Everyone smiled at each other as they watched the figures on the board. The targets looked next to impossible. People in the front row had to maintain a serious face in order to not get caught disapproving the targets.
Why are those back benchers laughing? Asked the tea boy…
“I think they might have cracked a joke” said the office boy
As the tea boy entered
“You think this is fucking funny” shouted the person standing by the board…
The room had a pin drop silence excepting the sound made by the tea cups being placed on the seats
You have no courtesy or dignity towards achieving these numbers and you think you are here to giggle about them? shouted the Location Manager at Joe(one of the sales executives)...
“No Sir…” said Joe rising from his chair
“Why were you giggling?”
“Nothing Sir we were just….”
“Just what…sharing a joke….we keep doing social service by delivering only 50% and when I am here to instill some seriousness you are giggling”
“Sir…”
“People like you are being made to sit in AC rooms and being served a tea so that you can laugh at our targets”
Now even the tea boy understood that something was seriously wrong with this tea interference and stood as if he required the big man’s approval to serve tea.
With no obvious signals, the tea boy did not serve the tea to Joe and left the room in fear.
Joe stood there answering the Location Manager for the next 10 minutes, obviously on his last month figures, while the rest silently sipped on their tea…
After the meeting was over there was a murmur in the office about the way Joe got cornered and people were poking fun at him. I watched him closely and could make out that while he was trying his best to show no emotions, he did look a little shaken.
Slowly he excused himself out of the crowd and took a walk…I saw him cross the street and buy a smoke…I don’t know why I did it but I walked across the street and ordered tea from that very shop. He could make out that I was watching him all this while in office and greeted me with a sheepish smile.
I broke the silence “So what happened there”
“Nothing sir, the usual targets and numbers”
“Ok…how is it (numbers) looking like?”
“Bad…last two months I made some incentive but looks like this month onwards I won’t”
“You can work a little harder” I suggested
“Yeah I don’t know how to do it” he said as if he resigned about it…
"I have just recently brought this” he said, showing me a blackberry handset…”I don’t know how I will pay its installment for this month” he said
“How much did it cost?”
“Eleven thousand, I took it in 6 months emi scheme sir…”
“Ok you seem to be tech-savvy” I smiled at him
“No sir actually I brought it for my dad, this weekend I will go home and give it to him, my dad still uses the old torch wala nokia” he said with a lot of pride, I could see how much it meant for him to give the phone as a surprise to his father
“How old are you” I asked
“I am 29 now” he said
“You married or still an eligible bachelor” I asked
“Ha-ha no sir…there is a lot of time for that” he said as if 29 was too young
“Sir, are you too in sales?” Joe asked breaking his curiosity to understand who I was
“Well I work out of the head office in Analytics” I said…
“I also wanted to get into some IT kind of profile but now they will not accept me…they say I am too old” he said
“Well you seem to be doing a good job...You got a blackberry and all” I said
“No sir…of late it has become very difficult…am in this profile for more than 3 years now and I am vexed of it…there is no growth”
“But have you discussed this with your location head…”
“Our previous RM sir used to like me a lot…I have done good numbers under him, he used to say he will try for my promotion but now he is gone and my numbers also dropped these days” said Joe
I smiled….ok so if you don’t mind can I ask you something…
“How much do you earn” I asked
“I earn 22000 per month 15000 I send home
Rent plus other expenses 4000
I manage in 3000 including petrol...
I could not understand what he meant by managing in 3000 rupees. In current day scenario that’s next to impossible
“Then why do you smoke, aren't you wasting money”...I asked
ab theek hain...(Sigh)...he smiled!
He thought he smiled but i only saw a twinkle in his eye. I now understood why he could not marry or why he could not afford paying this month’s EMI…I felt extremely bad for him…
“Sir, Shall we have lunch?” he asked
I nodded and we left to the office cafeteria together
I was completely occupied with Joe’s financial struggle while I was picking my rations…How does a guy who should have been married by now live happily by sending home 3/4th of his salary and feed himself on peanuts and willpower!
I sat with him and I could observe that he was still sad by the thrashing he received in the conference hall
“Sir, if performance is not meeting expectations in next 3 months will they ask us to leave” he asked as if I had the answer for that
“Well…………………….i don’t know but it’s the business’s call” I said, obviously, unprepared for such question
He looked confused and very concerned as if he wanted me to decipher it for him
“If you really don’t meet their expectations they could” I said to confirm the possibilities
“OK” he said with a smile and bent his head to focus upon the food
He was struggling with his food and I could see that…
“You are not eating” I asked
“I will sir, but I was just thinking what will happen………….”and he could not complete that line….There were tears flowing down his cheek… he could not even chew the food properly, there was just too much emotion all of a sudden
I did not know what happened, It felt weird in my stomach…may be I had tears too but then I firmly commanded “Go to the restroom; wash your face and comeback...just go”
He obeyed me and hid his face in his kerchief while he rushed to the washroom. He was back after a couple of minutes. His eyes were red and face looked swollen…he was looking uncontrollable…
“You know….” I started trying to catch his attention
“Rest room is such a great place…………men who faced difficulties in life mostly cried in the restrooms…but then you also need to gather yourself to face the world outside it and probably that’s why they often say you need a short recess once in a while. You can always take a short break, think of people you love the most and gather your strength, and do things that you were, otherwise, hesitant to do”
Joe listened to me as if I were making sense to him,
“If you have really gathered yourself in that restroom I would like to tell you how I want you to perform and how you could grow if you would not mind working with me for another 6 months…probably I would love to see you having an i-phone this time” I said with a smile
“Sir, am not understanding..who are you” he asked
“I am the new Regional Manager, nice meeting you Joe!”
JPR$
