The Lonely Toiling :: Philosophy Money Papers

The Lonely Toiling My favorite book has always been A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This work has an element of self-reinvention that I find attractive. Few themes are as interesting for me as the theme of a man or a woman, by strength of will, changing his or her stars and defying the convoluted schemes of the Fates. In this regard, I feel a special appreciation for Charles Dickens’ work because Ebenezer Scrooge is not reinventing himself for the sake of material gain; the sole purpose of Scrooge’s transformation is redemption. Dickens constructs a dichotomy in Scrooge’s situation that is unrivalled among literary characters. Ebenezer Scrooge is a man whose driving motivation is to cultivate affluence and wealth, yet these seemingly beneficial things are what cause him to lose his humanity and suffer boundless misery and loneliness. As such, the story of Scrooge is a paradox in kind, where the striving for money and the attainment of happiness are not synchronous. Perhaps the reason that I feel so drawn to the character of Ebenezer Scrooge is that I also suffer greatly from this paradox. I stand at the forefront of those about to join the Investment Banking workforce; security and power are the guaranteed welcome mats. However, I cannot help but ponder all the personal sacrifice that this entry shall entail. The hundred-hour workweeks and the burgeoning pressure from superiors will make it all but impossible for me to foster a family or retain any semblance of a social life. Thus, as for Robert Frost, two paths have converged in the woods for me, and I need to choose the one that I shall travel by. To help guide me in this reconciliation between the personal and the professional, I am visited by my own respective literary ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. I. The ghost of Christmas past arrives to me in the guise of Karl Marx. A short, stocky German man with a thick beard and ruddy eyes, he takes me back to nineteenth century Belgium at the onset of the Industrial Revolution. I view workers toiling over produce that is ultimately taxed out of their hands. I witness the extent to which man is degraded as I look upon the rampant cannibalism caused by the extreme disparity between poverty and wealth. As I struggle to grasp the reasoning behind these sights, Marx explains: The worker becomes poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and extent.

Character of Three Mistakes of Mu Life

Govind: Govind Patel is an ordinary guy with whom anybody can relate. He has very few desires but he is obsessed with the desires he covets. His main ambition is to become a businessman as he thinks that being a Gujarati, business is in his blood. His best friends are Omi and Ish (Ishan). Govind is an agnostic. His father has abandoned him and his mother, who runs a business of selling home-made food items. To support her financially, he takes mathematics tuitions. He continues these tuitions even after starting the cricket shop business. He is the narrator of this story and the one who makes the â€Å"Three Mistakes†. During the course of the story he falls in love with Vidya, Ishan's younger sister for whom he is a private tutor. Govind is the one who looks after the financial part of the business as he has good business sense and mathematical skills. Ishaan: He is a big cricket freak and also a patriot at heart. Ishan has been the best cricketer in his locality and school. He suggests the name of their business as â€Å"Team India Cricket Shop†. He helps Govind's business by organising daily cricket coaching camps. He has a family which makes life situation by keeping quiet. He has a younger sister, Vidya, about whom he is quite protective. When he discovers that a boy called Ali is a very talented batsman, he decides to go any length to give Ali proper training. Ishan usually looks after day-to-day shop activities as he has genuine interest in any cricket-related thing. Omi: He is the son of the Hindu priest of the local temple. His family enjoys great respect among the people. Through Omi's parents and maternal uncle (who own few shops as a part of the temple trust property), they readily get a place to start their business. He is a rather dumb kind of boy and has not many dreams, but likes to concentrate on having a healthy body. However, he resents growing up and being a saint like his father. He is a religious person and actively takes part in his maternal uncle's (Bittoo Mama) religious politics. He is however confused about his religious views which are mainly influenced by Bittoo Mama. Vidya: She is Ishan's younger sister. She is a rebel at heart and dreams to break free from the constraints of a typical middle-class family and society, to go toMumbai, do a course in PR and become independent. She however despises maths which is required for her medical entrance exams. Hence, Ish asks Govind to take her mathematics tuition. However, in between their tuition they fall in love, have intimate sexual relations, which is unaccepted by anyone. Only Omi figures out the relationship Govind and Vidya share and also reminds Govind about the consequences of Ish getting to know about it. Ali: One of the students in Ish's coaching classes and a great batsman because of a rare nature's gift. However, he doesn't play too much cricket as he gets tired really fast and enjoys playing marbles. He is a Muslim boy and respects Ish like a Guru. He too, like Ish is patriotic at heart. He denies the offer of Australian scholarship and wants to play in the Indian side. Bittoo Mama: He is the maternal uncle of Omi. Mama runs the trust of the temple and agrees to rent the place to the three friends for the Cricket Shop business. He is an active member of a Hindu political Party. He follows the preachings of Parekh-ji, a political-cum-spiritual leader and has complete faith in him. He has locked his horns with Ali's father who belongs to the Secular Party. He has a son Dhiraj. Mama is not fond of Govind as he is an agnostic. He is the mainantagonist of the story. Govind's mom: Gujarati woman. She wants her son to pursue a degree in Engineering. She runs a home-made food business. She cares about Govind a lot and supports him well through his hardships and struggles. Ali's Father: He is a devout Muslim and works for a secular party. He is a very kind-hearted person who wants Ali to take his education seriously despite his mediocre financial condition. He treats the three friends very well when they go to visit Ali in his house. Overall he is a good person. Fred Li: He's an Australian Cricket Team member and a fast bowler. He invites the three friends and Ali to Sydney when they travel to Goa to see India-AustraliaOne Day International and meet him in the stands. He spots talent in Ali and wants to help him getting a chance to be trained in his academy in Australia. Loosely based on Brett Lee

