The Real Recession!
(M. Furqan Khan, Karachi)
What is Recession.
This story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Burgers and Kabbabs
by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He was hard of
hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never
watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of Burgers and Shami
Kababs.
He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his sales. His
sales and profit went up. He ordered morea more raw material and Buns and Kababs
and sold more and more. He recruited more supporting staff to server more
customers. He started offereing home deliveries. Eventually he got himself a
bigger and better stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently
graduated from college (probably from IBA or LUMS) joined his father.
All at sudden something strange happened in the World, which is known as
Recession.
The son asked "Baba are not you aware of the great recession and depression that
is coming our way?. The father replied "Na Baita Kya Howa. The son said "The
International situation is terrible. The domestic situation and Political-cum-Adlia
Bahal Tehreeks are even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times"
The man thought that since his son had been to College, read the papers,
listened to the radio and watched TV. He ought to know and his advice should not
be taken lightly. So the next day onwards, the father cut down his raw material
order and Bun, took down the color signboard, removed all the special schemes he
was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic. He reduced his
staff strenght by giving layoffs. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to
stop at his Shop. And his sales started coming down rapidly and so did the
profit. The father said to his son "Son, you were right, We are in the middle of
a recession and crisis. I am glade you warned me ahead of time."
The message of the story "It is all in your mind, if the father kept working the
way he had been doing since long, his business would not have been affected the
way his son did".