A friend and colleague is embarking upon authoring a book and has requested for anecdotes. This one is for him. Though, this is not to say that others will not find it interesting.
This relates to the period when I was working at the Corporate Office (CO) of the Bank with which my colleague and I spent a whole working life. The Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), very fond of long hours of work like our present PM, used to have morning meetings with top executives. Though I was only an AGM, I was sometimes invited to this meeting.
One of the General Managers at the CO who was a workaholic like most others and known for working till very late hours, had suffered a stroke and passed away. In a morning meeting following this unfortunate event, the CMD advised everyone to take good care of their health. He also expressed surprise that there were few regulars at the well appointed office gym which also had regular trainers. One of the GMs said, "Sir, you know all of us reach office a little early in the morning after a commute of an hour or two and then we are seldom able to call it a day before 7:30 in the evening. That leaves us little time for our families, leave alone the gym!" The CMD gave this GM a long and pensive look and exclaimed, "Oh! So you are complaining, aren't you?" The poor chap protested vigorously and said that he was merely stating a fact. The CMD said, "OK. Henceforth if I summon anyone of you after 7 pm and you are not in your seat, it would be quite okay."
As working till 7 or 7:30 was the norm, I had kept my schedule like this. I would leave my seat between 6 and 6:15, go to the gym, have a good workout and then return to my seat to see if any papers requiring my attention had arrived. If there was nothing urgent, I would pick up my briefcase and leave. The GM to who I was reporting too used to visit the gym frequently at around the same time.
Our visits to the gym had not gone unnoticed. A participant in the meeting, a GM, remarked that GM and AGM in the IT department were very regular users of the gym. As we were awaiting the reaction from the CMD, another participant remarked, "May be they don't have enough work in the department!"
This relates to the period when I was working at the Corporate Office (CO) of the Bank with which my colleague and I spent a whole working life. The Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), very fond of long hours of work like our present PM, used to have morning meetings with top executives. Though I was only an AGM, I was sometimes invited to this meeting.
One of the General Managers at the CO who was a workaholic like most others and known for working till very late hours, had suffered a stroke and passed away. In a morning meeting following this unfortunate event, the CMD advised everyone to take good care of their health. He also expressed surprise that there were few regulars at the well appointed office gym which also had regular trainers. One of the GMs said, "Sir, you know all of us reach office a little early in the morning after a commute of an hour or two and then we are seldom able to call it a day before 7:30 in the evening. That leaves us little time for our families, leave alone the gym!" The CMD gave this GM a long and pensive look and exclaimed, "Oh! So you are complaining, aren't you?" The poor chap protested vigorously and said that he was merely stating a fact. The CMD said, "OK. Henceforth if I summon anyone of you after 7 pm and you are not in your seat, it would be quite okay."
As working till 7 or 7:30 was the norm, I had kept my schedule like this. I would leave my seat between 6 and 6:15, go to the gym, have a good workout and then return to my seat to see if any papers requiring my attention had arrived. If there was nothing urgent, I would pick up my briefcase and leave. The GM to who I was reporting too used to visit the gym frequently at around the same time.
Our visits to the gym had not gone unnoticed. A participant in the meeting, a GM, remarked that GM and AGM in the IT department were very regular users of the gym. As we were awaiting the reaction from the CMD, another participant remarked, "May be they don't have enough work in the department!"
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