For several weeks, I have wanted to write on the fastest growing and most popular game in Barbados today. It is not cricket, soccer or basketball. Sorry Suki King and Mr. Denny, but it is neither Draughts nor Chess. The most widely played game in Barbados today is not squash, badminton, tennis or hockey. As for the sports of kings, horse racing and polo do not come close.
If you wish to discover the most widely played game in Barbados, and incidentally, I believe it is also the highest paid-for game as well, you must visit most offices, government or private, between 8 a.m and 4 30 pm Monday to Friday.
If you miss it then, you can visit any hotel front desk on the south or west coast, anytime there are no check ins or check outs. This game is the highest paid-for because it is played by thousands, during and in place of what should be their paid-for job.
The boss hires a person to perform a particular task, for which he or she was trained or educated, and thousands such persons, on a daily basis, cast that paid-for job aside and opt to join others around the island in playing, simultaneously, what must now be the most widely played game in the country.
Interestingly, you do not need a whole team to play this game. Indeed, you do not even need a partner or an opponent. You simply need the computer that the boss gave you to do his or her work, and you direct the mouse to “Games”. You then scroll across to Solitaire and there, you have pounced on the most widely played game in Barbados!
Workers, from trainee to supervisor and even manager, are guilty of playing this game all day and night long, once the boss or immediate supervisor is not in view. Hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries and wages are shelled out each week, month and year to persons who take pride in playing Solitaire all day long. By now, I am sure, Barbados has the best Solitaire players in the world. And the most bizarre feature of this game in Barbados is that we have dubbed it “Patience”, because some of us spend almost the entire working day trying to “get out” a single game.
The playing of Solitaire/Patience is what I wanted to write about this week. I wanted to pass judgment on the practice and appeal to employees to give employers a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. But my focus has been somewhat distracted by the deafening silence of some influential voices in society in respect of two developing issues.
I am accused by some readers of offering the opposition too much well meaning advice. One writer even said it appeared that I wanted to guide the labour party back to victory. But that is not the case at all! I am a keen student of politics and therefore I am constantly trying to get into the head of political leaders to ponder on how I, were I in their position, would act.
Take for example the evolving controversy surrounding the summary dismissal of Mr. Harry Husbands from the Barbados Employers Confederation. Were I the Leader of the Opposition, for example, I would want to ask a lot of questions. First, I would agree with Mr. Dennis Clarke of the NUPW that this is a dangerous message being sent. Then I would want to pressure the BEC President, Mr. Ian Gooding-Edghill, into speaking out on this issue.
As Leader of the Opposition, I would publicly demand of Mr. Gooding-Edghill an explanation and a rationale behind such a firing. I would say to Mr. Gooding-Edghill, that that is not how we do business in Barbados. I would even go as far as to warn that such acts would not be sanctioned or tolerated under a re-elected BLP administration. For this, I know, I would receive public acknowledgment and support.
Also, as Leader of the Opposition, I would zoom in on the emerging controversy involving certain expenditures at the City of Bridgetown Credit Union. I would publicly demand of the President, in particular, a public explanation of the very serious allegations that have been levelled against the Board of Directors. I would ask Ms. Lynette Holder to practice openness and transparency. Indeed, I would go as far as to demand that the relevant regulatory agency step in and investigate the serious allegations that have been made.
Just as I would have done with the Clico President, in relation to the plight of his 40, 000 policyholders, I would demand of Ms. Holder that she give a public account of what has been going on in COB, so that the minds of some 80 000 depositors could be put at rest. If when I said it publicly, Ms. Holder did not respond, I would roll over and whisper quietly to her that greater accountability is required.
As a Leader of the Opposition, there is no way that I would allow Mr. Gooding-Edghill and Ms. Lynette Holder to remain silent on these two very serious and emerging issues. But, I am not a Leader of the Opposition and I therefore cannot begin to understand why such “juicy issues” would be shunned and effectively swept under the carpet.
In the case of the Prime Minister the charge was that he was going easy on a friend. Someone must now tell me why isn’t Mr. Gooding-Edghill of the BEC and Ms. Holder of the COB being pressured into publicly shedding light on these two potentially thorny issues. There must be something that persons such as myself do not know.
It is inconsistencies such as these that foster apathy and cynicism in society. No wonder so many persons have resigned themselves to stepping back from the frontline and playing Solitaire, sorry, Patience, all day long. This is a sad, sorry situation.
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