Forum Overview :: Still Life :: I never had to read that one, but it has been mentioned in staff meetings before

[quote name="Rafiki"]Talking about how it's a great book and people are encouraged to read it, and it helps you to understand and embrace change. A few months later a couple hundred people were laid off or given the option of early retirement. Seriously! I read The Richest Man in Town last night!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's 90 pages, but it's in big font and has the dimensions of a Little Golden Book so it only took about a half hour. I was pretty much dead on in my guesstimation. The book was about this guy Marty that worked as a greeter and then cashier at Wal-Mart, and he went out of his way to be extra kind to his customers and would walk out from behind the register and shake every one of their hands and wish them a good day. A lot of people were confused or taken aback by this (AT FIRST), but everyone ultimately decided it was really nice so they would always stand in his line regardless of how long they had to wait. The author was floored by this, so he got to know Marty personally and started writing and giving motivational speeches about him. He learned 3 life lessons from Marty: -Listen to other people -Try to do more -People need to decide to be happy I think you might be familiar with that last one. At one point the author off-handedly mentions that Marty said he wanted the job at Wal-Mart as much for the health benefits as the job itself, and eventually Marty dies of an infected gall bladder. But not before living with it for a year, as everyone noticed he started losing a lot of weight before finally going to the hospital. This kind of snaps the book into a whole different perspective. The author even tells a little story about Marty bursting into tears when he's told he's hired at Wal-Mart, but he frames it as another example of Marty being a sweetheart instead of "holy shit that seems kind of desperate." Did I mention Marty lived in a trailer park and never completed high school (dropped out in 9th grade) because he had to get a job to help feed his family during the Great Depression? He was also a WWII veteran. His customers used to bring him lots of gifts while he worked at Wal-Mart, and he remarked that you get back what you give. That's nice in the immediate sense, but in a lifelong perspective if you're super kind, work hard from 14 years old, and even fight to defend your country, what you get back is dying poor in a trailer park from a treatable medical condition while working at Wal-Mart because you can't afford to retire. BUT HE WAS HAPPY AND ALWAYS SO KIND TO EVERYONE, WE CAN LEARN FROM HIM CALL YOUR PARENTS AND TELL THEM YOU LOVE THEM GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Am I too cynical?[/quote]