Photo: Twitter
Respectfully sir, what on Earth are you talking about...
By John Sundholm — Written on Apr 20, 2023
"Time is money," as the saying goes. "Know your worth," goes another. But one CEO may have taken that altogether too far, and the internet is roasting him for his weirdly self-important approach to time management.
CEO Rob Fraser claimed a 90-minute ferry ride to Vancouver cost him $10,000.
The guy made the post on Twitter, but it would have been right at home in the "r/LinkedInLunatics" subReddit, where people post the weirdest business-related content they find on the career-related social networking site. It fits in so well with the "LinkedIn Lunatics" aesthetic, in fact, that Fraser's $10,000 ferry ride post showed up there with the caption, "Not LinkedIn but definitely a lunatic."
The actual cost of the ferry saved the CEO $60, but he sees it differently because of the value of his time.
It all began when Rob Fraser, CEO of retail start-up Outway Socks, ended up stranded when his flight from Victoria, Canada — which is located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island — was canceled. As he shared in his tweet, his options were limited, and none of them were cheap.
"To ferry from Victoria to Vancouver costs $160 and 3 hours 15 minutes of my time," he wrote in his post. His other option, a seaplane, was going to cost $220 and, as he puts it, "1 hour 15 minutes of my time." He opted for the ferry, which, if you know anything about basic math, means he pocketed a $60 savings by opting for the ferry, right?
Nope! That $160 ferry ride was actually a $10,000 ferry ride by Fraser's math, which is more like an esoteric art than, you know, the arithmetic we all learned in school. This is why his post has gone mega-viral for all the wrong reasons.
Fraser claimed his $10,000 ferry ride cost so much because his time is worth $5,000 an hour.
"I value my time at a minimum of $5,000 per hour," Fraser wrote in his diatribe. "Sounds like a lot, but honestly it’s not." He did not offer an explanation for that, even when asked. "It's what felt semi-accurate based on many factors," he replied.
So you'll just have to take his word for it. Throw out what you know about things like numbers and money and how adding and subtracting work.
"An extra 2 hours of travel time actually costs me $10k," Fraser continued. "I know some people will read this and think I’m an idiot."
"But time is everything. You don’t get it back."
Fraser framed his post as a rumination on the preciousness of life and time, but most people found it a ridiculous commentary on hustle culture.
Fraser ended his post on a philosophical note. "How much would you pay for more time at the end of your life? I’d pay SO much more than $60 to get those 2 hours back. I think about this with everything I do."
As you might guess, Fraser has gotten... well, not quite the response he likely intended on social media. "He owes me $175 for the 30 seconds that I'll never get back to have to read that nonsense," one person on Reddit wrote. "Should we all send him Venmo requests for reimbursement?" another user quipped.
Twitter was, as Twitter so often is, fairly brutal. One tweeter posted about how his kids were now tens of thousands of dollars in debt after he drove them to preschool because of Fraser's philosophy.
Another mocked Fraser's and his ilk's "grind set"—an online slang word for those who espouse the "rise and grind" delusion of late-capitalist hustle culture that places working yourself into the ground above all else.
"How much does one sitting on the toilet cost?" another Twitter user tweeted—though at least Fraser had a sense of humor in response. "Depends on the meal," he replied.
Fraser's post even made it to TikTok, where people were no less receptive to his rumination on the nature of time. Highlighting the arbitrary nature of Fraser's math, a TikToker commented, "I lost 15 trillion dollars because I value time," while another quipped, "You can value your time at whatever the f--k you want. You aren't being reimbursed for it regardless lmfao."
Of course, in the end, Fraser's right—time is valuable, our lives are finite, and every moment is precious. But honestly... sometimes a ferry ride is just a ferry ride. Sometimes you have to stand in line at the grocery store. Sometimes you have to go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned. Are you missing out on life to do it? Is it really that deep?
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.