Girls and our dirty little secrets

Image courtesy: http://favim.com/image/179964/

Here is a guide on girls, for girls, from a girl. Okay, not a guide per se. Every girl thinks she has a dirty little secret, or a couple of them, trust me girl, you're not alone. Here are a couple of them. Ladies, I'm just going to state them!

1. The online friend- We all have at least one online friend. We all love online chatting since it offers the security of anonymity. All that unburdening on a faceless and most probably fake named stranger.. wow! Seriously, why is that a secret? You have an online friend, fine! Mind you, it is mostly of the opposite sex. What!? There's nothing wrong in it!

2. Shaving- Lets face it, hair removal, tedious! I wish I were born without any body hair, except bunch on my head, my eyebrows and eye lashes! And mind you, if I am wearing capris, I'm only going to shave the part that is exposed. So, going top to bottom, it'll mostly be forest and desert! Also, when given an option between a cute sleeveless top and a cute top with sleeves, I'm going to go for the one with the sleeves unless I'm in a perky mood.

3. Ms. Confident- Yeah, yeah, you envy Miss Confident.. yes, you do! We all do. Damn it, how is she able to carry herself with such poise? Damn it, how does is she so sure of herself? Are you kidding me? Behind all that confident facade is just another insecure freak. We all have insecurities, life ain't anything without them! What do you have to live for!? :-o

4. The girl who is a friend- All of you girls who have boy friends or husbands or even a crush on a girl, and when they even talk to another girl, you have hot rage building up inside you. Blinding jealousy. To the point of insanity. Okay, the guys may say, she is just a girl who is a friend. But, that is not what is going on in our heads. According to us, she is out there to get you, our competitor in life. And mind you, even my girlfriends will hate that bitch! And if we are the "girl who is a friend", my nice side goes "come on girl, he doesn't want me.. he wants you!" and my bitchy alter ego goes "hahahahaaha" \m/

5. Guys are idiots- We all think that. Most of the time. Only thing, the tone in which we think it differs. At times it is a loving "Guys are such idiots!" and at times it is "You idiot!" in all are righteous glory. And mind you, right we are.

6. Christian Grey- We have all read 50 shades. If not the whole book, characters like me have read the wikipedia entry of 50 shades (and a couple of steamy scenes :-| *I'm not ashamed!*) and find Christian Grey insanely hot. Yes, characters like me may even say that they find the bondage lifestyle un-feminist and blah blah blah, it is still hot, to an extent when you guys take charge. You know, nowadays guys just aren't "man!".. they're "guys" or the more appropriate "boys".. you know, like "boys will be boys!" I'm not looking for a school boy, lady!

7. We fart- You know, being born and brought up in an almost conservative TamBrahm family, ever since I have been a child, I have been told not to fart, especially in front of others. All this and my male cousins and dad used to fart away to glory. When I questioned this, my mum used to say, you're a girl, you're not supposed to fart in front of others. Well, that has stayed with me and being a "grown up", realization dawned that fating is seriously embarrassing. But, we fart when we are alone. Not a care in the world!

8. Time taken to dress up- Why do you think it takes us time to get dressed? I'm not even talking about getting dressed for a party or some outing or even work. Lets just say, it is a Sunday, we have taken a shower and are dressing up, that is, to stay indoors. You know, pajamas and a comfy t-shirt. How the hell can that take time? Well, there lies the secret? What? You think you guys know it? No, you don't. Girls, lets not be shy, they deserve to know. We don't take time moisturizing and or do any beauty crap. We take time because we like to look at ourselves in the mirror, wearing a "towel dress", striking various poses and dance away. You think that's it? No, we like to determine how we look in bikinis as well. I'm not talking more than that!

9. Underarms- Come on, ladies. 99% of us hate our underarms. We do. We can have beautiful skin texture and that sultry Indian brown colour and have dark patches for underarms. I know, right, eugh! Think about living with it. You guys have it just so easy even showing off your "fasal".. eugh! Yes, we all hate our underarms, have tried various methods, found nothing worked (if you are about to try something, let me save you the trouble, it won't) and now it is time we accept the fact and move on.

