Cross-Cultural Communication in Business

This morning, I was at the Sydney Markets in Flemington. For those of you who have not been there, it is similar to the wet markets or “pasar borong” in Malaysia. Sydney Markets are opened to the general public for small purchases on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On other days, Sydney Markets are more relevant to retailers as you can only buy items in bulk and not in small quantities. This is an interesting place to visit as there are many people from different cultural background purchasing and selling their products. I can hear many languages spoken here. Some of the languages which I recognised are Arabic, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin and Tagalog. Needless to say, English Language is widely spoken here as well. Most of the trading and business transactions that took place proceeded smoothly with smiling and friendly faces. Since there are so many customers from different cultural background, some of the sellers applied some marketing techniques which I thought were quite clever. For example, there was this Caucasian fruit seller who addressed his Asian elderly customers “Uncle” and “Aunty” whenever they approached his stall. This simple respectful way of addressing an older person certainly endeared him to the Asian customers. In case some of you are not aware, calling an elderly person “Uncle” or “Aunty” is a form of respect which you give the elders in Asia. It has got nothing to do with whether you are related to the person or not!

On the flip side, this morning I also had the opportunity to witness an incident which I can only termed as “Cross-Cultural Miscommunication in Business”. The scene that I saw involved a Caucasian lady selling peanuts. There were 3 elderly Asian people comprised of an elderly man and two ladies. The elderly Asian man was trying to bargain the price of the peanuts with the seller. It was obvious that the man and the 2 ladies did not speak much English. I heard the man said $8.00 to the lady seller and pointed to another seller. I interpreted his gesture and message as saying that he used to buy the peanuts for $8.00 from the other seller. The lady seller just shook her head and said $10.00 and asked for the money. The man just paid the lady $8.00 and was laughing. The two ladies were also laughing. I have to say here that the elderly Asian man never raised his voice nor was he ever rude throughout this whole transaction. He was smiling all the time. As for the Caucasian lady seller, she was also not rude but firm and at times exasperated. I could empathised with the Caucasian lady seller as she didn’t understand the Asian man as to why was he not paying the full price of $10.00. To make the matter even more complicated, the Asian man and the 2 ladies left the $8.00 on the table and walked away. The Caucasian lady seller who was now really exasperated raised her voice and said, “Hey, you need to pay me the $10.00. You have only given me $8.00”. By this time, people nearby were paying attention to the scene. The Asian man and the 2 ladies knew something was not right and they looked rather confused. They said, “we paid already”. The seller said, “you paid me less”. As they didn’t quite understand English, this made them even more confused. Finally, the lady seller took out a $2.00 token and showed them and said, “I need this”. One of the ladies took out the $2.00 and gave it to the seller. The seller finally felt relief while the man and the 2 ladies still looked confuse. Okay, let’s discuss this scene and analyse what had just happened?

First of all, it is obvious there is a language barrier here but remember, we can still communicate through gestures and the “language of money” is quite universal if you know how to count! If we look at the Caucasian lady seller’s perspective, she felt (I am of the opinion quite rightly too), that she has been short changed by the customers. The fact that the Asian man pointed to the other seller and said $8.00 did not alter her position in this business transaction. In Western society, things are handled mainly in a straightforward manner, it is either this or that. For example, if you are dealing with the seller, she will probably say to you, “This is my stall and this is my price. It is not relevant how much the other person sold the item to you. You can either buy it from me or you can buy it from the other person”. The fact that the Asian man and the 2 ladies laughed throughout the transaction did not help the situation either. From the seller’s perspective, the customers are making fun of her and this irritated her even more. One of the things that most people find rather difficult to handle (irregardless of whatever cultural background you are from) is when the other person is being disrespectful or rude.

