Business-Mind

 

In the center of downtown Nagoya, I built a huge building called “NHK Building.” There are twenty-four floors above ground level and four floors underground.

Of course, I am exaggerating.

I just worked at the building site as a part-timer during the summer of 1991. I didn’t exactly build the building, but I brought some materials and tightened some bolts. In a way, I “built” some parts of it.

Nowadays, site operators are very cautious about heatstroke, so they provide water to all workers in the site. But during those days, we just brought or bought drinks for ourselves.

I was a student, a nonskilled part-time worker. Other workers ordered me to buy canned drinks during break time. In those days, there were few convenience stores, so I had to buy drinks at vending machines. But the building was so huge that many workers worked at the same site. Those were hot summer days, so everyone bought drinks from vending machines around the site, emptying most of them; I needed to walk far to find a working one. But even if I could find one, its drinks were not chilled. Other workers complained to me, “You are too late, and this drink is not cold!”

It was a tough job.

Recently, I started to think that I wasn’t business-minded, and I missed a great chance. I should have just quitted the part-time job and started a business in front of the building site where I could sell cold drinks to a hundred thirsty workers. I wish I had done that; I could have gotten more money than my part-time job.

Well, it is no use crying over spilled milk.