10. Ogling at women- No, I'm not talking about you guys. Us, girls. We stare at beautiful women too. And the worst part, the subject of the stare feels proud and we embarrassed. Come on, man, you see a beautiful creature walk past you, the perfect face, the perfect smile, the perfect body, how the fuck can you not stare? And mind you, that does not make us homosexuals or bisexuals for that matter. We are just appreciating beauty! (All you homosexuals and bisexuals, more power to you!)

*Mind you, the above has been written from a plain Jane point of view. If you don't fall in that category, *cough* great!!*

Have I missed anything? Lets have them in the comments section!

Favour requested!

So, what's wrong with our country?

Just a couple of articles from TOI 24.07.13

 

Comments are most welcome!!

We Indians are like this only!

I wanted to watch a funny video on "Indians- we are like that only" and found this beautiful, funny video by Sheetal Goel! Do check it out. I know that you will enjoy it.


Comments are most welcome!!

The Perfect Road Trip

"Goaaaaaaaaa.... woot woot!"

Yes, finally, a well deserved holiday. Life is really stressful for all us future chartered accountants you know. I mean, we are 21 and all, and still, life sucks. Yes, it does. You hate what you do, you hate the firm where you work, you hate your peers for being competitive during the exam, you hate your seniors because they are snooty that they cleared, you hate the admin people at your workplace since you don't get full reimbursement of your expenses, you hate your clients (however big they maybe) since they don't give a rat's ass about you considering you are the junior and all and you hate your own office since it is small and dingy and finally, you hate your boss for being unrelenting, irritating and for giving you a bitchy hard time! Can I be more rantful (Is that even a word?) And, office picnics, seriously, are a real pain in the rear end. You end up meeting exactly all those people you loath! So, what did we do instead? By we, I mean us "juniors" without them "seniors" (hmph!), we planned a super secret road trip (secret from the office) to Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Woot woot! And what fun! Alcohol, beach, hot guys with the perfectly chiseled bodies and us girls in shorts (without parents' approval, duh!), oh boy!

So, everything was arranged. Contribution for the trip was gathered from all, our accommodation booked and our Mahindra Xylo ready! Mumbai to Goa, needless to say, amazing roads, beautiful view, excellent company and the feel of the free wind in our hair (literally). Our route was Mumbai- Lonavala- Pune- Khandala- Kolhapur- Belgaum- Goa! We decided that just driving through all these places will not be enough. I mean, they are the 'it' places to be visited across Maharashtra and Konkan, just how can we give it a miss? So, our plan was a stop over for two or less days in each place. Winter is just the best time of the year for a road trip like this, I tell you.

We left Mumbai on Day 1 and left for Lonavala. It took us two hours to reach Loanvala and after checking in, we set out to explore the place! The next day, by noon, we were leaving for Pune. We had only two things on our mind at Lonavala- visit the Bhaja caves and the Wax museum, modelled on London's Tussaud Museum. Before we left for Pune on Day 2, we went to the wax museum after a night's complete rest (this is how holidays are supposed to be!) and it was, to say the least, amazing! We arrived at Pune by lunch time and settled in at our hotel and ordered a sumptuous brunch (we were really hungry!) Since Pune is a big city and all and there are quite a few places to explore, we decided to just go for nature's beauty. First thing on the itinerary, a trek to Parvati Hill Temple, a beautiful and picturesque trek through Parvati Hill. After the tiring trek, we headed back to our hotel, had whatever our tummies would take and crashed. Day 3, we went to Saras Baug, enjoyed the view, lazed around and headed to Khandala.

View from Bhaja Caves

The road trip to Khandala was simply marvellous. Stunning Maharashtra, people! Go MH, I would say! It took us nearly an hour and a half (again) to reach Khandala. We arrived by lunch, checked in and had our lunch. After that, we headed to Amrutanjan point and had a wonderful view of the entire valley. While returning we went to a small restaurant serving Gujarati food (yummy, yummy, yummy!) named Chandralok and it was indeed great! We headed back to our hotel. On Day 4, after having our breakfast, we headed to Kolhapur which was a little more than 4 hours away by road. On arrival, check in and after our lunch, we went to Rankala lake and then went to the Jyotiba Temple. One afternoon well spent! We headed back to our hotel, lounged around and settled in for the night.

