Who Has Time For a Job?

[emmahumpfritter]

It's starting to look like a real job is in my future. Just as I realized that, I came across this...

The American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

But what then, senor?

The American laughed and said that's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.

Millions, senor? Then what?

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

[ARCHINSTL]

I think the Anglo businessman should have clarified his last paragraph:
The fisherman would by now be in his late '50s and trying to cope with his second, late-life, group of teenagers and trying to keep his second, trophy, wife in baubles and not being able to sip wine because of an aging gut and not being able to play his guitar because of arthritic fingers and who has few of the old friends who no longer have anything in common with him.

It's funny you should post this allegory now. A number of my old HS mates meet monthly and we lunch and schmooze and it was just last week. One of our mates fits the above description almost to a T - save he did not start with a fishing boat and he's trying to cope with the above at our ripe old age of "no longer 70."
Tom M.

[takza]

Be careful of what you ask for...you just might get it.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

You can't take it with you.

[solarlord]

carramba-just feeding my donkey in spain-that last remark upset him,he recons the grass on the neighbours farm looks just great,since he has ate all of mine!!!
plus the statement "i,ll eat my hat" dont work either because hes ate that too!!

[Neu]

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said:

“Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

One of the best quotes I've ever heard about modern times.

[solarlord]

NEU- i second that -where do we go from here? maybe the west has run up its own backside-DEC

buddhist say when then cup is full of evil ,transform the cup to nectar-is that possible when the us and britain fill the world with crap?

[dlb]

buddhist say when then cup is full of evil ,transform the cup to nectar-is that possible when the us and britain fill the world with crap?

ha! i read that quote on FB recently chad, i really like it too. i see it at work all the time too. at my job we give monthly availability, and a lot of people are available 24-7. i don't put in for weekends though because my wife works mon-fri, 9-5, and i usually work 2-3 night shifts during the week, so weekends are the times we get to actually spend time together. i think that that's important because if you don't make a point to spend quality time with your spouse regularly, the relationship will eventually suffer. my wife is more important to me than my job, so that's that, yet i still get people at work giving me grief because they can't understand that and don't care if they see their wives or not...probably because their relationships have already gone to hell due to years of overworking themselves and neglecting each other.

anyway, my point is that i agree with you and think that each individual must find the balance between work and fun that works for them.

[takza]

Americans are a strange species.....probably too dumb to think for themselves....

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/20 ... countries/



"Yep, that’s right. In every country included except Canada and Japan (and the U.S.), workers get at least 20 paid vacation days. In France and Finland, they get 30… an entire month off, paid, every year.

When I show figures like these (and there are many of them, parental leave, work hours, military spending, class inequality, etc) to my students, they are STUNNED. Most Americans are woefully ignorant of how pro-business U.S. policies are compared to the policies of like countries. I think this ignorance contributes to the resistance many Americans display when politicians and activists talk about improving protections for workers."

REMEMBER...if you work hard and are a good boy...you can take over the world for the top 1%. Get to it....

[Petros]

all of those countries also tell you how much you are allowed to earn, and many determine for you what your life carreer will be when you are only 11 or 12, and since they are "experts" you have no say in it. No thanks, I would rather earn my days off.

[ARCHINSTL]

Interesting chart, but - both Big China and Little China are missing from the list...
When I was in, the USA military gave 30 days leave each year - still that way?
Tom M.

[Petros]

that is really a silly chart, those are countries that mandate paid holidays by law. Most workers in the US both in the private and public sector get 20 or more paid holidays, vacation days and sick days. Do we want to start copying all the failed socialist models just because other countries use them? Look what too much government has brought on us already.

[danzo]

When I was in, the USA military gave 30 days leave each year - still that way?

Sure is.

to my students,

What/where do you teach? I believe you are misguiding your students. Today even hourly employees get a week or more paid off days, not "0". Axe me how I know.

[takza]

When I was in, the USA military gave 30 days leave each year - still that way?

Sure is.

to my students,

What/where do you teach? I believe you are misguiding your students. Today even hourly employees get a week or more paid off days, not "0". Axe me how I know.

I put QUOTES around the part I didn't write.

[takza]

Do we want to start copying all the failed socialist models just because other countries use them? Look what too much government has brought on us already.

I don't think the issue is too much govt...that is a "talking point" pushed by the right and pushed by some corporate interests. The real issue is the special interests who control legislation....literally writing the laws that then get passed by their legislatures. While the opinions of the avg American are formed by the perpetual propaganda they are fed....and dumb is as dumb does.

I personally don't want to discuss politics....cause it is pretty much a waste of time at this point. You can beat a horse over the head...but you can't make him drink? It is pathetic...that when the facts pretty much speak for themselves...people can still be convinced that the opposite is true.

IMO (and also that of others)...what is going to happen is already in the cards. Lots of debt...diminishing resources relative to population....and lots of retarded voters who can be convinced to vote for more misery...equals more misery on the way.

As in...be careful of what you ask for...you just might get it. If you see a train coming...best to get off the tracks if you can?

[Petros]

yes and of course we all know you are totally immune to the propagada....