Gratitude 365: Too many kitchen managers, not enough cooks, spoil the broth.
The world is full of vicious cycles. In a way, vicious cycles run the world.
The harsher the laws, the more likely a petty crime will degenerate into a felony.
The more often my father scolded me, the teenager I made more mistakes, many on purpose.
The tighter the control, the louder the outcry.
Three great things that happened today:
- One of my friends announced at dinner that he had finally decided to “run” (fleeing the country) to join his wife in the U.S.
Like everyone else, he had been waiting for a perfect moment too, but this imperfect world has nothing perfect. I am happy for him indeed — one more friend in the free world.
2. I overheard a colleague snapping harsh words at her husband on the phone — I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I was making coffee in the pantry when she, sitting in a corner, suddenly raised her voice and started shouting at her husband.
I felt awkward but didn’t know how to get out of there, wishing she would go find another corner for her angry call. But she didn’t seem to care. So I paused the coffee machine and hurried away, mug half filled.
Thinking back on my marriage, my wife and I have had brief disagreements and minor quarrels, but she has never lost her temper on me. Good relationships don’t have to be smooth all the time, but they don’t make wars.
3. Today I closed two cases I’ve been working on, ending the daily update call with my English colleague, who is very pushy, picky, and hard to please.
It is a plague in most large corporations: whenever something happens, the things per se are not the trouble; but people from different functions shooting questions at you, requesting updates from you, eager to know everything create the real problem.
I sum it up as,
“too many kitchen managers, not enough cooks. The managers are good at yelling and shouting at the cooks, but they don’t know how to cook.”
