The 48th story of a full-length business novel.
Plus it, there is another categorical imperative. It’s ‘Saturday Working System’. (土曜經營) Accordingly, everybody including him has to work on Saturday as a working day. His staff and/or aides-de-camps are present at the office at six o’clock and a half in the morning as if they were early birds.
At seven o’clock A.M. they report to him their daily duties and missions he had given to them before. Seemingly, his subordinates obey the System willingly. Below was the newline on Saturday Management.
In reality, they are grumbling at the boss’ bizarre policy. But they do not speak out their inhibited mind boldly. They are afraid that they would be fired. So they’ve reluctantly followed it as his standing order. Behind the back, however, they have sneered at him mockingly. Then they criticized him severely on behalf of their personal interest as below:
“He does know a week has seven days. And he does know that it is composed of each day named Sunday, Monday, Tuesday . . . and so on. But his big problem is that he does not know the name of each day. He simply thinks that the day after Friday is regarded as a working day like Friday. He does not know that there is the name of Saturday. Presumably, he may not understand that:
‘There is the seventh day by name Saturday.’
Further, he does not know the meaning of Saturday deeply that:
‘Saturday is another holiday like Sunday.’
Such misunderstanding and/or ignorance have led him into the office on Saturday. Then he has worked like any working day. For the reason, we, like him, had to work on Saturday like Friday. That is the rubber to him and to us.”
In this point, his policy, Saturday Management, does not seem to kindle them to work hard. Going up in the air, they yip cynically in an unsatisfied look as below:
“His thinking is not a new thinking. The policy is not a new one. But it is just a quaint thinking because he thinks that Saturday is a working day. Frankly, it is trite thinking. And such hardest working attitude is out-of-date and quirk. Without physical recreation we cannot find any new possibilities. Another problem is that he will not listen to us. His bossy character cannot allow our words. In this way, he strains at a gnat and swallows a camel.”
All of it is quips. Never do the men under him concur. Their dissatisfaction is serious.
“No song, no supper”
Nonetheless, he ignores it. He does not care for their quips and complaints. Rather, he snubs their leisurely mindset into silence. His position was and is that ‘No mill, no meal.’ One day, laughing a bitter laugh he explained why he worked on Saturday:
“The early bird catches the worm. Sunday is enough as holiday. Saturday is not necessary as another holiday. As for me, two holidays per week are wasteful. I cannot afford the loss. A single holiday per week is enough to take a rest.”
In this way, he unfolded his inhibited mind. And he vindicated the Saturday working system on unique excuses as below:
“In my thinking, working as such is not a bum steer at all. So, the Saturday Management as you call it is not my official policy. My thinking is the already lifted banner that is ‘new Thinking and new Possibilities.’ Yes, that is my unvarying doctrine in my business.”
And he added that:
“There are lots of troubles and barriers ahead in the world. But we have to go forward to capture the brighter future. For this, you and I alike have to work hard and accomplish it unmistakably. In this context, I want you to follow me with new thinking and new possibilities. Of course, I’ll go my way to get a better future.”
In this way he said to his men. Then he warned them in high snuff that:
“If you think differently and do not work on Saturday you had better go out and walk away from the office freely. Take it or leave it. Once again I’m telling you, shape up or ship out.”
In a word, his speech was that ‘No song, no supper. No mill, no meal.’ Never did he shrink from their peevish complaints. In all, he did not agree to disagree. After all, his men had to shape their living to his thinking half-heartedly.
By all accounts, he has lived in this way from his boyhood. In actual facts, he has been inconceivably industrious and weariless. Like his men, he himself has worked on Saturdays as his duty. All of it was from his natural-born character and hard-working attitude. Nobody can negate it. It was and is true, unpretending. Therefore, to his eyes, having two holidays a week is simply luxury and laziness. In this point, he cannot be underrated in the negative way such as a sophisticate or a pompous and arrogant dictator. If true, his Saturday Management might not be linked with the small-mindedness. From this point of view, the policy should not be trivialized and ridiculed as a quaint and trite thinking.
Copyright. Korea IT Times. All Copyright Reserved.