Rankala Lake

Day 5, we decided we needed to explore Kolhapur just a little more. We visited the Town Hall Museum, the Mahalakshmi Temple, the Kaneri Math and Panhala Fort. The Fort took away much of our energy and we headed back to our hotel. Day 6, enter Karnataka! We left early the next day, since Belgaum had much to offer for hungry cum lazy tourists like us! After a two hour drive, we checked in and headed to Belgaum Fort. After a not-so-appetizing lunch (i was really disappointed!) at a small tapri, we went to the Belgaum Cantonment Area and Swami Vivekanand Smarak. On Day 6, spent entirely at Belgaum, we explored Jamboti, Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, the Siddheshwar Temple and called it a day.

 

Panhala Fort

Day 7, our final leg of the "journey", Belgaum to Goa, a three hour drive away. It was delayed by two hours since most of the group needed time out to check out how their virtual life is going (namely, trip spoiler- facebook, twitter and many more). We headed to Goa from Belgaum and happen to pass a fish market. Dear Lord, that made us all shut the windows and switch on the A/C. Don't get me wrong, we have nothing against fish or sea food or non-vegetarians, we just aren't used to the odour! Add to that Pooja's stinky wet socks (eugh!) We just couldn't take it anymore. We switched on the A/C and Karan plugged in the AmbiPur vent clip. The label read New Zealand Spring. Ah, now that was fragrance! The trip progressed smoothly and we ended up having so much fun! A fifteen day trip couldn't have been any better.

Do Visit https://www.facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia

Murder of the Queen's language Part II

Here are a few more gems:

Harmonical imbalance- This colleague of mine is getting married by the end of this month. You know how girls are. If they're getting married, they get laser surgery done for their eyes, they get some kind of treatment doe for their skin, some crap for their skin, go on a diet (more on that later) and start exercising like crazy to lose all that fat that has accumulated over the past 24-25 years of their life (seriously?) Anyway, this girl is no different. While she was speaking to this other colleague of mine, she kept harping on how she was naturally skinny and how the drugs given by her doctor for the facial pimples had led to Harmonical Imbalance in her body and had caused her to put on weight. Yes, you read it right. Harmonical imbalance. Ah, harmonically imbalanced hormonal imbalance, who would have thought?

Getting numerous testis done- Yeah, I know. Don't squirm, allow me to explain! So, the girl I was talking about just above, who wants to undergo laser surgery and some treatment for her skin had and still has to undergo numerous testis. Tests pronounced with an added "I".. selfishness is bad.. in many ways!

Saying anyways, any which ways, no ways- Kill me. Now. I know you youngsters just love your lingo. Hey, I am one among you. But, what I hate is the use of the previously mentioned words. WHY? How about just "anyway", "any which way", "no way"? You really need an Oxford English Dictionary. Get one. Go through it. Please. For me and the future of the English language. And for your English paper.

Interchanging "then" and "than"- If I prepare this report, will we than finalize it? Okay! Lets do it than! Other then that do we have any work? No? Lets go jump into the well! Go get your English right rather than just your looks and then talk! I don't know how to explain the correct usage, just Google.

I didn't knew that- Who knew? You didn't knew? Oh well, I didn't know either! I'm not even going to try to explain this one.

I read it in the paper (TOI 18.07.13) and it read that Brits have started using the term "wicked" instead of a heartfelt "thank you". Wicked? Wicked? Wicked? So, my boyfriend gives me flowers and I go "Wicked!" Ditto for a birthday card, good luck card, congratulations card, wedding anniversary card, Mother's day card, Father's day card, Children's day card and, is there an end to this, really? Dear Lord, would you say "wicked" instead of "thank you" if someone offered you their condolences? Ugh! Imagine me paying the taxi wala the fare and giving him a "wicked!" instead of a "thank you!" .. what the F!

Comments are most welcome!!

Murder of the Queen's language

Hullo!

Yes, a "Hullo" is just the beginning. Whatever happened to good old "Hello!"; pronunciation wise. As for writing it, why do people say "Hallo!". I don't get it. The Queen doesn't get it. Good Lord, do you even get it!?

In this post, I will go on about all the English-language-related crimes committed by people in my office. Seriously, who else can be the butt of my jokes?

