Some lessons from work life

The more i spend my days at work, the more do i begin to ponder on the thought process of others.  There were many things which i have learnt from the work life...some of the few things/mistakes which i realized and learnt are as follows...

1)Expecting more than you deserve
I was extracting data for making report, when i realized at some point that, if i had the absolute power and control over the data; i can manage to provide the same at ease. At one point of time, i expressed my desire to have total control of the data..to which a senior smiled and said... "i like the way you think but..its not possible..its how the process is meant to be." Later i realized what i was demanding. Its been just more than a year now, and i am demanding total control of something which i do not deserve yet. I have to earn it myself instead of demanding. Thats the way how life is

2) Think different from others
The printer cartridge had run out of toner ink a few days back, to which none of the hundreds of employees in my floor have raised a question or try to address the issue; nor anyone have raised the stationary requirement for the toner. I had to get some printouts and hence i sent a copy of the file to my senior and went to his place for the printout. He denied saying, "why haven't you addressed the issue or brought the issue to the Admins notice?". I replied back saying, there are some 700 employees in my floor who need to print on daily basis, and yet they haven't address the same yet.. so why should i? And even if i do, the next time..people will expect me to do the same again and again. My senior said, "you don't have a right to raise that question because you have never tried to resolve the issue. If you had raised the issue even once to the admin, you can say that i had taken up the issue last time; why don't you guys do anything?" It was a lesson learnt in a happy way, i guess.

3) Never point out others mistake, even if you know hes wrong
There are challenges everywhere in day to-day work life. Nones perfect and many of them are not knowledgeable as much as some are. There are times when you know that the other person is wrong, not in terms of his actions but in terms of his knowledge and understanding. No matter how much you try, some are hard to crack. Once i had a heated argument with a person from another team and there was escalations happening at higher level. And then my senior came to my desk to ask what the matter was. I explained to him, as he listened calmly..and he replied.. "do not point out mistakes in others even though u know he is. Listen to what he says, try to understand how he interprets the issue. Once you know how he thinks, explain to him in his own words..and he will surely understand." Well, you know what..he called up the guy and talked to him for a few minutes and the issue was resolved in minutes.

4) Never think that others will understand the way you do
I was preparing MIS report once again, and i was providing it in Excel with the original data in a format, derived data in another format etc..sort of mixed. I sent it to my senior for finalizing the report. He asked me some points like.. what is this data.. what is that data.. whys is this.. why is that and all...i replied him all.. He wanted me to change the data be consistent to make sure that there is no confusion. He said, "do you think seniors have enough time to see all these 100+ odd rows ?"; and asked me to consolidate the data to have a simple dashboard highlighting special areas of interest. The data interpretation part was more time consuming than the data extraction part, but believe me.. i was rather contented with myself at the end. Because at the EOD, if someone send me a data in a dashboard without all the details which are not required at extent, i would be much pleased and happy.

I hope more points will come up.. as i interact closely with the management each passing day.

Why Mumbai is a place for everyone!

Besides few reasons why i hate Mumbai, there are millions of reason why i like Mumbai.
One of the most important reason is that people here are CIVILIZED. If the definition of civilized people differs from yours, you better redefine yours. One best example would be one which was told to me by my friend in Bangalore. His friend got a call on his number one night and the caller said that his other friend is drunk and lying on the roadside.. and gave the proper address so that he can take him home. When his friends ask him who he was, he said he is a thief and taking away his mobile and wallet. Dont take me wrong, there is a thief in everyone of us. But this thief was polite enough to let his friend know that his friend needs help, besides helping himself with the money and mobile.

People follow rules here. If you see a board which says Queue, people form a queue. People stop at traffic lights, even when there is no vehicles from the opposite end. People know their rights and stand up to fight for the same, they stop by to ask if we are lost when we are...the auto walas will take us to anywhere in Mumbai taking the Best possible route and not try to cheat... Impressive enough!!