I was born into a very wealthy family, which only got wealthier with each
generation. None of us was allowed to rest on our laurels, and relax. We had
a system in place. Parents were expected to take care of their children, and
give them just about anything they wanted (within reason). Once they turned
18, their college would be paid for, and everything that goes with that,
like food and lodging. Any purchases they wanted beyond that had to be
approved, and were always contingent upon extremely good grades. No one was
expected to join the family business, but they had to do something with
their lives. They had to live up to our name, whether that meant doing as
they were told by their betters, or striking out on their own. A
well-rounded education was vital to this. You were cut off once you turned
26, regardless of how prepared you were. The idea was to give everyone
enough time to finish their undergraduate studies, plus their graduate
studies—if they so chose to continue their education—and also begin pulling
in their own income. There was no trust, there were no allowances. Everybody
had to make their own way, at least after spending a quarter of their lives
learning how to do that. I know, I know, this all sounds very ridiculous to
normal people, but what would you have us do, reject our family money as
soon as we could speak? That wouldn’t have done anyone any good, would it?
For my part, actually, I didn’t even let my family do this much for me. I
let them pay for tuition, books, and other educational expenses, but I paid
for food, and my own place to live. I had a job while I was there, which was
smarter than my siblings and cousins, because I learned a lot more about the
labor force than they did from their ivory towers. I wouldn’t say that I
struggled, but I certainly worked harder than the rest of them. I was at
least closer to seeing what real life was like for most people.
Rich people have problems too, and I don’t mean to sound like we don’t, but
I always tried to be careful with my perspective. The fact is that I had an
easy life, and people like me have a responsibility to use our privilege to
help others as possible. What better way to support those people than to
provide them with jobs? No one wants to be a charity case. They don’t want
you to just hand them stuff. They want to feel like they earned it. No,
strike that from the record; they want to know that they undeniably earned
it. Ya know, receiving free stuff activates the same part of the brain as
incurring debt does. I mean...I don’t actually know that for sure, but it
sounds right, so it probably is. People hate to feel like what they have
isn’t really theirs, and I chose to do my part to alleviate that for them. I
paid my employees fair wages, and I treated them fairly. Sure, if you read
the statistics, it sounds like workers were generally unhappy in their
positions, but that data is always skewed. Only the loudest and angriest of
people are going to fill out those surveys. Content people tend to be too
happy to bother telling other people about why. And sure, my company
technically pays most jobs on the left side of that bell curve, but that
doesn’t matter. That isn’t what my organization is about. What I found—and
this is another one of those things that my relatives never understood—is
that an employee would much rather be validated by their superiors than just
be given more money. Money doesn’t make you smile. Money can’t buy you
monthly division birthday parties, and great online coupons. Well, I guess
it does, but family doesn’t need that from each other. That’s what we are at
the company; a family. I couldn’t die prouder.
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