Written English:

"I request you to kindly revert back"- Why? First of all, allow me to say, the usage of "revert" itself is wrong. What, you think I'm wrong? Go here. You see? So, technically, what that sentence means is "I request you to kindly return back." Return back what? Your God awful English? Oh, oh, oh, me first!

"Provision for doughful debts"- Whatever happened to proofreading e-mails and then sending it to clients. Whatever happened to spell check. You are using a computer, it does not auto correct and "doughful" is not even a word! Just f.y.i, what was meant was "Provision for doubtful debts"

Spoken English:

"Aap laser ko analyze keejiye"- Am I the only one to have seniors who write, walk and talk pathetic English. I know for a fact that you would think "What's wrong with her? What's so wrong about that sentence?" Well, if you read my blog, you'll know that I am CA student. Lasers and stuff like that was abandoned by me back in my 10th standard (a couple of hundred years ago) Science textbook. So, what does that sentence mean? "Aap ledger to analyze keejiye." I know, I know, don't worry about it, me too.


"Sony Xpria"- Alright, alright, I know you've heard of Sony Xperia. No need to get all excited! But, did you read what I wrote properly? No, you didn't. Lets give it another try. Sony Xpria. Yep! Now you did it. The word itself is "Xperia"  which was pronounced by one of my colleagues as "Xpria". Seriously, dude, why? Just because Sony dropped an "E" from the beginning does not mean you drop an "E" from the word too. They are an MNC. And you are a, well, whatever. *Do not abuse a colleague on your blog*

"Oh shits yaar!"- IS THAT EVEN A WORD? "Shit"- okay. But the plural form? Shits? Shit itself is used to show heightened vulgarity and, well, profanity. Hey, Wikipedia says so, not according to you & I ;-). So, when a single "shit" can convey your meaning, why would you go for its plural form?

"Oh fricks!"- No. It is not a word. Freak. Now that is the word this girl was going for. But, her pronunciation gave her "frick". With an added "s". We Indians love free things, I tell you. You know how today's generation uses the word freely. "Oh freak! I didn't study anything for the exam" Honey, if you could just drop the word, I can assure you your teacher wouldn't take 1 mark away from you. "Seriously? Is it raining that heavily? Is there flooding anywhere? Oh freak!" Okay, fine. Oh freak! So, all in all, I am fine with it. The current generation is making up its own language (so am I :D) but why the plural? How about just keeping it to "freak" and not reaching for an "s"?

"Woh mera hard dicks leke gayi"- I swear, this blog doesn't entertain adult content. I swear, this blog post is clean. So, what did the guy mean when he said that? Allow me to paint a picture. Okay, I have all ten seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and the guy wanted them. I refused to get them to the office and said if you want give me your hard drive disk and I'll give it to you. And he said "Woh mera hard dicks leke gayi." I was stunned for a moment or two and took my time to respond so as to not burst out laughing. He meant "Woh mera hard disc leke gayi." Yes, the interchanging of "c" and "s" is one thing I absolutely cannot stand! "Come on everybody! Lets go the dic-so!! Woot Woot!!" Get it?

"Aap gems se puchiye woh James ka stock take ka kya hua"- Yaar, gems se kaise puchega woh? Let me clear it for you, she meant, "Aap James se puchiye woh gems ka stock take ka kya hua." So, our client is a major player in the gems industry and a guy named "James" is an employee. And my senior interchanged the pronunciation. Why? Ask her, man.

I want you to analyse the analysis and list everything"- And then what do you want? Should I analyse the list and make an analysis again? X-(

"Give me the hard printout"- I think the printer just died laughing at that dialogue of yours. What's wrong with people!?

"Aaj Shreesha ka khaali hoga"- She was referring to my place at the office and my computer for someone Else's usage. Mera nahi, aapka khali hai. :-/

Okay, I need to get back to studying if I want to score 650+ on the GMAT exam. Hope you had a good laugh! :-)

*Kindly ignore English language errors, if any. The post was written while I was shaking uncontrollably with laughter. Can you blame me?* ;-)

Comments are most welcome!!

Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest vous êtes!

By far one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my almost-22-years of existence!