Starbucks Delivering Customer Service - 1278 Words

ì‹  Ã¬  Å"í’ˆë §Ë†Ã¬ ¼â‚¬Ã­Å'… ì ¡ °Ã« ³â€ž ì‚ ¬Ã« ¡â‚¬ ë °Å"í‘Å" Starbucks : Delivering Customer Service Contents †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Case Summary Company Background The Starbucks Value Proposition Delivering on Service Caffeinating the World Starbucks’ Market Research: Trouble Brewing? Rediscovering the Starbucks Customer †¢ Suggestion Case Summary †¢ 5% ann. sales growth during 11years in a row (~2002) †¢ close to a recession-proof product (Howard Schultz) †¢ Lack of strategic marketing group and customer relationship management : Overlooking of market and customer-related trends. †¢ Conducted market research and found out significant gap between company’s assumption and customers’ perception in terms of brand image and customer satisfaction †¢ Invest extra $40m annually in 4,500†¦show more content†¦Delivering on Service – Customer oriented Customer Satisfaction : Hard skills (Quality) - Learning how to prepare drinks and use equipments Soft skills (Connection with customers) – welcoming, eye contact, smiling, recognizing, conversation â€Å"Just Say Yes† policy for customer satisfaction Tension between product quality and customer focus : Job complexity (handcrafted drinks, various product portfolio) Customized order and highly demanding heavy users Hire more baristas to share the workload to solve the problem ? Alternative solution being taken : Barista job efficiency increasing Adoption of new automated espresso machine, verismo Delivering on Service – Measuring Service Performance Customer Snapshot : Mystery shopper program (3 times / Quarter) Service : Verbal greeting, Eye contact, Saying thank you Cleanliness : Store, Counter, Restroom Product quality : Accurate order filling, Drink temperature, Proper beverage presenting Speed of service : Serve a customer within three min. from back-of-the-line to drink-in-hand. Legendary Service Score Behavior that created a memorable experience for a customer, that leads to customer loyalty and word-of-mouth Competition Small Specialty Coffee Chain Regionally concentrated Various differentiator (environment, roasting) Indep. Specialty Coffee shop Various offering (FB, sTV, interne-PC) Highly personalized service Donut and BagelShow MoreRelatedStarbucks: Delivering Customer Service1374 Words   |  6 PagesStarbucks: Delivering Customer Service Starbucks is dominant coffee brand in North America, which also is well-known worldwide. Established in 1971 as coffee shop oriented to a niche of coffee purists, in late 1980’s it turned to be a constantly growing chain of stores that sold whole-beans and premium-priced coffee to mostly affluent, well-educated customers. In years 1992-2002 company was showing at least 5% annual growth. And by 2002 Starbucks was serving already 20M customers in 5886 storesRead MoreStarbucks Delivering Customer Service2297 Words   |  10 PagesSatisfied And Highly Satisfied Customers The story of Starbucks transformation from a small independent coffee shop tucked away in a corner of Seattle’s Pike Place Market to a cultural phenomenon spanning the globe is legendary. 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