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.
“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.