The following is an actual conversation between a not-so-proficient-in-English colleague of mine and me (okay, okay, I am not all that great in English either!) :

Shreesha: Hmm.. I hope the manager doesn't come here tomorrow to inspect our work. I need to leave a little early. He is at XYZ & Co. now, they have a deadline sometime soon.
Colleague: Yes, I know, I can't stand him. When is their deadline?
Shreesha: On the seventeenth of this month.
Colleague: Seventeen or seventy?

Yeah, dear colleague, the reporting is happening on the seventieth of this month! :-|

Comments are most welcome!!

To my Chartered Accountant friend!

My heartiest congratulations to you, you are now a Chartered Accountant. And, yes, I love you. No matter what ensued between us, I still love you. I know, I fucked up, badly. But, seriously, be true to yourself, can you blame me? You, K, are an awesome all rounder. You gave the CA-Inter exam and cleared. I was so happy for you. Not just me, both A and I were genuinely so pleased. We hadn’t studied at all. So, we were fine with us failing. You started your internship, yes, we had fun, I had to face my parents wrath, but, oh, well, teenage years, friends were everything then. The second attempt, remember how we were so worried about A? I even remember texting you, say two to three months before the exam “I don’t feel like studying at all. I hope A clears. She seems to depressed and upset.” Then, we discussed in length about A and you asked me to o study or to go to hell. Hell I did go to. A and I didn’t clear, again. The second attempt! Blah!

Then, it was my turn to worry. Realization suddenly dawned on me. What was I doing? There were my parents spending so much on me without blinking an eye, and here I was, whiling away my future, on friends? Are you fucking kidding me? Of course my family is more important, of course my future is more important, of course my parents’ hard earned money is more important and of course I wasn’t going to believe you when you said “C’mon! We’ll study together and this time you’ll clear” What? Did you forget that we studied together for the first attempt? Did you think I forgot that you were the smartest of us all? A had all the dance and cultural arts thing going on in her life. What was I good at? Dance, no. Music, once upon a time, yes. Sports, no. Academics, no. Future? Of course I didn’t have any! So, what did I do? I buckled down, I cut off contact, concentrated hard (I am not one of those to quickly grasp things, least of all, finance, something I don’t understand!), and cleared the exam. Finally, my third attempt. A failed again and gave up Chartered Accountancy. I screwed up our friendship majorly and I know it. But, I know it was for a good cause. I cleared the exam, my parents were extremely happy and I had some hope for a future, a career.

This Is in no way a justification for my actions. No. I know what I did was wrong but, let me add, if I were to go back in time and change something, the only thing I would have changed is my timing. I should have been like this the first time around; during the first attempt of CA-Inter. But, I guess it is true when people say everything happens for a reason. You’ve heard it, right? Once bitten twice shy? Yeah, that was my situation. I am pretty sure it still is. Anyway, our relationship soured and we have just about managed to start speaking to each other normally. It will never go back to how it was. I know it. The least we can be is civil to one another.

So, the CA Final exam results came out today and you passed. You are C.A. K. I am so proud of you. I am so happy for you. I am so very proud that my friend is now a chartered accountant. I love you, I am proud of you but, apparently to you those words aren’t enough. I don’t know how else to express myself. Anonymously then I will wish you and rant. Rant away to eternity until you understand, on your own, my side of the story. Remember at that AOL meeting you told me “I could see everything in your eyes,” I need you to please look into my eyes and see everything NOW.

Comments are most welcome!!

GMAT AWA sample essay

Question:

The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper:

“This city should be able to improve existing services and provide new ones without periodically raising the taxes of the residents. Instead, the city should require that the costs of services be paid for by developers who seek approval for their large new building projects. After all, these projects can be highly profitable to the developers, but they can also raise a city’s expenses and increase the demand for its services.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:

The excerpt provided is from the editorial column of a local newspaper. It states that the city should provide its residents new services and improve the prevailing ones without raising the taxes. Instead, what has been suggested is that the cost of providing such services should be met by the developers who seek approval for new and large building projects. According to the author’s opinion, such projects are highly profitable to the developers and in turn raise the city’s expenses and increase the demand for its services.

