taiwan - white lie

when somebody puts his temper before reason, before professional conduct, he would hurt himself deep. as always, people like to be on top. and when their position is challenged, they would shout and yell, curse and swear to show that they are still on top.

marathon man was one of this kind, and so is his colleague. ah bee, a hardworking and honest southern taiwanese, whose mind is straight, too straight to have some filters to stop his feelings from pouring out unreservedly. he always leaves himself in total-nakedness, personality-wise, in the intercourse with his vendors. he used to be able to call his shots a few years ago, but for this one year or so, the vendor company changed its management team and also since the vendor is having some slack cut by ah bee's company because of capacity dependence on the vendor, he lost much of his clout over the vendor's representatives.

marathon man has told him not to take everything so personal, just do his part and let the rest of the things take care of themselves. in work or in life, some people are not born to be go-getters. unless you know exactly what you want, and you have the tenacity to get the things you want, you better measure yourself up and learn to work smart. by doing so, you still can get what you want, but with much less effort and with more respects from others.

marathon man went thru hard times in life and work, but he has learned much, since.

one time he was in taiwan, went vendor visiting with ah bee. during weekend, they went into the mountains in central taiwan, for the hot springs, for the wild foods and for good spas and for the fresh air. the air was super rejuvinating after the rain. the tall trees at the altitude cleansed the atmosphere, the surrounding was all very unworldly.

and marathon man met this gal. she was a tour guide leading a group of tourists. he was attracted by her healthy and joyous personality, and curious to learn more about the place from her while she was giving the tourists a guided tour. she noticed him. when she called it a day after sunset, she met up with him in a small, boutique tea-house near the hotel.

after ordering some local dishes and drinks for their dinner, he asked, "you like your job?"

"i do. but sometimes, some guests are too difficult to handle."

"how difficult?"

"like, they want my attention all the time. how can i give it to only one person and ignore the rest."

"did he get angry?"

"yes.... they even complained to my agency."

"so..."

"what i can do? i just do what i'm supposed to do, if somebody wants something unreasonable, i would have to put a stop on that."

"but you still like your job?"

"yes.... i used to be very brunt in putting down my guests unreasonable requests, but now i learned to be polite and diplomatic in handling such situations."

"how?"

"like, yesterday, this uncle wants to stop in the middle of nowhere to buy mangoes.... i said to him, it's not wise to do that, because there's normally wild dogs in the area and they will come out in packs after whoever encroaching their territory. i was only telling a lie to discourage him."

"wow, this is truely a white lie, which was told to cool down the situation."

"i don't want to confront my guests, but i have to discourage his unreasonable demand, many a time i would be telling him it's for his benefit not to do it, though it may not be the case. and i'm so good at that now, i enjoy my job, without much worry of difficult guests."

they talked and talked, and finally marathon man said, "how about we adjourn to my room?"

"oh.... you don't want me to do that."

"why?"

"my father is the owner of the hotel."