So I am now one of those famous people at work who usually work late and get to meet the cleaners and peons who come after working hours to clean up our tables and clear out our waste bins and of course, wash our coffee mugs.
Yes, we are treated like royalty and since we bring our own mugs to save cost of styrofoam cups :$, the company ensures our mugs are kept clean.
Now what impresses me is each day, this guy, walks around keeps picking up mugs from everybody's table from our dept. In one go, he would pick up around 25 mugs. These are all of different shapes, colours, materials sizes etc and he goes and washes them. Then he comes back and puts each one of the mugs to where he picked them from. I am simply amazed how everybody gets a clean mug at his own place every morning. This guy does this as a routine and doesn't make a single mistake while keeping them at place.
I was wondering how he does it. I asked him today and he replied in his own native language which was Nepalese I think which I didnt understand and I realized he doesn't know English. So I couldn't really find out his technique. But does that matter? This poor guy who obviously has a brilliant brain and has found an algorithm obviously to somehow remember 25 mugs he picks up everyday and keep them back exactly at their spots.
I was thinking the only way he could do it is by picking up in an order and arranging on his tray and while washing maintaining that sorting order and while coming back placing them in the reverse order like he picked up.
I couldn't think of any other way he could do it. He cannot memorize mugs, I don't think so. I say this because its not only these 25. Once he is done with these, he goes ahead and picks up 25 more that fit his tray.
Day in, day out...this guy impresses me. What do you think? How does he do it?
go to some Pathans Chai hotel and see the "BAHAR WALA" out there .. that bahar wala can serve 15-20 cup full of tea and with saucers easily.. Impressive..
ReplyDeleteHmm I dont think so he goes that systematically .. probably you never noticed anyone else's cup ever :P
ReplyDeleteAt our place the thing is almost similar just that they put them in a closet in kitchen and wash them 3-4 times a day :P I know whose cup is which one too :P Just observation :)
Dont think so hard UTP bhai :P
hmm, by reading the above post, I had gone in past for a while. I was close to a perosn ( u even cant imagine how much i close with him), he works like this, he has a bicycle, behind the bicycle, there is big wooden box and front there is also a small metalic basket(u can say). He takes tiffons from differnt from various shopkeepers's homes and then drop at their shops in noon.It is his job.Now amzing thing is this he takes 40 tiffon of same colour and same size and drop all of them on their shops.How does he do this? He never forgot.
ReplyDeleteOne order I saw that he puts those tiffon in a sequence that first shop he reach he put that tiffon at corner then second shop's tiffon he puts after the previous one and so on. Hence when he reaches at first shop, he drops tiffon which he put in the corner and drops all with the same sequece.When I think about his mind, I was just amazed because he is uneducated.
I think often there are those who we may think of as uneducated, but are very skilled in their own way.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I not surprised with your reasoning (after reading your About Me page)? They say engineers and programmers (or computer science people) have this innate knack of linking everything logically, just like you did :-D They tend to think in their own "zone" and finds out most answers from within the zone: algorithms, sequences, stacks and stuff :)
ReplyDeleteProbably the guy knows whose mug it is, it's not THAT hard to remember if they're different and doing them daily is your job.
BTW, I'd have concluded it the way you did, too.
Some people do have excellent memory to remeber even the minute details..besides, if you're doing something every day..u bound to remember respective mugs of respective tables
ReplyDeleteI think he memorizes , heres what you can do, you can agree with your colleague, and change mugs with him before this guy comes, and then watch the result. it could tell you something. it could confuse him
ReplyDeletebut thats not difficult at all...u dont need to be highly educated to think logically. i dont know what does he do to remember the order, but theres actually a quite simple way to do it. just put the cup in the order in which u pick them...and put them back in the same order... :D
ReplyDeleteThis guy does this as a routine and doesnt make a single mistake while keeping them at place.
ReplyDeleteIf you know that he doesn't make any mistake, then you also know which mug should go where. What's your algorithm?!
By the way, when I started reading the post, I thought that that guy carries all those 25 mugs in just his hands. Now that WILL be impressive!
Oops. Forgot to close the em tag around 'you'. Please fix it. :)
ReplyDelete@jawwad - yup that is impressive too...but thats a no brainer....thats more skill you know...than intelligence...
ReplyDelete@asma - you know everybody's cup? wow...
@murtaza - that is amazing too...
@purpledrifter - that is the point I was trying to bring out also...
@anas - true that but its not only these 25 then he goes and gets 25...there are around 100 people in this small section....its a WOW thing ok...
@lubz - well...I guess so...but he deserved a blog post on him...for sure...
@MD - that is already planned...I am going to do that...lets see ..... hhehe...you think like me ....
@farstar - I think he does that too...
@saadat - heheh...I know because no one ever complains....no algorithms here...
My guess is that he remembers. He might have some system for it as well, but if you have to do the thing day in and out then you can even remember 100. He must make mistakes but the rate is low. If you are doing a job as a poen or a cleaner, you tend to have a LOT of brain resource availbable so you can remember, no wonder the forgetful professor is legendary.
ReplyDeletemaybe he employs the FILO *first in last out* concept:P
ReplyDeleteor maybe somehow it has become his habit..strong memory could also be one of the factor;)
@raza ali - heheh...I am not sure if that is how....he cant surely remember 100 mugs now...come on ...
ReplyDelete@An Illusion - well if its strong memory...its a WOW thing for me...