No one had ever argued with the new CEO, who was the owner’s son and practically running the company, without risking his job. He was an antithesis of his father who had empathy for his employees and treated employees as colleagues. The father was practically retired and his son was running the show. The son treated employees as personal servants and had short fuse.
Employees were scared whenever they were called to CEO’s cabin. Particularly, if someone was called early in the morning, his whole day went badly. There was no escape from CEO’s wrath, unless one was prepared to lose one’s job. Even then retort was not an option as he could hold employee’s dues on one pretext or another. Of course, you would never get good experience certificate.
Today morning was my turn to go to CEO’s cabin. I had tried to delay the visit as much as possible, but knowing that there was no escape, I had reluctantly entered into his cabin fearing for the worst. He had deliberately ignored me and kept on reading some paper. I had no option but to stand in front of his table.
After what appeared to be a long time, he pretended to notice my presence. He indicated that I should sit down. I sat on the edge of the seat waiting to know what had caused my visit to his cabin.
Without any preliminaries, He spoke. “Have you submitted this note?”
Only then did I notice that he had been reading the note prepared by me. I had handed over the note to his PS in a sealed cover yesterday. I had superscribed the envelope as ‘confidential’. I did not want anyone else to read it.
Although he had not given any indication, but I hoped to get some sort of appreciation from him. His face was otherwise expressionless.
I nodded, anxiety overtaking me.
He appeared to be trying to control his temper. “Why did you not submit the note through proper channel?”
I had no answer to that and I believe he also did not expect any answer.
He said, “I don’t want to say anything further. HR people will get in touch with you shortly.”
Without saying anything further he asked me to leave.
I left quietly, closing the door behind me. By now it was clear to me that my days in the job were over. I had spent over a year in the job. Six months after my joining, the old man had gone into semi-retirement, handing over the mantle to his son.
There were many people waiting in the corridor when I came out of CEO’s cabin. They were probably trying to make out from my face whether I was still in the job. Not all of them were my enemies, many wished me well. They all wanted to know if boss had asked me to quit. I told them the truth that I was not sure about boss’s response. Perhaps by evening I will know if I still had the job.
….
I was relatively new in the job. I should have known that nobody would believe me, especially when I was charging a senior officer about malfeasance. I did not feel like working that day, but that was sure to get me fired. So I starting disposing off my pending work, although my heart was not in it.
I should have known not to break company’s clearcut rule that ‘no employee should approach CEO directly’. But I also knew that the note might not have reached CEO, had I put it up through proper channel.
These days it was not easy to find a job. But I had been so convinced of the idea that I had taken the risk of submitting it directly to the CEO. Anyway, what was done could not be undone.
There was nothing else I could do but to wait for dismissal letter. I might get to resign if CEO was in good mood at the time of taking a decision.
….
A few days ago I had noticed that one of the CEO’s favourite employees, who was quite senior also, had been defrauding the company.
It was not that he was siphoning the money of the company. The man was responsible for investing company’s surplus funds. He was using company’s funds for intra-day trading for himself. However, the funds were always returned to the company’s account, even with some profit before the end of the day. Nobody became wiser as everyone looked at closing figures.
I had noticed this practice a few days ago. I spent a lot of time in deciding about the course of action. I could not have put up the information through proper channel as that person was well thought of in the company. Many of departmental heads were very friendly with him. So I had followed what I considered a good action plan. I had given the note to CEO’s private secretary in an envelope marked as ‘confidential’. I had told her that the note had been left at my table by someone and perhaps required CEO’s attention.
….
I did not hear anything from HR Department that day. So I got a reprieve for one day. This CEO was not known for prevarication, So I might hear from HR next day.
….
Sure enough, when I reached the office next day, an enveloped addressed to me was lying on my table. I was not in the mood to open it immediately, so I postponed opening of the cover by half an hour. By then I would have fortified myself with a cup of coffee.
….
By 10.30 AM, the office was full. It appeared that everyone had decided to come to office today, even those who were mostly out on business most of the time. So entire office was likely to witness my humiliation.
Around 11.00 I received a call from HR, asking me to come for a meeting. I walked into HR Manager’s cabin, carrying the unopened envelope with me. Surprisingly all the four chairs were occupied by HR staff. A few were sitting on sofa. It seemed I had to suffer the humiliation while standing only.
The Manager asked me, “Have you seen the letter we placed on your table?”
I replied, “I have not, I was slightly tied up with work.”
Everyone must have known it was a lie. The reason for not opening the letter must have been clear to everyone.
The Manager said, “OK, you can open it and see its contents.”
I opened the letter with trembling hands. I hoped that I did not fall down after reading the contents. Fortunately one person got up from a chair and asked me to occupy it.
I took out the letter and started reading it. Even before my mind registered the contents, everyone in the cabin started applauding. It was a letter of appreciation from CEO for having brought the issue to his attention.
The HR Manager told me that the person concerned had resigned. The company did not want any adverse publicity, hence, the case will stay closed.
I thought of going to CEO and thanking him, but then better sense prevailed. It would be foolhardy to tempt the fate second time.
React
