The five gas stations of the world

creative16 · 24. September 2010

I believe in the five gas stations theory of the world.
That's right: I believe you can reduce the world's economies today to basically five different gas stations.

First there is the Japanese gas station. Gas is $5 a gallon. Four men in uniforms and white gloves, with lifetime employment contracts, wait on you. They pump your gas. They change your oil. They wash your windows, and they wave at you with a friendly smile as you drive away in peace.

Second is the American gas station. Gas only costs $1 a gallon, but you pump it yourself. You wash your own windows. You fill your own tires. And when you drive around the corner four homeless people try to steal your hubcaps.

Third is the Western European gas station. Gas there also costs $5 a gallon. There is only one man on duty. He grudgingly pumps your gas and unsmilingly changes your oil, reminding you all the time that his union contract says he only has to pump gas and change oil. He doesn't do windows. He works only thirty-five hours a week, with ninety minutes off each day for lunch, during which time the gas station is closed. He also has six weeks' vacation every summer in the south of France. Across the street, his two brothers and uncle, who have not worked in ten years because their state unemployment insurance pays more than their last job, are playing boccie ball.

Fourth is the developing-country gas station. Fifteen people work there and they are all cousins. When you drive in, no one pays any attention to you because they are all too busy talking to each other. Gas is only 35 cents a gallon because it is subsidized by the government, but only one of the six pumps actually works. The others are broken and they are waiting for the replacement parts to be flow in from Europe. The gas station is rather run-down because the absentee owner lives in Zurich and takes all the profits out of the country. The owner doesn't know that half his employees actually sleep in the repair shop at night and use the car wash equipment to shower. Most of the customers at the developing-country gas station either drive the latest-model Mercedes or a motor scooter -- nothing in between. The place is always busy, though, because so many people stop in to use the air pump to fill their bicycle tires.

Lastly there is the communist gas station. Gas there is only 50 cents a gallon -- but there is none, because the four guys working there have sold it all on the black market for $5 a gallon. Just one of the four guys who is employed at the communist gas station is actually there. The other three are working at second jobs in the underground economy and only come around once a week to collect their paychecks.

Klicke in dieses Feld, um es in vollständiger Größe anzuzeigen.

By Thomas Friedman, "The Lexus and the Olive Tree".

Eine ironisch witzige Kurzgeschichte, ein Fallbeispiel, das verschiedene Umstände in der heutigen Welt ganz gut aufzeigt. Auch wenn das Ganze auf den ersten Blick banal erscheint, immerhin geht es nur um Tankstellen, so verbirgt sich hinter vielem ein tieferer Sinn.

Zum zweiten Punkt: Ja, es gibt auch in Westeuropa prinzipiell Tankstellen an denen man bedient wird oder zumindest bedient werden kann, wenn man will.

Anzeige

jjf88 · 24. September 2010

AW: The five gas stations of the world

Diese Geschichte hatten wir damals im Englisch LK zum Thema Globalisierung und Stereotypen. Ich fand sie damals interessant, obwohl absichtilich nur mit Vorurteilen gearbeitet wurde, hat diese Geschichte dennoch einen wahren Kern.

Schorfi R O X X · 24. September 2010

AW: The five gas stations of the world

sehr nett, musste durchgehend schmunzeln weil ich mich auf den nächsten satz gefreut habe

Nützliche Suchen

The five gas stations of the world

Videos zum Themenbereich