The Art of the Hustle
Page 42
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“What’s with people not remembering their PIN number? I get like five hundred calls a day because people don’t remember their PIN,” I said.
“Yeah, and another five hundred calls for people demanding we reverse interest,” Eduardo added.
“I try not to think about it,” Tami said.
“I’m sorry, I hate to be one of those co-workers who complain all the time, but when I’m gone, I won’t miss this place, believe me.”
“When you become a successful lawyer, can you take me with you?”
“Yeah sure, you can be my secretary,” I joked. “Eduardo, you can be my assistant.”
It was time for my break. I grabbed a banana from my desk and went over to the computer room – a tiny corner with two computers set up for personal use.
After about ten minutes of browsing, the system automatically logged me out. “Hey, what the heck!”
“Excuse me, Charlie,” I said to my manager, who happened to be walking by.
“Yes, what’s up, Trevor?”
“I was just reading an article and after ten minutes the computer just signed me off. Do you know why that happened?”
“Yeah, it’s a new feature to help people achieve more efficient break times.”
“So the system has now been programmed to automatically log users out after ten minutes just to help cut down on them taking extended breaks?”
“Exactly,” he said with a big smile.
“Oh okay, thanks.”
Throughout all my work experience, I really learned a lot. I learned what not to do when running a company. The National Group Bank didn’t treat people like adults, they treated us like little kids. It was the largest bank in the country, made billions of dollars, and yet invested almost none of that to its front-end employees. Was profit maximizing really all that great for them? What about trying to run the best company possible, even if it meant not making as much money? That seemed like more of an achievement to me.