We meet a lot of people in our life, our workplaces are no different. We like some, we hate some. But a few among them are our good friends.
Our friend Mitra also interacts with a few people every day but they are oblivious to their good friend.
Could you help Mitra identify the good friend in their environment?
Mitra’s week was quite hectic as they had to pack three times the shipment orders than usual. The day had only started but Mitra was tired. When the team was taking a break, Radio approached Mitra and said ‘I wanted to tell you that you’re the best packer on the floor! I am so impressed with your efficiency’. Mitra smiled back and thanked Radio for the compliment.
A few hours later Mitra had a meeting with Lead, the Head of the shop floor. Lead gestured for Mitra to take a seat. ‘I want to inform you that your application for transfer to the frontline store has been rejected. We need someone with exceptional customer service skills’ Lead said with a straight face. This was the fifth time Mitra’s application had been rejected. Mitra’s excitement for a hopeful outcome converted into despair.
As Mitra walked back to the packing station, Gamma walked fast toward them. It was the last person Mitra wanted to see at that moment. ‘We have customer complaints coming in on damaged labelling!’ Gamma confronted Mitra. But before Gamma could continue, Mitra burst out ‘it is not my fault, I don’t handle labelling. You should talk to the labelling team.’ Gamma froze in their tracks dumbfounded.
Towards the end of the day, Beta – Mitra’s manager approached them. ‘The quality of your work has been deteriorating since last week, this won’t be good for your upcoming appraisal’ Beta mentioned. ‘I am the fastest packer here!’ replied Mitra. ‘That’s good but the quality cannot suffer’ replied Beta. Finally, Mitra shared the real issue ‘I had health problems last week.’ To this Beta replied ‘That’s an excuse. I’ll sign you up for quality training next week onwards.’ The conversation was over.
In the evening, Mitra and Alpha went out for drinks. After listening about the events of the day, Alpha replied ‘your problem is not the lack of training or skills, the underlying issue is your lack of trust’.
Mitra looked perplexed so Alpha continued. ‘Put more trust in your manager when you need some downtime, and in your colleagues to review samples of your packaging. Most importantly, put trust in yourself that all experiences are important for your development.’
So who among Radio, Lead, Alpha, Beta and Gamma is Mitra’s good friend? Add your comments below.
Next in the series…
Disclaimer: The story and characters depicted in this article are a work of fiction. They do not resemble any real person or event. Mitra is a Hindi word for friend. They can be anyone and don’t identify with a specific gender, ethnic background or race.
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