Food for thought

the below email is from Ritchie Ng, my buddy in BMT who blogged about this in a recent post in multiply.com. (i didn't want to sign up so i don't have a link). I have been too busy lately with my new Acer Travelmate 8104 and Apple Airport Express and D-link Router. Computer stuff just gives me headaches. It's now 5 am and i'm still fiddling my laptop. how fun.

DISCLAIMER__________________________________
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Before I begin, let me remove myself from any liability that I may have against Prudential and the PTO.

What I say here cannot, will not and should not be used against me in the court of law.

These are mere whimsical blabbering of an underachieving 20 year old thats jealous that Peter Tan is a multi-millionaire, one of the 1442 out of the 4,131,200 (stats as of year 2000) people on this tropical island we call home.

Chances of the corporate enemies of Prudential who happen to chance upon this page and so happen to find what I revealed beneficial to their organisation are slim to none, but in any case if the odds are against me and these corporate "spies" really do read this, I'm simply one unlucky guy.

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And now.. I shall begin the recount of my long and frustrating time spent at the "Entrepreneurship" seminar I had this afternoon at Le Meridian Hotel.

Enter Mr Peter Tan, the richest man in the room.
For more information, please go to: http://www.soe.org.sg/soevote/public/nomineedetail.php?nid=40

This was the introduction the emcee had for Mr Peter Tan.
"Who in here has met a millionaire before?"
(The crowd was silent.)
"Who wants to meet a millionaire?
(The crowd stayed mum.)
Expecting an upheaval instead of the deafening silence, he then went on and tried to warm up the audience by emphasis's how rich Mr Tan was. And jus how special Mr Tan was, simply because of his immense wealth.
"Mr Tan is a millionaire. And he earns more than a million a year."
(Still silence)
"This means that if he gave away all of his money in this instant, by next year, he would be a millionaire all over again"
(You can probably hear the crickets over at the Istana by now)
The emcee eventually realised that he was too much of a whoop-ass to get this party started so he gave up and simply got Mr Tan to step in.

Here's what I think..
Q1: "Who in here has met a millionaire?"
A1: I have. Before I went to bed last night, I spoke to both of them and helped tuck them in, nice and snugly. This morning I woke up and I walked past 4 millionaires, sitting at the five foot walkway of their shop houses. And as I sat, wildly bored waiting for my SBS bus 197 to arrive, several dozens of millionaires sped past, leaving me choking in their trail of dust. Just what is so special about being a millionaire? A large proportion of the Singapore household have assets that are probably worth more than a million bucks.

With their HDB flats, their 21 inch tv sets, their sleek LCD computer screens, high performance desktops, shiny new laptops, camera hand phones, fancy little digital cameras, robust engine, conventional IKEA home furniture and whatnot, I believe, every household has already spent more than a million dollars in their life time.

So, why the hell would I be so in awe of Mr Peter Tan, the millionaire?
Heck, I probably am one too.
I just ain't that free to go do the figures.

Q2: "Who wants to meet a millionaire?"
A2: Not me. Not anyone in that case, if they all found out that they were millionaires all along.

Q3: "This means that if he gave away all of his money in this instant, by next year, he would be a millionaire all over again"
A3: Okay, honestly, that isn't a question, its a statement. But heck, it sounds so dumb, I simply cannot resist tearing it apart and stuffing up the emcee's behind. Who does he think the audience is? A buncha buffoons from South Park? I think we know very well that NO ONE in the right mind would give all his money away. So don't try to paint Mr Tan as a oh-so-charitable insurance advisor manager. And secondly, we do have money sense, so please don't treat us like Team America and resort to such lowly metaphors.

On with the show..
Mr Tan strolled out the non-existent red carpet between the aisles to the orchestra music blasting from the laptop in front of me. I was seated in the very first row all thanks to Miss Smartypants who showed me the way. For 3 hours, I craned my neck to the right just so I could look Mr Tan in the eye when he spoke.

Anyways, Mr Tan was repetitive and insistent that going 9 to 5 simply wasn't going to cut it if you wanted to be successive. And in his case, success was superficially synonymous with monetary surplus. That was probably the most sense he could make out of his "success" since he's got plenty more where that came from.

Here's a little story he shared that absolutely blew my mind.

