Monday, May 12, 2008

The shop opens :)

So today the shop opens! Its been a while since I have been wanting to start writing. What's with a Bollywood angry not-so-young man also having a blog now. How cool is that! But unlike him, I have never managed to sit down and pen my thoughts down. Probably thats why - because you can't "pen" down your thoughts any more. You have to key them in. (Is there a phrase like that?)
Ok, so I don't know what to write on... May be I will write about the crazy monday that it has been. No its the Monday blues. I don't believe in that. I think all days days are equally blue or bright. Whatever. Its just that it has been a strange beginning for what I see as a fun filled week. 

I have a sales representative who has come to Bangalore for the first time. He doesn't understand Kannada and my sales boys don't understand Hindi and I am supposed to get him trained with my local sales boys. As if my own language problems weren't enough that I have to deal with this now! He is at the bus stand and cant understand the address to my office. The guy at the STD booth doesn't know hindi so that option of explaining him and he in turn explaining to the salesrep is also gone. I think I will have to hire translators on full time duty. 

Somewhere in another part of Karnataka, I have an agent who, I have recently discovered, has been engaging in trade malpractices (thats as mildly as I could put it). The guy who I sent to enquire about the malpractice, has been conveniently 'khilaoed-pilaoed' by the agent and now he has given a green signal to these guys. How wonderful!

I have my trade partners telling me that I am not replying to their mails. I patiently told them that I have no personal problem with them and that I have not received any mails from them. They insist they have sent it. I insisted further that they haven't. Thats when a good soul called me and said the mail that he sent has bounced back because the inbox is full. I wonder with a 120 GB hard disk, what has someone sent that its full! I was about to call Apple helpline when I figured why not check with the ISP guys once. They tell me that the settings on the mail delivery has been changed to such that after every 30 MB i have to delete all mails from server. How interesting. Wonder why no one told me about the change in my mail box settings!! 

The best or may be worst is my mobile network. The name of which is spice and which has really added some spice into my daily conversations. People tell me that if they get through my number in the first dial, they consider it their lucky day and bet on Bangalore Royal Chalengers winning the match! I joke with them saying that my network filters calls and keep unwanted people at bay. 
But thats not it. I have had more cross connections than I have had decent conversations. If it cross connects me, I am okay. It connects the incoming calls to people talking in strange languages. By the time the poor guys figure its not me playing the prank, the damage is done. Once they do get through to me, the call drops just when I am about to say goodbye. They think I hung up without saying BYE! Hey bhagwan. I wish I could pluck the hair out of someone in Spice. 

But other networks are no less. Imagine you are in the middle of something important, the airtel landline rings, you pick up only to hear "Wrong answer! Wrong answer! You have given the wrong answer. But you still win..." If I wouldn't have disconnected, my ear drums would have burst with the woman's shrill voice shouting from the other end. 

Last but definitely the most quirkiest was when I found most of the bathrooms in the office occupied. I had just spotted a good cover story on the latest Tehelka issue and could not stop the urge to read it and what better place to read than the pot. So unable to wait I slipped inside the toilet in my Director's chamber. It only after I had read the article and given it due thought that I realised that there is no soap for hand wash! I am too embarrassed to put down the later details. 

Add to all this the comment that a friend had to make when I shared with her what I had gone through in half the day - "really very cute". 

Its been a nice beginning to the week. And may be a good end to my first post. :)

2 comments:

Karuna said...

hey! It was fun reading ur post. I liked the way you started the post.. the first paragraph just hooks the reader.
I agree with your friend - c'est cute!! :)

Unknown said...

yups this post is a nice read! well i could relate to the part where u have described the airtel and vodafone calls... ;)