Now, let’s look at the Asian man and ladies’ perspectives. Being an Asian myself, I can understand the cultural aspect of it as well. You see, I remember when I was a young boy in Malaysia, I used to follow my mother to the wet market. It was very common for people to haggle the price or bargain when they are in the wet market. One of the common methods that I have observed was when the customer would bargained with the seller until it came to a deadlock. The customer would then just leave the amount of money equivalent to the customer’s last offer on the table and take the items which are already packed by then. When the items are packed, it is indication (as least in my culture) that the seller has accepted the offer. The seller would then accept the money and go on with his next customer.  Why did the seller accept a lesser amount? I don’t have an answer for that but my opinion is that the seller was looking at retaining long lasting business relationship with the customer. The seller would still profit from the transaction but not as much as he hoped he would get. Sometime the haggling or bargaining becomes so intense, the customer or seller or even both would just laughed to break the tension but they continued to haggle anyway. If we take this scenario and apply it to the scene at Sydney Market which I described earlier, could it be that the Asian man and the 2 ladies were using the similar haggling technique? If they were, the response they got from the Caucasian lady seller was not one that they expected. When the seller did not accept their offer, the Asian man and the ladies were probably laughing thinking that the seller was just kidding with them and thought that this could be easily settled by just giving $8.00 to the seller and that will be that. Also, the fact that the peanuts were already put in the plastic bag indicated to the Asian man and the ladies that the seller had accepted the offer. However, when the seller raised her voice, they were confused and that led to an awkward and perhaps, an even embarrassing situation.

In today’s world, many countries are becoming multi-cultural due to migration and technology. Why technology? The reason is because people are finding it easier to travel from one place to another which makes everything closer together. For migrants, as much as they want to assimilate into the local community, it is not easy for them due to spending many years in their own country and having practiced their local culture ever since they were born. It will take some time for them to adopt to the new culture in their new country, especially when it comes to everyday dealings and business. The new migrants should not ignore the culture of their new country especially when it comes to dealing or doing business after they moved to that new country. Some new migrants felt that since they would be transacting and doing business with people from their country of origin, there is no need to learn the new culture. Well, in my view, that should not be the correct mindset. In order to be competitive in this world or in the new country for that matter, we need to learn and understand business practice of different cultures - that will give us the edge and make us competitive.

We will be staying in the beautiful City of Kuala Lumpur in the Business Culture Tour

We will be staying in the beautiful island of Penang

The beautiful island of Penang

We will be having dinner at the revolving restaurant in KL Tower while admiring the beautiful City skyline

Night scene in Kuala Lumpur

This is one of the main reasons why the Australian Dispute Resolution Centre (“ADRC”) organises “Business Culture Tours” to different countries where English is not the native language. The objective of the “Business Culture Tour” is to learn and understand the people of that Country’s approach in conducting business, decision making process, negotiation methods and approach in resolving conflicts. In collaboration with the Government of Malaysia, the ADRC is organising a “Business Culture Tour” to Kuala Lumpur and Penang from 12th October till 19th October 2014. Malaysia is a multi-cultural country and it will be a fun learning experience. If you need further information about the Malaysian tour or future tours, please send an e-mail to st@adrc.net.au .

Dreaming big by achieving small

Previously, I have written an article called “Setting goals and achieving them” where we talked about breaking your goal into smaller parts so that it can be achievable. For example, let’s say that I have joined a company as a Management Trainee and my goal is to be the CEO of the company, I will plan my route to the top of the corporate ladder by placing milestones. To become a CEO, my first aim is to be a Manager of the company, after that I will aim to be a Senior Manager, followed by Group Manager and then COO and ultimately CEO. By achieving each milestone, I will celebrate with satisfaction that I have achieved a goal and my ultimate dream of being a CEO is one step closer. So, whenever a person says that he needs to plan his career path or to climb the corporate ladder, I will say that this is probably one of the methods the person will choose. If we don’t set milestones then it would appear that our goal (in this case, to be the CEO) is very faraway and it gives the impression that it is not within our reach. Therefore, it is important to celebrate every achievement no matter how small it is. It gives us the satisfaction as well as gratitude for coming this far. Let me share with you a story about climbing the career ladder, the unexpected and gratitude.

My father’s friend is a former lawyer, public servant, politician, Member of Parliament and a Cabinet Minister. I remember asking my father whether his friend had ever in his lifetime career thought that he would be a Cabinet Minister one day. My father said, “No. His goal was to be a Senator”. What this man has achieved went beyond his wildest dreams. His aim was to become a mere Senator and what he has achieved was a huge bonus to him.  He has never imagined that one day he would become a full Cabinet Minister. It took him some time to realise that this wasn’t a dream, he was living in it! He served with distinction for his country until he had some differences with the country’s top leadership which resulted his resignation from the Government. The positions he attained were unexpected and were extra “feathers in his cap”. When he resigned from the Government, many of his close friends felt sorry for him but he did not let that bother him at all. He was in his old jovial self as he has achieved what he wanted to achieve and more. He is grateful for being more than a Senator. To him, the rest were unexpected and bonuses. So, when he left the Government he had no regrets but only gratitude and satisfaction. You see, when you set your goals, make sure it is realistic and achievable with some efforts. Setting a high goal which is not within one’s reach is a dream and yes, dream may come true with efforts and lots and lots of luck. The question is are we going to strive and strive until we achieve that dream or are we going to set achievable goals leading to that dream? Only you can decide for what is best for yourself. I know what I will do, how about you?

