Normally a clerk looks after the maintenance of the muster, in which all people employed in the department sign. I am in charge of everything in the department including the muster, because I am the head of the department. But that does not mean I stand by the muster and keep checking who comes exactly at what time. After all, I am supposed to treat patients on arrival in the hospital, not while away my time doing a clerk's job. No other department head wastes time standing by the muster, unless there is any specific problem employee who has any specific problem with the muster. It is handled by a clerk in every department.
We have a senior employee in the department, who sometimes holds charge of the department when I am on leave. This person takes a great pleasure in harassing employees. She/he stands by the muster, and puts crosses (indicating absence) the moment it is 10 minutes past the expected time of arrival i.e. at 9:10 A.M. Even if there is a line of employees standing there to sign, having arrived five seconds late, she/he does not let them sign, but continues to put crosses. Her/his own work in the department remains not done all this time, but that does not detract her/him.
This behavior reached a new low when she/he started to stand by the muster and watch it even when I was present and very much in charge. She/he would urge the clerk to put crosses, because she/he was powerless to do so herself/himself at that time. This behavior reached a new low, lower than the previous one, when she/he started questioning their practice of writing the time-in as 9:10 A.M. when they had arrived after 9:10 A.M., and telling the 'late by a few seconds' employees to put crosses on their own names for having come late. They ignored her/him, but that is besides the point. That these employees often stayed working well beyond the standard end of the day at 4:00 P.M., but this person was not concerned about it. After all, the motive for this exercise was to trouble others and show her/his importance.
So the next day I sat in that office on one side and kept watching. At 9:10 A.M., this person barged in, looked at the muster and people around it venomously, signed in it, and then took a stance by its side. Then she/he noticed me through the corner of her/his eye, was taken aback duly, thought it over awhile, and went away.
I sat in my office the next day, looking at the door of this office across the corridor, and went there when this person arrived in a hurry at 9:14 A.M. A lot of other people were watching her/him too. She/he signed and went away without a word. When we checked the time below her/his signature, it was 9:10 A.M.!
"Where is her/his integrity? She/he should have signed and put the time as 9:14 A.M." one person said.
"She/he should have put a cross on her/his name for having arrived later than 9:10 A.M." said another person who had been advised to do so the previous day by this person."
"But she/he always does so when she/he arrives late" a third person said. "I have seen that happen a few times."
I knew that was true, because I had seen that happen too. But I knew that harassing people for being late by a couple of minutes just discouraged them from putting their hearts into their wok. So I never harassed anyone for being a couple of minutes late.
"And this person just goes and sits in her/his cabin for 45 minutes or one hour after arrival, instead of going to work" complained another person. "All the work is done by others whom she/he keeps criticizing."
"This person suffers from a personality disorder, and I heard from a famous psychiatrist that there is no treatment for such disorders" another person said.
I knew that was true too, because that very senior psychiatrist had told me this about this very person once. The disorder could be cured only by self improvement, and such people never want to change themselves for better.
We have a senior employee in the department, who sometimes holds charge of the department when I am on leave. This person takes a great pleasure in harassing employees. She/he stands by the muster, and puts crosses (indicating absence) the moment it is 10 minutes past the expected time of arrival i.e. at 9:10 A.M. Even if there is a line of employees standing there to sign, having arrived five seconds late, she/he does not let them sign, but continues to put crosses. Her/his own work in the department remains not done all this time, but that does not detract her/him.
This behavior reached a new low when she/he started to stand by the muster and watch it even when I was present and very much in charge. She/he would urge the clerk to put crosses, because she/he was powerless to do so herself/himself at that time. This behavior reached a new low, lower than the previous one, when she/he started questioning their practice of writing the time-in as 9:10 A.M. when they had arrived after 9:10 A.M., and telling the 'late by a few seconds' employees to put crosses on their own names for having come late. They ignored her/him, but that is besides the point. That these employees often stayed working well beyond the standard end of the day at 4:00 P.M., but this person was not concerned about it. After all, the motive for this exercise was to trouble others and show her/his importance.
So the next day I sat in that office on one side and kept watching. At 9:10 A.M., this person barged in, looked at the muster and people around it venomously, signed in it, and then took a stance by its side. Then she/he noticed me through the corner of her/his eye, was taken aback duly, thought it over awhile, and went away.
I sat in my office the next day, looking at the door of this office across the corridor, and went there when this person arrived in a hurry at 9:14 A.M. A lot of other people were watching her/him too. She/he signed and went away without a word. When we checked the time below her/his signature, it was 9:10 A.M.!
"Where is her/his integrity? She/he should have signed and put the time as 9:14 A.M." one person said.
"She/he should have put a cross on her/his name for having arrived later than 9:10 A.M." said another person who had been advised to do so the previous day by this person."
"But she/he always does so when she/he arrives late" a third person said. "I have seen that happen a few times."
I knew that was true, because I had seen that happen too. But I knew that harassing people for being late by a couple of minutes just discouraged them from putting their hearts into their wok. So I never harassed anyone for being a couple of minutes late.
"And this person just goes and sits in her/his cabin for 45 minutes or one hour after arrival, instead of going to work" complained another person. "All the work is done by others whom she/he keeps criticizing."
"This person suffers from a personality disorder, and I heard from a famous psychiatrist that there is no treatment for such disorders" another person said.
I knew that was true too, because that very senior psychiatrist had told me this about this very person once. The disorder could be cured only by self improvement, and such people never want to change themselves for better.
