The telephone is an instrument for communication. If it is put to that use, life would be simple. However human nature wants complexities, most often for unreasonable gain.
I remember once our office peon complained to me about one such thing.
"Sir, some of the staff members call on the intercom and say they have reached the campus and request us not to put a cross on their names in the muster."
"So?" I asked.
"Sir, with the new intercom system, one has to dial the intercom number after the exchange code - 2410, and one is connected from any land line or mobile phone. It is no proof that those people are actually in campus."
"OK, We will state that being in campus is not enough, that they have to sign on the muster before the deadline."
That put a stop to it. The person who used to do that finally left the institute for greener pastures, where such problems were not permitted to crop up, I hear.
Then there was another one. I called that staff member in OT on the intercom. Another staff member took the call and said the staff member was teaching the students outside the OT, and had no access to an intercom. I was told that she would contact me when she came to the OT. I realized that this was a lie. The said staff member had not reached the institute, and was being covered by the other one. She had no business being outside the OT, because the students had to be inside the OT, learning operative procedures. I let is go at that, because I do not believe in correcting people who know very well that they are wrong. I got the expected call quite late, by which time the work that I wanted to assign to her was already done by someone else. The covering staff member left the institute later, and the covered one has to be in the OT now, there being no one to cover for her absence.
I remember once our office peon complained to me about one such thing.
"Sir, some of the staff members call on the intercom and say they have reached the campus and request us not to put a cross on their names in the muster."
"So?" I asked.
"Sir, with the new intercom system, one has to dial the intercom number after the exchange code - 2410, and one is connected from any land line or mobile phone. It is no proof that those people are actually in campus."
"OK, We will state that being in campus is not enough, that they have to sign on the muster before the deadline."
That put a stop to it. The person who used to do that finally left the institute for greener pastures, where such problems were not permitted to crop up, I hear.
Then there was another one. I called that staff member in OT on the intercom. Another staff member took the call and said the staff member was teaching the students outside the OT, and had no access to an intercom. I was told that she would contact me when she came to the OT. I realized that this was a lie. The said staff member had not reached the institute, and was being covered by the other one. She had no business being outside the OT, because the students had to be inside the OT, learning operative procedures. I let is go at that, because I do not believe in correcting people who know very well that they are wrong. I got the expected call quite late, by which time the work that I wanted to assign to her was already done by someone else. The covering staff member left the institute later, and the covered one has to be in the OT now, there being no one to cover for her absence.
