The Golden Dragon of Chong Pang

 

The Golden Dragon of Chong Pang (GDCP) is the boss of my favourite hawker stall. The Husband and I got the serendipitous chance to sit and chat with him today.

When people see a golden dragon, they drop their jaws in awe, and go "Wow!" Not many people consider, in that moment of awe, that every golden dragon started off as a worm.

When the GDCP started out, he sold 4 ducks in one day. One month after, the bird flu happened. He not only was not making money, he was also losing money. He had to borrow money to keep his business afloat. People looking at him then, would have seen a worm.

Coming out of our conversation with him, I squeezed The Husband's hand and whispered, "Behind every successful man, there is a successful woman." Behind the GDCP, there is also a woman. This woman worked her day job on weekdays and on weekends, helped out all day at the stall. In his words, "She was my support." As he spoke his eyes shone with love and respect for the strength of the woman who had his back.

I asked The Husband, "Do you speak like so of me too, to others?"

It took one year before the GDCP's hawker stall broke even. Since then, he has not looked back. I was there at 6 pm today, and all 40 ducks were already gone. It was a good thing that I had pre-ordered in the morning.

Me, being me, I asked him a very insensitive question: "You are clearly very intelligent. Why did you not finish schooling?"

He answered, "I was rebellious, and when I decided to go back to school, my brain could not learn." 

As a psychologist, I see a man with extremely high fluid intelligence. This is the type of intelligence that reasons through real world situations with lightning speed and figures out ways around real world problems in twice that speed. Along with that, there is also a very strong will. This would have been a Jadeite Child. Maybe that is why he did not do well in school. He does not bend easily to authority, and is smart enough to figure out ways to thwart it, and strong-willed enough to push back against it. This is not a man who can be forced into anything. In him, I sense the same stubborn strength of will that both The Husband and The Son have.

Oh well... since karma is a bitch, the GDCP is now blessed with a daughter who is as difficult to control as he himself used to be. Hahahahahaha!

The Husband and I sat across from the GDCP whilst he explained Gilbreth's Theory in simple words and concrete examples. The inside of his hawker stall is designed such that the workers can get everything done whilst moving as little as possible. He had learnt Gilbreth's Theory by observing McDonald's kitchen processes. Why not? McDonald's must have paid management consultants hundreds of thousands of dollars to design their kitchens according to Gilbreth's Theory. The GDCP had done it all by himself.

I am impressed.