There is a rumor circulating among government employees about a Php15,000 cash gift/incentive bonus from the national government this Christmas.
Everybody who works for the government is, of course, thrilled! A Php15,000 on top of the 13th month pay is no peanuts! This rumored unexpected windfall has set off many to a window-shopping spree!
For this kind of rumor, the walls not only have ears and eyes but wings as well!
Among those would-be recipient of this rumored windfall is my sister-in-law Ellen. In fact, she went beyond being thrilled about this unexpected bonus. She has already spent the money in a thousand way!
First, she ordered items from those really tantalizing brochures with pictures of models saying, no, shouting wordlessly ” buy me, buy, buy me!!! Then she planned to go on some trip. Finally, she decided to take out a loan to buy a digital camera. In her words – she needed to buy the camera now and not wait for the rumored cash gift because it may not be on sale by then. It’s the most abused excuse for impulse buying the world over!
When she asked my opinion about the type of digicam to get I told her that for general picturing taking purposes something in the vicinity of Php5,000 would be okey. But no, her eyes were glued to the models in the Php10,000 price range!
What would happen if this rumored windfall does not materialize? Disaster! Loud and clear!
