I was going through the paper work that is a part of my job as administrative head of the department. Nothing (written or printed) is supposed to go out of the department to anywhere else without the signature with/without the remarks of the head of the department. Sometimes it is relevant. Sometimes it is not. But rule have to be followed, or the papers come back like a bad penny. That day there was a proposal and an application for clearance of a research proposal by the ethics committee of the institute. It was made by a resident doctor, for working on a topic for her dissertation. The multi-page document was filled quite elaborately. It was duly signed as co-investigator by the teacher and boss of the resident doctor. But the place for the signature of the applicant was blank. I could have signed it then and instructed the clerk to obtain the applicant’s signature before sending it away. But it would be wrong, and I wanted to find out a couple of things about it anyway. So I kept the paper pending and requested the clerk to advise the applicant to see me when she was free. The applicant arrived in half an hour.
“Sir, I have come because you called me” she said.
“I did not call you right away” I said. “You have an outpatient clinic at this time. I wanted you to come when you were free. Is your boss not angry because you are away?”
“I told him it was about my dissertation” she said.
“Have a seat. Look at your application and see if you spot anything wrong” I said.
She sat down and went through all the papers of her application. When she reached the end, she found out that she had sent the application for my forwarding signature without signing it herself. She promptly took out her pen and started signing.
“Wait, wait!” I said. I said ‘wait twice, so that she would register the second one if she missed the first one. It is my experience that they tend to miss single word commands. She caught one or both of the commands, and stopped.
“You can sign it after you answer my questions” I said. She waited for the questions patiently. “Why did you put up an application without signing it? It is like giving an unsigned cheque.”
“I am sorry” she said, “I forgot.”
“How did your boss sign it without you having signed it first?” I asked. “He is quite particular about paper work.”
“He had advised me to sign. I meant to, but I forgot.”
“He is in the outpatient clinic, right? Let me ask him” I said and reached for the phone.
“Sir, no!” she cried.
“What is the matter?” I said. “I will just ask him nicely how he signed it without your signature. Then he won’t do that again” I said.
“Sir, please, no! He will be furious and will fire me” her face was quite worked up and I was afraid she would start crying. I don’t like grown people crying, and definitely not because of me in any way. So I moved my hand away from the phone far enough to relieve her anguish.
“OK. I won’t ask him” I said. “But what will you tell him when you go back? He will want to know the reason for my calling you.”
She thought that over and said “I will tell him the truth.”
“If you tell him the truth, he won’t be angry with you, but if I do it, he will be? How is that so?” I said.
She kept quiet. I was slow, but finally I understood. She had understood her boss’ nature better than I had. I signed the paper without any further questions and she went away without shedding any tears that had threatened to appear just a short while ago.
