Friday, February 24, 2006
Take it easy...
This is meant to be in the 'Comments' section of Deepa's post. But, I had so much to say that I thought I’ll post here.
Three or four years ago when I was naive to anything American, even a phrase used to express farewell caused unwanted confusion. A trainer from the US visited India to train a team of five bright and guileless graduates-turned-employees. We were running on a tight schedule to learn his twenty-odd years of experience in just a couple of weeks. It was a little uncomfortable to know that his experience was really more than our respective ages. It was very important for us to win his trust and satisfaction, so that the process migration to India went smoothly without hiccups. But, he found a problem in everything...right from our nodding heads to our English. He expressed annoyance over which we had little control...from B'lore traffic to a guide who took Rs.3000 to show him around Bangalore botanical garden.
One day after he handed down an ultimatum, in a rather despotic manner, to finish a particular task by the end of that day, we all worked on the same, individually and jointly, without being able to achieve the results required. We kept pushing every nerve to think differently, unconsciously downing mugs of caffeine...did everything we could to assure him that we were capable, without making it obvious, that we were struggling. We thought it was too early for him to expect from us, the kind of expertise the task in hand required. In between bits of words and long silence, all five of us had just one thing to say in common - "NOT FAIR"!!!
A couple of offices away, he was getting ready to leave for the day. We eased out our knit brows and pretended to look calm with composure. He passed by with a loud - "take it easy guys..." with a huge smile and an obvious stress on "take it easy". Again, we all looked at each other with rebuking glances that read - "Who the hell told him we were struggling?!" Until we came to know, much later, that it was a good-bye phrase, we all thought of him as a sarcastic and stuck up American!
Three or four years ago when I was naive to anything American, even a phrase used to express farewell caused unwanted confusion. A trainer from the US visited India to train a team of five bright and guileless graduates-turned-employees. We were running on a tight schedule to learn his twenty-odd years of experience in just a couple of weeks. It was a little uncomfortable to know that his experience was really more than our respective ages. It was very important for us to win his trust and satisfaction, so that the process migration to India went smoothly without hiccups. But, he found a problem in everything...right from our nodding heads to our English. He expressed annoyance over which we had little control...from B'lore traffic to a guide who took Rs.3000 to show him around Bangalore botanical garden.
One day after he handed down an ultimatum, in a rather despotic manner, to finish a particular task by the end of that day, we all worked on the same, individually and jointly, without being able to achieve the results required. We kept pushing every nerve to think differently, unconsciously downing mugs of caffeine...did everything we could to assure him that we were capable, without making it obvious, that we were struggling. We thought it was too early for him to expect from us, the kind of expertise the task in hand required. In between bits of words and long silence, all five of us had just one thing to say in common - "NOT FAIR"!!!
A couple of offices away, he was getting ready to leave for the day. We eased out our knit brows and pretended to look calm with composure. He passed by with a loud - "take it easy guys..." with a huge smile and an obvious stress on "take it easy". Again, we all looked at each other with rebuking glances that read - "Who the hell told him we were struggling?!" Until we came to know, much later, that it was a good-bye phrase, we all thought of him as a sarcastic and stuck up American!
