Wednesday, January 12, 2011
My Experience at the Post Office
About two weeks ago, I had gone to the Post Office to send a money order. There was quite a long queue in the office. I decided to wait for my turn. When my turn finally came, I gave the address to the official concerned and waited for her to feed the details in the computer. It was then that the reason for the long queue hit me. The lady sitting behind the computer was typing the address but the pace was so slow that I felt like grabbing the keyboard from her hands and typing the address by myself. It was excruciating, waiting for her to complete such a simple process. A simple task that should have taken any person barely 2 minutes to complete, took her nearly 10 minutes. I realized the pathetic plight of government offices then. I just don’t get why these offices don’t give at least basic training like typing to their staff! No wonder there was such a long queue in the office. As I left the place I turned to look at the last person in the queue. Boy, he was in for a looong wait!
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True Viju, such experiences frustrate us. A basic training in fundamental skills should be in place, but you think that'll help the situation. In most places it's the apathy and bad attitude of government office staff that's most irksome. They just could'nt care less.
ReplyDeleteI've experienced first hand how clerks at our college administrative office would make us wait, unnecessarily bark at us for no reason and make some of us redo application forms and photocopies ,simply because they were disgruntled. And the narrow window of time during admissions or just before exams when hall tickets are issued, is the only time they got to act up. Wish there'd be a friendly Chitti robot to take care of such situations and people :-)
He he I know..!
ReplyDeleteTrue! They need basic training.I agree with both of you. But,come on! its a Govt job. Once you get the job ...you cant be kicked off. Is'nt that the reason people want government jobs. Where is the motivation to do better? Where is the fear of losing the job?
ReplyDeleteYou can tell a child, "do this and I'll give you a Chocolate'. If the child is gonna get one anyways...you think she'll do it?
Out of personal experience I think the state of government offices everywhere are the same. Even in the USA, the so called developed country. At a local Health center I was waiting to fill a form 6 months pregnant and with a toddler who was uncontrollable. The lady responsible was chatting away to glory at the time she's supposed to be working oblivious of us waiting. This lady had all the know how,but that did not ensure good and prompt attendance.
What about the Banks here? You need to get something done ...you are whisked away by extremely well mannered, well dressed people and seated in air conditioned rooms till they address our problem. We forget how long it takes to get the job done because we are comfortable ....not standing in long lines in the heat ..and people trying to break the queue to get ahead. Time taken is pretty much the same, just that our patience level with the noise and chaos around is low.
I have also experienced the College clerks trying to make us run around for last minute signatures etc. It used to bug me like crazy.One such incident ..an office clerk, asked me to pay Rs 50 for my certificates that the college had. I was wild ....wondered why I should pay for getting my own certificates back. Now I think back on that incident ...I just feel bad for him. Now i know what made him do that.
The clerks and the Attenders look at us grow up in front of their own eyes...We are nobody before we join the college. They know we are going to do much better than they did. We'll all earn well ...buy cars , buy houses ....while they are stuck with this job in their middle ages ...with the responsibility of taking care of their children with their meagre salary. What's a measly 50/100 rs in front of that.They are still driving their old scooter while you will be driving a car ...or maybe are driving a car.
Recently I saw a movie' Do dooni char', where Rishi Kapoor plays a teacher ...His family is really poor but he is an idealist. At one point he looks at his students and thinks' All my students are doing well. They have cars, some live in USA...they eat at Mc Donalds. Am I not responsible for my children's happiness too?' He's tempted to take a bribe but remains an idealist till the end ...But its a movie..Do you think it can happen in real life?
True!
ReplyDeletei think its all due to the reservation thing!
appointing able persons to these jobs will help a lot!