Quotes

[Whitewolf]

I don't know if there has ever been a thread covering this subject before, so if there is one somewhere I apologise.

I found this a couple of days ago and found it amusing, so I thought I would share it.

"People who reach the top of the tree are only those who haven't got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom"
Peter Ustinov

 

[TallPaul]

This is similar to but actually reverse of the Dr. Laurence J. Peter's "Peter Principal," which says, "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." That is, an employee may be very good in their job and so gets a promotion to a job they are incapable of doing. It may take a few promotions to get them to that point.

The Peter Principal makes more sense to me. The only place where it works Peter Ustinov's way is in politics.

 

[MarkC]

How about "The higher the salary, the less actual work an employee usually has to do."?

 

[oilyriser]

Think of how successful Bill Gates would have been if he had earned a university degree.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: MarkC
How about "The higher the salary, the less actual work an employee usually has to do."?


Unless you are a neurosurgeon.

 

[oilyriser]

or a pro baseball star

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
"People who reach the top of the tree are only those who haven't got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom"


Quote:
Think of how successful Bill Gates would have been if he had earned a university degree.

It may have ruined him. I can't think of the movie ..nor do I know what you call the guy who lit and extinguished all the candles in the Catholic church ..but the movie was about how he lost his job because he couldn't read or write. He ended up opening up a candy shop where there wasn't one ...and eventually had many of them and was quite wealthy. At the end of the movie his banker showed him something ..or asked him to sign something and was amazed by the fact that he couldn't read or write. He said, "Imagine what you would be if you could read and write." ..the reply was (paraphrased) "I'd be the guy lighting and extinguishing the candles at St. ? church".

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: MarkC
How about "The higher the salary, the less actual work an employee usually has to do."?
In some cases one can get a "supervisory" job and then pass off most of their responsibilities onto those he supervises. I have seen it done.

Father-in-law worked for a county government. Most of the higher paid people were political appointees and most of them didn't know jack about their jobs, but were skilled at gathering a lot of votes for their elected (and many times re-elected) leader.

 

[MarkC]

I know that at my last two jobs, the managers and supervisors did very little besides going to meetings and making the work schedule for everyone else.
Oh yes, and deciding where to go for lunch.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

It may have ruined him. I can't think of the movie ..nor do I know what you call the guy who lit and extinguished all the candles in the Catholic church ..but the movie was about how he lost his job because he couldn't read or write. He ended up opening up a candy shop where there wasn't one ...and eventually had many of them and was quite wealthy. At the end of the movie his banker showed him something ..or asked him to sign something and was amazed by the fact that he couldn't read or write. He said, "Imagine what you would be if you could read and write." ..the reply was (paraphrased) "I'd be the guy lighting and extinguishing the candles at St. ? church".


I think that's based on a short story called "The Verger" by W. Somerset Maugham. It's been a while since I read the story; can't recall if the lead character was illiterate or not, but his last line was almost identical to your quote.

ETA: HA! Found it; it was on "Tales of the Unexpected": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0717512/#comment
.

 

[Gary Allan]

Yes! Although what I saw, or so I thought, was a stand alone movie, quite old.

Quote:
The Verger is a short story about a long-serving verger, Albert Edward Foreman, who is sacked / fired by the new vicar of his church because he doesn’t know how to read or write. Sadly walking the streets of London vainly looking for a comforting cigarette, Foreman has a brilliant idea – to set up a business of his own selling tobacco and sweets. His first shop is so successful that he buys ten more in ten years, all of which are financial successes. Foreman’s bank manager, inviting him to invest his fortune, is stunned / flabbergasted / astonished to learn that his client is illiterate. He wonders what a brilliant career Foreman might have had if he had known how to read and write. Foreman ironically indicates that literacy, far from helping him, would have hindered him, keeping him in a dead-end job as a modest verger.



So ..at least for Uncle Bill's sake ..it was fortunate that he said "screw this ..I'm getting out of here and make some ca$h!". I'm not sure that everyone regards the side effects of his success such a great thing, though.