Ever met someone like this - a bizzare businessman

[Rogue Trader]

How to help ?

Perhaps only through his loved & close ones.

I think the best way is if his wife can manage his saving before he blow everything on making rubbish purchasing choicess. Damage control. for the sake of his children and herself.

 

[scroobal]

Appreciate your thought on this. Some how I don't feel this falls within the definition of eccentricity. I have come across eccentrics all my life - good and bad ones and that's the reason why I tagged it as bizarre. The closest I can relate to is the compulsive disorder that one sees every now and then. This guy can't help himself. Once in a restaurant, when his family was invited, I placed the order including chilli paste, green and red chilli for his sake. He then called the waitress and asked for Thai sweet chilli. There was no dish that suited Thai sweet chilli. In fact no one can recall a single instant where he has ordered anything conventional.

I do agree that its beyond reasoning as you correctly pointed out - "the reasoning heuristics are fossilized."

By the way, eccentrics are some of the most interesting people one can meet. David Marshall was one. Very interesting the way they see the world. And they are usually brighter than the average chaps.

Since no has come across something similar, I am going to leave this alone.

This is one of the rare humane threads from Scroobal that has nothing to do with politics/current affairs.

 

[mercbenz]

Re: Ever met someone like this - a bizarre businessman

He suffering from excessive compulsive disorder? Maybe not your average eccentric, but simply just kuku!

This guy is nothing like the typical chinaman businessman. This guy is really bizarre and you won't realise it until you see him do things over a period of times. He is also not rich, having lost much of his inheritance.

In fact, I have never across a chap like this thus asking if anyone met a person like this. He is also not arrogant but nice chap.

Here some of his other traits.

- any food he orders will be followed by special instruction such as chilli separate, extra this and that, fry shorter etc
- go starbucks tell staff put medium coffee in large container so that he can swill it to cool faster
- take plane, special menu ordered beforehand.

In fact anything he does has to be different. His wife is also following him. and their favourite bak kua is pepper bak kua.

It not that they throw money but however small must still be different.

 

[Rogue Trader]

Re: Ever met someone like this - a bizarre businessman

He suffering from excessive compulsive disorder? Maybe not your average eccentric, but simply just kuku!

he is suffering from "like to order disorder".

 

[cooleo]

Then the business personality archetype model do not applies to this guy. Sorry but there is no cures for poor judgement and insecurity.
Loosing 3 house is a big blow. Like tonychat like to blame everyone else for his CMI in life failure, this guy purposely make funny choices to cover up for business failure.

Please don't compare him to Tonychat! Tonychat is a pimp, this man is a failed businessman. Got big difference.

 

[elephanto]

This guy can't help himself. Once in a restaurant, when his family was invited, I placed the order including chilli paste, green and red chilli for his sake. He then called the waitress and asked for Thai sweet chilli.

You said ' for his sake' implying form past experience, you know he likes it. Yet his response was to change to something else.

From this episode, I infer he is either 'ngeow' or his reflex is to refuse to be 'predictable', to want to be in 'control'. To let your order be is something that he just cannot part take.

Definite sign of compulsive behaviour with underlying 'inferiority'/'superiority' complex some sorta psychosis.

 

[kingrant]

Maybe the guy likes to feel he is in control all the time, even tho he may keep losing them, which makes him want to control even more..so it gives him a sense of satisfaction that he gets wwhat he actually wants and not something mass produced for everyone. Sometimes it's got nothing to do with being wealthy. Just freakish obsession.

Yeah that exactly right. I too thought this guy was good businessman and eventually realised that he had a disorder. This is has nothing to do with being a business differentiator. First he mortgaged his mother's bungalow for business and lost it. Then he sold his own HDB flat. The word comical comes to mind.

Eventually I realised that people remember him for his quirky orders.

 

[kingrant]

Sounds like he just cannot help wanting to be different and special from others. The chilli paste example showed that it wasnt something he liked but he just wants to be different, difficult, and unpredictable- even secretly relishing inside how others must bend to his whims. Wonder what happens if the other people cannot accede to his requests? What happens if he is constantly frustrated?

 

[Rogue Trader]

i know of rich successful and smart guys who are genuinely eccentric. They are afraid of germs.

 

[kingrant]

He does sound like Old man tho. Likes to be different, difficult, unconventional, and likes to make everyone run around/pander to his needs/whims..just to enjoy the spectacle of what his 'powers' can do.

I do agree that its beyond reasoning as you correctly pointed out - "the reasoning heuristics are fossilized."

 

[Ash007]

its not Howard Hughes you are thinking of is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained prominence from the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big-budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels, Scarface and The Outlaw. Hughes was one of the most influential aviators in history: he set multiple world air-speed records, built the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 "Hercules" (better known to history as the "Spruce Goose") aircraft, and acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines. Hughes is remembered for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle in later life, caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder. His legacy is maintained through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

 

[zuoom]

i know of rich successful and smart guys who are genuinely eccentric. They are afraid of germs.

