No more Job Hunts...

I always had a set of my own principles that I follow…As part of it I was always against this common policy “DON’T DO IT, IF U DON’T LIKE IT….OR DO IT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF IT…”… Rather, I believed in the principle, “WHATEVER U DO, DO UR BEST…WHETHER U LIKE IT OR DON’T LIKE IT…” and I did exactly as my principle said… for the past few years, I have been working hard…doing the best I can do…and do it in the most professional way…But the truth was… I was not happy with what I was doing…I was not happy with my career….

I always felt that I could do better…It wasn’t Over Confidence, but it was the confidence in me about my ability and determination…At work, I have been doing almost everything without any protest…I was happy, I had work to do…and felt happy when I was not sitting just websurfing…As long as one does his work, I am fine with the idea of reading, web surfing or any other personal work…But keeping ur work aside and then doing personal stuff…I hated that…and Unfortunately, that’s what I have been witnessing till last year…I saw my colleagues wasting their time keeping their work aside…and at the end found myself doing their work just because I was punctual at my work and was finishing it on time and thereby having enough time to do theirs also….

It didn’t matter what I did for them…but it did matter what was I doing there…and that part did depress me a lot…years passed by in this way…and then one day I got the termination letter…the feelings were mixed…I was not sad that I lost MY job…I was upset I lost my monthly salary…as I had a loan to repay…lol!!! But then, god didn’t let me down…he gave me a job in a different department in the same company….I was happy that now I can look forward for a change…a betterment in my career….I was looking forward for that change…

And nowwwwwwwww…..after the last two days, A positive belief have strengthened my hopes…I am sure, something good is going to happen…for me, for the company and for all my other hard working colleagues…Yes friends, we have a new CEO and COO and they are planning a whole lot of new and fresh strategy to develop the company….As part of that, there was a two days workshop for some selected staffs who were asked to give in their suggestions, feedbacks, opinions and ideas….and guess what, I WAS IN THE SELECTED FEW….

Finally, I feel, I AM A PART OF THIS ORGANISATION….I AM WANTED HERE…I WILL BE RECOGNISED FOR WHAT I DO….and trust me friends, it was a real good feeling to have…and I am cherishing it now…

After the workshop, we had a few short hilarious plays enacted by the workshop attendees including myself…Hehe, my team or rather our team bagged the Best Creative Play award…hehe!!!

(When we were told that we will have to do a play after the workshop, majority of them had this weird sort of feeling…saying… “God, Crazy….I am not going to act….This is weird…Nothing else to do or what….”… etc etc… But then, still every single person of the team worked hard to put up their plays and enacted it out so well, that none of us felt tired even after almost a 12 hour day…)

The awards just raised our spirits…hehe!!! Great, right???

Now guys, pray for my company…and pray for me…Change is happening and its soonnn going to show…

Above that, I have promised myself and made a big decision…

“I am no more going to look for a Job Change…No more Job Hunts...I am going to be a part of this change and work together for the betterment of the company’s future…and I will earn my worth from the company with my hardwork and determination”

NB: Hey Friends, Don't think, I am working in a newly setup company...Ours is a well established reputed company...its just that we are working together to take it to much better heights and establish it as the No: 1 in the whole world....All the Best to us....

Not My Day...

The mobile phone just rang...Just a ring...Its a misscall…The signal to go down and wait near the main road for my colleague…(We go to office daily together…a small adjustment of pooling car…As a daily routine, he would give me a ring when he is just about to reach the main road… and then I will walk my way there and wait for him)…So I rushed out… It was really cold today…and I was freezing …with eager eyes I was tracking each passing vehicle for his car … the endless queue of vehicles…of all shapes and sizes… were just moving one behind another as if they were literally crawling…I hated the traffic…I hated sitting inside the car for endless hours waiting for the traffic to clear up and find ourselves moving…but the more I hated was waiting OUT in the road on a colddddddddddddd morning…without anything to warm me down…and then watch those snakes of vehicles crawling past me…The cold got into my head…I knew it…I was getting irritated…I was losing my temper…

As minutes ticked past, my irritation was rising…I knew, it wasn’t his fault…it was the damn traffic that was making him almost impossible to reach me…he might be just 10 steps from where I was...still it might take the most longest hour to cross even that path…I waited and waited…I was shivering…damn, I am wearing a skirt…I could feel all the pores on my skin standing up as if hearing the national anthem…was embarrassed, imagining IF ANYBODY noticed my almost chicken like stature…I really wanted to scream at my colleague…