One noticeable omission in the excerpt is the lack of information regarding the type of service. The author argues that since the large new building projects are highly profitable to the developers, they should therefore bear the cost of such services being provided to the residents. However, there is no mention of which service cost specifically. Say, for example, the city has plans of introducing rain water harvesting due to water shortage. This would entail that house owners invest in rain water harvesting for their own benefit and people living in apartment buildings form a society and everyone contributes toward providing the necessary infrastructure. As for the developers of building projects, they will also take into account the necessary regulations and contrast the projects accordingly. In this circumstance, the house owners and apartment dwellers cannot expect developers to undertake the cost of providing new infrastructure. Whatever their share of cost is, they will pay for that, why would they want to volunteer payment for someone else’s benefit?

As far as improvement of existing services is concerned, I agree, it is the government or the local municipality’s responsibility to provide services to its residents and no amount of compromise in this area would be acceptable. Services that are already being provided by the local body automatically needs to be improved and upgraded as and when redundancy or obsolescence sets in. This is the local body’s responsibility, to be of service to its residence. As there is development on the technological front, the definition of basic necessity keeps changing. At one point of time, it was merely food, clothing and shelter, and now the definition has started including various other factors such as education, maintaining a level of income so as to experience comfort and much more. The local body’s responsibility ends at ensuring that all its residents do have access to the basic necessities of life. If an individual wants more, they should be more than welcome to pay for it themselves and acquire it. If the government has to ensure that every individual is living a high end life with luxury on their fingertips, it would have to throw in the towel. All comforts and luxuries should be taken care of by the individual themselves, wanting it.

The author states that the developers of large new buildings should bear the cost of services being provided in the city. As stated in the second paragraph, the author is not being very clear while mentioning services. However, that point of omission has already been elucidated. This paragraph will be covering the question as to why the developers shouldn’t be paying for the services. Firstly, the author seems to have misunderstood that all building project owners and developers gain profits on their projects. Such developers are salesmen in their own right. They develop property and if there is a willing buyer, they make profits. If not, they write off the expenses and incur a loss. Hence, there is no guarantee that all the developers will make a profit on their projects. Secondly, the one point I fail to understand is why the developers would pay for the city dwellers’ services. The developers themselves are individuals. They are also entitled to the basic necessities overage by the local body as much as other citizens are. When this is the case, why would they go on to pay for services being provided or that should be provided to the citizens? Neither are they running a not for profit organization nor are they here to join the local body. They exist to do business and make profit and that is exactly what they will do. One more point that the author seems to have missed out is the truth about the sky high taxes that even the developers have to pay to the local body in order to erect their projects. That and the huge amounts that go under the table, all unaccounted for, all of it is added to the cost of the project. Hence, there is no question of developers paying for the services of the city.

Concluding, the author’s contention is partly agreeable. Yes, it is the government or the local body’s responsibility to provide the basic necessities with changing times and improvement thereof. However, the local body is not responsible for providing individuals with comfort and luxury that should be on their own accord. Building developers are doing their business and making a profit; that is their way of earning an income and it does not make them responsible for paying for the residents’ living. However, I must add that such developers need to adhere to the basic corporate social responsibility manoeuvres, thus giving back to the society in some way or the other.

Comments are most welcome!!

GMAT AWA Sample Essay

Question:

The following appeared in a memorandum from the business department of the Apogee Company:

“When the Apogee Company had all its operations in one location, it was more profitable than it is today. Therefore, the Apogee Company should close down its field offices and conduct all its operations from a single location. Such centralization would improve profitability by cutting costs and helping the company maintain better supervision of all employees.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Answer:

The above paragraph is an excerpt of a memorandum from the business department of the Apogee Company. It states that as compared to an earlier situation where the Company had only one location, the company has several field offices in the present. However, the profits have reduced considerably. Hence, the business department suggests that the Company should close down its field offices, centralize all work from a single location which, in the department’s opinion would not only reduce cost and as a result maximize profit, but would also lead to better supervision of employees.

In the information provided, the nature of business of the company has not been specified. Hence, the explanation started henceforth will be on the assumption that the Company deals in every day consumer goods.

The paragraph states “When the Apogee Company had all its operations in one location, it was more profitable than it is today.” However, the precise location of the central office has not been given. Meaning, it is not specified whether the location was an industrial area or a residential area. But, going by the explanation, since it is a single office and there is no mention of manufacturing, it is assumed that they were once located in a residential area. This must have made sales go high which in turn doesn’t magnify rising costs as such. Hence, the paragraph states that profitability was better when the Company worked from one location.