Food, shelter, clothing - basic needs or luxury items?

When I was in school many years ago, the teachers taught us the 3 basic needs - food, shelter and clothing. At that time, poverty, hunger and homelessness were common features in many developing countries. My generation and the previous generations did not take these basic needs lightly. As fortunate as some of us might be at that time, we  were cautious that we could be deprived of these 3 basic needs at anytime. We were then living in an uncertain environment and unpredictable era. In today’s generation, the young ones are taught the same 3 basic needs (ie: food, shelter and clothing) but they treat the needs in a different manner compared to my generation. When “food” is mentioned as basic need, the new generation will ask “what kind of food are we talking about? Japanese food, Korean, Chinese, Italian or French cuisine?” When “clothing” is raised as a basic need, the new generation will ask “what brand of clothing are we referring to? Giorgio Armani, Versace or Donna Karan?” Finally, when “shelter” is put forth as a basic need, the new generation will query about the type of “shelter”, whether it is a bungalow, semi-detached, town house, condominium or an apartment? To my generation, the 3 basic needs mean survivability or the ability to remain alive but for the new generation, the 3 basic needs mean gourmet food, fine dining, luxury brand, high fashion and comfortable lifestyle. Nowadays,”food”, “shelter” and “clothing” are still needed in our life but more for materialistic and ego needs rather than for survivability. Why? Well, I feel one of the main reason is that as the world progresses, we tend to take many things in life for granted. Hunger, homelessness and poverty are no longer as grave as before in many parts of the world, therefore we become complacent and take things for granted. Instead of appreciating these 3 very basic needs as what they are, we try to differentiate ourselves from other people by escalating our lifestyle to a luxurious and comfortable level by enhancing these 3 basic needs to a brand and ego-feeding exercise. I must say that this is not something that is only happening to today’s generation but it happened to me many years ago with a friend of mine in Los Angeles.

This university mate of mine came from a very wealthy family. He drove an expensive car with all the works such as a body kit and expensive tyres. This friend also had a collection of branded and luxury watches. However, I noticed that whenever he go out for lunch or dinner, he would usually eat in cheap places and ordered the cheapest dishes around. Being a food lover, I could never understand his rationale. Here is a person who drives an expensive car, wears branded clothing and has a collection of luxury watches, yet he eats like a “pauper” (please mind my language there). One day I couldn’t hide my curiosity, so I asked him a point blank question - “Why do you eat in cheap places and order cheap food but you don’t mind spending on luxury items?” His answer was simple, “Food cannot last but luxury items can”. In other words, this friend of mine is materialistic and prefer luxury items rather than good food. There is nothing wrong with that, it is just an individual’s preference. However, it does demonstrate to me how a person perceived things. Therefore the debate of “luxury vs needs” continues..... 

Some techinques on buying yourself some time

Have you ever come across a situation where you need to delay or to “buy some time” so that you will be able to give an appropriate answer or come out with an action plan? I remember as a student at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Joel Busch who was my Professor of Political Science at that time told us that one of the popular techniques used by politicians whenever they are face with tough questions would be to give a simple reply by replying “it depends”. Professor Busch said that such a reply would buy the politician some time to formulate a strategy or a better answer to counter the question. “It depends” is like an “open answer” that would “buy some time” for the politician. It would force the reporter to ask a follow up question which by then the politician would have hopefully come out with a strategy or a better answer. An effective technique to delay or to “buy some time”.