Mr Tan:
" I was leaving my job for this one and my boss asked me a question.
He asked me, if I could either be a cow or a horse, which one would I be?
I thought over it for a while and said, I would rather be a horse.
Why? A cow works all day long, ploughing the fields, providing milk for the people and drag those ton-heavy carts, only to end up slaughtered and served up in Jack's Place.
Rare, Medium Rare or Well done. That's what they end up as -- food on a plate.
At least if I were a horse, I could run in the winds and do the best of my ability. And come to think of it, the horse is the most pampered animal in the world.
Its the only animal that has its own shoes."
(Crowd bursts out in laughter)

And then he goes on and gets a volunteer from the crowd.
He says to the volunteer:
"Imagine you are 50 years old now as we go forward in time.
And you have been working hard from 9 to 5 all day, for the past upteempth year.
And its finally time for your retirement.
And your company decides to give you this plaque in recognition of your efforts.
A cabinet minister of some other VIP is invited to present the tokens and its finally your turn.
You shake his hand.
You take the plaque over from him and he says something as both of you pose for a photo shoot.
He says, "Well Done!"
You have just been dissed.
And there is nothing you can do about it.
All these years of hard work for what?
For a simple "Well Done" and you're gone.
You are still financially unstable.
Your parents and children still depend on you.
And now, you have officially retired."

This blew my mind away.
Not in a good sense.
I sat there, boiling.
Angry that Mr Tan would be one who would undermine the value of hard work.
To undermine the blood sweat and tears the other 80% of the Singapore population put in to get what little they can for sustenance.
I was literally staring at Mr Tan right now.
He had just insulted all of the founding fathers of Singapore.
And no, I'm not talking about Mr Lee.
I'm talking about all the blue collared workers over the past few decades who worked till death for that very last penny.
The road sweepers who dutifully cleans the roads for a meager pay.
The canteen stall aunties who provide us with cheap and oily chicken cutlets.
The hawkers who slave their lives away just so their children could have a life.
They have just insulted my parents.
And yours.
And everyone else.
And I seem to be the only one who didn't get the "joke".
I was the one who sat there wondering what was so funny about making fun of the poor hardworking folk.
The 80% of the population that make only 20% of the nations income.

Mr Tan does not look down on the poor.
He insists.
His proof?
"I am just like everyone else. I eat at the food courts. I wear slippers. I wear shorts"
Is that all you got, Mr Tan?
And there he goes on the link I provided above, talking about believing in the value of hard work.
Hypocrite.
Behind closed doors.
Only after making all who attended sign a declaration form that all that is to be said is private and confidential, then can his true nature be revealed.
A rich pompous despicable wannabe comedian that worships money and snubs his nose to the lower class.
If that is what it means to be a millionaire with "a million to give away and by next year be a millionaire all over again", I rather not be one.

What ticks me the most was that Mr Tan really believes in what he says.
He worships money and as the managing director of a batch of insurance advisors, his philosophy has rubbed off onto his subordinates, even the rookie.

This is a success story that most people hear about.
Its about Steven. (I can't remember his last name)
He has a Second Lower Honours from NTU Business.
He started a car wash company but it folded after several months.
His life began to turn around when he began working for Mr Peter Tan.
In the first 8 months he joined the PTO (Peter Tan Organisation), he outsold the other rookie insurance advisors (a nicer name for insurance agents) and emerged as the top rookie at Prudential.
In the first month of his job, he made sales of over $12,000.
And in the subsequent months, he makes an average of $10,000.
In the eyes of Mr Peter Tan, Steven is a success story.
Steven makes more than $100,000 than his peers.
Steven makes up to more than 5 times the salary of his peers.
A point which required repeated emphasis from Mr Peter Tan.

It came down to the question and answer session for Steven.
And this question was particularly interesting.

Q:"Are you satisfied with your life right now?"
A:"That's a difficult question to answer. So chim. Erh.. I guess I am. I'm making more than 10k a month. But I can still make more. I own a car of my own. I can not work for the next few months and stil get paid 10k (I just found out how commission insurance works) but I'm still not like Peter. I'm not a millionaire."

Q:"But are you happy with your life right now?"
A:"Erh.. that question very chim. I oso duno how to answer."

And he moved onto the next question.
So engrossed in his rat race, he doesn't even know whether he is happy in his life.
He's only 26. (Judging by the fact that he graduated from NTU Biz a year ago)
He's rich.
But he's so lost.
All thanks to Mr Peter Tan.
And his money mongering.

Interesting post by him to think about isn't it? I would like to share it with you guys because it's food for thought.


lip
ranting