Thank God Its Friday! I have been waiting for Friday since Monday and now finally it has come. I tried to work hard or hardly work, either one of those, so that I reach the most awaited 5’o clock. And it is indeed 5’0 clock! I call my husband, holding the receiver of my phone between my left ear and left shoulder…Are you asking me why? Obviously because my hands are busy packing my bags…and he has a surprise for me!!! Well, but it is not one of those pleasant Friday surprises. He informs me that he has a meeting now. I freak out…Meeting at 5’o clock on a Friday????? He tries to consol me and makes promises about the weekend. None of which I want to believe, but I am almost entrapped in his sweet lies. I have just one simple question…What is the agenda for the Friday 5’o clock meeting? And he says “Discuss the progress of the software being released this weekend…” I hung up. I now know that all my weekend I would be sitting besides him watching TV or at least trying to watch it while he is working on his laptop! “The release” guaranteed another 7-8 hours of work over Saturday and Sunday.
I was really mad at him. But why should I be? Is it because he was working? How about the other people who were working with him over the weekend? How about all the other people I see are putting many many extra hours every week? My real estate agent gives us an appointment for 7.00 PM on a weekday. I have no comments about his weekends. My own manager is logged in to the office network almost any time during the day and night. Other people I know are also doing extra hours. What is this? Competition? Money? The normal work hours per week are no longer confined to 40. Doesn’t matter whether you are billed for 40 or more or less, people are putting in 60-80 hours a week on an average. They obviously suffer from headaches, backaches, shoulder pain or many such small but considerable health issues. But anyways, who has the time to pay attention to these petty issues? What about their families? Aren’t they affected too? If yes, why don’t I hear anymore noises? No one is complaining? Why? Is everyone too busy working that no one has the time to complain? What is happening here?
Is this not a problem? And if it is, is there any solution?
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
"I don’t know you" Syndrome
Many people have this “I don’t know you” Syndrome. I wonder why people develop this and from where they get this disease?
My colleague in office introduced me to this one girl. She smiled and I smiled and we both said “Hello” to each other. Tell you what, that day we actually had lunch together and she also ate my food!!!
Now, after 2 days, I see her and give her a nice “Good Morning” smile and there she is…standing and staring blankly at me. For a moment, I thought, Oh ****, did I again mix up two people? (This happens to me with Chinese people…am sorry guys…nothing personal against you or your country or your people. But I tend to get confused between two Chinese people. If I meet two of them around the same time, I really get confused between the two of them, at least for the first few days after introduction until I really get to know them personally …I guess this is a normal phenomenon and that the Chinese must be getting confused with Indian faces because we all look similar to them and so on and so forth) Ok…so now am really confused and I don’t know what I have done wrong and why today is such a bad day that people are not recognizing me or caring to give a smile back. So helpless but hopeful for some another day I return to my normal routine.
Then on that another day, some simple soul happens to walk by my desk and this person is accompanied by our troubled lady with “I don’t know you” syndrome. So the simple soul says “Hi! How are you?” and then comes the introduction!! “Do you know Ms. XXXX?” I am very confused as to what I am supposed to say while the troubled person says “Yeah…I know her, I even ate her food!!!” Every corner of heart rejoices on hearing the fact that yes!!!….she does know me and recognize me. Finally I was at peace. The once rumpled feathers of my heart were OK now. I smiled back and said “Yes…we know each other”. I get back to my work with new vigor and a sense of achievement and fulfillment. Fulfillment of satisfying the desire to know what had went wrong??? Achievement is realizing that I was not invisible and everything is normal between me and “the lady”.
Today morning when I enter the elevator…BOOM…There she is…I am ready to throw a “Good Morning” with a smile again and she just IGNORES ME…I am shaken, surprised, confused, troubled and disturbed
Well…not any longer! I left her to herself. I think she is too troubled in life with either her own self or with some else or with a very commonly found disease called as “I don’t know you”. Now, I really don’t know whether there exists any cure of any form for this disease. All I know is that this one can affect not just the sufferer of this disease but other people too. So I am trying to reach out to all those people, not who are suffering from this disease (leave them alone!!!) but to all who are victims of this disease…don’t let these things bother you. Nothing is wrong with you. Whatever is wrong is with them. So chill and keep smiling and recognizing everyone you know (excuse the troubled souls)
My colleague in office introduced me to this one girl. She smiled and I smiled and we both said “Hello” to each other. Tell you what, that day we actually had lunch together and she also ate my food!!!
Now, after 2 days, I see her and give her a nice “Good Morning” smile and there she is…standing and staring blankly at me. For a moment, I thought, Oh ****, did I again mix up two people? (This happens to me with Chinese people…am sorry guys…nothing personal against you or your country or your people. But I tend to get confused between two Chinese people. If I meet two of them around the same time, I really get confused between the two of them, at least for the first few days after introduction until I really get to know them personally …I guess this is a normal phenomenon and that the Chinese must be getting confused with Indian faces because we all look similar to them and so on and so forth) Ok…so now am really confused and I don’t know what I have done wrong and why today is such a bad day that people are not recognizing me or caring to give a smile back. So helpless but hopeful for some another day I return to my normal routine.
Then on that another day, some simple soul happens to walk by my desk and this person is accompanied by our troubled lady with “I don’t know you” syndrome. So the simple soul says “Hi! How are you?” and then comes the introduction!! “Do you know Ms. XXXX?” I am very confused as to what I am supposed to say while the troubled person says “Yeah…I know her, I even ate her food!!!” Every corner of heart rejoices on hearing the fact that yes!!!….she does know me and recognize me. Finally I was at peace. The once rumpled feathers of my heart were OK now. I smiled back and said “Yes…we know each other”. I get back to my work with new vigor and a sense of achievement and fulfillment. Fulfillment of satisfying the desire to know what had went wrong??? Achievement is realizing that I was not invisible and everything is normal between me and “the lady”.
Today morning when I enter the elevator…BOOM…There she is…I am ready to throw a “Good Morning” with a smile again and she just IGNORES ME…I am shaken, surprised, confused, troubled and disturbed
Well…not any longer! I left her to herself. I think she is too troubled in life with either her own self or with some else or with a very commonly found disease called as “I don’t know you”. Now, I really don’t know whether there exists any cure of any form for this disease. All I know is that this one can affect not just the sufferer of this disease but other people too. So I am trying to reach out to all those people, not who are suffering from this disease (leave them alone!!!) but to all who are victims of this disease…don’t let these things bother you. Nothing is wrong with you. Whatever is wrong is with them. So chill and keep smiling and recognizing everyone you know (excuse the troubled souls)
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