Miss the manners

You would think that being educated would guarantee some semblance of manners and etiquette in people. It’s a foolish hope I’ve realised. Education just guarantees literacy, everything else depends on morality, upbringing and conscience.  

I’m not talking about grand gestures and thumping parades; it’s all about simple things. At the food court in a mall, do you pick up your tray or leave it there for the cleaners? If you happen to drop food on the floor or the table where you sit, do you pick that up as well or it is the cleaner’s job? I make it a point to put everything on the tray and as far as possible dispose it off myself (unless the cleaner pops up and insists on taking it). I understand with kids, it’s difficult to be so fastidious, but maybe we can try and do what we can.

It irritates me when I find people behaving so callously. Sure, there are people assigned to do a task, however menial it may be, but that doesn’t mean that we have to make their work all the more difficult. It doesn’t give us the right to deliberately add to their burden.

Take for example a public loo. For us it may seem like one stall, one sink, but that poor person has to do the entire bathroom, all the stalls and all the sinks for an eight- to twelve-hour shift. Must we be so uncaring and cavalier?

We’ve all picked up an attitude of others picking up after us. We grumble when we see a mess, but what do we do about it. Are we contributing to it or making a tiny effort to lessen the burden? What gives us the right to grumble, when we are as guilty as the next person? We blame ‘them’ the others …it’s never us, but how are we in our office, where we are seemingly surrounded by ‘others’ who are just like us? Like the ladies loo in my office; we have notices put all over asking, no begging, for cleanliness but no. The floor is left wet, the seat wet and sometimes with pee droplets, the occasional red blobs and skid marks of a healthy bowl movement! Why? Why? Why? Each time you step in, you wonder what surprise awaits you. Toilet rolls are used one and empty ones kept standing (are we counting how many we use in a day?), used ones that fall on the floor are left there, make up stains and hair strands dirty the sink. Is it too much to just take a peek behind you to ensure that everything is clean and flushed? You got a clean, pristine bathroom; why not leave it like that for the others?

Round 2

So we made it through Round 2 of the Foosball Tournament. This victory was made sweeter by the fact that we beat the team that classified themselves "Team Winning". Who's laughing now?

Somehow I feel that the tournament is going to fizzle out with injuries, absences, drop-outs and work causing teams to be shuffled, losers getting second chances and match schedules rearranged!

Update

So I played the my first match and we WON! Skullcandy moves to the next round! I was nervous and played a rubbish game but thanks to jay-shawn we pulled off a fantastic win. Phew! The game oscillated like a pendulum on crack. At one point we were leading 3-0 and then went down 4-7, to then score 2 more points and then face defeat at 6-9 but a brilliant angled shot by me (the crowd said brilliant) frazzled the opponents who didn't know what hit them when we levelled at 9-9. It was a relief to see our goal scored.

On Tuesday, we play Mr. Voiceman and my best friend in the UAE. I have a feeling that this one is ours!

The mystery of the disappearing things

I often think there is a chor bazaar style flea market operating in my city and some of my colleagues moonlight as blackmarketers. How else would you explain the fact that we have no scissors or tape or staplers easily available? The only ones you can find are tethered by sutli threads or plastic extensions to tables and drawers. But that isn't always a guarantee against theft as one of my colleagues found out. He reached for his stapler and found only thread!

Pencils, erasers, pens and post-it notepads all disappear with alarming regularity. Mostly people are too lazy to go to the supply closet or ask the office assistant for something they need. Why take the trouble when it's easier to pick stuff from someone's desk and then have the temerity to tell others to go take another one! After I've lost some personal decorative pieces, found my pencil holder emptied of all its contents, and post-its (that I brand so that I know they are mine) floating around, I've kept everything under lock and key. Even tissue boxes are not safe. I've stuck mine to my desk with tape and double tape. Some jokers take the last one but leave the box for me to throw!

Things are so bad that food from the fridge disappears as well. Anything you keep in the fridge is treated like public property. Like it's a magical box that fills up on its own! I've had my sandwiches eaten, juices drunk and once (hold your breath) my lunch box (the entire thing food and all) just disappeared. Two years later I still haven't found it! You've eaten my food but return my box please. My lunch box now comes with my name tagged on it (much like how school kids would do). I thought I was the only one, till I noticed another colleague who also tagged her fruit boxes. Another guy leaves a threatening message that goes: This is my food, not yours. Anyone who touches it, will die a thousand deaths.

Foosball Mania

It took a reminder from you J for me to realise that I had not uploaded anything today. I was honestly under the impression that I did. Which now brings me to the question, what did I do today morning? err... nothing. I'm a blank, seriously. So my uploading a post was actually done yesterday. Sheesh!

Anyways, I did forget to mention that Foosball table number 3 is back in the office. This can only mean 3 things - the noise will be back, the swearing and whooping will be louder than before and the tournament will be back! Yes, the famous interoffice Foosball tournament - where we perform far better than we do on an actual football ground (who can forget the 7 - 0 drubbing we got despite having the best cheering squad). Whenever management decides to get us a foosball table (before the noise and complaints from the suits make them dismantle and/or throw out the table) we also persuade them to allow us to organise a foosball tournament. The first year we got nothing as prizes, the next year, medals and certs and this year one day of leave!

Now everyone knows in a game, there are those who are skilled and those who just don't have it. So to make the game fair (and to allow all employees to participate) the foosball heavyweights (which include Mr Perfect and my Voiceman) decided to divide people according to talent. My name fell in the second half (I was aghast at the inference of being a kaccha limboo). I protested and actually got patronised! But as they say Karma can be quite the equaliser. I drew one of the stronger players in my team Jay-Shawn! So eat that suckers!

Last year, my team mate and I called ourselves Feathertouch, since both of us were fairly new to the game and we could not hit powershots. I would like to say we had grace and style as against brute force! Hah! This year Jay-Shawn and I are Skullcandy after the fact that he loves the brand, and he is into skulls and the like, and I distribute candy around the office.

(This is last year's pic... a before match, last minute instruction session) 

PS: Did I tell you we have the chance to 'train' for a week before the tournament begins the week after that. So I'll be sweating and swearing and working hard on forcing my wrists to hit that angled shot. Wish me luck people!