A great quality of the civic body is its ability to hold on to money that belongs to others legitimately, but found its way into coffers er... treasury of the civic body.. If one accidentally pays any money into the treasury of the civic body when there is no occasion to do so, the civic body understands that this man has no understanding of the value of his money, and goes all out to protect his money in its treasury. This is done so well that no matter how hard the man tries to get his money back, the civic body does not let go. I thought this was its behavior with other people, but not with its own. The civic body has another great quality. It does not discriminate between its own people and others. It treats all people the same way.
We have this ultraviolet water purifier that I got installed using our own funds. But once something is given to the institute, it belongs to the institute. So this water purifier became the property of the civic body. It needed annual maintenance, which we expected the civic body to pay for. I asked and the engineer told me to go ahead, pay for it, and he would get my money paid back to me in due course. I trust people until they prove themselves not worthy of that trust. So I trusted the engineer and spent my own money to get the maintenance contract into force. A month passed, but there was no sign of any reimbursement. So I asked, and was told by the clerk that the proposal was lost. Two clerks of the engineering department kept batting me from one to the other department, until I lost my cool and asked them if they thought I was like the common man who had to run from pillar to post to get anything done. Then they told me to submit our office copies of the reimbursement proposal. I did that. After another month and a number of reminders, they passed it and sent it to the cash section, from where we had to collect that measly amount - rupees 1650/- They did not pay me for another month, saying they did not have any money. I wondered how it could be so, considering the fact that the annual budget of the institute was more than rupees 2000000000/-. So finally I called the head clerk in the cash section and asked what the problem was.
"We don't have money" she said.
"Despite a budget of rupees 2000000000/-?" I asked.
"No, Sir. We had some money in between, but I asked the concerned clerk to pay a small amount to every creditor, so that everybody got some of his money."
"All except me, when I actually work here and the others don't?" I asked. "If you cannot afford to pay Rs. 1650/- at a time, at least pay Rs. 10/- per day, so that I get some of my money at least" I said. My sarcasm must have shown, for she immediately changed tack and said, "OK. I will pay the entire amount somehow. Please send someone."
If you think I got my money right then, think again. I got it on the third day after that. It has been a great learning experience for me. I hope this post helps people learn from my mistake instead of learning the hard way.
We have this ultraviolet water purifier that I got installed using our own funds. But once something is given to the institute, it belongs to the institute. So this water purifier became the property of the civic body. It needed annual maintenance, which we expected the civic body to pay for. I asked and the engineer told me to go ahead, pay for it, and he would get my money paid back to me in due course. I trust people until they prove themselves not worthy of that trust. So I trusted the engineer and spent my own money to get the maintenance contract into force. A month passed, but there was no sign of any reimbursement. So I asked, and was told by the clerk that the proposal was lost. Two clerks of the engineering department kept batting me from one to the other department, until I lost my cool and asked them if they thought I was like the common man who had to run from pillar to post to get anything done. Then they told me to submit our office copies of the reimbursement proposal. I did that. After another month and a number of reminders, they passed it and sent it to the cash section, from where we had to collect that measly amount - rupees 1650/- They did not pay me for another month, saying they did not have any money. I wondered how it could be so, considering the fact that the annual budget of the institute was more than rupees 2000000000/-. So finally I called the head clerk in the cash section and asked what the problem was.
"We don't have money" she said.
"Despite a budget of rupees 2000000000/-?" I asked.
"No, Sir. We had some money in between, but I asked the concerned clerk to pay a small amount to every creditor, so that everybody got some of his money."
"All except me, when I actually work here and the others don't?" I asked. "If you cannot afford to pay Rs. 1650/- at a time, at least pay Rs. 10/- per day, so that I get some of my money at least" I said. My sarcasm must have shown, for she immediately changed tack and said, "OK. I will pay the entire amount somehow. Please send someone."
If you think I got my money right then, think again. I got it on the third day after that. It has been a great learning experience for me. I hope this post helps people learn from my mistake instead of learning the hard way.
