But for the grace of God we are born where we are born. If you are a reader of this newspaper you are also educated and speak English. What a background we come from and yet we are so harsh of others from less fortunate backgrounds. For example the unfortunate soul whose job is to call one on Sunday afternoons at about 2.55 pm, the exact moment we are entering deep slumber.
Once I was sitting next to a colleague whose cell number differs from mine by just a digit and he was invited to join a disreputable club and as soon as he had flatly refused, my cell rang from the same number! So obviously they are given a set of numbers ending 500- 600 etc to call or some such thing. And we waste so much energy cribbing about these calls and that too directly to the unfortunate call centre girls.
One of my friends decided the only way to stop the calls was to get ‘extra friendly’. I suspect it was more than that because the next call he got was from the girl’s boss, giving him a piece of his mind!
Another friend always says yes he wants a loan and asks for Rs. 1 crore as the building fraternity call it! He also goes on to say his occupation is a rickshaw driver (probably doesn’t know rickshaws are almost extinct) and the poor spluttering guy or girl has to explain it doesn’t work that way.
BUT the calls do not stop.
We need to understand that it’s like getting irritated at the single fly which keeps buzzing around one’s head. Either kill it or move away. No other way to win. Though after seeing Eega I do have a new-found respect for the housefly.
So what’s to be done? First really invoke that clause with your cell company that you not be disturbed. Then call up the club, credit card, bank, hotel, restaurant or whoever and tell them that this is a punishable crime (I am not sure but no harm in such threats) and ask them to stop. And let the poor call centre guy or girl keep earning the pittance of a salary. I tried this experiment: I was extremely polite to the caller and actually had a nice conversation and noticed my breathing in and breathing out was the same! Calm.
We are so contrary: we keep saying “why can’t everyone work?” and when they start working; we are so impatient with uneducated, untrained waiters, salesgirls, and call centre girls.
During the Commonwealth games one of the politicians drew our ire by stating that our level of cleanliness was different from western standards. But seriously how can a maid or waiter used to no standards of cleanliness even understand what we are talking about.
Founder, CoachLife
santhasays@gmail.com