Spermatophobia or Spermophobia- Fear of germs

Mysophobia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysophobia

Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contact with dirt, to avoid contamination and germs. Someone who has such a fear is often referred to as a mysophobe. The term was introduced by Dr. William Alexander Hammond in 1879[1][2] when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibited in repeatedly washing one's hands. This phobia is sometimes referred to as germophobia (or germaphobia), a combination of germ and phobia to mean fear of germs, as well as bacillophobia and bacteriophobia. Mysophobia has long been related to the OCD of constantly washing one's hands. However, Harry Stack Sullivan, an American psychologist and psychoanalyst, notes that while fear of dirt underlies the compulsion of a person with this kind of OCD, his or her mental state is not about germs; instead, this person feels the hands must be washed.[3]

or commonly known as OCD.
http://ocd.about.com/od/whatisocd/a/whatisocd.htm

 

[Rogue Trader]

or Spermophobia-

think i have this. i am terrified of other peoples sperm.

 

[scroobal]

I am pretty sure its some sort of disorder. Control freaks or those who want act different for vanity sake are quite common. This guy is a nice guy, not at all aggressive and does not boast. His dressing is also like the average joe with no pretensions.

And it cannot be taste, diet etc as I have seen and heard him order same dishes with more oil and than less oil. Whatever it is - its always special order. Once at Breadtalk, he asked the staff to warm up the buns he picked up and I thought he wanted to eat it then. He left it in the car.

Nobody in the circle of acquaintances have ever heard him place a normal order before. Ever seen a cheap Kia with tan leather seat?

This in addition to his lack of business acumen is quite a combination.

He suffering from excessive compulsive disorder? Maybe not your average eccentric, but simply just kuku!

You said ' for his sake' implying form past experience, you know he likes it. Yet his response was to change to something else.

From this episode, I infer he is either 'ngeow' or his reflex is to refuse to be 'predictable', to want to be in 'control'. To let your order be is something that he just cannot part take.

Definite sign of compulsive behaviour with underlying 'inferiority'/'superiority' complex some sorta psychosis.

Sounds like he just cannot help wanting to be different and special from others. The chilli paste example showed that it wasnt something he liked but he just wants to be different, difficult, and unpredictable- even secretly relishing inside how others must bend to his whims. Wonder what happens if the other people cannot accede to his requests? What happens if he is constantly frustrated?

 

[scroobal]

Yes, thats close. Howard Hughes was thought to be eccentric but he did suffer from the disorder.

I do recall that Howard Hughes favourties ice cream was Baskin Robbins but he would not pick from their wide range of flavours and he placed special orders. They would do it in a huge batch and he eat the same thing everyday for months and then suddenly stop.

Howard Hughes however was very good with busines.

its not Howard Hughes you are thinking of is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_hughes

 

[zuoom]

think i have this. i am terrified of other peoples sperm.

haha. who isn't?

--------------------

on another thought, i thought most would turn to being a bankrupt? it's a easier way out. last time it takes 5-7 years to get out of that status, now it's usually only around 2-3 years.

i think there was one TCS actress who went thru that route, no?

 

[Alamaking]

Like that also can talk so many pages.... -_-"

 

[Ash007]

I have a theory on why he is behaving this way. Perhaps he learned it from his father. His father was eccentric, hence the behavior was learned as he was growing up. However, due to economic changes, never learned fully how to be a good businessman etc, he failed becoming good in business. Perhaps he still has the delusion that what his father did could still earn him big money in this day and age.

Yes, thats close. Howard Hughes was thought to be eccentric but he did suffer from the disorder.

I do recall that Howard Hughes favourties ice cream was Baskin Robbins but he would not pick from their wide range of flavours and he placed special orders. They would do it in a huge batch and he eat the same thing everyday for months and then suddenly stop.

Howard Hughes however was very good with busines.

 

[pc2009]

A friend of mine falls in this cat. When I told him 'no plan is also a kind of plan', to explain why i was not doing much, he was shocked.

Actually there is another one called Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a personality disorder which involves an obsession with perfection, rules, and organization. People with OCPD may feel anxious when they perceive that things are not right. This can lead to routines and rules for ways of doing things, whether for themselves or their families.

It is a personality disorder, though in your friend's case, quite harmless.

The primary symptoms of OCPD are a preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, and schedules; being very rigid and inflexible in their beliefs; showing perfectionism that interferes with completing a task; excessive focus on being productive with their time; being very conscientious; having inflexible morality, ethics, or values; hoarding items that may no longer have value; and a reluctance to trust a work assignment or task to someone else for fear that their standards will not be met.

Some people with OCPD, but not all of them, show an obsessive need for cleanliness. Those that do not show this tendency are sometimes good at setting up systems to maintain cleanliness, but may not follow through with the need to clean because of other "more important" priorities. For example, the need to get a good grade or finish a project at work might cause the OCPD person to have a quite messy and unorganized home. But if that same person was suddenly unemployed or finished with other activities, he or she could very well start becoming obsessed with cleanliness as other activities take up less time.

There is a wiki page on this disorder : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive–compulsive_personality_disorder

 

[scroobal]

Its a possibility. I noticed that his wife has a similar issue but not pronounced. I assumed that it was learned behaviour. There is a possibility that he trying to emulate his father.

I have a theory on why he is behaving this way. Perhaps he learned it from his father. His father was eccentric, hence the behavior was learned as he was growing up. However, due to economic changes, never learned fully how to be a good businessman etc, he failed becoming good in business. Perhaps he still has the delusion that what his father did could still earn him big money in this day and age.