When I was working for my earlier company Voltas, we had a driver called Nathan. Nathan had this uncanny habit of using a combination of Hindi and English words in any sentence. Who could have ever thought that one day; this habit of his would lead to such Confusion.
This incident took place when we were doing the Villagio Mall project. Those days we used to operate from the site office and almost the entire project team was newly recruited. We had Milind, the new mechanical engineer - Tall, dark & handsome – just like me – But no he was much taller – about 6 feet 3 inches. The driver Nathan I have already introduced in the beginning.
Then we had – Sadanand, our receptionist, a perpetually jittery character.
And last but not the least we had a new office boy. He was short guy with a very peculiar name - Mohan Kumar Limboo. Hardly anybody called him Mohan, we all loved to call him Limboo, which incidentally means lemon in Hindi.
Now, one day Milind, the tall mechanical engineer had ordered some masking tape from one of the hardware suppliers and asked Nathan, the driver to collect it. As Nathan was going out, Limboo caught hold of him and requested him to buy some bread on his way back.
Nathan reached the hardware stores & approached the salesman at the counter.
“Sir, I’m from Voltas and I’ve come to collect the masking tape.”
“Yes yes - So, which one do you want?”
“What sir?”
“I said which one do you want, white or brown?”
“I don’t know sir”
“If you don’t know then ask your sir”
“Wait sir, I call sir”
Now Nathan called up Sadanand and said
“Can I speak to Lamboo sir, please?”
Lamboo means tall in Hindi. And Sadanand probably didn’t hear him properly and instead of transferring to Milind, he promptly transferred the line to the office boy Limboo. Limboo wondered - why the hell is he calling me? I only asked him to buy bread. And Limboo answered.
“Hello”
But by this time Nathan decided not to confront his boss and gave the telephone to the salesman.
The store fellow said - “Ya, hello – which one do you want white or brown?”
“I beg your pardon?” said Limboo
“Which one do you want? White or brown?”
Limboo replied.
“Anything will do– but it should be fresh”
“Pardon sir”
“I said, It should be fresh”
The counter fellow wondered – Just look at the quality of engineers we have these days –They don’t even know proper English – using an adjective fresh to describe brand new. So he replied
“Don’t worry sir , its all brand new but do you want 35 yards or 45 yards”
Limboo was simply stunned and now he understood, Nathan was trying to pull a fast one on him, so he decided to give him a smart reply
“Whatever it is -I want a sliced one”
“Pardon sir?”
“I said, I want it to be sliced’
This was too much for the counter fellow to handle and he called his supervisor. The supervisor was annoyed.
“Why what happened – can’t you handle simple orders such as masking tape?” He grabbed the telephone and said
"Hello, who's speaking please?"
"Limboo speaking"
"Pardon me"
"Limboo speaking"
"Can I speak to Milind"
Its only when Milind spoke to the shop supervisor that this whole confusion was cleared.
This incident has taught me an important thing - Always address people by their proper names.
This incident took place when we were doing the Villagio Mall project. Those days we used to operate from the site office and almost the entire project team was newly recruited. We had Milind, the new mechanical engineer - Tall, dark & handsome – just like me – But no he was much taller – about 6 feet 3 inches. The driver Nathan I have already introduced in the beginning.
Then we had – Sadanand, our receptionist, a perpetually jittery character.
And last but not the least we had a new office boy. He was short guy with a very peculiar name - Mohan Kumar Limboo. Hardly anybody called him Mohan, we all loved to call him Limboo, which incidentally means lemon in Hindi.
Now, one day Milind, the tall mechanical engineer had ordered some masking tape from one of the hardware suppliers and asked Nathan, the driver to collect it. As Nathan was going out, Limboo caught hold of him and requested him to buy some bread on his way back.
Nathan reached the hardware stores & approached the salesman at the counter.
“Sir, I’m from Voltas and I’ve come to collect the masking tape.”
“Yes yes - So, which one do you want?”
“What sir?”
“I said which one do you want, white or brown?”
“I don’t know sir”
“If you don’t know then ask your sir”
“Wait sir, I call sir”
Now Nathan called up Sadanand and said
“Can I speak to Lamboo sir, please?”
Lamboo means tall in Hindi. And Sadanand probably didn’t hear him properly and instead of transferring to Milind, he promptly transferred the line to the office boy Limboo. Limboo wondered - why the hell is he calling me? I only asked him to buy bread. And Limboo answered.
“Hello”
But by this time Nathan decided not to confront his boss and gave the telephone to the salesman.
The store fellow said - “Ya, hello – which one do you want white or brown?”
“I beg your pardon?” said Limboo
“Which one do you want? White or brown?”
Limboo replied.
“Anything will do– but it should be fresh”
“Pardon sir”
“I said, It should be fresh”
The counter fellow wondered – Just look at the quality of engineers we have these days –They don’t even know proper English – using an adjective fresh to describe brand new. So he replied
“Don’t worry sir , its all brand new but do you want 35 yards or 45 yards”
Limboo was simply stunned and now he understood, Nathan was trying to pull a fast one on him, so he decided to give him a smart reply
“Whatever it is -I want a sliced one”
“Pardon sir?”
“I said, I want it to be sliced’
This was too much for the counter fellow to handle and he called his supervisor. The supervisor was annoyed.
“Why what happened – can’t you handle simple orders such as masking tape?” He grabbed the telephone and said
"Hello, who's speaking please?"
"Limboo speaking"
"Pardon me"
"Limboo speaking"
"Can I speak to Milind"
Its only when Milind spoke to the shop supervisor that this whole confusion was cleared.
This incident has taught me an important thing - Always address people by their proper names.
No comments:
Post a Comment