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My first job interview at a hardware spare parts warehouse - Important lesson learnt

After finishing my GCE "O" level examination, I started to look for part-time work, before my Poly course starting in July 1997.

Applied for a temporary Warehouse staff for stock-take.

When for my 1st job interview with a store manager.

During my interview, the store manager gave me a test.

He gave me two plastic bags of screws and told me that each plastic bag contains 40 screws.

bags of screws
"How many screws are there in total", he asked.

As a smart kid, I mentally add 40 x 2 = 80 screws.

Told him that there are 80 screws total.

I failed the test.


I made a bad human mistake of making assumptions in the real world.

He told me that I should have physically count the screws to ensure there are 80 screws.

How can I assume that each plastic bag does not have a hole and having missing screws?

Lesson learned:

Never make any assumption.
Always check diligently in your work.