A "saving" style that is worth criticizing

(Baonghean) - Our collective housing area has quite a lot of current officials. For a long time, on the 2 days off on the weekend, we often gathered together to chat animatedly. But for nearly a month now, something strange has happened. Even Friday afternoons are deserted. I thought there was some kind of campaign this time, so many agencies had to mobilize officials to work on the day off. One Saturday morning, I met X, who works at agency M, riding home quite early on his motorbike, carrying a rather large plastic bag on the back of his motorbike. Since we were close, I asked my friend:

- Does your office have any urgent projects that have been so busy these past few weeks?

- What kind of construction project is this? Don't you see that the electricity and water in our area are unstable? I'll go to the office to play a few games of football and then turn on the air conditioner to sleep. I'll finish my work and collect all the family's clothes for the week to wash at the office. It's also a way to save on electricity and water bills for the family.

Seeing that I seemed to be listening attentively, X told me very clearly about the "saving" style of the guys on the same floor. It turned out that at the office, electricity, water, and telephone were used freely. In this hot weather, with electricity and water fluctuating, many people ate their meals in a hurry, drove to the office to do laundry, and turned on the air conditioner to sleep. With two days off, the room was empty, so they did laundry, made phone calls, played sports, and ordered "free" lunch boxes. Afraid that I wouldn't believe them, M asserted:

- Just take a walk around the offices on these hot days and you'll see. There are few offices without lights. They're all "saving" people.

Listening to X tell the story so carefreely, happily, and proudly as a "saving" initiative, I felt sad. It turned out that they only calculated the cost for their house, but the electricity, water, and office phone were fine, as long as they did not have to pay out of pocket. This phenomenon is not an isolated case. I hope that agencies will soon rectify this to both prevent corrupting officials and save public funds.

Nhi Thanh