My mom's office is a place of fun for me. She is working as a cashier in one of the BSNL customer care centres. The place is always crowded as it is situated in the heart of south Bangalore. It is a place consisting of a few middle aged women who always chat about their children, the way TVs and the movies are "ruining" their children and also why bosky and prianca fought( hey they also watch the repeat episodes of Splitsvilla when we are not around). They keep scolding people if they come to pay the bill even at 7:30 p.m. even though the counter closes at 8:00 p.m. Whenever I go there, I wonder what BSNL gains by keeping these women for work when their competitors like Airtel and Reliance have better girls on the counters.
There was a strange incident when I had been there. A fellow from a shop in DVG Road had come to pay his bill. He may have been nearly 60 years old. A thin lean man with some crooked features ofcourse due to his age. He paid the bill of 650 with a Rs.1000 note. My mom gave back the change and he too went. After a few minutes, he came back with a 50 rupee note saying his master asked him to return the money as it was exceeding the change. My mom is usually good at handling cash but she had a bad headache that day and was not able to concentrate much on her work and also because it was more crowded than the usual days. We were shocked to see the man. There were many reasons why we were..
The first thing was that he himself could have noticed the extra change and could have pocketed it without telling the master.
The second thing was that the master could not have sent back the cash because there was no receipt for this cash.
Next is that even when the master asked him to return the cash, that fellow could have taken it as the master would not have enquired with the BSNL people.
None of this happened. Instead, the old man, who looked poor enough, came all the way back to the office to return a mere 50 rupees. My mom gave him the money from her own pocket due to his honesty. Ofcourse he refused it but she insisted him to have it and he left the office showering my mom with blessings for that 50 rupees.
Another incident, coincidentially happened on the same day this happened. A smart man came to the office with his MNC company's ID card hanging on his neck and a huge laptop bag on his shoulder. He appeared to be in his late twenties. He had to pay his bill of Rs.2450 and gave my mom 3 Rs.1000 notes. She took the cash and gave back the change and turned for the next customer. He saw the change, gave my mom a silent stare and was moving away. My mom suddenly called for him as though something struck her. She asked him to show the change she had given him. He said he had already kept it in his wallet and it had mixed with his money. She insisted him to show it as she was sure something was wrong. When he opened it, there were 2 Rs.500 notes and around 5-6 Rs.100 notes and some Rs.10 notes but there were no Rs.50 notes. My mom had mistakenly given him a 500 and a 100 rupees note. He was caught red handed for lying. The people present in the queue scolded him so much and made him return the amount. Again it was the same, Rs.50.
I wonder how that happened on the same day. The two people, so different from each other had behaved in a way completely different to themselves.
A man who was working for his daily wages in a shop had come all the way back to return Rs.50 which would have meant so much to him if he had kept it for himself and a man who would be earning in lakhs but still was not willing to part with the same Rs.50 which did not belong to him.
STRANGE!!!
9 comments:
Critical things first, i would suggest you to avoid using "master" , "poor fellow" in the write up. I strictly think using the left side of my brain and was offended (not that i will stop u from using it, its always unto you to accept or reject a suggestion). Good things next, The fact of the matter is even the second guy was right to do whatever he did (not that you have refuted it). I am not going to involve myself in slug fest about judging characters but you have to understand the fifty rupees might be even more important to this guy than the old gentleman. Consider this "what if the young gentleman took the extra 50 rupees as a compliment from a company whom he is doing a favor by being a customer".
I din't mean to offend anybody by commenting on their monetary positions. The words rich and poor are used for many other things too other than financial positions. I made this statement due to his appearance. I used that word to tell everyone that he could have used that 50rs in a better way.
I don't think I even need to reply for that master thing. Master is not a word that offends anyone. It is a position given to a person who knows more than us. Obviously, he is superior than the other.
I din't expect you to support the young guy. Nobody is doing a favour to the company by being its customer. All the thieves in the jail would have needed the money and robbed it. It may have been important to them . They may have robbed to save anyone's life. But ultimately mistake is a mistake.
OK hold on, when i say i was offended i think it is genuine to accept it rather than contending that no one gets offended by calling someone so. Secondly every business has a bloodline and a soul, the soul of the business is profit and the customers its bloodline, and if you are living in 2008 which most probably you are, you would have known that the economy is a buyer's economy and not that of the seller's and i quote "It is a position given to a person who knows more than us. Obviously, he is superior than the other", again girl sorry to tell you this but this surely sounds elitist. further i was not supporting the young man but was just advocating on his behalf because any judgment without due diligence is unjust. And again i say, calling him a thief which i know you directly didn't mention and i have assumed suo moto is not fair as there was a probability that he had actually kept the money in the wallet and did not know the change received and there was also a probability that he could be bad at mathematics.
My deep apologies if i was harsh. And keep it coming its good and i think a few more will persuade me to subscribe.
In due respect to ur comment, I would like to throw more light on my opinion
I am sorry if you find me as a racist or an elitist or whatever you name it. It is the common tendency to judge people by their appearances. You don't call a person in Jerseys as a CEO of a company even though it is the CEO himself. The first thing that comes to the mind is that he is a person into some sports. It was that kind of a conception I made. U do call ur lecturers or boss as Sir and they call u by ur name. Do you get offended at any point of time? I don't and I have expressed the same conviction here. Again I would like to mention that I don't ever think that standing for the young man can make anything work. Thats because I feel he is at fault.
Finally, our ideas do differ. Neither of us can help it or compromise..
Good we both agree to disagree. And for heaven's sake there is a large difference between racist and elitist and i surely did not call you one but referred just to your post.
Anyways keep it coming.
Cheers.
I think i lost the initiative. Kudos for your definitions but please be careful when you call an elitist racist (this was just in case) you find one.
no hard feeling.. I just supported the things I pointed...
there is this shoprite- supermkt near our coll, where u get hot sweet corn for 10 n 20 bucks.. it has happened several times tat the store owner gave me extra coupons by mistake, in his hurry..
i returned them back each time.
but i must say tat, as the value of the ill-gotten thing increases, so does the temptation.
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