Ordinary Gweilo

The letters published in the SCMP are a constant source of amusement to me.  Today they have come up with another gem:

Have the chief executive or financial secretary given any thought to the tremendous cost to taxpayers of a five-day working week being introduced for the civil service in Hong Kong?  The shorter working week will mean, for one thing, that the disciplined services – police, fire, customs, immigration, prisons and hospitals – will have to increase staff strength by about 20 per cent.

Present salaries are based on a six-day working week. If this is reduced to five days, will salaries be reduced accordingly?

J. FLEMING, Cheung Chau

I suppose they have the SCMP on Cheung Chau, so J Fleming would have been able to read the information published in that fine newspaper on this very subject. 

In which case he or she would know that civil servants have a 44 hour working week, made up of 5 weekdays (8 hours each) and 4 hours on Saturday morning (then, as we know, they all rush off to Shenzen to spend their hard-earned salary in Chinese shops and restaurants).  If their working working hours were being reduced from 44 to 40 that would be a 10% cut, but actually the plan is that they will still work 44 hours, but over 5 days rather than 6 days.  Simple enough, really.