Here is something more about the staff member about whom I had written in a previous post. The said staff member now arrives on time because otherwise the clerk puts a late-mark or absent sign on the muster. First she tried to make me allow her to come late, because she got stuck in the campus while trying to park her car, owing to the repair and reconstruction work in progress. I told her I did not have to power to do so. Then she tried bulldozing the clerks into not putting such marks on her name in the muster. She accused that there was favoritism, and she alone was being victimized while others got away. It was just her paranoid mind and actually there was no such favoritism or victimization. She shouted, threw tantrums, threatened to get them sacked or some such thing. They got worried and came to me with a complaint about her behavior. I called her and told her that the clerks too were our employees, that they had their rights, and she had no power to shout at them for doing their job. I told her she would face a departmental inquiry if they chose to complain to the Director in writing about her shouting at them. That seemed to cool her down a bit. All staff members reasoned with her, but failed to change her mind. She declared she would meet the Director and get her way, stating all the previous Deans and Directors had always given her a positive response.
“Wonderful idea,” I said, “if you get this permission, all of us can start coming late without fear of being marked late or absent. Please do this, and tell us when you get the permission.”
She tried and tried and finally one day managed to meet the Director. I saw her sitting in the staff room that day, soon after the said meeting, drying her eyes with a handkerchief. I did not know what had made her cry silently there, but refrained from asking her. The truth came out after 3 days in our departmental meeting. I asked her if she had got the permission to come late from the Director.
“No.” she said, but wouldn’t elaborate.
“What did he say?” I asked. Since there was no way she could avoid answering that one, she said,
“He said ‘Just ignore it!’” We were amused. She could ignore the late-marks and absent-marks, but the marks would remain, and she would continue to lose her leave as per the service rules. Her behavior with the clerks on this and other issues suddenly became sweet and has remained sweet for a long time.
Read more about this in the next post.
