Fight or Diplomacy?

          Kumar is a Project Manager in a multinational software company which is located in Bangalore. He is a nice person and he has more than 15 years of industry experience. He has a salary account is with Citi Bank and few years back he opened an account with another Bank as he needed a locker to safeguard his gold ornaments and documents. One day he noticed that he utilized all the cheque leafs provided by another bank and hence he thought to visit the branch someday as new cheque book request facility was not available in online banking.

One Saturday he was relaxing at home and suddenly he remember to collect the new cheque book from the bank. So he gets ready, takes his bike and reaches the bank after 30 minutes’ drive in Bangalore traffic. Bank was crowded as it was Saturday and Bank staffs are taking their own time to complete the work as it was government PSU Bank. When enquired they informed him that their bank recently replaced their old core banking platform with a new core banking software and hence they are having tough time to deal with it.

He also wanted to withdraw Rs. 50,000 cash for some reason along with the new cheque book request. So he filled the withdrawal form and provided it along with the pass book in one counter. One charming lady is working in that counter and she requested him to wait for some time as she had many forms to process. After 15 minutes, she called him and handed over the new passbook along with the old passbook and also a big coin which had a number ‘30’ on top of it. She apologised, explained the reason for the delay and also informed him that she is issuing a new passbook as the old passbook is full. He felt happy for her response and started waiting for his turn as display was showing ‘14’ which means, another 15 customers work is pending before his turn.

Kumar was waiting more than 30 minutes now and display was showing still 18. He was thinking about his latest project in which his team successfully delivered the capability to process all types of loans within 24 hours in retail space and his client is one of the top 20 banks in the world. Earlier same process used to take minimum 1 week and because of this capability, this bank started attracting more customers in the retail space. He also thought about all the recognition and appreciation he received from the business. Now he started thinking why our Indian Government PSU banks are taking more than 1 hour to process a simple withdrawal transaction.

In this mind-set, Kumar started observing all the staff in the bank. Some of the staff were really busy and people were troubling them with continues questions. Few people didn’t have any respect for queue system and token system and they were trying to approach all the counters to finish their work. Few people who were sitting on the sofa were showing their anger towards the bank. Suddenly he noticed one staff who is sitting between cashier counter and another counter. He was quite old and he didn’t have any system in front of him. His responsibility was just to check the deposit and withdrawal forms passed from one counter and put a seal on top of it and pass the same to cashier counter. He was getting 1-2 such forms for every 15-20 minutes. Kumar felt as compared to any other staff, he is lucky to have this stress less and easy job.

Now display counter started showing 22 and Kumar thought he has all the time in this world for his turn. So he started observing the old guy. Initially he thought this old guy must be happy as he is having easy job with not much of responsibilities. However, after closure look it turned out be false as this old guy was shouting on everybody who approached him for some help or information. In fact, he was also shouting on some of the fellow staff members. Kumar also noticed that none staff members are happy for him.

After some time, Kumar shifted his focus to his mobile and he started reading the ebook which he started reading recently. Suddenly he realises that ‘30’ number is called in the speaker and display counter was also showing ’30. He immediately woke up and approached the cash counter. He was angry after so much wait, but also felt sad the cashier guy as he is old and had lot of forms in front of him. After collecting his money Kumar enquired with him how to get a new cheque book. He requested Kumar to approach counter-4 to place a new cheque book request.

Kumar is bit surprised when he approached counter-4 as the same old guy’s counter is named as 4. So he politely asked the old man to inform the procedure to apply for a new cheque book request. Looks like he didn’t hear Kumar’s words properly and he made a facial expression which resembles, ‘why are you standing here?’

Kumar didn’t lose his patience and he explained the old person that he is looking for a new cheque book as he utilized all the cheque leafs in the old book. Now this old person asked Kumar to give a ‘Cheque Request’, kumar puzzled for this statement and asked the old man that whether he need to provide an written application to get the same. Old person gave a strange look at Kumar and asked him to provide the old cheque book. Kumar is taken aback for his request as he is looking for a new cheque book as all the cheque leaf are over in the old cheque book. He explained the same thing to old guy. It looks like; he didn’t convince with Kumar’s explanation and gives more angry look at Kumar.

