{"id":3787,"date":"2016-12-01T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2021-11-25T18:15:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T10:15:49","slug":"156-love-and-respect-from-workplace-to-retirement-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3787","title":{"rendered":"165. Love and Respect: From Workplace to Retirement Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe love, because God first loved us<\/span>.<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> (1 John 4:19<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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While it is not a usual topic amongst the staples of business studies, \u201clife at home\u201d comes up repeatedly in conversation relative to men and women in business. That this is the case is due to two reasons. First, as business men and women toil at their work and make all that money, they quite naturally look forward to and plan for a good and comfortable retirement in old age. Much of the dialogue therefore turns on how<\/em> to retire well, and where<\/em> to retire to – at home or in another setting. Then, secondly, conversations on this topic always draw out diverse commentaries on the pros and cons of reliance on household employees come retirement time.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Asian business tycoon is so rich that he can afford to spend tens of millions Singapore Dollars to purchase resort bungalows in Singapore. And yet, with all that money, he and his wife seem grossly unhappy, for they do not \u2013 they never had, they say \u2013 faithful and trusted household \u201cmaids\u201d or \u201cservants\u201d. The common lamentation these days -\u201cGood help is hard to find\u201d – takes on a raw reality with this wealthy couple. Their household employees do not obey instructions, so the report goes, thus giving them \u201cheadaches\u201d and contributing to \u201cunhappiness\u201d and \u201cdis<\/span><\/em>ease\u201d in their otherwise elitist and affluent lifestyle. \u201cNone of them ever stay long in their employment with us,\u201d the couple is quoted saying. These employees, so it seems, are neither faithful nor trust-worthy, or so the couple sums up their \u201chome team\u201d definitively. This has prompted the couple to decide that in old age, they will not want to live at their own plush private home where they need to rely on household helps. They cannot imagine being dependent in old age on household employees who neither follow their instructions nor serve them well. Rather, they will much prefer to pay for \u2013 \u201cwe can afford it\u201d \u2013 highly professional services in some exclusive institutions or at hotel penthouses. Never mind if those services are quite “impersonal”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked why do they not want to work at treating the household helps nicely and building up a warm and loving, caring and durable relationship with them, the couple declare quite simply that they prefer to keep the master-servant relationship: \u201cWe pay them as servants and we just expect them to do what they are told to do. We keep them at arms\u2019 length, so they can be more manageable. We cannot treat them like friends or family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s perspective is wholly secular, of course, which leaves a gaping hole in their vision. Six elements, amongst others, deserve attention.<\/span><\/p>\n