“Oh ya,” the boy went. “You see, at home, Dad and Mom, pay me Ugx. 2.5m monthly. They give me an allowance. Now if I am to come and start working, they will no longer pay me this money. This means I can join you only if you are paying me more and above what I currently get. The difference of Ugx. 500,000 is my transfer price.”
A friend told me a story that was fascinating.
She was invited at an interview at a financial institution to help recruit an assistant manager for a city bank branch. After interviewing three candidates who had good paper qualifications, but poor at application, a man aged about 25 walked in.
The man was tall, with a firm room presence. He had studied both ordinary level and advanced level at the desired traditional schools. And had good scores.
You know that interviewers always ask at least two questions: ‘tell us about yourself.’ And “if we hire you, how much salary would you want to be paid?”
It is the latter question that put off the panelists.
The young man said something like this: “Oh, ok… let me see. You know I am trying to compute my transfer price. The price I need to be paid to join your team. Ok, you will pay me three million Uganda shillings… yah, three ma.”
I have tried to reproduce the boy’s response to the panelists verbatim, as I was told.
One of the panelists, asked “you said, transfer price. How does it come about? You indicated that you are still at home a year after your graduation.”
“Oh ya,” the boy went. “You see, when I am at home, Dad and Mom, pay me Ugx. 2.5m monthly. They give me an allowance. Now if I join you, they will no longer pay me this money. This means I need to come only if you are paying me more and above what I currently get. The difference of Ugx. 500,000 is my transfer price.”
I was told that the panelists were so disappointed. They had really wanted to give the young man the job since he had a traditional school background, which the bank gives preference as well as the boy’s Dad, as one of the top honchos at the company which is one of the largest depositors in the bank, had made a phone call to the CEO informing them of their son that need some placement to gain hands-on experience. The CEO had informed the HR of the fact, but said, do the right thing and let me know.
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The panelists were very disappointed to learn that the parents pay their son for doing no work at home. And he was losing opportunities because of that. They thanked the boy for coming and promised to revert with their decision.
The quality of parenting is declining by the day. Money is a reward for value. Anyone who earns free money distorts economic models. You must deserve your breakfast, lunch, and supper. Your children must be given house chores to do for any benefit they get that is over and above their basic needs. Even then, children must clean the table after eating. They must wash all the plates. They must lay their beds. They must clean their bedroom. They must be taught how to was their panties and own clothes and do it themselves. They should be given money only after doing some chore so that they appreciate the value for money.
The panel could not give the job to the young man because they knew such a boy cannot understand the value of money. He is the kind of people who come to work way past 10 am. Spends a lot of time on their mobile phone on WhatsApp and Facebook and feels that they are doing the bank favor because they don’t see the justification to work hard! No one needs such a person in the company. At Summit Consulting Ltd, we have a name for such kind of staff—they are called ‘dead weight’. People who are lazy and just sit and expect to be paid at the end of the month. Such behavior can work in government jobs where the taxpayers will always pay the money and the staff in the whole organization big problem is to spend the money so that it is not returned. In the private sector, scoring goals is just as important as saving them. Even then, the public sector also needs staff that focuses on value for money. So, you must deserve your sit on any table in the company.
I take this opportunity to congratulate the Our Lady of Africa Mbuya on this critical milestone of 50 years of doing God’s work. Do get a copy of the Jubilee magazine and read wonderful messages from our Church leaders and parish elders. It will be your Ugx. 5,000 well spent.
May God Bless You All.
Copyright Mustapha Bernabas Mugisa, 2019. All rights reserved. For daily inspiration, visit mustaphabm3.sg-host.com.
