An epitome of Occupy Wall Street

In fact, this post is not going to talk about the recent global uprising against the elite class. I worked for a respectable multinational company. Today, i had lunch with a colleague of mine who is very successful, and highly looked up upon by many people in our company. He had shared some of his friends' success story, who can be viewed as cream of the crop by many regular employees including myself. At the end, he sighed for where he is ending up now. However, in the eyes of mine, he is already quite a high achiever. I dare say he is probably among the top 5% in terms of corporate pyramid in our country.

The old saying that "Greed is a bottomless pit" can't be more true. I have to say my colleague is a smart, good-nature, cheerful and friendly guy, but yet he can't escape from the desire of success. This is how the society is operating now, and we see a accelerated hallowing out of the middle class. The worrying part is that we have reach a juncture that you will make it to the top or slip to the drain.

I can't escape that too.

Generous gifts

This morning a colleague who just came back from Thailand hand me a bar of chocolate as a souvenir gift. The price tag was still on the gift, I notice that it cost almost RM50. Considering we are not very close yet, and my another colleagues are also receiving other gifts. So far this is the most generous gift i received from a colleague after their trip. Usually we will receive some post cards, sea shells or refrigerator magnetic but seldom "pricey" item like this :) My the other colleague quip that, "she is rich...". Anyway, it's with good intention, it doesn't mean rich people are necessary generous, in Chinese saying, "For some people, the richer they are, the more stringier they become". So we are still feel grateful to her.

Then I share this story with my younger sister. Apparently she has similar experience. Once she received a travelling gift from an fund analyst which worth around RM 100. Considering there is no direct interest on their working relationship, so there is no question of business conduct violation.

For me, I think it boils down to which social classes we usually mix around. For some people, my story may be worthless to brag about. So, what's the most expensive gift that you ever receive in work? Of course, you shall only count those without any intentions behind.

KLCI volume - the 'qi' of the market

Today, observed the volume drop below the 1 billion mark? Is that something ominous?