Daily Archives: February 24, 2010

Manila Day 1

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Which means blogging may be light over the next couple of days.  Flight with Cebu Pacific – a crying baby in the row in front of me and another one in the row behind.  A 15 minute non-stop remix of Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” when boarding the plane and then they keep the music playing for the entire flight.  Once they finish selling snacks and duty free, time for a game – win a badge. “Who can hold up or show me a passport and a pen?  We have a winner!”  But at the price, cannot really complain.  Got a promo fare going – HK$300 plus tax, regular fare for return HK$580 plus tax.  Tax at HK Airport HK$150, tax at Manila Airport HK$6.

Staying at the New World, which until last year was the Renaissance.  (Yes, I know, I’m giving more money to New World.)  The hotel is looking rather drab and worn out and the only renovation New World has done to the space so far is to change the signage.  But the staff here are all terrific, friendly and helpful.  We upgraded to the club floor and the club buffet in the afternoon is far nicer than I expected.  And we’re right across the street from Greenbelt 3, a perfect location.

Tonight there was a free live jazz show in the park between Greenbelt 3 and 5, a very nice band and lovely to sit outside – even though the temperature is above 30 there are always some breezes there and an interesting view at night.  I discovered, sitting in the plaza, that the D700 with my 50mm f/1.4 lens set to 6400 ISO is an amazing spy cam.  (Photos to come later.)

Tomorrow we have to be up at 6:30 AM, sigh, gotta be at Alabang at 7:30 for the physical.  I’m not bringing the camera to the hospital but I will post a review on their facility and how it compares to Bumrungrad by the weekend.

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The Peter Principle

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First published in a book by Laurence J. Peter in 1969, the Peter Principle states, “In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence.”  And it’s just as true today.

But it doesn’t only occur in corporations.  I just finished watching Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, and many of my thoughts following that form the basis of my next column in BC.   Here’s one bit that’s not related to the column.  Current U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is presented as someone who was a failure at every job he ever held.  So the question is asked, how did he get this job then?  The answer?

People who will give you the wrong answer but the answer you want are invaluable and they often get promoted precisely because they’re willing to say and do absurd things.

One of many things I learned from watching the film is that major U.S. corporations take out life insurance policies on their employees – not just executives but also lower level staff.  The staff are not informed and the corporations themselves are the beneficiaries of these policies.  And these policies are called, seriously, Dead Peasant Insurance.   And many of these companies then include the expected rate of employee death and expected benefits from these policies in their financial forecasts – which can prove to be wrong if employees don’t die as soon as expected or commit suicide. (The film depicts a family bankrupted by the medical bills following the death of a family member while the employer received more than a million in insurance benefits from that death.)

You can see a list of many companies known to engage in this practice here.  My previous employer’s not on the list. Companies that are on the list include AT&T, Bank of America, Citibank, Coca Cola, Hershey, Marriott, Procter & Gamble, Walt Disney.  If you work for an American company, you might want to see if they’re on the list.

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