I strongly believe it’s every worker’s duty to seek perfection at his job; a role which had been completely neglected in Egypt over the past few years. If you haven’t been to Egypt in a long time, please don’t be shocked if you ask for a plumber and a joiner shows up claiming he can do the job better than anyone else!
“Jack of all trade is a master of none” an old saying used in reference to a person who is competent with many skills, but not necessarily outstanding in any particular one. Egyptians have difficulty believing that it is natural to focus only on one skill; you don’t have to pick between being great at one thing or just mediocre at many things!
Here in Egypt, we have many ‘jacks’, from different social classes, working in various fields; you can find one working for a big reputable company or a street vendor trying to compete in selling an old used mobile phones which he is clueless about! The following examples, however, cannot be left out:
I’m working a ‘models’:
First of all, it’s called “model” not “models”. If you had been working as a “models”, how come I met you now working in the call centre of a telecommunications company?!
The gym coach:
In Egypt, any person with a moderate budget can start a gym and call himself ‘coach’, irrespective of his educational background. Being a gym owner automatically earns him “el captain” title and gives him leverage to provide gym members with nutritional and excercise tips. Injuries are usually the result of such ill unprofessional ‘coaching’.
She’s a nurse:
In Egypt, nursing is a sub career. You may find a sales executive who also works as a part time nurse during the evening!
Needless to say, this is not her field of study and she probably never attended nursing school! Don’t bother investigating about it because her justification will probably neither be on the polite or the favourable side. So please keep quiet!!
Knowledge is power, but specialization in one field is a must in order to build a society capable of facing the new challenges. Please be a master in your own job rather than being a master of none.