Another point that the memorandum states is since profitability is taking a beating; the company should shut down its field office and operate from a centralized location. Again, location is a question mark. Also, the department has just assumed that several field offices lead to rising costs. But, the proportionate profitability arising from these field offices has been ignored.

Also, the paragraph fails to take into consideration the rising cost of living. Overtime, price index keeps changing. There is bound to be inflation in an economy without which the economy would be a flat line. With inflation, there is a rise in cost, but, the proportionate cost in selling prices may or may not be the same. The department needs to analyze this in detail.

In my opinion, the memorandum could have touched a few more points to make the memorandum more convincing. One, as stated above, the company should take into account the rising costs and then make a comparison so as to get a true and fair view. Second, the company should also take into account the sale made in the respective field offices with the corresponding costs. Any field office that is making loss overtime should be accordingly shut down. The Company also needs to consider the location of the field offices. Since it has been assumed that it is a consumer goods company, it needs to make sure that maximum field offices be located in residential areas. Location plays a very vital role in business. The company also needs to think about the cost that it will incur in transporting the goods from the centralized offices to farfetched locations. This may also lead to a rise in costs.

The point of better supervision of employees in a centralized location is fair. However, if the company does decide to keep a few field offices open, it can appoint a manager exclusively for field offices who can manage the field offices and the respective employees on a daily basis.

In conclusion, if the business department of the Apogee Company were to consider the points mentioned above, it would stand to make a better impression as to why certain field offices need to remain while the others may have to be shut down. Conclusions cannot be taken based on the past. The future is also important as far as business is concerned.

GMAT AWA Sample Essay

Question:

The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods:

“Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In colour film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its 25th birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Answer:

The excerpt from the annual report sent to stockholders of Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods states that the Company expects costs to minimize so as to enable maximization of profits. This is stated on the rationale that when Organizations are in the business community for a long time, over a period, the costs generally reduce. An example has been provided with reference to colour film processing industry where the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984.

The statement made by the Company is, in my opinion, based on several theories. One of those theories is specialization. When an Organization is in the field for a long period of time, it develops a specialization. Rather, its employees develop the specialization. As and when an employee gets trained in a particular field, he becomes a master. This enables him to find out his own short cuts of sorts while maintaining the quality level of work. These short cuts, somewhere or the other, help the organizations cut costs which even if by a small margin, help immensely.

The second theory which I feel has been relied on is more of an assumption. The Organization assumes that the economy is facing no ups or downs. It is a flat line. This would indicate that the Company is facing no inflation or deflation, for that matter. This statement then becomes a strictly theoretical statement, not applicable to real life scenarios. In the real world, we have inflation, deflation, at times the purchasing power is high, other times, it is not so. These points cannot be overlooked while presenting the financial statements since a true and fair view needs to be presented.

The third theory that the Company has overlooked is that fact that cost reduction alone may not help in profit maximization. It may so be assumed by the stockholders that if cost is reducing, the cost components may or may not be working up to the mark. This may in turn raise questions as to quality control done by the Company.

The Organization’s statement would have had a deeper impact had it included the concerns of inflation, the supplier information, pricing policies and marketing strategies. Inflation means the prices of goods keep increasing. It is not something that happens overnight. Organizations know about all this in advance and hence would be able to give a nearly accurate future profitability data. Also, as far as manpower is concerned, the Organization should ensure that the employees are not slacking off. It so happens that when a certain comfort level is reached, the employees start taking the Organization for granted. This shouldn’t be the case and the Organization needs to make several efforts to keep the employee motivated. This would not only help build a good corporate image but also show the stockholders that the Organization cares and gives everyone their dues. Again, as stated earlier, only reduction in cost is not going to help with maximization of profit. The consumers would want to share the benefit of cost by asking the Organization to reduce the price. Hence, the Company should also look to increase supply of the product, thus reaching out to the majority and increasing their sales.

In my opinion, had the Company taken into account the above mentioned points and then made an appropriate statement, it would have been well rounded and complete.

Comments are most welcome!