"You are looking unhappy" I said to the employee who was retiring from the laboratory. "What happened?"
"I received my best laboratory technician award today" he said unhappily.
"I know" I said. "I had nominated you for the award. You should be happy you got it."
"I know" he said and offered his certificate of merit to me to have a look. I looked.
"Oh, they have not bothered to strike out one of the two printed options 'Shri' or 'Smt' before your name." For people who do not know Marathi or Hindi - 'Shri' is equivalent of 'Mr' and 'Smt' is equivalent of 'Ms'
"Yes. They have even spelled my name wrong. Did they really appreciate my work? Though the gesture of giving me the award suggests they did, the shabby way they made out the certificate indicates they did not."
"Do not feel disheartened. They just have apathy. They just do not want to exert enough to strike out words which are not applicable. I will show you a certificate given by them to a department" I said and showed him a copy of one such certificate of merit. He studied it.
"It has both the words 'Shri' and 'Smt', none of them struck out. But it is not awarded to any person. It is awarded to a department, which cannot be either 'Shri' or 'Smt'. They should have printed certificates without either of these words, or at least struck out both the words" I said.
"Why do they do this?" he asked me.
"I think the work is assigned to a person who does not like it, but is forced to do it. His superior officer is not motivated enough to see if he/she has done it properly" I said sadly. "There is another possible explanation, which I hope is not the real explanation."
"What is it?" he asked because I did not elaborate."
"Perhaps this is the best they can do. They do not know what errors they are committing" I said even more sadly.
Here is a copy of that certificate, some parts masked to protect the identity of the concerned department.
"I received my best laboratory technician award today" he said unhappily.
"I know" I said. "I had nominated you for the award. You should be happy you got it."
"I know" he said and offered his certificate of merit to me to have a look. I looked.
"Oh, they have not bothered to strike out one of the two printed options 'Shri' or 'Smt' before your name." For people who do not know Marathi or Hindi - 'Shri' is equivalent of 'Mr' and 'Smt' is equivalent of 'Ms'
"Yes. They have even spelled my name wrong. Did they really appreciate my work? Though the gesture of giving me the award suggests they did, the shabby way they made out the certificate indicates they did not."
"Do not feel disheartened. They just have apathy. They just do not want to exert enough to strike out words which are not applicable. I will show you a certificate given by them to a department" I said and showed him a copy of one such certificate of merit. He studied it.
"It has both the words 'Shri' and 'Smt', none of them struck out. But it is not awarded to any person. It is awarded to a department, which cannot be either 'Shri' or 'Smt'. They should have printed certificates without either of these words, or at least struck out both the words" I said.
"Why do they do this?" he asked me.
"I think the work is assigned to a person who does not like it, but is forced to do it. His superior officer is not motivated enough to see if he/she has done it properly" I said sadly. "There is another possible explanation, which I hope is not the real explanation."
"What is it?" he asked because I did not elaborate."
"Perhaps this is the best they can do. They do not know what errors they are committing" I said even more sadly.
Here is a copy of that certificate, some parts masked to protect the identity of the concerned department.
