Scene 1 - Monday, 23rd March 2020, 8:00 am, At the Workplace
"Oh, you're back?", Gulshan's nonchalant body language betrayed his indifference. He was still staring into his laptop screen.
Anshuman dropped his backpack on his desk before giving his teammate a pitiful look. "I'm coming back to work after three full days Gullu...but you're just the way I left you..still screen-gazing. Tell me honestly, did you ever go home?"
"There's work to do, Anshuman. I believe Lata wanted to see you."
"She did?"
"For work allocation."
"Of course, kya Gullu?" Anshuman donned his trusted family business-manufactured mask and hopped towards his boss' cabin.
He swung open the door without knocking, "Good morning Boss, may I come in?"
Lata was caught unawares yet again. But it's hard to suppress instincts, and so she yet again tossed her phone away without locking the screen. As luck would have it, the device once again landed face up. From the corner of his eye, Anshuman caught a hazy glimpse of an insta story with some potentially juicy content.
"Good morning Anshuman", she put up a confident facade, "You're wearing a mask? How thoughtful."
"Sorry, I should have knocked."
"Yeah, but it's you, so I couldn't really expect more. Do you still have a cold? Perhaps you should've gotten yourself tested."
"I'm good boss. It was just one of those allergies I guess", his tone was confident but his twitching nose gave him away. "Ullu says you wanted to see me?"
"Ullu?"
"Gullu..Gullu...Sorry, Gulshan."
"Ah, yes! One of our tellers at the withdrawals counter has reported sick. The Branch Manager was asking for a resource to take his place."
"No problem Boss, I'll speak with Gulshan right away."
"No Anshuman", Lata cut him short, "Gulshan will manage solo today; we're not expecting too many home loan customers to walk in anyway."
"Okay Boss."
Lata could easily sense the reluctance in his tone. "I'm sure you'll do a good job."
She then turned her attention back to her mobile phone, where a deluge of reactions was ready to enthrall her.
Scene 2 - About 15 minutes later in the Boss's cabin
Anshuman sat awkwardly in front of the Boss with his head lowered and his arms crossed. He didn't need to be an expert in psychology to understand that she was ready to eat him alive, nevermind her Jain upbringing.
"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE???"
"But what wrong have I done Boss? I was pretty quick. I can count more than 150 notes a minute...look." He proceeded to pull out a bundle of notes and began counting in the blink of an eye.
"THAT'S PRECISELY THE PROBLEM ANSHUMAN! WHY ARE YOU LICKING YOUR FINGERS???"
Ugh!! Habits die hard? Whenever I see people lick finger to count notes or turn pages I cringe.
ReplyDeleteAnd in times such as now, it's disaster waiting to happen.
Forgive my rant...
Your Anshuman is going to be make a lot of enemies by the time this challenge ends. ;)
I want Anshuman to be among the most disliked people on earth by the end of this series.
DeleteAnd I also want everyone to realise that there's a little bit of Anshuman in each of us.😉
It's like he's got a death wish! But it's I remember correctly, most tellers use the automatic counting machine or they keep a bowl of water handy.
ReplyDeleteMr. A is despicable. But I think he did it on purpose.
Ewww! Even at the best of times - eww!
ReplyDeleteBut he's doing it on purpose to get taken off the job, isn't he?
Yuck ! Licking fingers and counting ???? How gross is Anshuman?
ReplyDeleteFinger Lickin' Bad! Nice one.
ReplyDeleteKeith's Ramblings
Masks will fail this finger-licking expert.
ReplyDeleteIn one of the videos, an expert, who was asking people not to lick fingers was found doing precisely that when she turned the page of her speech :(
Well, this post reminds me of one of own bosses.... I am glad Anshuman kind of subordinates are in Laya kind of people's team... I hope Mr. Gulags rather changes his boss :)
ReplyDeleteSorry for the auto spell corrects :/
ReplyDelete