While on the topic of “buying time”, I am reminded of a story related by Anthony Watson who was my lecturer in International Relations at the University of Southern California in 1987. The story originated from a nomadic tribe known as Sufi. The story goes that once there was a man who was arrested for stealing precious items from the palace. The Ruler who was a ruthless leader immediately sentenced the thief to death. The thief wanted to buy himself some time to save his life so he offered to train the Ruler’s favourite horse to be able to talk in 10 years time if the Ruler is able to delay his death sentence until then. As ridiculously as the proposal may be, the Ruler felt he had nothing to lose so he decided to spare the thief’s life for 10 years. If the thief fails to teach the horse to talk, the thief will be put to death. Meanwhile the thief’s friends heard about his ridiculous proposal. They just shook their heads and said to him, “Are you mad? You know the horse will never be able to talk. You will die in 10 years time. Such madness!” The thief just replied, “10 years is a long time. By then, either the Ruler will die or I will die or......well, the horse will TALK!!!” The gist of the story is that the thief is buying himself some time for whatever reason or purpose. The reason could be because he is planning an escape from the Ruler's kingdom or he has some unfulfilled commitment or work that he needs to finish off or perhaps he just want to avoid the inevitable as long as he can.

Delaying tactics or buying ourselves some time is appropriate if we have a good reason for it. However, take caution, doing it often and on the same people would have negative effect. It will affect our credibility and people will no longer place trust on us as our words are becoming irresponsible. However, it will be useful especially when we find ourselves in a “tight situation” such as when we are “pressured” to buy something or to make a commitment. For example, a real estate agent pushing you to make an offer on a Property. The real estate agent could be “testing water” to see how much you are willing to pay for the Property. You, on the other hand, is interested in the Property but refused to be drag into the real estate agent’s web of “commitment to buy”. In such situation, you will need to “buy some time” to decide. By saying “no, I can’t decide” would show your weakness or being indecisive. By saying “yes”, you are committing yourself without being sure whether you are overpaying for it. So, what would be the appropriate way to handle this situation? I am sure there are many ways of handling this situation, but what I would do is just to request the real estate agent for more information, preferably information that the agent will not be able to provide you immediately. For example, an evaluation report of the Property, a copy of the Title Deed, what kind of financing can you get, etc. In other words, place the burden or the delay onto the agent as if as YOU are waiting for the agent to get back to you rather than you are the cause of the delay. This is a technique where politicians like to call it “answering a question with a question”. In other words, throwing the question back to the person who initially asked the question. This would allow you some time to think or formulate your next cause of action. If you can think of any other techniques to “buy some time”, feel free to share them in this blog under the “Comment” section below. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to buy me some time so that I can get some sleep!

The Reluctant Estate Manager from Temerloh

In the last article, we talked about how quickly things can change within a short period of time. We talked about how a team from almost losing a soccer final game to becoming a champion, all within minutes. Therefore, whichever way we look at it, we must never let our guards down nor must we ever be complacent. I know - words of wisdom are always easy to say but they become a challenge when put to practice. I am going to share with you a real story regarding turning things around at the final hour. I will call the story, “the Reluctant Estate Manager”.

A few years after I was called to the Malaysian Bar, I was asked to represent an Estate Manager who was charged for harbouring illegal foreign workers. There were only two foreign workers involved but nevertheless, he was charged. If I recall correctly, the penalty and sentence then was a minimum of RM500.00 and the maximum was 2 years imprisonment. The Estate Manager was an elderly man who was in his 60s at that time. Being a junior lawyer at that time, I was handed this file as it was a case with very low chance of winning as far as the defence was concerned. During those days, it was common for junior lawyers to be given cases with very little hope for success. This was to send a message to the junior lawyers that preparing for hearing was no easy feat and to remind young lawyers to never have the mindset that handling a court case is a walk in the park, ie: expecting to win all the time.

By perusing the facts of the case, it became apparent to me that the defendant had more or less a “gone” case as it clearly shows that he had contravened the law. I asked my senior legal colleague why doesn’t he just plead guilty and we can plea bargain with the prosecution. My senior colleague informed me that route has already been suggested, explored and has in fact (informally) proposed to the prosecution where it was agreed that a minimum penalty of RM500.00 would be imposed. However, the Estate Manager was reluctant to plead guilty. His employer was even willing to fork out the fine of RM500.00 for him and also gave him the assurance that his job, seniority and salary will not be affected but nothing could change the Estate Manager’s mind. So, here I was, been given the file with no hope of winning and told to conduct the trial in a small town called Temerloh in the state of Pahang. At that time, I was the most junior lawyer in the law firm and none of the other lawyers would want to make that long drive to Temerloh, stay overnight and return the next day. Those days, the road to Temerloh was pretty winding and narrow, so it was a norm to leave a day early so that we would have enough sleep, wake up fresh and be ready for trial the next day. It also happened that the trial date coincided with the “Ramadan” fasting period so it wasn’t an easy drive to Temerloh with heavy traffic on narrow and winding roads.

