while talking about work stuff and discussing expectations from team members, my S.O. shared with me the 100 peso servant.
i do not claim that the story is my own but rather a retelling of something that would be a good reminder for all of us who work for a living.
there was once a master who had two servants. both servants had different tasks as well as different salaries. juan was getting 100 pesos a day while pedro was getting 50 pesos more.
juan was of course uneasy about the setup thinking that he deserved to be paid more.
he finally got the courage to raise this with his master.
juan: master, it has been bothering me for some time so i wanted to ask you. i get 100 pesos a day while pedro gets 150 pesos. isn’t that unfair?
master: let me show you why. see that truck over there, ask him what he has on his truck.
juan: ok, master.
juan then dutifully runs towards the truck and asks the driver what he has on his truck. the truck driver says he has some “palay”. juan then runs back to his master with the information.
juan: master, the driver says he has palay on his truck.
master: go back and ask the driver where he got the palay.
juan proceeds to run to the truck again and ask the driver as instructed by his master. the driver says he got it from barrio mahayahay.
juan: (catching his breath) master, he says the palay is from barrio mahayahay.
master: ok. but where is he going to deliver the palay?
juan: ok master, i will ask him again.
juan then runs back to the driver to ask where the palay will be delivered. the driver informs him that he is set to deliver them to mandaue city.
juan: (now panting from all that running) the driver says he is going to mandaue city to deliver the palay.
master: thank you, juan.
the master then calls pedro.
master: pedro, can you please go to the truck over there and ask him what he has on his truck.
pedro: yes master, i will be right back.
pedro then proceeds to go to the driver to ask the requested information.
pedro: master, the driver says he has a truckload of palay which he got from barrio mahayahay. he is going to deliver the palay to mandaue city. is that all, master?
master: thank you pedro. that should be all.
after pedro has left, he turns to juan.
master: so do you now understand why he gets 50 pesos more? 🙂
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sometimes, we think too highly of ourselves that we forget if we are really delivering what is expected of us. while quantity may be good thing, quality always wins out, in the end.
working smart is the only way to go, methinks.
then again, it would be great to be the master instead of the servant 😀
my take 