What Mopping Floors and Cleaning Tables Taught me About Life, Princeton and Harvard could not. I was barely 16 years old when I landed in the United States. On the third day there, I was walking around looking for a job when I saw a sign at Burger King that said "HELP WANTED". I walked in and met with the manager who gave me an application to fill and he eventually offered me the job at $3.35/hour. Before I could ask him the job details, he told me "You would have to clean tables, mop the floor and also clean the bathrooms. When can you start?". I instantly replied "Tomorrow" .
"Well, Tomorrow is fine Mir, be here at 6:30 am, your shift will start at 7 am and last till 4 pm."
He replied. However, I still had the Pakistani arrogance embedded in me. I had come from a very wealthy family where we had servants do all the work that I was asked to do by the manager. Alas, I accepted the challenge. Every morning, I would walk 4 miles from my sister's house through the snow to get to the my work place. On the first day, I started crying as I was mopping the floor in ridiculous looking KFC Uniform.
I thought 'is this what I had come to America for? To become a cleaner. Is this what my life has come down to?'.
All of a sudden the manager noticed tears in my eyes and came over to me and asked me if I was alright? I replied by telling him that there was too much ammonia in the bucket and that my eyes were getting watery.
The first thing I learned was that when life gives you something you do no like, just accept and make the best out of it. I learned to become resilient and focused. My goal was to make money for my university fees. I managed my schedule as such so that I would attend my university classes and still be able to work. On the weekend, I started working for 16 hours on each day at a Corporate Security Desk where I was able to study at the same time since no employees came in on the weekend. The following summer I drove a taxi while meeting all kinds of people. I realized that it is better to take a situation and make it better than to wait for a better situation.
I had learned so much from working at burger king that it helped me when I was running the investment bank. Eventually, I also met with the 32 million dollar conglomerate -Joe Antoini- that was running the corporation were I once used to clean bathrooms. I introduced myself to him by telling him my name, that I was the chairman and founder of the KMS Investment Bank and that my first job in the States was cleaning bathrooms at one of his restaurants. He burst out laughing while Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch could not believe what I was saying. Joe had taken me to a corner and has asked me what I liked most about cleaning bathrooms; and I replied by saying ‘ammonia’ as it was the only thing that saved me from letting anyone know about my painful tears.
After a long 2 hour discussion with Joe, he eventually agreed to join my board for no compensation and he also brought the top 6 colleagues of his Forbes, Yablon, Mario Andretti and other to sit at my board. At the first meeting he told everyone that he had joined my board because he was proud of an immigrant kid who had come here cleaned bathrooms and now at the age of 29 he owns a bank.
The moral of this story is that, there is no job that is beneath you and sometimes that same job can bring wonders for you in your life. Don’t be ashamed of any job and work hard with honesty. My first deal with Antonini was $980 million dollar take over deal of a listed company called the Sports Authority, NYSE Listed Company. At the end, my first job of $3.35/hour at a burger king eventually helped me get a $980 million dollars deal with the Giant Leaders of Corporate America. Never think anything is beneath you, always appreciate what you have and work hard at it.
-Mir Muhammad Ali Khan
An Inspiring Personality From Pakistan
_____________________________________________________
0 comments so far,add yours