Fashion blogger Bryan Boy spotted this ad in Thailand for plastic surgery that reads more like the dollar-meal menu. Get your tummy tucks for the bargain price of $625! [BryanBoy.com]

The global financial crises has forced every industry to get a little creative. Rather than go with the stodgy “buy one get one free” approach of many struggling industries, the Czech health care system is wooing its nurses with unusual pizazz. Like most countries around the world, the Czech Republic’s health care system is teetering on the brink of collapse, in part due to the nursing shortage. The Czech Republic is in a particular bind: Nurses are emigrating to other countries for better pay and opportunity while fewer people are training to become nurses due to the negative stereotypes left over from communism. The idea of using incentives to encourage employees to renew their contracts is hardly newsworthy. The fact that some Czech medical establishments are using incentives like free breast implants, liposuction and tummy tucks does raise my eyebrows. (Not for long, however, should I decide to become a Czech nurse and opt for a face lift or Botox.)

We are all a little strapped for time nowadays. It seems there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. But there’s always time to squeeze in a few errands during lunch. Drop off dry cleaning; run to the bank; pay the cable bill; get liposuction! No seriously. Now you can get the lard sucked out of your thighs while you wait for Subway to finish preparing your six-inch sandwich. Smartlipo is a less invasive form of liposuction that can be done during your lunch break. A tiny instrument, like the size of a pencil point, is used to make the incision. And voila! It starts sucking the fat away from those hard to target areas. The most popular areas Smartlipo is being used on are the abs, love-handles and outer thighs. A woman who had the procedure done said, “It’s better than getting a cavity filled.” Yeah, a sharp object digging into my fleshy stomach—don’t know if that’s better than getting a cavity filled. Actually, they both sound like pretty crappy ways to spend a lunch break. So what are the differences between Smartlipo and regular cosmetic surgery?