The rich eat and the poor pay

When the Cowell Perfume company was expanding in the western United States, it worked with a San Francisco television station to help them produce a Chinese program called "Tang Hua in Search." The company sponsors $200, 000 in exchange for the show's title and a commercial break.

At that time, I was no longer carrying perfume promotional materials around the Cowell Company, performing eloquence on the street. As the youngest marketing manager in the company, Mr. Smith, the president of marketing for the Western Region, asked me to help him with his Chinese business.

In the afternoon, after the discussion, Smith asked me to have dinner with James Liu, the head of programming at the station. Liu is Chinese-American. He loved the 007 movies and loved James Bond so much that he gave himself the English name.

On the way, and throughout the meal, I thought that two men higher in rank than me would invite me to dinner, and surely one of them would do it, and I would just have to go along and enjoy the good meal. So, I feel comfortable, let go of the belly, eating and drinking, eat wipe mouth, whatever.

Sure enough, they fought over the money for the meal. In the end, James Liu paid for the meal. He also said to us with a cheerful expression: "next time, I will invite you again. You have come from afar, and you are the investor, and you are the distinguished guest. We can't neglect you."

Back at work, however, Smith immediately called me over and asked, "Why didn't you pay?"

I was stunned: should I pay for the meal? This is completely illogical.

"I can't afford you, you're rich people," I said angrily. "Next time, if you want me to pay, please warn me."

Smith was one of the executives who, in addition to Mr. Cowell, helped me on many occasions. Instead of being really angry, he said something like this:

"I know you don't understand, and you're angry. Today, I tell you, every circle has its rules. If you just take and don't give, it's hard to find your place. At least the chair that holds your butt is unstable, and you can get kicked out at any moment. Swallow your pathetic pride. People don't care about what you buy them, they care about your attitude and sincerity, okay? You didn't pay for this meal today, and James will treat you as my chauffeur, my sidekick, my nobody, my nobody, not an important member of Cowell's company. So remember to make it a habit to pay for any dinner you attend. If you really don't need to pay for it, someone else will slip it back to you. So, don't worry about overspending your money. If you need to, even if your monthly salary is only $600 and the meal costs $500, don't hesitate to show your generosity."

In the past, I always thought that the strong and the weak, who want something from the strong, are the ones who should pay the most. From this time on, I corrected the old concept and reinforced in my mind the striving value of "if you want to succeed, you must pay first".

Toward the end of the San Francisco program, Smith took James Liu and me out to dinner again. At the checkout, I offered to pay. I noticed a change in the way James Liu looked at me.

Then, we took the opportunity to become good friends, and we have been ever since. It was the act of paying the bill voluntarily that opened a window for me to cooperate with him.

So please don't take consumer fashion as a social rule. Especially at the beginning of your career, you need to build your network. There are also a few principles you should keep in mind:

1. Rich and poor eat together, the poor should pay the most;

2. The poor pay, buy dignity, buy equality, buy an investment;

3. Don't pay the bill, don't know what opportunity is;

4. Paying is not only a kind of paying, but also a detail. It is more about cultivating a person's habit of paying actively