Invasion of my personal space at work

There are a few freshers in my office who seem to have no idea about personal space. Few of them waltzed into my cubicle and by the time I turned around my chair to see who it was, I almost hit them.

And one time, quite a few came in at the same time and started asking me queries, one after the other. As and when a query was answered, the concerned person(s) went away. So the next person who wanted to ask a question used to step forward and ask me whatever it is they wanted to ask.

But one of them, a short girl, was so close that I actually had to twist my neck at a 70 degree angle to see her face. Else, I was in clear danger for being pulled up for leering at a girl at such close quarters. And before any of you salivate at the opportunity of being able to pass comments on the lines of girls being attracted to me, please don't. This one was not worth it at all.

I think I must write to my training group and tell them to include separate sessions on such behavioral aspects.

Random Jotting # 21

If you see an ambulance going along the road, with its alarms sounding and the warning lamp working, is it okay to overtake it?

I was coming along ECR last evening. I found this ambulance doing its duty, but at an irritating speed of 65 Kmph. The road was really empty and it wouldn't have taken me much effort to go past it.

But I was not sure if it was correct to do that. I mean, everyone advises you to make way for an ambulance and here I am trying to go past one. But most of the cars coming behind me didnt seem to have such doubts and simply whizzed past us.

I finally "rationaled" myself saying that I could overtake the ambulance and give enough distance between itself and my vehicle, so that it doesn't hamper its flow. I did pass the ambulance and for almost 30 minutes, it was not to be seen or heard.

However, after I reached the city limits, it came rushing through and I had to give way!

Am I egoistic enuf to be hurt by a bcc update?

One of the girls I know at work sent an email today where she mentioned that she had gotten engaged yesterday.

I didn't expect her to keep me abreast of developments on her personal front, for we are not that close friends. But I somehow expected that when she had such a great news to share, I would have received it a bit personally.

If she had even sent an email - even a one-liner - with me in the To list, I guess I'd have been more elated. While I am still happy for her - she's in general a good kid - it has somehow not gone well with me that I got the notification in a bcc mail.

What was worse - the reply to my congrats was also in bcc!!!

Actually, the whole incident has me wondering if I was so egoistic that I am focusing more on how I received the news rather than the news itself? Or is it a case where I had unduly high expectations on people - something that I have been unable to change in spite being repeatedly proven otherwise?

Reaching me at work

There are quite a few characters in the office who according to me need some education in terms of telephone etiquette.

I am not even talking about how to talk on the phone or when to talk etc. I want to highlight the issue of people's preference to first call me on my mobile rather than my other official contact options.

In my office, I have a regular PSTN extension. I also have a VOIP extension. This VOIP extension is now integrated with our PSTN lines, so in effect I have one more PSTN extension.

So, basically, there are 3 telephone extensions through which I can be reached. BUT there are certain characters at work who would rather reach me directly on my mobile.

If they are in my circle of friends, then there is absolutely no problem, cause I will anyway be discussing personal stuff with them like going to lunch and the likes.

But my complaint is really about certain others with whom my interaction is purely official. Even these people first call my mobile.

All my official coordinates are clearly updated in the internal telephone directory. Why don't they exhaust the option of first reaching me on any of those 3 extensions and if I am not available on any of those, then let them dial my mobile number. If your retort is that they would have tried that first and then called me on this, I can vouch for my presence at my desk for an extended period of time and none of the extensions buzz me and yet, my mobile rings out first!!!

But no. These guys have that etiquette portion of their neural network disabled at birth and so, I am left to attending calls on my mobile even when its not required.

Starting next week, for such people, I am definitely going to ask them to cut the call and reach me on my extension first.

Thank you Padmavathy

I attended Padmavthy's wedding reception this evening. She was in my team in the previous project and is overall a very good kid. Its sad that she had to quit, to join her husband in USA.

Her wedding was held outside Chennai last week and so she had a reception this evening. I'd marked my calendar a long while back for this. So much so, that I even skipped the reception of an old friend from Polaris this evening. But my father attended that on my behalf and I will drop in tomorrow morning during the wedding.

Anyways, I got a bit held up in traffic this evening while returning home. I planned to come home, change me clothes and then head off to the reception at Hotel Kanchi. But some accident near Kathipara Junction, threw the traffic haywire and there was a 45 minute delay when I reached home.

I quickly freshened up, changed to better attire, my mother did the gift wrapping to the best of her abilities and I rushed out at around 8.10 PM. The reception was supposed to start at 7 PM, so you can imagine how delayed I was.

When I reached there, the hall was nearly empty. The guests had already gone to the dining hall and there were only like 4 or 5 people waiting to greet the couple.

So, when I entered the hall, a lady came up to me and said "vaanga vaanga". First, I responded as was expected in civil society and assumed that it was a generic welcome. Please note that, other than Padma, I haven't met anyone in her family.

After this exchange of pleasantries, I realised that the lady who spoke to me resembled Padma a lot (its the other way around, but I met Padma first, so...). I safely assumed that it must have been her mother. So, I was a bit surprised when I noticed the mother talk to someone pointing towards me.

It clearly demonstrated that she knew who I was. Then I moved towards the line to give Padma her gift. Then a man came by and greeted me saying/asking that I was Padma's boss/manager. Introduced himself as Padma's father. I was really shocked. He even introduced his wife!

It was a bit overwhelming for me at that point. Meeting people for the first time, but they know who you are. Obviously this kid has talked about me at home. And must have shown the pictures from all our project parties.

But still, the parents knowing/remembering this, was quite flattering. I will even give a small chance that somehow Padma informed her parents about me, when I entered and I probably didn't notice it. But then, the events that unfolded after I met Padma were even more pleasant.

Her mother insisted that I go to the dining hall right away and dragged a poor kid to accompany me. The kid turned out to be Padma's brother and even he asked if I was her boss and if my name was Jawahar.

I kinda went gaga at that point. The kid then took me to the dining hall. Saw to it that the food was served to me on time. Insisted that I eat a lot. Looked genuinely upset when I refused the ice-cream (solely due to the sore throat I have now).

All in all, it was very different experience. Maybe her family is indeed this courteous and friendly to all guests. But having experienced it first hand, I will give them full credit for the near royal treatment meted out to me.

So, Padmavathy, many thanks to you and your family. Wishing you a very happy married life.

Obnoxious telephone user in the bus

After a long time, I had the "PLEASURE" of travelling with an absolute nitwit, in the evening bus today.

I was sitting in an aisle seat on the 2 seater side and 2 of my friends were seated in the adjacent 3 seater. So we 3 were chatting for a few minutes. Then this guy came up and occupied the 3rd seat on their side. Naturally, he was given the aisle seat there.

A few minutes after the bus started, I found my friend (who had moved to the dreaded middle seat) talking to this guy and there was a generic pointing of fingers towards their leg region. Only then I realised that this nincompoop was actually sitting with his legs crossed and the crossed leg was hitting my friend! Great start.

After 30 minutes or so, this dude started calling people on the phone. He must have called up around 15 people. Spoke to each of them in 3 languages - English, Hindi and Tamizh. Summary of the conversation in any language "This is my new number. Please note it down."

I was able to hear his conversation, in spite of me listening to radio at a decent volume. And believe it or not, few people in the aisle seats in front of me did start turning back.

But that didn't deter our hero. He went on and on. And then he got into a serious conversation with someone about how he didn't want people to think wrongly about him. That he has stayed away from all kinds of certification from people. That he didn't want to be tagged. etc. etc.

Basically, someone with major personality issues. And absolutely no awareness of people around him. The kind of people that God sends in my bus, solely to take instant revenge on me!