Story of a colleague. We were working together for couple of years. Then he retired -due to age and did not continue as an advisor (as is the custom where I work!). But he has joined a well know corporate as a consultant. He is getting much higher salary than I normally get.
Last week I met him during one of my tours. He is a known miser, so nobody expectes anything from him. There are poeple who know him for more than 30 years and never have been offered even a cup of tea.
So, one evening, when I found him across the table dining in the same resturant, we chatted. At the end of the dinner, I went to the counter to pay for both of us. He rushed to me immediately, saying, "No madam, you should not pay, I will take a treat from you in a better hotel, if I knew you were paying, I would have consumed some costly dishes......". I was surprised. I thought he has changed. But no, people don't really change!!
He offered fifty rupee note to the man on the counter. The man said, ''Give me twenty more rupees sir'' on which my colleague said, ''no madam will pay her bill''...... I was completely bowled!!
Why do people earn money if they can't spend a small some of thirty five rupees for others? Why he did not allow me to pay and saved his thirty five bucks? I don't understand..... *
My assumptions on his behaviours are:
ReplyDelete1. He would have seen real difficult times in money matters.
2. He would have jokingly said that he wd have ate good dishes, if he knew you would have been paying.
3. He paid his bill, and was not interested to give his burden and take anybody's burden on himself.
You seem to be quite generous, as you earn less than him....but still you had no problems in paying....his bill. It seems it is a matter of attitude.
@Mystic,
ReplyDeleteThis guy was earning much more than the writer herself and still was not willing to pay just 70 rupees. Even if we assume he had experienced hardships in his life, this behaviour is still inexplicable. There are two aspects of looking at any issue. Optimistic and Pessimistic. Pessimistic person would try to save the money for future as he knows what hardship is and is aware that he may have to go through it again. Optimistic, on the other hand, would realize that monetary wealth cannot be guaranteed at any time. He would then try to behave with nicety knowing that his virtues would help him in need, not his money. It's all about perception. According to my perception, this guy's behaviour was not what it should have been in that situation.
@Sanket:
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate your opinion on optimistic and pessimistic persons.
Sanket and Mystic,
ReplyDeleteI actually would have missed this debate, thanks to Comments section on home page! Well, perception is what matters in life.