From his fourth-floor office, Vichitra was looking out into the street below and wondering why do people have to work so hard to earn a living? He was lost in his thoughts when his superior at office, Arvind, calmly came from behind.
Arvind had a stern personality, with a beer belly and a six-foot height.
‘There are three kinds of people in this world’ said Arvind. ‘The first kind of people actually know something. Those falling in the second category know that they don’t know anything but still can not accept it, and the third category people at least accept that they don’t know anything. Do you know who is the most harmful of these three?’
‘No’ said Vichitra Kumar. He had no idea that this was a sarcasm meant for him.
‘The second kind of people and you are one of them.’
‘But why do you say that?’ casually replied Vichitra who was still staring out of the window.
Arvind decided not to react and coolly asked Vichitra ‘Ok tell me, what have you done since morning?’
Vichitra continued staring into the street below and at the passing cars, and after a while replied equally coolly ‘Let me think’.
Vichitra Kumar was a happy-go-lucky fellow with an easy attitude. He had a lean built, and was not too tall, say, five foot seven inches. He would always have something to say on almost any topic. He could look bewildered even on the simplest of things and, he could also be one of the sanest persons in the most trying of situations.
Arvind was trying hard to keep his cool now ‘You have one more problem’.
Vichitra quietly turned towards Arvind and said innocently ‘Now what have I done?’
‘You think a lot. Can’t you ever say something without actually troubling your brain?’
Vichitra tried to think of something and then abandoning it in the middle managed to say ‘Let me think’.
‘Alright, my mistake! I asked the wrong question. Ok tell me, what have you done since morning?’ asked Arvind trying to contain his anger.
‘I had lunch.’
‘What else?’
‘One cup of coffee.’
‘I meant have you done any work since morning?’
Arvind started to have second thoughts about why did he hire Vichitra in the first place. Ironically, the fact was that Vichitra turned out to be the brightest among the eight people who had turned up for the interview.
Vichitra chuckled ‘You asked me to update the contact details of companies in our database.’
‘And so!’
‘I was thinking all the while how can I actually update that?’
‘What do you mean by this?’
‘I mean if someone changed his phone number or email address, he can’t attend my phone nor would he reply to my email.’
‘So’ shot back Arvind.
‘So, how will I confirm the new phone number or the email address? And if he hasn’t changed any of those, that means his phone number and email address are still the same. And there is no need to contact that person.’ replied Vichitra. He waited for sometime and then added ‘Why take all the trouble when we know we can’t really track all this’.
‘By the way, who asked you to actually call or send email to everyone?’
‘No one!’
‘So where did you get this ridiculous idea from?’
‘From you’ said Vichitra as a matter of fact.
‘From me! And may I ask how?’
‘Yeah… in the morning you were speaking with one of the clients on the phone and you hung up by saying, I have updated your details and thank you for your time on the call. So I thought it must be normal practice to call up people before updating the contact details’
‘By details I meant his payment information was updated on the website. There was a bug and I fixed it’ explained Arvind.
‘Oh k’ said Vichitra in a tone of surprise as this was a revelation to him.
‘So how do I actually update the contact details?’ it was Vichitra’s turn to get serious now but not for long.
‘It’s very simple. Go to the company’s website. Check out the address and the phone details and if they are different from our records, call up at the new number, confirm and update the contact details in our records. But remember to always check the website first!’
Vichitra thought about it and then felt that it would not be so difficult also. In the meantime, Arvind had gone back to his work.
This was Vichitra’s fourth day at office. He really wanted to prove himself but he hadn’t done anything useful yet which could justify his appointment over eight other better candidates. He decided to do something about it. He looked up the Contact Details data. He went to the website of the first company on the list and found its address and phone number to be the same as already entered in the Contact Details data. Well… he never thought it was going to be this easy. He would get done with all this very soon.
The second company on the list was Makemyday. He went to the website of Makemyday on the internet, but this time found that its phone number was different than what it was in the Contact Details data. He decided to confirm and so called up the company’s office.
‘Hello’
‘Welcome to Makemyday.com. How can I help you Sir?’
‘Can you really make my day?’
‘Yes Sir, this is what we are in this business for. Tell us your problem and we will tell you a solution.’
Vichitra decided to come straight to the point.
‘Ok. Why did you change your phone number?’
‘Sir, if I am not wrong, are you asking me why did I change my phone number?’
‘Yes, you heard it right.’
‘Sir I haven’t changed my phone number for the last 3-4 years.’
‘But I went to your website and there I found a new phone number than what we have in our database.’
‘Alright Sir, I got it. You mean why did Makemyday.com get a new phone number?’
‘Exactly’
‘Sir, actually we shifted to this new office.’
‘You people don’t even think about before doing any such thing. Anyways, why did you shift to this new address?’
‘We needed a bigger office.’
‘You could have expanded the old one?’
‘That would have been very expensive, Sir.’
‘You know what? It’s because of people like you that people like me have to work so hard.’
‘I am sorry to hear that. But why do you think so Sir?’
‘Because now, I will have to update your contact details in our database.’
