The cost of cheap labor....................

Over the years my apparel at home has been shorts and a sweat shirt. While this might sit well on a twenty something, it has begun to look rather unseemly now. ( or so I have been told )To get over this, I made my way, one evening, recently to a rather upmarket mall on the Bannerghatta Road, here in Bengaluru, to buy a 'night suit'.
My upbeat mood soon turned sour as I was spun from one counter to the next. I faithfully, toured Jockey, Levis, Tommy Hilfiger and even Adidas.........finally losing my cool when directed to the ladies lingerie section, by a bumbling sales person who was evidently poorly trained & probably even more poorly paid.
The floor, Asst.Manager, an MBA, after a flurry of activity, told me that night suits were out of stock, for the moment, but I could return later. I was beaten and retreated, with my tail between my legs, swearing never to return.
The point is, many of us seem, to confuse the labor rate and the cost of labor. Many establishments home in on cheap labor rater try to figure out the cost of that labor.Cheap labor with poor productivity, is in essence, costlier, than skilled labor who can deliver, at what is seemingly a higher labor rate.
Who would you have had to head the committee for the Common Wealth Games, at Delhi ? A career politician, or, a professional who on the face of it appears costly? I guess, in retrospect, that is a no brainer......

As saying goes, don't mistake, motion and progress........and for the moment, I press on with the shorts!