Sunday, September 30, 2012

Life of Little princess.part-10


Manufactures increased number of franchise to six and gradually increased number of technician to 24 (in our franchise) or per person for per pin code to give customer immediate response .it means per pin code area per person, thus reducing call attending time and reducing our No’s of service calls .our manufacture appointed five more franchise. Manufacture says sell accessories and makes extra money for the lost service calls .all the accessories were over prized. They supplied chines or Delhi made items, some of the items are even sold by footpath sellers! Selling was tough.  Since most of accessories were sold along with appliance by the dealers at the time of selling appliances. Company offered us some incentives like, if we sell these items we get a consolation amount of 50 peanuts .the highest being 100 peanuts.

Per person per pin code area, it means number of reduced service calls (cards). Per day per person gets average four or five calls. However, distance and petrol expanse remains same. At the end of the day when you calculate petrol, maintenance and other expenses, the struggle we family men make out a living was not worth it. With no other job other than franchise system available we just continue to work, lucky guys are those young bachelors .At the end of the month they make out about RS 2000 or RS 2500 p.m. family men find it difficult to meet both ends. Most of the young and energetic people made fast money. Some of them disappeared with fridge or A/C. some technicians arranged to collect repairing charges from different customer in one particular day, took the entire amount about Rs12000 or Rs15000, and vanished. The intelligent one canvassed service contract from the costumes and settled down with their own shop. With “inside people”, they can all ways get their work done in double quick. In my five and half years of service, more than 250 young and energetic technicians were kicked out of service. Hiring and firing was the order of the day.

After the globalization, manufactures localized their work. Manufacture goods, spare parts, put cash in their bank and attend consumer case at the court. Period. They now run their own office with skeleton staff. . Franchise technician’s work includes not only servicing their equipment but also to generate as much as money for the manufactures. A Technician becomes all in all. He must be a sales person, capable to selling products, getting annual maintenance contract, sell spare parts, collection agent and PRO for the manufactures. It is also duty of every technician to see that the customers are not going to consumer court at any cost. We were asked to settle the dispute immediately. How you do it is none of the manufactures business! Their argument is that if it is not a manufacturing defect then the fault lies with the technician! How convenient for them to blame on technician. Company executives come and preach company policy now and then. Like Indian weather their policies keeps changing every time.  Preaching comes naturally to company executives. How many examples read cock and bull stories they tell us to motivate. Ask any of the company or franchise boss to be in our shoes, they get pissed off. We were forced to obey their orders for peanuts (per calls). Rest is assured when you got home... God blesses those poor souls!

I am a victim of globalization .you may not believe me. My own life/story will tell you how globalization can ruin a family life of an ordinary person. Working mode of the service sector in white goods changed the fate of senior service technician. With time, we aged service technician became an invalid person.

On fourth month I brought my little princess and wife from my native place. Sony was very friendly with all our neighbor's .who ever stretched their arms at her she will lean on them and traveled around the place on their hip. My wife complained to me that she could not have enough of her daughter.           
                                  
 My daughter was almost ten-month-old and we tried our best to walk her. She was little bit plumy and was not able to balance herself. Our neighbor an old woman told us how to make her walk .we tried it on her. I placed my daughter four inches away from the compound wall. She leaned on back and supported her back shoulder on the compound wall and stood there for some time. We were eagerly waited for her first walk. After some time the magic began. Like a crab she placed her small steps sideways and started moving! First she walked towards left side then stopped then towards right. . It was funny watching her walk sideways, all the while supporting her back shoulder by leaning back on the compound wall. She learned to walk very quickly. Our life revolved around our daughter.  Wife started spending more and more time with our daughter.  Our house routine had changed.  My mother and wife started quarreling over silly things.  There was always tension at home.  I do not know whether to support my mother or my wife.  They started accusing at each other. One thing I was sure both of them tell me nothing but lies only.  It was only the beginning. 

                                                      After 3 years 
 The company were I worked was running at loss.  One day our boss called for a meeting and announced, “I am losing one lakhs fifty thousand Rupees per month.  I cannot run the business any longer.  Please you all look for another job.  I am going to close down my business.”  I tried disparately for a job for the survival of my family.  I sent my Bio - data for job. Apply. Apply.... NO reply! Rejected!  Date of birth 14/02/1957. They concluded this man is too old. I had also attended walk in interviews.

Interviewer:  “You must have a vehicle and mobile phone; you have to pay for petrol and mobile bill.  You see.  You are a too old; we are looking for young and energetic person, who is capable of working 10 to 12 hours, that too for Rs. 2500 p.m.  Will you be able to work for that amount”?
I…” I need minim Rs. 3500 p.m. to run my house”.
 I thanked them for not calling me...I went home with empty handed. 

I started pledging gold for provisions and rent.  My wife is too good when it comes to sarcastic way of talking. She also thinks I am an incompetent man to get a job.  She can only find fault with me. Not realizing that nobody wanted to employ a 48-years-old man nor willing to pay more than 2500 p.m.  She started taking me for granted. Instead of realizing that with my meager amount of salary I am unable to run the house. She had no intentions of finding a job to save our family. I had spent about four thousand rupees for her computer course; she had completed her Hindi teaching course. She also knows tailoring work. Because I pledge her gold for house expenses she hated me .her problem with my mother also became unbearable.  My house became a living hell.
 
I asked her to apply for some kind of job sale girl, typist, or Data entry and make some Rs.1500 p.m. balance amount I will be able manage.  She does not want to share the responsibility of our family. One day she called her brother and left for her native home with my daughter.  Poor little princes. . She was hardly two years and three months old when she was taken away to wife's house.