Digicel, time, Csec, and Bolt

Egerton Chang

My last column titled 'Health risks, penis size, and Digicel', published Sunday, August 4, 2013, which highlighted the difficulties I encountered in trying to convert from a Digicel postpaid plan to a prepaid one, was initially scheduled to be published July 21. Because of this delay, I had submitted a post-script on Digicel. This was unfortunately not published.

PS. As this column was originally scheduled to be published Sunday, July 21, 2013, the fact is that, after more than a dozen more calls to Digicel, my prepaid service was finally activated on Monday afternoon July 22. The $200 credit that I had bought and entered was not on it, however. The $200 was finally credited by Digicel (after a few more calls) on July 24 at around 4 p.m. It took them exactly two full weeks to complete the conversion from postpaid to prepaid.

In the few days of usage, it would seem as if my decision to convert from postpaid to prepaid was, indeed, correct. While I used to pay $8,000-$9,000 a month on the postpaid service, I am now using under $175/day, or approximately $5,000/mth maximum on my prepaid service. With Digicel's generous and varied bonuses to their prepaid users, it is hard to imagine that it will go any higher.

In fact, since that time, I have been able to utilise a number of Digicel's prepaid goodies to bring down my effective cost to $3,000-$4,000 per month (plus GCT), savings of more than 50 per cent. So demonstrable are my savings that my wife, who is now on a Digicel postpaid plan, has actually started the process of converting to a prepaid plan.

It must be said that everyone's pattern of cellphone usage is different and so the potential reduction will differ. Nevertheless, I am convinced that there will be a noticeable decrease in her cellular costs.

On the same Sunday of publication, Digicel had communicated with me via email. Shelly-Ann Harris, Digicel's senior communications manager, subsequently called me. She was most professional and stated that they had investigated my case. As a result, she had called to apologise for the frustration and loss of time experienced by me. Consequently, she said, they had instituted certain measures, internally, to ensure it does not recur.

How do you spend your day?

Twenty-three per cent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a few weeks ago in its 2012 survey. Among workers aged 25 and over, those with a bachelor's degree or higher were more likely to work at home than were persons with less education. Thirty-eight per cent of those with a bachelor's degree or higher performed some work at home on days worked compared with five per cent of those with less than a high-school diploma.

Here are some selected results:

Working (by Employed Persons) in 2012

Employed persons worked an average of 7.7 hours on the days they worked. More hours were worked, on average, on weekdays than on weekend days - 8.0 hours compared with 5.7 hours.

On the days they worked, employed men worked 55 minutes more than employed women. This difference partly reflects women's greater likelihood of working part-time. However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked longer than women - 8.5 hours compared with 7.9 hours.

Household Activities in 2012

On an average day, 82 per cent of women and 65 per cent of men spent some time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.

On the days they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.6 hours on such activities, while men spent 2.0 hours.

On an average day, 20 per cent of men did housework - such as cleaning or doing laundry - compared with 48 per cent of women. Thirty-nine per cent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 65 per cent of women.

Leisure Activities in 2012

On an average day, nearly everyone aged 15 and over (96 per cent) engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socialising, or exercising. Of those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time on these activities (6.0 hours) than did women (5.2 hours).

Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), accounting for about half of leisure time, on average, for those aged 15 and over.

Men were more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any given day - 22 per cent compared with 17 per cent.

On the days that they participated, men also spent more time in these activities than did women - 1.9 hours compared with 1.4 hours.

Care of Household Children (by Adults in Households with Children) 2008-12

Adults living in households with children under age six spent an average of 2.0 hours per day providing primary childcare to household children. Adults living in households where the youngest child was between the ages of 6 and 17 spent less than half as much time providing primary childcare to household children - 47 minutes per day. Primary childcare is childcare that is done as a main activity, such as physical care of children and reading to or talking with children.

On an average day, among adults living in households with children under age six, women spent 1.1 hours providing physical care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household children; by contrast, men spent 26 minutes providing physical care.

How do we, Jamaicans, spend our average day? I suspect it might be significantly dissimilar under some of the headings.

CSEC/CXC

The number of passes and their calibre in the just-announced CSEC results has got me thinking about these relative to the results in my days. If I could be taken as an example, these results would have been a huge improvement on when I did GCE O'Levels in 1966. You see, I only passed four GCE subjects. One distinction, two credits and one pass. Nowadays, a few students are getting distinctions in twice the number of subjects than I even attempted.

Could it be explained by the degree of difficulty of the test then versus now? I doubt whether that would be the answer (or even part of the answer).

Regardless, students must take heart in that with just those four passes, with single-mindedness and an unwavering eye on the goal, I went on to UWI to achieve double first-class honours in physics and chemistry. Incidentally, I didn't even sit physics or chemistry at O'Levels in fifth form. I sat a hybrid called physics/chemistry.

So, the good news is that, for the determined and focused student, the best is ahead of you.

Congrats to all the successful students.

Legendary Bolt

As expected, His Imperial Legend, Usain Bolt, won the 100 metres men's finals while, not so expectedly, by some, Queen Shelly-Ann won the women's equivalent.

We have got so accustomed to success by our athletes that while watching the semi-finals at Spartan that Sunday with a few fellow gym-goers, it was like ho-hum to the achievement of four Jamaican men reaching the finals, and then placing first, third, fourth and fifth.

By the way, I have a side bet that Shelly-Ann will three-peat in the Olympic 100 metres, thus achieving what no other woman has ever done. Believe it or not, I think that is as certain a bet as Usain accomplishing this same feat. I firmly believe that Mrs Fraser-Pryce is on the cusp of legendary status. Then we would have to address her as Her Imperial Legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Note: At the time of submission of this column, neither 200m finals had been contested as yet.

Chicken back shortage

It is reported that Minister Roger Clarke said that instead of complaining about the shortage of that important 'staple', chicken back, we Jamaicans should substitute it with oxtail, mutton and beef, among other meats.

CVM TV reported on August 9 that the shortage of chicken back is, in fact, worsening. It said that its news team "visited three of the leading wholesales in downtown Kingston to compare the prices of the alternatives Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke suggested to chicken back. The cheapest prices we discovered showed that most of the meats he mentioned were at least $200 more per pound than chicken back. While chicken back costs as low as $68 per pound, mutton goes for $265, beef could cost you $260, while oxtail fetches at least $430."

"But for some customers, it's the minister's utterance about the alternatives which has them most troubled. According to these individuals, Minister Clarke's comments are an indication of the disconnect between the nation's leaders and most of the people they represent."

Disconnect indeed.

Egerton Chang is a businessman. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and e_rider69@hotmail.com.