Tag Archives: #WorkCulture

Friday Or Friyay

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Hello my readers!! Today is “D-Friday”. Yes happy FRIYAY. We all wait for this day from Sunday evening. Obviously, we all start making plans for the upcoming Friday. Some get success in executing their plan and some do not. So how’s your Friday? Well, here is mine.


Image Courtesy @MakeTimeForThingsYouLove

Long back, In olden days, I used to work. I had a proper office, a proper boss and a proper colleagues. Not joking. Yes, Once upon a time, I used to earn. I was a website developer. To be more precise, backend website programmer. Back then, there were separate roles for developing a website. Backend website programmer means, I use to code; how and where the data will store, how and from where the data will be visible on the website, the validation like proper email address, proper mobile number, the coding for like, dislike, comment, post, delete, the report generation for clients, how client will see the data, the analytics, the sentiments, etc. Now programmers do all the work, right from the look and feel of the website and the backend part also. So, for such work, weekends were a little nightmare.

Like you all, even I waited for Friday just for relaxation. But since all my companies were media companies, all major work was executed on weekends. Though I hardly worked on weekends because we were trained to write automated code for everything. But for that, we had given up our Friday nights. To make my work run smoothly on weekends, my Friday night was hectic. If no extra work from clients, then the weekend was in relaxation mode, else not.

In one of my companies, Saturday was a usual working day. So, we work in our usual mode. But this client came across a unique idea on Saturday evening, not only made our Saturday night hectic, but also made us work on Sunday as well. After all if and else, the client apologized for his unique demand. But what is the use? The damage was already done. Because it was Sunday evening. Though the company usually gives one day off, if we work on Sundays, but that holiday was after the completion of the project. So, when the project gets complete, we have either completely forgotten about that compensatory off or we have already started with the new projects.

But this was not every weekend story. Sometimes, we said “Yippee” on-time, from work on Friday. But in such situations, I was always blank and hence I ended up watching already seen movies on TV (That time there were no smart TVS, no amazon prime, no Netflix) and ordering food from restaurants.

So how’s my weekend now? Since I am at home, I prefer to sleep on weekends. I make plans for Fridays like watching movies, going to the mall, etc. But end up lying like a dead lizard. Going to the mall or any other public places on weekends makes me tired. Because there is a huge crowd and lots of noise. I find no peace in such places on weekends. So I avoid going out on weekends. If planned, then I prefer travelling in morning hours and will get return by afternoon or evening.

So kinda boring right? Yes. It is how it is. When surrounded by friends, I prefer to be at home  and when surrounded by my own people, yet I prefer to be at home only. I’m not against going to the mall and all, I prefer going on weekdays, when there is less crowd. 


©Vodafone

This is my Friday, and yours?

Negatively Positive

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Hello everyone! A very good day to all. We all have come to such a stage that we don’t know what will happen next. In India, we call this “Kalyug” which means “the age of darkness”. We don’t have any guarantee that we will live tomorrow or not. What will happen to us in the next phase is totally unpredictable. One such biggest example is this pandemic. I saw a few families celebrating the Covid survivors, while a few families were mourning. Even saw families with horrible shocks of death of their loved ones, one after the other. Prayers for those kids who lost their parents in such horrible situations. Governments are requesting to adopt such kids. But what to do, everyone has their own life. Everyone is still struggling with their job. Everyone’s job is still at stake. In such a situation adopting a kid and maintaining them is a huge budgetary responsibility.

But what’s the positive side of this pandemic? You will be thinking what’s the positive in this pandemic? “Positive” the word itself is negative now. Well, the positive side is that we all started taking care of each other. Started taking care of our health. Even though our eating habits are bad, we still drink decoction to keep our immune system healthy. We also started taking our job critically, and all of the above we came to know the importance of education and examination. Parents now don’t want their children to stay at home and study. They want their kids to go back to school and give proper examinations. If you remember, recently doctors went on strike because they got their MBBS degree but they are still not allowed to start their practice. So what’s the use of achieving the degree? So now, the “Positive” thing is everyone understands each other’s job role to perfection. Everyone is trying to fit in others shoes. 

A few days back, It rained in Mumbai. The winter temperature in Mumbai is 15degree. Mumbaikars find this temperature very cold because we are not accustomed to such weather. Since it’s very humid here, hence if the temperature goes down then we feel like we stay in a snowy area. Such temperatures affect our health. and hence all started giving signs of what coronavirus has. Now almost 9 people in 10 are positive, even if they are double vaccinated.

Whenever there is a new variant, Mumbai is the one who is affected the most. Why? not because we don’t take care of our health but because Mumbai never sleeps and the economy is on a daily basis. Mumbai has lots of street hawkers and we all are dependent on that. Hence without them we are like a handicap. The work life of Mumbai is pitiful and hence we depend on restaurants for our starvation. and hence we Mumbaikars can’t accept if the restaurants shuts due to lockdown. When the 1st lockdown was eased, all the businesses took utmost care of their customers. But now everyone wants business, and everyone wants other businesses to work. So sanitization has taken aback. Now what’s the positive in this? Well, the positive part is that we want “other” businesses to work and hence we knowingly and unknowingly help them to grow their business. and here again, since no proper sanitization hence we are only taking care of ourselves before and after visiting any restaurants or any other place.

