Never Guarantee a Man
Sometimes our emotions let us think that we can be confident about our recent acquaintance. We even fantasize that we can give a guarantee on that person to other people by telling them "you must trust this person", "he is legit" etc. But this is simply a fantasy.
I will tell you one example.
Once I was introduced to a guy called Eebee. He was a self-claimed technology genius and had lots of stories about himself inventing things and collaborating with people. He had this excellent idea about introducing VoIP (voice of internet - believe me, or not it was invented some time ago and that was that sometimes) to the country. Although I kind of understood the concept - I must admit I was no expert in technology or breakthrough innovations. But I was sold. Like all other scams, true or not they sound all the same, the story goes like this. Eebee invented this idea and then he with the help of a sumo wrestler introduced the idea to a Japanese investor, who decided to invest a couple of million dollars. But then the sumo guy took the money and established a bank for himself. So our Eebee guy somehow is entitled to get his rightful investment to his project or he must own share in this new bank. So this is the story. You will hear during the course of your life lots of such, similar scam stories. They might be true. Even if they are true are they your problem?
Anyhow, I started getting involved in this affair. I with my friends (one of them who introduced Eebee, herself as I later found out a scammer) met Eebee many times and I paid the bills all the time. Dinners and discos. One day, Eebee came to me and asked my help in obtaining a loan from a bank, since I was a banker at the time. His loan was to collateralize a real estate that was contested in a legal issue and obviously this was against any banks' policy. I pressed my childhood friend who became a loan officer in one of the banks. He was reluctant and hesitated, but I pressed him, accused him that he was not a good friend, I guaranteed Eebee, I told my friend Eebee was something of a miracle.
Obviously, nothing happened with Eebee. And I hear from my friend that the loan went bad. My friend lost his job because of this. Because of me. I just lost lots of time and money. You will lose lots of time and money on people. That is not an issue since you will learn about people. The thing you must avoid is ever guaranteeing people who you really do not know at all. And this includes your childhood friends. This includes your relatives.
I will tell you another example. In our country, it was some sort of tradition that if you are going to the USA, for example, someone you know asks you to deliver some items to his/her relative in the USA. Likewise, if you go back from the USA, still someone finds about that and asks you to deliver some gifts to his relative back in home country. I hope this stupid culture has now stopped during your time. Maybe not.
Anyhow, then there was couple of incidents where those gifts actually contained cocaine a highly prohibited substance. In some countries, if you are caught at the border smuggling cocaine there is even a death penalty. Obviously, everyone smuggler caught makes up a story that it was just someone asked them to carry to their relatives, so customs officials would never believe in that.
One time, when we were in Korea and was going to go back, there was this translator, who asked us to carry a big bag of supplies to her family. I contested. But was told that this translator knows our family for many years etc etc. So we carried the bag. On our way back, I was thinking about the subject. I was in the risk management mode. I believe a person must always be in a risk management mode. So I thought, what if this translator is now in huge debt, and loan sharks are after her, threatening her life, and asked her to smuggle products across. Or what if this translator fell in love with someone like crazy, and that someone was just using her for his smuggling business. Of course, this translator was clean this time but how do you know if such things happen in reality. What if such a thing happens to your childhood friend and your relative?
Next time, when I was in Hong Kong and was about to go back, a good friend of my friend approached me at the airport. He said "Hey you guys seem light and flying business, why don't you help me to transport these 2 bags to home". Like all the other people, even though hesitating, I could nod yes just for the sake of saving face. To feel good emotionally. To look good to other people. I strongly advise you to look good to other people most of the times. But do it smartly. Do it selectively. Do not be stupid by accepting dangerous, risky (like your friend asking can you jump from the rock?) favors.
I thought for a second, then I remembered the case with the translator, the risk management policy that I devised for my family on the flight back and I said "No". Policy is policy. If you made decision respect that yourself or you will regret it.
From these 2 real-life experiences, we can learn that we should never guarantee a man ever to other people, to ourselves.
I will tell you one example.
Once I was introduced to a guy called Eebee. He was a self-claimed technology genius and had lots of stories about himself inventing things and collaborating with people. He had this excellent idea about introducing VoIP (voice of internet - believe me, or not it was invented some time ago and that was that sometimes) to the country. Although I kind of understood the concept - I must admit I was no expert in technology or breakthrough innovations. But I was sold. Like all other scams, true or not they sound all the same, the story goes like this. Eebee invented this idea and then he with the help of a sumo wrestler introduced the idea to a Japanese investor, who decided to invest a couple of million dollars. But then the sumo guy took the money and established a bank for himself. So our Eebee guy somehow is entitled to get his rightful investment to his project or he must own share in this new bank. So this is the story. You will hear during the course of your life lots of such, similar scam stories. They might be true. Even if they are true are they your problem?
Anyhow, I started getting involved in this affair. I with my friends (one of them who introduced Eebee, herself as I later found out a scammer) met Eebee many times and I paid the bills all the time. Dinners and discos. One day, Eebee came to me and asked my help in obtaining a loan from a bank, since I was a banker at the time. His loan was to collateralize a real estate that was contested in a legal issue and obviously this was against any banks' policy. I pressed my childhood friend who became a loan officer in one of the banks. He was reluctant and hesitated, but I pressed him, accused him that he was not a good friend, I guaranteed Eebee, I told my friend Eebee was something of a miracle.
Obviously, nothing happened with Eebee. And I hear from my friend that the loan went bad. My friend lost his job because of this. Because of me. I just lost lots of time and money. You will lose lots of time and money on people. That is not an issue since you will learn about people. The thing you must avoid is ever guaranteeing people who you really do not know at all. And this includes your childhood friends. This includes your relatives.
I will tell you another example. In our country, it was some sort of tradition that if you are going to the USA, for example, someone you know asks you to deliver some items to his/her relative in the USA. Likewise, if you go back from the USA, still someone finds about that and asks you to deliver some gifts to his relative back in home country. I hope this stupid culture has now stopped during your time. Maybe not.
Anyhow, then there was couple of incidents where those gifts actually contained cocaine a highly prohibited substance. In some countries, if you are caught at the border smuggling cocaine there is even a death penalty. Obviously, everyone smuggler caught makes up a story that it was just someone asked them to carry to their relatives, so customs officials would never believe in that.
One time, when we were in Korea and was going to go back, there was this translator, who asked us to carry a big bag of supplies to her family. I contested. But was told that this translator knows our family for many years etc etc. So we carried the bag. On our way back, I was thinking about the subject. I was in the risk management mode. I believe a person must always be in a risk management mode. So I thought, what if this translator is now in huge debt, and loan sharks are after her, threatening her life, and asked her to smuggle products across. Or what if this translator fell in love with someone like crazy, and that someone was just using her for his smuggling business. Of course, this translator was clean this time but how do you know if such things happen in reality. What if such a thing happens to your childhood friend and your relative?
Next time, when I was in Hong Kong and was about to go back, a good friend of my friend approached me at the airport. He said "Hey you guys seem light and flying business, why don't you help me to transport these 2 bags to home". Like all the other people, even though hesitating, I could nod yes just for the sake of saving face. To feel good emotionally. To look good to other people. I strongly advise you to look good to other people most of the times. But do it smartly. Do it selectively. Do not be stupid by accepting dangerous, risky (like your friend asking can you jump from the rock?) favors.
I thought for a second, then I remembered the case with the translator, the risk management policy that I devised for my family on the flight back and I said "No". Policy is policy. If you made decision respect that yourself or you will regret it.
From these 2 real-life experiences, we can learn that we should never guarantee a man ever to other people, to ourselves.
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