Finally, there he is…I knew, I was going to lose it…My face was as if somebody just slapped me…I was angry…angry for no reason…I wanted to just shout at him…Somehow, I did exactly same…as soon as I got into the car FINALLY…I shooted out… “WHY CAN’T U LET ME KNOW IF U R GONNA BE LATE…I WOULD HAVE ATLEAST WAITED INSIDE THE BUILDING…” (I know, he is absolutely not the wrong person…its just that he was on the WRONG SIDE today…)…and then unexpected from him…he blasted back… “I CAN’T FLY…I WAS JUST THERE AND IT TOOK A HELL 20MTS TO REACH HERE..” (he pointed out to the roundabout which was just some 15-20 steps from where I was waiting…)…

I knew I was wrong…and I wasn’t stupid to not understand that HE WAS ALSO NOT IN THE BEST OF HIS MOODS… I guessed… “A fight with his wife..”…still my ego didn’t let me go off…I argued…

Me: Then from tomorrow, I am not going to come out of the house until atleast 10 minutes after the usual time…”

He: No need…Come only after I reach here…I will give u misscall after reaching here…I will wait here

I felt bad…he was hurt…and I hurt him more…but then, even I was having an off mood…

Me: U WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND…WAITING INSIDE THE CAR IN THE COMFORTS OF A HEATER AND STANDING OUT THERE IN THE COLD…

He: I told you…I will give u miss call only after I reach here…Come whenever u want…I will wait…

By now I was trying to calm down…

Me: That’s not needed…Just call me when you reach near that petrol station..I will come down then…

He: NO NEED…I WILL CALL U ONLY ONCE I REACH HERE…

My hyper tension came back...I got irritated again…

Me: OK, DO WHATEVER U WANT...

We completed the rest of the journey in complete SILENCE…

My thoughts:
Why did I get irritated for nothing…? Why should I outpour on him when I myself knew, he was not to be blamed? He was and is a big help for me in my commute to and fro office…and still??? Why is my mood bad today??? What is bugging me??? What am I actually upset about??? Was it because of the cold…was it because he was late…or was it something else…Something that is not clear to me now…Something that is deep down somewhere…Is this some sort of Sixth Sense telling me, that something worse is on the way…God knows…I just knew that something was wrong today and I knew that its not gonna be one of those cool days of my life…I wondered what more was in store for me today…

Just then a Shot of Pain scooted through my brain and I realized...Grr…HE IS BACK…This is absolutely NOT MY DAY…

He was and is one of my worst enemies…He is…

“THE HEADACHE…”

Good Afternoon, May I Help you...

Have you ever gone through embarassment just due to your over confidence? Have you felt as if you were being peeled out from some core into the open space??I am sure,atleast once in your life time, you would have gone through one such instance...and they would be always unforgettable...For me, there's one such instance from the pages of my life too which would be always memorable.Fortunately, I was not the main character of that SHOW...

This happened during my college days. For my graduation, as part of Project submission we were to work in any Company in Customer Service role. I, along with four of my friends joined one of the leading Group in the city. We were rostered to work on different departments as days passed. One such department was the Motor Vehicle Showroom which was quite coool place to work due to its hi-fi infrastructure and the exposure we got in CUstomer Service (which would help us beautify our Projects in the best possible way).

This showroom's incharge was the Sales Manager, Mr.Ray Kurian, who was very strict in nature and expected very proffessional behaviour from the staffs. When he was around, it was like all of us were standing on fire. He had a seperate office covered with Glass walls. Naturally, this made us extra consious of what we were doing and made sure we were not fooling around. Now, about the showroom : 'It was just few weeks earlier that the gearless scotter Honda Activa came to market and therefore, there was a high demand for the vehicle. But, due to non availability of the vehicle, we could only do booking and despatch was done only one "First come First Serve" basis..We, the so called staffs, were given very clear briefing and was instructed sternly that "NO ONE WILL GET THE SCOOTER OUT OF THE WAY"..means NO recommendations, NO bribing, NO emergency basis...nothing doing...What so ever happen, you will get your scooter only according to your booking number." ... Apart from this IMPORTANT thing to remember, rest we had to always keep in mind all the Golden Rules of Customer Service (like 'have a good posture', 'greet, smile while handling customers' etc etc).

