matthew Zachary Liu’s Facebook post on 28 Oct, he was having a tough time trying to fix his choked toilet bowl.
He tried all sorts of ways after searching for viable solutions on Google, no matter how bizarre they sounded:
Matthew told MS News that he even used the bidet to spray into the toilet bowl at full blast but to no avail.
He also attempted to dismantle the whole toilet bowl. At this rate, he was convinced he would end up flooding his toilet or breaking his ‘throne’.
Finally, he decided it was time to seek professional help.
Soon after, a plumber came. In Matthew’s words, he “used his tools, poked the hole five times, flushed twice”, and the problem was solved in five minutes.
When he saw the bill, it was S$100. And he said he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Source: Matthew Zachary Liu on Facebook
He reflected on how the world worked and said, “That’s how it is.”
We can spend time learning from our own mistakes or Google, or we can hire experts to solve the problems for us. But it’s always going to come at a price.
Matthew said that be it a plumber, photographer, or doctor, they are good at their jobs and deserve to charge the amount they see fit.
That’s because we’re not only paying for their time — we are also paying them a premium because they have the experience and skill to solve our problems.
If they can do it in five minutes, it’s because they are damn good at what they do. That’s valuable.
Matthew has a point. It is easy to lament higher costs due to inflation in today’s society.
However, we mustn’t forget that workers and service providers also face rising costs for the required tools, on top of the time it took for them to hone their skills.
Otherwise, they may not be well-equipped to solve our problems or serve us satisfactorily.
While some charges are necessary and unavoidable, it also pays to be a smart consumer and put your foot down when you’re overcharged without proper explanation.
For instance, this restaurant customer found out he was billed S$91 for kai lan vegetables and demanded an explanation from the staff.
What are your thoughts on Matthew’s point of view? Feel free to share them with us in our Facebook comments or email us.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Matthew Zachary Liu on Facebook.
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