One biggest positive side of this pandemic is local sight seeing. Well we all want to visit abroad. But since every country has their own quarantine rule, hence we started exploring our own country. If not a far destination then yes, a local destination. The tourism within the homeland has increased a lot. There were images / news on the internet of overcrowding tourist spots and people without masks. Well, we are the only ones who overcrowd the place and we are the only ones who sometimes say “no” to mask, so no need to point to others. Now here what’s the positive? The positive side is, even though we see that other person is without a mask and yet we “believe” them and “trust” them to not to be corona positive. We meet, we greet, we buy things from people who are without masks just on “trust and believe”.

I find this as the most “positive” and “cutest” thing on earth.

Well, this virus will take more time to breathe it’s last. But I’m sure, we will have a much better vaccine than before and it will be available in every house. Till then, wash / sanitize your hand, wear a mask, stay safe and stay Negatively Positive.

The Changed Perspective

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Hello my readers! So after a long time, here I am, again writing about office statistics. Office is a weird spooky home. Some enjoy and some not. Maximum people work for their living and some work for their love for work. Love for work? Huh? Yes, I have met just 1 person who said that he loves to work and doesn’t care about salary and he is not doing this for his living. Well, that person is rich and hence I feel that must be his attitude. Well, a very good attitude though. He is learning and also experiencing office life. So what’s there in experiencing office life? Just to learn how to work? Well, other than work we learn politics, bitching and most important color changing relationships and rising attitude towards our colleagues.

When I started with my job, I was told not to keep any close relationships with anyone. Not to make best friends. Just be neutral to all. Well, I didn’t work much there but in my second company, I somewhat made personal friends. Because my seniors used to get involved in everyone’s personal life. I felt that good because he helped not only in a professional way but also in a personal way. I even saw him helping financially when one of my colleagues got shocking news. And hence, staying with him, I too got involved personally with all other colleagues.

But the days were not good, when my senior resigned. He literally picked up only those people who were not married and took them along with him in the new company. This left me sad and angry because I was not on that list. Since I was getting married that year. Those chosen colleagues slowly took a step back because they didn’t want to reveal that they too will resign. This turned the relationships into just “Hi” and “hello.” That evening, I traveled back home holding my tears back. Soon, I too resigned from that company. That time I realized that keeping personal relationships with colleagues was totally wrong. Because I was not getting any excitement at work. I was not at all enjoying my work. Three things I learned. First, You help but see to it that you get your returns. Second, You help but don’t expect at all and third, Don’t help at all.

As it is rightly said by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, “Love your job. But don’t love your company. Because you may not know when your company stops loving you”. Same is the case with your colleagues as well. Don’t love your colleague. You may not know when they will start changing their attitude because of work or appraisals or resignations. Well, In one of my company, I suddenly got someone’s handover and when asked upon, he said, “tomorrow is my last day”. Well that guy used to sit beside me. We used to go for tea everyday, almost 2-3 times a day. We laughed, cracked jokes and this is what I came to know just before his last day. I was like, “why hide from me? Though we are in one team yet your work is different from mine”. And his reply was, “Just like that.” I was, what is this “just like that?” What do you mean by “Just like that?” Aren’t we friends? We share a good relationship. If you are getting a bigger opportunity then obviously I will be happy. Then what is this “Just like that?”. So his last day and of course last day of our friendship. Till date, we are not at all in touch.

I have even seen colleagues changing their attitude just on appraisal. Truth is, back in those days our salary used to be less. I started working for 10k per month . But now freshers get 30k to 40K per month. So obviously when the appraisal comes, the older employees, who started with a low salary, even if they get a good hike, their salary is always low compared to freshers one. and here, the attitude changes. Sometimes the attitude of the senior changes and sometimes the junior changes. But when the attitude of junior changes then the whole team suffers because of the professional-turned-personnel fights.

So? What’s the solution for this? Well, we all have this solution in our rules or contract of joining a company. That DON’T DISCLOSE YOUR SALARY TO YOUR COLLEAGUE. We always ignore almost all the rules and regulations of the company. But if you think in a different way, then you will come to know the reason why this rule is implemented. When your colleague asks your salary, tell them politely that you don’t disclose your salary to anybody other than your family members. Even If you get appraisal, don’t show your appraisal letter, don’t disclose how much percent hike you got and don’t show your happiness. If you maintain this throughout your professional life, you will be neutral to all your colleagues. Some companies even have this rule of not sharing computer passwords. In any case, if you had to share then change your password next moment and keep all your work in some secret folder. Don’t keep that folder on the desktop. And never keep login details on the office laptop. If for some reason, you had a personal talk with your boss, please don’t discuss that with others. Colleagues will always take this in a negative way. So only important things should be discussed with your colleagues.

And last but not the least, work should be communicated through official E-Mails only. Not by talks. This is the most important thing. When needed, you can show it as evidence. 

So, try these things. Be neutral to all. Happy Work life. Happy office. Prayers that the needy get a job.