Here, let me initial my friend as Miss. R. I and R was on D-day, rostered to be at the showroom and assist walk-in customers with all sort of queries they had. The morning was very hectic, as the showroom was filled with customers and the staffs had handful to take care of...We, the On-job trainees, were feeling proud that we were getting to work independently and so was busy giving 100% Customer Service to every single person who came in front of us. By afternoon, the showroom became almost vacant due heavy rain outside. I and R, tired of the heavy work proceeded towards the reception area. I released the Receptionist for her lunch and R sat in front of me, both of us easing down...

Suddenly, the phone rang. I picked up the phone and remembering the Golden Rules of answering a telephone call started talking:

Me: Good Afternoon, M Motors. May I Help You?
Customer:Ok, I want to buy a Honda Active
Me: Sure Sir, Can I have your name?
C: My name? For what???When can I get the scooter?
Me: Sure Sir. I can give you all information. But could you please give your name so that I can keep records of your query.
C: Oh, I am Thomas. I need Blue Colour. What're the documents you require?

(Gosh! three questions to answer. from where should I start...help me..especially because Mr. Ray Kurian is in the office. and I don't want to flop it up)

Me: Sure Mr. Thomas. We have five different colours of the model. But unfortunately, you will get the scooter only on booking basis. As per the present situation, we cannot promise you the scooter before 2 months.

C: WHATTTT? No way...I need it in one week.
Me: Oh, sorry sir. That wouldn't be possible. It's strict policy of the company. We can't jump the booking priority at any cost.
C: (a bit softly) I can pay extra for that
Me: Sorry Sir, It's not possible
C: I can ask one of the Ministers to recommend.
Me: Really Sir, I would love to help you. But this is not possible. I can make a booking for you and try to get it for you as soon as possible, but I can't promise you anything. It will depend upon how soon we get the scooters and the number of cancellations. But can't ever jump the priority.

(Till then, R was sitting in front of me facing me...She was showing me faces as if to ask me Who was it on the phone...)

C: Uhmmm...Ok then...Good...Give the phone to the lady sitting in front of you...
Me: Excuse me...?? What???
C: Give the phone to the lady sitting in front of you...I am Ray Kurian...
Me: (shocked) What..? (I looked to my side and saw him sitting at one of the chairs and he signalled me not to say anything and give the phone to R)...OK...

I gave the phone to R

Me: Answer the phone and handle the customer,I couldn't convince him, fast.
R: (covering the mouthpiece of the phone) Who is this?
Me: Some Customer...talk fast..talk carefully...

I tried alerting her with my facial expression..I winked at her and pointed my eyes to the direction Ray was sitting. Unfortunately, she mistook my alerting her as fun...She thought it was some friend calling to fool her...And _________....(remember, during this whole converstaion R was leaning towards the Reception table resting one of her hand on the table as if she was sleeping on it)

R: Hellloooooooo (as if she was singing)
C: Hello, I want a Honda Activa
R: Sooo??? Who is this??
C: Who are you?
R: Who is this???
C: I am Thomas. I need to know, when is the earliest I can get my scooter
R: Ohhhhhhhhh...Scooterrrrrr...Sure sure..you will get it now.. Come here... I can arrange one now only.

(She was really thinking that one of her friend was pulling a prank on her...)

C: WHAT???The other girl told NO...
R: (now fed up of the prank) So what, I told you, I will give..I will...Now stop joking..Who's this...???

(Between, I tried stopping her...and once I knew, she was in no mood to understand what I was trying to say..I stopped...and then enjoyed the conversation. I was trying hard to hold on to my laugh, imagining her face when she realise it is Ray Kurian.)

C: So, you think I am joking?? Ok...I am Ray Kurian.
R: Ahaaaaa...Now you are not Thomas. You are Ray Kurian.. Wonderful..haha!!!
C: I am Ray Kurian. Come to my office....
R: (sarcastically) OHHHHH Ray Kurian...HOW R UUU...

At this point, I intervened. I told her that it was indeed Ray Kurian and he's sitting at the other end...

You should have seen R's face.. All pale and white in colour...and shivering....

R: Oh, Sorry Sir..Sorry...I thought...I meant...I didn't mean to...
Ray: Miss. R, come to my office. I need to talk to you...

and the call ended

She was almost at verges of tears fearing that Mr. Kurian might blast her now for the silly behaviour...especially at the reception. I advised her to apologise for the mistake and try explaining the reason for her behaviour. (frankly, if it was me in her place, I would have eloped from the place long back..lol!)