By this time, one person who is standing in the next cue, informed Kumar that in every cheque book last leaf is new cheque book request form and can be used to raise a new cheque book. Kumar recalled throwing the empty cheque book to dustbin. Now he was not sure what to do and informed the situation to the old person. Below is the conversation took place between Kumar and the old person:

Old person: How can you throw the empty cheque book to dustbin?

Kumar: Sorry sir, I didn’t know that there will be a cheque leaf in the cheque book which can be used to raise a new cheque book request.

Old Person: Then I can’t do anything; I need that leaf to raise a new cheque book request.

Kumar: Sorry sir, I can understand your concern. However, what is the alternative solution to raise this request?

Old Person: No alternatives, you have to give that leaf.

He gives angry look at Kumar and also looked at the documents which are present in the Kumar’s hand. He starts with one more question:

Old Person: Why are you having 2 passbooks? And for whom you are raising a new cheque book request? You can’t raise a new cheque book request on behalf of some body.

By this time, Kumar loses his temper and many questions arise in his mind. Couple of them are:

•         Why this old man is behaving like this?
•          There should be an alternative method to raise a new cheque book request as everyone will not use the same procedure and Banks must be user friendly to help customers
•         Why he asking about my passbooks? They only give the second pass book as my first pass book was full
•        Basically he is here to serve the customers like me; however, he is irritating all the customers with his non-sense questions. .

Now we will pause this story for some time and think how you would have reacted if you were in Kumar’s situation? For your convenience select any of the option below:

•      Scold the old person properly and ask him to speak with customer properly.
•      Tell him in a blunt tone that why does he requires 2 pass book info and ask him to what is the alternative procedure to get the new cheque book?
•      Answer in rude way that, their staff only provided the second pass book as his first pass book is filled with transactions and walk away without raising any new request for cheque book.
•       Tell him that Government banks are not making profit, because of you guys are working in these banks in this passion. Ask him to provide the alternative method to raise a request for new cheque book in high pitch tone.
•       Tell him that you have delivered many projects like this and all those projects are recognised from business. In addition ask him to provide polite response to customers
•       Approach the Bank Manager and complain on this person.

Selecting any one of the above option is mandatory. Suppose if you think your reaction is different, and then please write down your response. Basically Kumar wanted a new cheque book. What is the probability of getting a new cheque book without having much negative impact on his mind and with less time if he follows any of the above method? If you have different response than these, then think is it possible to get the new cheque book without any disturbance in your mind within less time?  

Above options will lead to heated arguments and definitely they will create anger and disturbance in your mind. In addition, they also demand more time. Option 6 looks logical, however, it also demands more time and there is no guaranty that we will get the cheque book. According to Kumar, any task should be accomplished with less time, with zero disturbance on his mind and if possible with very less cost. So he follows a different method to get the task done.

He approached the charming lady who served him earlier with an apology and explained the situation to her. She listened his query carefully and again she asked an apology for old man’s behaviour. She requested Kumar to give a written application for a new cheque book and she handover a paper sheet and a pen. Kumar wrote an application letter requesting a new cheque book and he gave it to the lady. She took his letter and asked him to wait for five minutes. After five minutes, she called Kumar and gives his new cheque book. He collected his cheque book and went back to his home happily.

Now some of you may be thinking that Kumar did a wrong thing and he should have fought for his rights with the old man. Some may think that it is always better to teach a lesson such arrogant people. For few, it’s their ego at stake and they think it’s good to have a heated argument with the old man. Very few people are ready to agree with Kumar, however, they will not be able to forget old man’s behaviour and it haunts them for some time. If you belong to any of the above category, please read the below questions:

•           What is the probability of old man changing his behavior if you fought with him? If you complain to branch manager?
•          What are the chances of getting a new cheque book?
•          How much time, you would have spent to get the cheque book? Also how much time you need to come out of anger?

•          Every fight, heated argument will have a negative impact on our mind-set. Even in the above case, you might need some time to come out of this disturbed mind-set.

After considering all these things, it looks that Kumar did a commendable job and his response in this case is much appreciated. He was able to walk away happily, because he has the mind-set to forgive old man. Even in life, we come across similar situations and our response to those situations is very important. Because in life, we can’t control what happens to us, however, we can control our emotions and reactions to all the incidents. So in any situations, direct your emotions, reactions, energy and action plans to come out as a winner along with happiness.