THE VALENTINE DAY SPECIAL

I went back to work on the 10th, right after my little fiasco. I was too damn bored at home for my own good. Work is dull with all the global recession and people resorting to stimulate the economy for growth and stuff. My project, being under the direct supervision of the president of the company, is always hot and ready to dish. I work 12 to 13 hours a day, non-stop (I don't even have time to pee).

But that's me. And this is my project. Mine is not the only project in my company.

One of the other teams has 3 people. One designer, one program man and a team leader. This is the team that is the envy of every other team in the module. Not coz its got one person over the usual number or coz the leader is the most experienced of us all. But more coz there are 3 people tending to one non-existent product. They waltz in at 8.35 in the morning. Leave for lunch 2 minutes before the siren goes (I've never seen the canteen at 12.30. I am the one who breezes in at 12.50 and leaves at 1). They leave the company premises at 5 (save one, who tends to stay back till around 6. Hold on...He isn't around working...He's just here to workout...Company GYM). They spend their time doing everything one has to do at work. They dedicate a major chunk of their time to wish everyone in the morning. The rest of their scarce time is eaten away by mid-morning coffee, post-coffee chat, mid-afternoon tea and post-tea chat. Oh...They also sit in front of their monitors refreshing their mailboxes in hopes of finding another "This is my last day at work..." mail.

Recently, I was so amazed at how much spare time they had apart from their usually tight schedule (refer above paragraph for 'usually tight schedule') , that I was sorry for them. They did not know what to do. With the recent advent of a couple of orders from strange corners, most of the module was either busy, or was detached as part of a value-engineering program. They were out of people to nag to death with useless jargon. Man, a real plight indeed.

Time was, however, on their side. Within an eye's blink, the fourteenth of February was here. The day people were dying to see. It did not occur to me , why, they were unusually early for work today. I did not realize it was valentines day (my girl friend failed to remind me through the course of our hour long tirade). They looked like they had a mission. I was happy for them. I thought they finally had an order to work towards. My happiness was as short lived as a rat's fart. Their wait and patience, I realized moments later, was for the arrival of our GM. It wasn't 2 seconds after he had arrived, when one of them, beating the others to it, reached him, shook his hand and in the cutest way I've ever seen, handed him a Valentine's day gift, wrapped in pink.

I wasn't sure who was more embarrassed, me or my GM.