Anyways, things went fine...She went and before he could say anything, she apologised and told him, that she thought it was some friends...Especially, because, I was already on phone for some time, she just thought so...and so on....Finally Ray said,"It's fine...But such situations could come in real life.. Even if it is your friend, don't behave so till you confirm it is your friend indeed..."...etc etc...

I am sure, R wouldn't have heard the full conversation as she was blank with embarassment and fear...She still get the shiver of her life remembering the embarassment she went through at that moment when on the phone she heard...

"I am Ray Kurian. Come to my office..."

Struck by the most dreaded weapon...Is it???

You must be wondering, where have I been, for the past few days...Why there wasn't any blogs or news from me...Why no more of those boring stories...Why this long silence...Not bcoz I had nothing to say...Not bcoz I was devoid of any subject / topic to blabber on...Rather the past week could have been the most busiest day in my blog...but then, still I stayed silent...Why???Was it that I didn't feel like getting on to the system and type something...Was it bcoz of that lazy feeling that was not giving any mood to confine myself to do something...You will know the reason at the end of this blog...

If you remember, just a week back, I told you, that for the time being, I got saved...but not this time...If it was 6 last time, this time it was 5 of us...who got the GET OUT letter...uhm..true..how much ever sympathetically and caringly they give us the bad news, the one word meaning for the whole stuff is GET OUT....lol!!! Something that I have been fearing for past few months finally happened...Yes...Finally, I too got struck by the most dreaded weapon of 2009...Recession...I too got that "love letter"...The letter informing me that my valuable service is no longer required by my company...They can manage the work without me...The Redundancy Letter...It was something that I was expecting from more than six months...not becoz I had no faith in my working ability...but bcoz I knew what was the current situation of the world and market...Today or tomorrow, when the company can no longer bear the expenses of salaries of all its staff, the company has to say NO to some...and somehow, luck would play its trick here, to decide who would stay back and who wouldn't...Luck helped me till last week...but not any more...Luck left me for that one moment and the letter got prepared with my name ON...

When this fear of losing job started, I used to think...what would I do, if I got that dreaded letter...I used to tell my mom, "I would faint..I would cry...I might go into a depression..."...Not because I loved my job...lol!!!..but because of the consequences it might have...With a big loan to be paid off...jobless meant moneyless...moneyless means Installment defaults...and that meant TENSION...grrr...I just was scared every moment, feared WHAT IF....but when it really happened, to be frank, suddenly a smile came across my lips...I just lturned to the other Unlucky guy from my office and we both started laughing...God knows, why we did that...but when the BOSS was very sympathetically saying sorry for giving us such a bad news, we both were laughing...and I said..."Hey, never mind..You don't have to be sorry...It's not your fault...Just keep in mind..If any job openings come across you, please let us know..."...That made all five of us laugh out...and we shaked hands and left the room...We were Job Less now...

Suddenly, I felt a big pound of weight going off from my heart...I felt much lighter at heart....I felt just the opposite of what I expected...I was calm and cool...Then I knew, what mental tension I have been going through last few months due to this fear of losing job...and now..no longerdoes I have any such fear...I no longer had any job to loose...I was cool...haaaaa...!!! The moment brought in a big feeling of Optimism in me...I have been working for quite some years now...I need some rest now...and the best part was...As the Redundancy compensation, the company would be paying 2 months salary...Sooo....????

"I am currently on a 2 months paid vacation..(so I doesn't have to worry about my loan installment for next 2 months) ... I am planning for a job change (U see, that's pride, lol!!!)...I am sure, within this two months, I would get a good job..a better one...that job which I would love to do...So why worry....(That is "Grapes are Sour", hehe!!!)...With this optimistic thought, I happily came home with the most dreaded letter, no longer dreaded for me...It was a boon that took off all the tension I had for months...I knew, if God closes one door on you, not 9 but 1000 other doors would open for you...You just need to find the right door and go in...I am just going to do that...Find the right door..."

So, even after being so optimistic..then why this silence for the past week...Dont worry friends..I wasn't on any depression...I was just enjoying the rest period I got, the unexpected vacation...I was Sleeping my head out...staying awake late night watching movies that I missed, not worrying to keep the alarm ON for the next day early morning...Let me just relish these personal treats for the first few days before I start again on the Job Hunt and get back to my old routine.....