The Blue Roof

The Luckiest Man in Babylon 5

 

This is the last chapter of The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Classon. Please send me any questions or topics that you would like me to discuss in after completing this book.

 

Characters:

Sharru Nada – The Merchant Prince of Babylon

Arad Gula – Sharru’s partner

Hadan Gula – Arad’s grandson

 

As the day at the slave market draw to a close, the prospect of going to the wall looms bigger and bigger, since Sharru is still there. Then, in the nick of time, he convinces a baker to buy him and teach him the secrets of the trade. And so it happens – he considers himself the luckiest man in Babylon.

 

He did whatever he could to make himself valuable and useful, not only to his master, but to the business in general. Eventually he started taking over and running the business. At this point he went to his master with the plan to bake extra honey cakes and sell it on the streets when his work was done. He and his master would share the profits.

 

The plan was put into action and the next day he found himself on the streets, selling his honey cakes. Or, rather, trying to sell them, since nobody seemed interested. He became really dishearted, but, once you are in, you are in, so he persisted. After all, he was not selling honey cakes, he was buying his freedom!

 

But then people started buying and soon he had sold everything. And as time progressed, he found regular customers, one of which was Arad, Hadan’s grandfather.

 

One day Arad said: “I like thy cakes, boy, but better still I like the fine enterprise with which thou offerest them. Such spirit can carry thee far on the road to success.” This was words of encouragement that made Sharru work with even more dedication.

 

While Sharru’s purse was growing heavier, his master used his free time to visit the gambling houses …

 

One day Sharru ran into Megiddo, who was also in a position of trust and found favour with his master, because of his hard work and trustworthiness.

 

Tomorrow we continue.

 

Yesterday evening, when taking my daughter back to university, she said she doesn’t think she would like working for a boss. (My genes talking.) I said this: Working for a boss is not bad. A good boss should invite ideas and feedback, because it is important to the success of his business. But when you give the feedback, keep in mind that the boss is higher than you, and therefore has a different horizon The boss knows and sees things that he does not necessarily can or want to share with you. So, whatever you say, will always be based on your horizon, and might not be true in the boss’s horizon But, ultimately, he who pays the piper, calls the tune. So do your job well, deliver more than expected, give feedback without expecting anything in return, and you will not have a problem.

 

But don’t try to tell the boss how he should run his business. Don’t start telling co-workers how they should do their jobs – it is not your responsibility. That, I think, is the message of today’s Richest Man in Babylon.

 

Tomorrow we take another step.

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