I was reading an article today about ridiculous rules for employees set by stupid bosses and came across one I thought was worth sharing:
“At my first job, you weren’t allowed to eat at your desk and you couldn’t have lunch before 2:30. Homemade lunches were banned for being “negative” (it was a financial services sales operation, the idea being you were doing so well selling pensions you could afford to buy your lunch everyday) so if you bought in homemade sandwiches, you would have to sneak off somewhere private to eat them, or colleagues would take them off you and you wouldn’t have any lunch.”
This speaks volumes about a few things.
Firstly, some bosses must eat big breakfasts to not need lunch before half past two.
Secondly, there are plenty of wankers around who think that “doing well” means things like you buy your lunch and show wealth in obvious ways, when in reality it only gives people the impression that you’ve got cash to splash around. There are so many stories about flashy people who don’t actually own the expensive car they drive and multi-million dollar house they live in, and who in fact have very little in the way of savings.
Thirdly, financial services are way too often about selling a product and showing a façade, and not about looking after customers’ best interests. Or their employees.
Whenever I see someone eating leftovers from last night’s roast, or sandwiches made around breakfast time I think to myself that person is on the right track.
In fact I have just learnt that a co-worker and mate of mine is about to leave the job he has been in for over 20 years to work for himself. When I asked about what sort of buffer he has in place he mentioned that he’d paid off his mortgage quite quickly by saving his arse off, helped, in part, by taking a leaf from my book and bringing in sandwiches for lunch.
I was proud as punch!