I remember that I left for Temerloh from the office right after lunch and did not arrive until close to 7.00pm which was about the time for “breaking fast” during the Ramadan period. All the eateries and restaurants were crowded due to the “breaking fast”, so I went to the bazaar and bought myself 20 sticks of chicken satay and brought them to my small room in the motel for dinner. While eating, I was flipping through the file but still couldn’t find any points or silver lining that can help me in the trial tomorrow. Resigning to the fact that the case more or less would be a “goner”, I turned in early and went to sleep.

Next morning, I woke up really early, had a cup of coffee, checked out from the motel and left straight for the Court. In the Court, I met the Estate Manager face to face for the very first time (though we have spoken numerous times over the phone). He was indeed an elderly man in his sixties at that time, soft spoken and a decent fellow. I have read his biography and he has been a long and outstanding employee with his Company. The reason his employer was taking an interest in his case was because of his past track record as well as they knew that there was no malicious intention on the Estate Manager’s part. The Estate Manager was just ignorant of the law but that is no excuse when it comes to legal consequences. Since I was early, I sat down with him and talked to him about some personal stuff just to get to know him better like his years of service in the Company, his family, hometown, etc. I found the Estate Manager to be a frank, loyal, responsible and a polite man. I then asked him the million dollar question which is “Why did you hire the illegal foreign workers?” He said he didn’t know the foreign workers were illegal. To him it was simple - he needed casual workers to work in his estate and so he just engaged them. He paid them daily and went on with his normal routine. I then asked whether he had checked the foreign worker’s ID or passport. He said he did not as in the village where the estate is situated, everything is based on trust. It was a simple answer from a simple person which made the case even harder for me. I then reiterated to him about his legal position, how the law sees it and his chances of winning which are rather slim. The Estate Manager informed me that he knows his chances are very slim but he wants to go all the way in the trial even though he realised that it doesn’t make any sense to me or anyone else. I then asked him the all important question which is “why are you doing this?” This was what he said, “Do you know how humiliated I felt when the police came and handcuffed me in the middle of the night in front of my workers and villagers? They treated me as if I were a big criminal. I am the Estate Manager, holding a respectable position in the estate and the village. People look up to me and now I have been humiliated in front of my own people. Therefore, I will not make it easy for the police or anyone else to pull me down like this!” I could empathised with the Estate Manager. My next question was “How many immigration officers were there?” He replied, “none”. When I heard his reply, my eyes lit up and suddenly got excited. I told him I need to check the Immigration Act on a particular section. After reading the section over and over again, I informed the Estate Manager that I might be able to get him off, though it would be a long shot. I quickly had a chat with the Deputy Public Prosecutor and he agreed to adjourn the case to allow me to make a written representation to the State Legal Advisor for the charges to be dropped.

You see, at that time the Immigration Act specifically states that only the Immigration officer or a person with a written authorisation from the Immigration Department, could arrest a person for harbouring illegal foreign workers. In this case, there wasn’t any immigration officer nor was there any written authorisation given to the police. Therefore, I made my representation based on those grounds and the charges were later dropped by the prosecution against the Estate Manager. Not long after our case was closed, the Immigration Act was amended to include the police as well in arresting a person for harbouring illegal foreign workers.

As you can see from the above, the Estate Manager’s fortune could turn around in a matter of minutes because in this case, there was a technical error in the arresting procedure. We were also rather fortunate as the Estate Manager’s story was told rather casually just minutes before the Court convened. So, what I have learned from this experience? Always, expect the unexpected, one can never be 100% sure of everything!

Inspirational stories on positive turnaround in a short time span

Many of us would have experienced challenging moments in our lives where things are not happening the way we hope or moving the direction that we want. In moments like this we tend to look for inspirational stories to lift our spirits up and motivate us so that we can move forward. It is also moment like this that I remind myself that major things or occurrences can happen in a short period of time. For example, who can ever forget the 2005 UEFA Championship Final between AC Milan and Liverpool? The match was nicknamed the “Miracle of Istanbul” (after the place where the final match was played). In that final match, AC Milan was leading 3-0 against Liverpool when Liverpool made a sudden comeback by scoring 3 goals within 6 minutes in the second half and eventually won the match in penalties shootout. This is a perfect example on how things can turnaround within just a short span of time. When Liverpool’s chances of winning the UEFA  Champion 2005 was almost nil, nobody could predict that Liverpool could score all 3 goals within 6 minutes. It was simply unbelievable.

