Zimbabwe Absurdity

Friday was pay day at work. On my desk with the usual breakdown of days attended by staff, overtime worked and deductions for loans (interest free!) taken was another for loans for two members of the work force requesting $200 each to be paid back over 3 months. I have stipulated that all loans WILL be paid back over a maximum of 3 months (nobody has ever taken less than 3 months). Not that remarkable but I still asked the foreman if those requesting the loans understood that they would be paying approximately half of their gross wage back each month. Apparently they did. Quite how they will live on the balance is beyond me but there is only so far I will go in taking responsibility for managing my labour force’s money. I just remarked to myself how thankful I was that credit cards are not easily available in Zimbabwe.