‘Well, can I be of any help to you?’
‘Yes… Go back to your old office and get back the old phone number’
The other person disconnected the line.
Vichitra was of course surprised by the rude behavior of the guy on the other side of the line but he chose to ignore it. The third company in the list had its name missing but the website address said Mydogdoesnoteat.com. Vichitra went to this website on the internet, and again it had a different phone number than what was there in the Contact Details data. He decided to give them a call.
‘Hello’
‘Welcome to Mydogdoesnoteat.’
‘But why doesn’t he eat?’
‘Sir, who?’
‘Your dog!’
‘Sir, I don’t own a dog.’
‘So whose dog you were talking about?’
‘Sir I never talked about any dog.’
‘Didn’t you say my dog does not eat?’
‘Oh… Sir this is the name of our website, Mydogdoesnoteat.com. We help dog owners in helping their dogs to eat.’
‘Anyways how can I help you Sir?’
‘But you can’t help me. Because my dog already eats very well.’
‘Oh really Sir! Good to know that and thank you for calling Mydogdoesnoteat.’
‘But I never called your dog doesnoteat?’
‘Sir I meant thank you for calling me at Mydogdoesnoteat.com.’
‘Ok. Can I ask you one thing?’
‘Tell me Sir.’
‘Why did your change your phone number?’
‘I don’t know! I don’t know if we ever did also. Because I joined Mydogdoesnoteat only 2 months back.’
‘So where was he before that?’
‘Who was where before what?’
‘I mean where was doesnoteat before you joined him two months back?’
There was silence from the other side.
Vichitra Kumar stared hard into the receiver of the phone, and said quietly, ‘You know what? It’s because of dogs like doesnoteat that people like me have to work so hard.’
© 2007 Ankur Shanker
Archives
Arvind had a stern personality, with a beer belly and a six-foot height.
‘There are three kinds of people in this world’ said Arvind. ‘The first kind of people actually know something. Those falling in the second category know that they don’t know anything but still can not accept it, and the third category people at least accept that they don’t know anything. Do you know who is the most harmful of these three?’
‘No’ said Vichitra Kumar. He had no idea that this was a sarcasm meant for him.
‘The second kind of people and you are one of them.’
‘But why do you say that?’ casually replied Vichitra who was still staring out of the window.
Arvind decided not to react and coolly asked Vichitra ‘Ok tell me, what have you done since morning?’
Vichitra continued staring into the street below and at the passing cars, and after a while replied equally coolly ‘Let me think’.
Vichitra Kumar was a happy-go-lucky fellow with an easy attitude. He had a lean built, and was not too tall, say, five foot seven inches. He would always have something to say on almost any topic. He could look bewildered even on the simplest of things and, he could also be one of the sanest persons in the most trying of situations.
Arvind was trying hard to keep his cool now ‘You have one more problem’.
Vichitra quietly turned towards Arvind and said innocently ‘Now what have I done?’
‘You think a lot. Can’t you ever say something without actually troubling your brain?’
Vichitra tried to think of something and then abandoning it in the middle managed to say ‘Let me think’.
‘Alright, my mistake! I asked the wrong question. Ok tell me, what have you done since morning?’ asked Arvind trying to contain his anger.
‘I had lunch.’
‘What else?’
‘One cup of coffee.’
‘I meant have you done any work since morning?’
Arvind started to have second thoughts about why did he hire Vichitra in the first place. Ironically, the fact was that Vichitra turned out to be the brightest among the eight people who had turned up for the interview.
Vichitra chuckled ‘You asked me to update the contact details of companies in our database.’
‘And so!’
‘I was thinking all the while how can I actually update that?’
‘What do you mean by this?’
‘I mean if someone changed his phone number or email address, he can’t attend my phone nor would he reply to my email.’
‘So’ shot back Arvind.
‘So, how will I confirm the new phone number or the email address? And if he hasn’t changed any of those, that means his phone number and email address are still the same. And there is no need to contact that person.’ replied Vichitra. He waited for sometime and then added ‘Why take all the trouble when we know we can’t really track all this’.
‘By the way, who asked you to actually call or send email to everyone?’
‘No one!’
‘So where did you get this ridiculous idea from?’
‘From you’ said Vichitra as a matter of fact.
‘From me! And may I ask how?’
‘Yeah… in the morning you were speaking with one of the clients on the phone and you hung up by saying, I have updated your details and thank you for your time on the call. So I thought it must be normal practice to call up people before updating the contact details’
‘By details I meant his payment information was updated on the website. There was a bug and I fixed it’ explained Arvind.
‘Oh k’ said Vichitra in a tone of surprise as this was a revelation to him.
‘So how do I actually update the contact details?’ it was Vichitra’s turn to get serious now but not for long.
‘It’s very simple. Go to the company’s website. Check out the address and the phone details and if they are different from our records, call up at the new number, confirm and update the contact details in our records. But remember to always check the website first!’
Vichitra thought about it and then felt that it would not be so difficult also. In the meantime, Arvind had gone back to his work.