Few days ago I was watching a video clip on YouTube featuring the Korean sensational singer, Psy performing “Gang Nam Style” in a concert in Singapore. I believe the concert was held a few years ago when Psy just became a worldwide household name. What fascinated me was when Psy told the crowd that he was in Singapore exactly a year ago (ie: a year before the concert). The crowd went wild and excited when they heard that Psy had visited Singapore previously. Psy said he came to Singapore as a tourist a year ago and never did he in his wildest dreams ever imagined that he would return to Singapore to perform as an international artiste in exactly one year later. It is strange to see how things can turn around in just a year - from an unknown to an international superstar. As a tourist, Psy was probably just wondering along the streets of Singapore aiming his camera at beautiful sights and then the following year, he had all the cameras aiming at him!




Being focus and seeing it through!

Just imagine you have a brilliant idea, then you decided to act on it and when you are making headway, suddenly a better idea came and then you became distracted. You then decided to act on that better idea and while acting on it, suddenly another better and brighter idea came about and you decided to leave all the other better ideas behind and act on the new one. By continuously doing this, you would have already left what would have been two great ideas behind. This is what happened when we are not focus and never feeling satisfied. As the saying goes, it is better to focus on what you have rather than what you don’t. By the time you decide to return to your original idea, it may already be too late as someone may have already taken and acted on that idea. This is true especially when it comes to relationship or when you are negotiating and then returning to your earlier offer.

In relationships, how many times have we come across people leaving their spouses or loved ones for someone new and then again to return to their loved ones when they discovered that the “grass is not greener” on the other side. When the person returned to their spouse or loved one, there is no guarantee that their return will be accepted by their spouses or their loved ones. There could be several reasons for this, such as no one wants to be “Plan B” which include the spouse or the loved one or perhaps the spouse or loved one has already move on and found someone better. Therefore, focus on what you have rather than looking for someone new!

As for the second example of negotiating and then returning to your earlier offer, I can relate to this rather well as it happened to me many years ago. It took me sometime to change my mindset and kicked that old habit of not being focus. Let me share with you one of those incidents. There was a time when I was browsing in one of the shops selling electrical appliances. I was interested in one of the items and had every intention to purchase it. I got hold of one of the salespeople and enquired about the item, its warranty and the price. We negotiated or rather haggled on the price until the salesperson accepted my offer. However, before I could conclude with payment, something else caught my eyes. I decided to abandon the earlier item and enquired about the new item. It was rather obvious that the salesperson wasn’t as enthusiastic in explaining to me as before. This was probably due to two reasons. One, the salesperson probably found that I wasn’t a reliable buyer and two, I may be perceived to be on a “shopping” or “fishing expedition” to gather information on products and prices and had no intention to purchase the item. By the time, I have decided to buy the first item, someone had made an offer to buy that item at a price higher than my first offer. It was too late for me. Seeing that I had no choice, I returned to the second item and made an offer. This time the salesperson drove a real hard bargain and was hard fast on holding on to the price. Being an experience salesperson, he knew that my options have now been restricted, therefore he had the upper hand. Secondly, he knew that like human beings with huge ego, I did not like losing out from the first item and he knew that I would go all out for the second item to reclaim my huge ego which I lost earlier. He made it really challenging for me and subsequently I bought the item. I was happy with the item but I think I would have got it for a far lesser amount if I just focused and saw through the negotiation earlier.

Before I end this article, let me share with you a humourous incident which happened to me a couple of days ago relating to “being focus”. One of the things that we do in our house is that we switched on our dishwasher after 10.00pm every night. Why 10.00pm? Well, that is because 10.00pm is the off peak period when it comes to electricity usage charges. Before going to bed, my wife asked me to switch on the dishwasher after 10.00pm. At that time I was really sleepy but forced myself to stay awake until 10.00pm.  I waited till slightly after 10.00pm then I went to bed. Next morning, my wife informed me that I did not switch on the dishwasher the previous night. I had to laugh out loud when she said that because what I did the previous night was indeed silly and laughable. I waited and forced myself to stay awake till 10.00pm and then switched off all the lights and went to bed forgetting the reason why I need to stay awake till 10.00pm. You see, I did not focus on the task but rather I focused on the time. So, sometimes focusing on the wrong thing may get you into trouble. That was definitely a lesson which will remain with me for a very long time!