Lifestyle of the smart and stupid not so smart

It has been 2 days since the media flood the nation with news of the next generation of geniuses. They face the future with high hope, of course, we all know most of them will have their hope crushed soon enough; after all, reality is cruel, but that's another point altogther. To be fair to them, besides being kiasu and wanted to prove a point, I do believe that all most of them believe that results guarantee a bright future. Again, most of us know that is not true.

Friends, allow me to share a few stories real life experience with you (all names have been changed to protect the relevant person’s identity):

Smart people story 1: The high flyer new staff

Mary joined Zewt’s firm and was assigned to Zewt’s unit. She came with great credentials, apparently, a top scorer in SPM (number of As “berbelas-belasan”) and a 1st class degree graduate from a local public university. Impressive, no?

1 week into her employment, Zewt gave an assignment to Mary, a very simple calculation that require her to extract figures from the profit and loss account (“P&L”) and transfer the extracted figures into another statement. Yeah, kinda like data entry job. By the way, for all those soon-to-be graduates, just because you hold a degree, don’t expect to do some high level work once you start working, you’ll probably be doing some donkey jobs first.

After explaining on what needed to be done to Mary, she went back to her place. Half an hour later, Mary came to Zewt and told Zewt that she can’t reconcile the P&L, that she can't locate certain figures. I asked her to pass me the source document and Zewt proceed to try to locate then numbers. It was not found on the 1st page of the documents and naturally, Zewt turned to 2nd page and voila… Zewt found the figure and pointed the figure to Mary.

Mary’s reply (in the most innocent manner ever) was… ……”oh… got page 2 wan ah?”

Mary carried the nick… “Miss Page 2” since that day.


Smart people story 2: The CEO wannabe

Jane was the top student that shared the same faculty as Zewt. She graduated with (again) a 1st class degree. Jane told Zewt…”I wanna be a CEO one day”.

After returning from London (yes, degree from an Ang Moh country, don’t pray-pray), Jane joined Zewt’s competitor firm. Approximately 1 year later, Zewt found out that Jane has joined Zewt in the same firm. Reason being… she couldn’t take the pressure in her previous firm, translate: Jane failed to perform in her previous firm and is now trying her luck in the same firm as Zewt.

A few months passed and she told Zewt… “Working life is so tough, I just wanna find a rich man and marry him and stay home and be a tai-tai”. (tai-tai = rich housewife) What happened to CEO? Oh… she didn’t deviate much, tai-tai… CEO of the house… same la.

Last Zewt heard, Jane set off to do what she does best… study… for her Masters.

Stupid Not so smart people story 1: 2nd class (lower division)

“Must go to a reputable university, otherwise find a job” Eric told Zewt. Eric went to the UK one year ahead of Zewt, and it was indeed, a very prestigious university.

As the results rolled out, Eric only managed to obtain a 2nd class (lower division) honours. Yeah la, from an and-moh high class uni, but 2nd class (LOWER division) woh… die, habis, mati, hancur… It was the end of the world for Eric.

Eric struggled to find a job and finally settled for an executive position in a chap-pa-lang (low class) company and was the lowest paid amongst his peers. Zewt started his working life with a slightly higher pay. Eric didn’t enjoy his work and resigned soon after. He went on to do sales.

Now, Eric drives a brand new Honda Accord (heard he bought it with cash?). Eric owns one two three properties and is looking and buying one in Australia in a few years time. Eric’s company… I repeat… Eric’s company, owns a shoplot, a warehouse, and a 3 story building in a prime location.

And the best part… while you and I wake up early in the morning, put on our tie, report to work, work overtime to get out puny salary… Eric sleeps till 10+, probably go to lunch first before going into office. He plays mah jong with his friends in the office, go for a tea and then drives around in his brand new Honda Accord looking for people to play mah jong.

Stupid Not so smart people story 2: The SPM failure

Sam was Zewt’s school mate, but not class mate. Why? Cos Zewt was in the top class (clap a bit la) while Sam was at the … not so top class. Sam is the those fellas… ya’ know… skip class, distribute porn in school, never study and sure enough… Sam flunk is SPM. Flunk his S…P…M ya’ know! Tell that to those kids who scored ‘only’ 18 As… they might faint as the sound of such statement.

Zewt seldom meet up with Sam, the only time they will see each other are those festive gatherings. When Zewt was still driving a proton, Sam was already driving a Nissan Cefiro. The last time Zewt heard, Sam was working managing running a wood factory.

Sam told Zewt…”I am just a lorry driver”… well, let’s just say Zewt don’t really wanna spoil your day anymore with Sam’s story
Zewtpinion:

Indeed, the above are just a few stories… perhaps you may even call them the exceptional cases… or is it?

I am pretty sure many of us have heard the phrase “A degree is just a ticket to the working world”. We all know it and agree to it. However, how much do we understand that phrase? We probably fail to comprehend the true meaning of “a ticket”, or probably fail to grasp the true meaning of “the working world”.

The truth is, a 3rd class or general tickets doesn’t mean you will be not able to board the “plane of life”, while 1st class tickets doesn’t guarantee 1st class seats. You might miss out on your preferred “airlines” but never fret, how high your plane of life can fly and whether it will reach your destination, is often entirely up to you. What about those kids who scored 17As, 18As and 19As? Well… I dunno, you tell me.

So, is your “seat” right now reflective of the ticket you’re carrying?