The bulb, hose, and the bell
Iread the following story online: ‘A man went for a job interview and obviously there were many prospective applicants. He was surprised that there was unusual quiet as if no one was there except him. He looked at the paper in his hand on which he had written the details of the interview and read it over again to make sure he was at the right place.
He shook his head in disbelief. He saw an array of bulbs lighting the corridor in spite of the fact that there was sufficient sunlight. He looked for the switch and put the lights off. He then saw one of the flower pots that was being watered was overflowing and thought the person who was watering it might have forgotten so he lifted the hose and put it in another pot.
Still optimistic of his chances passing the interview, he reached the big door that leads to the reception hall. As he pulled at the knob, he found it locked but to his right there was a bell but it was hanging loose in a strange way so with his pen he returned it in to its position in the slot and that was enough for the door to open even without the need to ring it.
He found himself in a small narrow hall and everyone was there who had come before him for the interview. As the secretary called out the names several of them entered and left frustrated and at this point he felt his chances of getting the job increased.
His name was called and he reluctantly entered the interview room. He was surprised by the positive atmosphere. The committee chairman gently asked him to sit and said the company was looking for someone like him. He was the only one who passed the secret test unlike all the candidates.
The committee had deliberately let the water flow from the flower pot, the lights on in broad daylight, had deliberately let the bell hang out of its place, and all this was monitored by a CCTV camera. He was the only one who had the tenacity to look around and show some concern for the ‘oddities’ while others disregarded such issues and it turned out that the company was looking for this type of a candidate.
The story is funny, but it’s really impractical, even though I’m somehow like its hero. If my intervention in the affairs of others which have never stopped, and my attempts to fix every crooked thing ending with such a happy ending, I would have celebrated today a half-century as Secretary of the United Nations.
What I got from my intervention was far more than the pros. When I was a teenager, coming out of the AlFirdous Cinema Library, I saw a Jeep with an open roof and it appeared someone had forgotten to switch off the engine and gone to see a movie.
Since the film will not get over somewhere soon, I out of concern reached for the switch and turned the engine off. I had taken just 20 steps from the vehicle, I heard a person calling out to me and asked me if I was the one who switched off the engine.
I shook my head confidently expecting the person to thank me and was preparing to say ‘You are most welcome’ but I was surprised when the man shouted at me and said he had left the engine running because the battery is weak and engine does not start easily. I had to apologize and help him push the vehicle for interfering with what did not concern me.
That day did not make me the Secretary-General of the United Nations but I ended damaging my spinal cord from which I suffer until today.