My Neighbor Has It, So I Need It
I’m sure you are all familar with Lebanese enviness, my neighbor buys a new car and therefore I must have a newer car, well let’s take that a step forward:
A Lebanese-American living in Marlboro, Tony Jouki has run the LukOil service station at Tatnuck Square for two years. He bought the business from a Lebanese friend.
He estimated that 90 percent of service stations are run by Middle Easterners. He can’t pinpoint how it started, [...] Middle Easterners at some point saw a successful gas and service station being operated by a peer.
“In my country, one guy started making furniture,” Mr. Jouki said. “Then, everyone copied him and you had all these people making furniture.
“They say, ‘Hey, he’s doing well. I can do what he’s doing.’ "
Not really entrepreneurship, more like laziness. Hello, ingenuity and originality, I really do not need you. I’ll just copy my neighbor Elie, Mohammed and Ali.
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Comments
seriously?! Tony Jouki is my brother-in-law, and the word lazy has never applied to him. He has been in the USA since
1977 and throught out the years owned many different types of businesses. Before you judge people and call them lazy,
make sure that you listen to the whole statement first.
Reply
Hi Joss, thanks for the comment. I’ve read the whole statement extremely well. I’m not talking about Tony. I’m talking about Lebanese in general where they see someone doing well and instead of innovating, they imitate.
Honestly, I’m indifferent if Tony is lazy or works 18 hours a day. My focus is on the Lebanese psyche of always taking the easy road.
Reply
Hi Jad,
Nice blog you have there… you’re in my reader now