This was Vichitra’s fourth day at office. He really wanted to prove himself but he hadn’t done anything useful yet which could justify his appointment over eight other better candidates. He decided to do something about it. He looked up the Contact Details data. He went to the website of the first company on the list and found its address and phone number to be the same as already entered in the Contact Details data. Well… he never thought it was going to be this easy. He would get done with all this very soon.
The second company on the list was Makemyday. He went to the website of Makemyday on the internet, but this time found that its phone number was different than what it was in the Contact Details data. He decided to confirm and so called up the company’s office.
‘Hello’
‘Welcome to Makemyday.com. How can I help you Sir?’
‘Can you really make my day?’
‘Yes Sir, this is what we are in this business for. Tell us your problem and we will tell you a solution.’
Vichitra decided to come straight to the point.
‘Ok. Why did you change your phone number?’
‘Sir, if I am not wrong, are you asking me why did I change my phone number?’
‘Yes, you heard it right.’
‘Sir I haven’t changed my phone number for the last 3-4 years.’
‘But I went to your website and there I found a new phone number than what we have in our database.’
‘Alright Sir, I got it. You mean why did Makemyday.com get a new phone number?’
‘Exactly’
‘Sir, actually we shifted to this new office.’
‘You people don’t even think about before doing any such thing. Anyways, why did you shift to this new address?’
‘We needed a bigger office.’
‘You could have expanded the old one?’
‘That would have been very expensive, Sir.’
‘You know what? It’s because of people like you that people like me have to work so hard.’
‘I am sorry to hear that. But why do you think so Sir?’
‘Because now, I will have to update your contact details in our database.’
‘Well, can I be of any help to you?’
‘Yes… Go back to your old office and get back the old phone number’
The other person disconnected the line.
Vichitra was of course surprised by the rude behavior of the guy on the other side of the line but he chose to ignore it. The third company in the list had its name missing but the website address said Mydogdoesnoteat.com. Vichitra went to this website on the internet, and again it had a different phone number than what was there in the Contact Details data. He decided to give them a call.
‘Hello’
‘Welcome to Mydogdoesnoteat.’
‘But why doesn’t he eat?’
‘Sir, who?’
‘Your dog!’
‘Sir, I don’t own a dog.’
‘So whose dog you were talking about?’
‘Sir I never talked about any dog.’
‘Didn’t you say my dog does not eat?’
‘Oh… Sir this is the name of our website, Mydogdoesnoteat.com. We help dog owners in helping their dogs to eat.’
‘Anyways how can I help you Sir?’
‘But you can’t help me. Because my dog already eats very well.’
‘Oh really Sir! Good to know that and thank you for calling Mydogdoesnoteat.’
‘But I never called your dog doesnoteat?’
‘Sir I meant thank you for calling me at Mydogdoesnoteat.com.’
‘Ok. Can I ask you one thing?’
‘Tell me Sir.’
‘Why did your change your phone number?’
‘I don’t know! I don’t know if we ever did also. Because I joined Mydogdoesnoteat only 2 months back.’
‘So where was he before that?’
‘Who was where before what?’
‘I mean where was doesnoteat before you joined him two months back?’
There was silence from the other side.
Vichitra Kumar stared hard into the receiver of the phone, and said quietly, ‘You know what? It’s because of dogs like doesnoteat that people like me have to work so hard.’
© 2007 Ankur Shanker
Archives
20 comments:
Good luck!
I'll be back to read more.
[Onkar Joshi] Thank you
dude all the best for your endeavours !!
Dude, I sympathize with you -- your story has apparent inspiration from life at EVS :D
Great start Ankur. While on that read this interesting review of Cafe Coffee Day here: www.gurukagyan.blogspot.com
All the best to you for ur future :)
This story was too good :)
hey all the best... really liked ur first post... keep writing!
hey ankur.. that was a really interesting story. There was a certain freshness in concept. Wil be back again. Meanwhile, I clicked on te ads too. Hope it helps. And I really admire ur spirit!!! Getting into LSE is no joke. Good luck n lotsa wishes!
Good Ankur!
[Ken, Gurudev, Supriya Narang, Shimonti, Pointblank, TheDryad] Thank you. And I hope I am able to write good stories so that you can keep coming for the next six months :)
[Nandz] Well I think you were also at EVS some time back. Good to hear from you. But frankly speaking, this story is pure imagination (no tid bits from anywhere). Btw thank you for visiting my blog.
Ankur,
Good start.All the best for the next 180 Days!.
[A. Vimal Babu] Thank you Sir.
How many stories you are going to write in 180 days? 1, 10, 50 or more than 50?
The first day was not a good start at all.
This was a great story!!
I couldnt stop myself grinning while reading it!!
Thanks for penning it down!
[dumdum] Let's see :-)
[Reema] Thanks for your encouragement. Keep visiting!
Good Luck Ankur!
Nice story..All the very best to you.
Ankur,
I am glad of ur decision of not giving up LBS for lack of funds!!! Good luck...
Oops!! I meant LSE..M too much in the business school mode these days.
Anways, good luck again :)
[D, Rinali, Anj] Thanks! And keep visiting.
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