Oh, this disgusting attitude!

Background.

1. Ajith, my friend, was staying in an inn nearby to facilitate the early morning 'darshan' of the good Lord, after his meditation. He'd, while vacating the room the day before yesterday, forgotten his cellphone behind. On finding out, he'd called me up for its retrieval and passing it on to him.

The follow up.

2. After pocketing the instrument from the receptionist at the inn - he'd made sure of my identity and that's what I call a job, well done - I'd gone across to the post office that services our area and asked the Branch Post Mistress as to what the charges would be to send the cellphone to Ajith's residence by speed post. She'd called up a friend of her's in the profession, who in turn asked her to find out the forwarding address and then advised her against accepting the cellphone. She turned back to me to say that she was unable to accept the responsibility because of previous incidents when similar articles had got lost on transit.

3. I felt sorry for the young lady because what she was doing was actually 'playing safe'. I told her that she must not let past happenings to limit her style of working and must learn to take risks, accept responsibility for her actions and always 'pressure test' the envelope of her professional capabilities. With a winsome smile, she said that she'd have been willing to do just that if she'd a superior like me! I wasn't impressed and headed for the local courier service.

4. The young lady at the counter, after hearing out my query, said rather matter-of-factly that the courier service did not cover the forwarding address. On further inquiry, she gave me the info about the nearest point they could send the article from where the addressee'd to retrieve it. This is another attitude of our's - the Malayalees' - that disgusts me. The service providers are parsimonious about parting with information so vital for the customer to take action, unlike their north Indian counterparts who ensure that their customers either use their services or buy the item at the end of their interaction with them. Sadly, here they give one the impression that they're doing the others a great favour by doing their job!

5. My attempts to get in touch with my friend were in vain and so, I returned home without taking any action.

Tailpiece.

Ajith had called up later on and said that he was coming in tomorrow to collect his cellphone personally. The problem was, thus, licked without further ado!