Satish, is the gentleman who distributes milk in our residential area. A simple guy, always ready to accept blame heaped on him, to a fault. When I'd just taken up the duties of the president, the caretaker had told me about the perpetual struggle he'd to undergo to collect his monthly dues from the residents due to the 'come laters', accompanied with bizarre excuses. Sample some:-
"Come later,
(a) sahib is sleeping.
(b) we don't have change.
(c) is this the time to come? The child is sleeping.
(d) don't you see that we're going out?
(e) don't you see that we've guests? Don't disturb us.
(e) you can wait for a few more days. I'm not really happy with your work".
The poor guy could not come up with an effective response to such tepid bureaucratic nonsense from the residents. An outlet for bakery products, that he'd begun, sank without a trace because he couldn't resist customers who insisted on credit and he seemed to be all at sea as he didn't know their names and feared asking them at the time of transaction!
The first thing that was introduced was to collect his service charges through the monthly subscriptions paid by the residents. Satish had regained his ear-to-ear grin and had leased out the bakery premises to an efficient young lady who was adept in dealing with the customers.
Yesterday, Satish was asked to supply another packet of milk because only one coupon had been honoured while the other seemed to be missing. Probably a mistake made by his understudy? And when Satish was queried, he promptly provided the second, tending an apology too in his unique style. It was soon after he'd left that the elusive coupon was found stuck to the previous packet obviously due to the wetness thanks to its retrieval from the freezer, prior to distribution.
I'd called up Satish, to apologise and to give him the coupon. And I couldn't resist but ask him as to why he'd not put across his case strongly that he hadn't found the coupon. His answer to that was profound and made me really small and I quote, "Sir, my explanation would be interpreted as acting smart to cover up my mistake and in any such argument, I'd end up being the loser! There's no point in fighting over trivia, after all, it's just a packet of milk. I want to maintain a good relationship with everyone".
The lump in my throat was pronounced.
Tailpiece.
1. Satish has had not much of a formal education but the lessons that he has learned from life and that too at such a young age is tremendous.
2. Sorry Satish for the faux pas. I'm convinced that I'm a boor and thanks for your valuable lesson on humility!! I shall narrate the episode to everyone during our next get together only to ensure that they know of your intrinsic worth.
"Come later,
(a) sahib is sleeping.
(b) we don't have change.
(c) is this the time to come? The child is sleeping.
(d) don't you see that we're going out?
(e) don't you see that we've guests? Don't disturb us.
(e) you can wait for a few more days. I'm not really happy with your work".
The poor guy could not come up with an effective response to such tepid bureaucratic nonsense from the residents. An outlet for bakery products, that he'd begun, sank without a trace because he couldn't resist customers who insisted on credit and he seemed to be all at sea as he didn't know their names and feared asking them at the time of transaction!
The first thing that was introduced was to collect his service charges through the monthly subscriptions paid by the residents. Satish had regained his ear-to-ear grin and had leased out the bakery premises to an efficient young lady who was adept in dealing with the customers.
Yesterday, Satish was asked to supply another packet of milk because only one coupon had been honoured while the other seemed to be missing. Probably a mistake made by his understudy? And when Satish was queried, he promptly provided the second, tending an apology too in his unique style. It was soon after he'd left that the elusive coupon was found stuck to the previous packet obviously due to the wetness thanks to its retrieval from the freezer, prior to distribution.
I'd called up Satish, to apologise and to give him the coupon. And I couldn't resist but ask him as to why he'd not put across his case strongly that he hadn't found the coupon. His answer to that was profound and made me really small and I quote, "Sir, my explanation would be interpreted as acting smart to cover up my mistake and in any such argument, I'd end up being the loser! There's no point in fighting over trivia, after all, it's just a packet of milk. I want to maintain a good relationship with everyone".
The lump in my throat was pronounced.
Tailpiece.
1. Satish has had not much of a formal education but the lessons that he has learned from life and that too at such a young age is tremendous.
2. Sorry Satish for the faux pas. I'm convinced that I'm a boor and thanks for your valuable lesson on humility!! I shall narrate the episode to everyone during our next get together only to ensure that they know of your intrinsic worth.
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