What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?
Ekansh quietly sat on the chair; his eyes regularly checked the digital clock on the table. He looked up at the white ceiling of the cabin, he wanted to part with the sight of the office ceiling lights but couldn’t get up and walk away just yet.
It was Friday and Ekansh like all other employees was looking forward to the weekends. This eagerness towards weekends arose every week as Friday approached.
It was 6:45 pm, 45 minutes beyond when the office hours ended at 6. At 6 when Ekansh turned off his computer and got up to leave with a smile on his face and the office bag on his shoulder, the phone on his desk rang and his smile began to fade. He waited a few seconds to see if it would ring again and it did. There was surely a call coming and all the traces of smile disappeared.
It was Mr Gurunath the senior manager, he wanted to have a word with Ekansh “it will just take five minutes” he said. Ekansh kept his bag back on his desk and proceeded towards the senior manager’s cabin. Ekansh worked as a front-end developer in an IT firm, it was his second year in the profession.
When Ekansh entered the cabin, Mr Gurunath was finishing up his work for which he took twenty minutes and then he received a family or friend related call while working and twenty-five more minutes passed.
Ekansh took out his phone to check messages. There were several from his mother. His uncle, who was a distant cousin of his father, was arriving the next day. His mother had sent a list of things which had to be brought from the market. Ekansh looked at Mr Gurunath who showed no intention of revealing why he had called Ekansh and then he ordered the list of things from an online store.
“Wasting time on the phone, are you? That’s the problem with people nowadays, the moment they find even the tiniest duration of free time they will become busy going through their phones,” Mr Gurunath spoke
Ekansh looked at the clock, it was seven and then he spoke, “Actually you were…”
“All right back to the work, I had called you for,” Mr Gurunath interrupted, “one of our clients Skyline Constructors has sighted certain deficiencies with the software that we developed for them. I would like you to have a look at it.”
“What kind of deficiencies?” Ekansh asked
“I don’t know exactly,” Mr Gurunath spoke, once again going through his computer, “There, I forwarded you their mail. Go through it and tell me what it is about.”
Ekansh took a few seconds to look at the guy who had not even gone through the mail and decided that Ekansh should be approached with the problem.
“Ok I will go through it and will be back to let you know what it is about,” Ekansh said
“Don’t be back here, just give me a call. I am going home and don’t leave the office without discussing with me what is in the mail,” Mr Gurunath said as he got up to leave.
Ekansh returned to his desk feeling the silence in the air from the absence of everyone who had now gone home. He noticed the cleaner was busy with his work.
Ekansh made a call to his mother asking whether she had received everything he had ordered and explaining why he would be late.
Ekansh logged in his mail id and clicked on the mail to open it only to find out that he didn’t have access to open it. He called up Mr Gurunath.
Hello, this is Ekansh speaking. The mail you had sent me to check, requires access from the sender.
Okay…
There was a brief pause when Ekansh thought he should say something.
Why don’t you ask for access on Monday and then I can check what is in it?
No, not Monday. This has to be done today. This is very important that is why I asked you to do it. You understand the urgency, right?
Ekansh turned his head to look at the empty cabin of Mr Gurunath.
Yes, I understand.
Ok, I will make a call and ask for access. You wait, don’t worry this will take only 5 minutes.
Ekansh waited, going through some other mails. Then playing a game on his phone for a while, twenty minutes had passed. Ekansh called Mr Gurunath again and Mr Gurunath picked up and spoke first.
Ekansh, I am sorry I forgot to tell you. They have given access; the mail will open now. Check it out.
Ekansh proceeded to open the mail while listening to the sound of people laughing and talking through the phone. The sounds seemed to be part of a restaurant.
The mail has opened.
Good. Now, go through it and inform me about it. Remember the urgency.
Mr Gurunath started laughing at something as he disconnected the call.
Ekansh looked at the cleaner who was cleaning only a few rows away from him now.
He went through the mail only to find out the changes that the client had asked if it could be done were not deficiencies but something of a preference and it was the work of a software engineer and not his work profile.
Ekansh picked up the phone relieved that his work had been done and he could leave now. The phone rang but no one picked up.
‘He must be away from the phone at the moment,’ Ekansh thought and sent him a message mentioning what he had written.
Ekansh waited for another thirty minutes. The clock was approaching nine. He had made 3 calls in between but no one picked.
‘Did the urgent work just lose its urgency?’ Ekansh thought as he typed a message to Mr Gurunath again.
“Working late?” the cleaner asked while cleaning the next row
“I honestly do not know. It looks like it was never my work to begin with,” replied Ekansh
“Oh! The unprofessional attitude professional people never talk about,” the cleaner spoke
Ekansh got up and looked at the cleaner amused. The cleaner was a man in his fifties.
“I have been working in offices for a long time. I know and understand a lot more than you people might think,” the cleaner spoke.
Ekansh glanced at his wristwatch.
“Why don’t you leave, now that you know that you are not the person for the work?” asked the cleaner
“I have to inform the senior manager and if he says, only then I can leave. He is not picking up my calls or replying to my messages at the moment,” sighed Ekansh
“Not that it’s any of my business, but it does not look like your senior manager is too concerned about the work. If I was you, I would be on my way home already,” said the cleaner and walked away
Ekansh thought about it for a while, which became more than an hour without any response. Tiredness had started to take its control over the mind along with the added worrying from the family.
Ekansh closed his computer, picked his bag and phone and rushed out of the office. He started developing a new form of dislike he had not felt before.
In the morning Ekansh checked his phone and there was still no message or a missed call. What made his dislike for Mr Gurunath elevate even further were some photos on a social media platform, they were of Mr Gurunath enjoying a nice Friday evening with his friends.
Early Morning Memories 
2 responses to “Pressure Peddler”
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