I am sure you must have guessed by the name of the post that I am the typical IIM guy.Oh wait by IIM, I meant the Indian IT Male janta(crowd). Don't crack your head with that silly joke, I can't help my humor at this stage of my life :D.In this post I will describe a typical day of an IIM guy(fictious character) and hope many other IIMians out there can relate with it and then leave the rest to judge whether it really is worth the effort since your birth(almost all parents want their children to join Infosys/TCS when they are born isn't it, reminds me of Three Idiots :)) .As I always say in my posts, enough of my inane talk, lets roll.
7 AM Monday morning(general shift pleasant days) : The alarm goes off and I hate that sound even if its the best song that I had set the night before. I keep snoozing it till my room mate(not married yet, if you are then it will be your wife ) abuses me with his usual one liner - "Are nahi jamta to kyun lagata hai(If you cannot get up why the hell you set the alarm)".
9:00 AM : Done with the morning news paper,chores and all other stuff, I head to office full of energy and ready to leave my mark on the corporate world(hyperbole I know but I do feel that way sometimes). The usual ride to office is about an hour. Since I have developed a couple of hobbies, the transit time has never been an issue.
10:20 AM: I reach the office and the fun starts.The office cab/bus was late and my supervisor looks at me as if I have committed a felony. Is that my mistake if the transport is late, don't think about giving that excuse, the obvious reply would be "Why don't you shift to a nearby place." LOL, I would not do that sin, would be my instant reaction(in my mind ofcourse, can you retort like that to you supervisor?). As if spending 12 hours in office is not enough, if I shift to a nearby place, your expectation will be to invest those 2 hours in office rather than with family or friends.
1 PM : Back to back meetings. Aha!!!!Meetings, makes you feel I am doing some great work isn't it that needs so much planning and coordination. The truth is everyone is fooling himself/herself. I don't think anyone needs a degree to do the the kind of work we do.
4 PM: A colleague comes up to me and asks to take a break. I feel, of course I want a break not for 15 minutes but from this work. I have timelines to meet, I have a greedy client who just can't be satisfied with whatever we deliver, I have an even more gluttonous management who not only wants you to complete your work but also be pro-active and innovative. Even a mango tree cannot grow in conditions suitable for Paddy, that is the rule of the nature isn't it. A person thrives if you provide him/her suitable conditions not if you suck the juice out of his/her life and then ask him/her- Can you please complete this assignment too?
7 PM: My shift ends. Are you kidding me? Who will complete this assignment is my supervisor's question?Who will provide the handover(why do I need to stretch for handovers, can't the privileged onsite guys join a bit early). This is mission critical stuff and there is no one better than you to complete it, please stretch a bit and I will leave.LOL again, mission critical ? The only reason you say its mission critical is for me to feel that I a super hero who can save the project by completing this stuff, just like Spider Man saves Mary Jane in the movie. We all like to be heroes and that's what these guys bank upon.
9 PM: I realize that I have a life outside work as well and I must wrap up for the day. Just then, my onsite supervisor pings me and asks whether I could just complete this one last thing. The super hero drama starts and I am trapped again.
10:30 PM: Finally the work is done, all handovers are complete and I can head out. I just realize in all this huff and puff, I forgot to grab my dinner . I also did not get time to call home or friends.Too bad, I console myself thinking this was just a bad day at the office and everything would be fine the next day. Ya next day that will probably never come.
But we like to be positive, hold to even the lightest piece of hay.With that thought I grab my dinner, head home and sleep at about 12 with the hope that tomorrow will be a better day and bring in an opportunity that will make me want to do the work rather than abhor it and still do it for the sake of survival.
I will leave you with that thought!!!!
DISCLAIMER : This is not my personal story : !!!!
9:00 AM : Done with the morning news paper,chores and all other stuff, I head to office full of energy and ready to leave my mark on the corporate world(hyperbole I know but I do feel that way sometimes). The usual ride to office is about an hour. Since I have developed a couple of hobbies, the transit time has never been an issue.
10:20 AM: I reach the office and the fun starts.The office cab/bus was late and my supervisor looks at me as if I have committed a felony. Is that my mistake if the transport is late, don't think about giving that excuse, the obvious reply would be "Why don't you shift to a nearby place." LOL, I would not do that sin, would be my instant reaction(in my mind ofcourse, can you retort like that to you supervisor?). As if spending 12 hours in office is not enough, if I shift to a nearby place, your expectation will be to invest those 2 hours in office rather than with family or friends.
1 PM : Back to back meetings. Aha!!!!Meetings, makes you feel I am doing some great work isn't it that needs so much planning and coordination. The truth is everyone is fooling himself/herself. I don't think anyone needs a degree to do the the kind of work we do.
4 PM: A colleague comes up to me and asks to take a break. I feel, of course I want a break not for 15 minutes but from this work. I have timelines to meet, I have a greedy client who just can't be satisfied with whatever we deliver, I have an even more gluttonous management who not only wants you to complete your work but also be pro-active and innovative. Even a mango tree cannot grow in conditions suitable for Paddy, that is the rule of the nature isn't it. A person thrives if you provide him/her suitable conditions not if you suck the juice out of his/her life and then ask him/her- Can you please complete this assignment too?
7 PM: My shift ends. Are you kidding me? Who will complete this assignment is my supervisor's question?Who will provide the handover(why do I need to stretch for handovers, can't the privileged onsite guys join a bit early). This is mission critical stuff and there is no one better than you to complete it, please stretch a bit and I will leave.LOL again, mission critical ? The only reason you say its mission critical is for me to feel that I a super hero who can save the project by completing this stuff, just like Spider Man saves Mary Jane in the movie. We all like to be heroes and that's what these guys bank upon.
9 PM: I realize that I have a life outside work as well and I must wrap up for the day. Just then, my onsite supervisor pings me and asks whether I could just complete this one last thing. The super hero drama starts and I am trapped again.
10:30 PM: Finally the work is done, all handovers are complete and I can head out. I just realize in all this huff and puff, I forgot to grab my dinner . I also did not get time to call home or friends.Too bad, I console myself thinking this was just a bad day at the office and everything would be fine the next day. Ya next day that will probably never come.
But we like to be positive, hold to even the lightest piece of hay.With that thought I grab my dinner, head home and sleep at about 12 with the hope that tomorrow will be a better day and bring in an opportunity that will make me want to do the work rather than abhor it and still do it for the sake of survival.
I will leave you with that thought!!!!
DISCLAIMER : This is not my personal story : !!!!
Obv this can't be ur personal story!!
ReplyDeleteBut loved it! Nice post as always!
Thanks Neha for the kind words as always :)
Deleteat last ur mrng alarms arent here to piss me off..... these were really annoying...God does listen to our prayers...... :P :P
ReplyDeleteYes if you do pray with a true heart, no prayer goes unnoticed!!!!!
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