Stories about forming perspectives and outlooks

Mark has been living abroad for quite some time, supervising projects all over the world for a big oil company .
He occasionally comes back home on short holidays to relax, and enjoy some downtime with his friends, and loved ones.
Eager to see his friends, whom he lost sight of for many years, he organized a lavish dinner in a luxurious restaurant to make the encounter special.
The next day, John one of Mark’s friends was complaining about how boastful and arrogant Mark was. He felt that the invitation to a top class restaurant and the expensive food was done intentionally to flaunt his wealth.
Albert, who was also among the invitee, was on the other hand describing how generous Mark was, how lush the place looked, and how good the food tasted.
Two salespeople were sent to a to a far away country on a mission to do a market research for a shoe company.
Upon arriving, the first one, Edward, was shocked before the rampant poverty and the dilapidated buildings, but what got his attention was the fact that almost none of the people wore shoes.
Puzzled by this observation, he ventured into the city, and asked about the reason behind it.
He received a lot of answers that ranged from the logical to the most inane, but everybody agreed that it was an old tradition that run through generations of farmers and artisans.
Dejected, he packed and left the country as his task fell to pieces before it even started.
The second salesman, Patrick, was met by the same gloomy sight upon arriving.
He looked around elated, not believing his eyes, and said, "This is the perfect country to start selling shoes, it seems that there is no competition for me here, and everybody here needs a pair of shoes”.