Long back, in a business unit of ABC Bank at Srinagar, therewas a simple, calm & reserved branch head, named, Mr. Patloo. He wouldhardly react to the people, even when, personally attacked, and provoked by someone by use of most unwelcomebehaviour & bad language. One day, when he was sitting down in his officechair, going through some office files, a customer of the branch entered hisroom, like a sudden nasty gust of unwanted wind, with a dirty mop of longtongue between his two jaws like flicking tongue of a snake. He opened &emptied a powerful battery of insults, abuses & nicknames on him withoutletting him speak out even a word. Mr. Patloo silently gauging abysmal depth oflowliness of sleazebag, stood like an impregnable & unshakable rock,receiving bullets of verbal assault from the crazy fellow, without allowinghimself unmoved a bit even by such a grave & sudden provocation, as it iscalled in penal law of crimes. Till the ugly storm of unwarranted customer hadcalmed down after exhausting its forceful verbal attack on him, it didn’t allowthe gentleman manager to speak a word even & silenced him speechless by unleashingvolley of quarreling unpleasantries. And, then, the dirty gust of wind returnedthrough the same door from which it had entered Mr. Patloo’s office room. Inthe meanwhile, the staff members, who knew the misbehaving customer of thebranch, had stood up from their seats but, just to watch the scene withhelpless eyes of bovine animals & shut mouths of mute servants as they wereall under an obligation of showing compliance to the customer service manual ofthe banking industry that stipulates: “customer is always right”. Angered,however, they were inside their hearts, so they asked Mr. Patloo why he hadn’tshown any reaction to the customer’s pathetic behaviour. He smilinglyresponded:
“He’s a known Leke Watul . Why should have I reacted orreciprocated him in his language to bring myself on par with him, to endvisible difference with him? By his rough behaviour & dirty language, hehas shown that there is an ever-ready filthy-fleshy mop stationed in big mouthsof such odious customers of banking industry ….”
Mr. Patloo while thanking staff members for showing”concern” requested them to go back to their seats. While they were returningto their chairs, whispers were heard: “Customer is not always right, we havelearnt it today from the Leke Watul, a real “nuisance customer” of thebank”.
One day, Mr. Patloo while narrating the above story of”illiterate” Lake Watul to his daughter, who had also found managerial job inthe ABC Bank, advised her: “Some day in your life, you may have to encounter,unwillingly though, a Lake Watul in your office, or anywhere else, who is goingto make you lose your self-respect. But do you know the secret of keeping upyour self-respect?”
“What’s that, dad?”, she asked.
“It is simple, stay back, take a deep breath & allow theaggressive winds of insults & abuses from such a loudmouth, unpleasant man,to pass by. Remember it, my dear”.
“Yes, dad, I shall always remember & practice it in mylife”, she answered.
It was in a sense prudent patrimony passed on by anexperienced & disciplined father to his daughter who, after a decade of herfather’s retirement, had, by then, also become a branch head of the ABC Bank.She had inherited the calm & composed temperament from her father. Theanecdote of the above-mentioned “illiterate” Lake Watul was strongly inscribedon her memory. However, she always recalled to her mind, much more golden words of her father that “LakeWatul isn’t going to be found among illiterate people only. Their numbers havegrown more among “literate” herds of people, hence, for your own-respect, youhave to guard yourself more against corrosive acids flowing down from themouths of such literate brutes who are toxic people of our society …….”.
Then, one day, Mr. Patloo’s words about literate brutesfound an expression, an actual drama, one may say so, in the behaviour of a”retired Judge” who held a pension account in the daughter’s business unit.Owing to a pure human & technical error in the computer system of thebranch the pensioner had been receiving “excess” pension amount that hadaccumulated to some lakhs, over some years, which under banking norms wasrecovered from his deposits that lay with the branch. The recovery was made bythe branch but it had visibly put the judge on fire ; he threw choicest ofabuses & insults at the girl & other lady staff members in her businessunit.
“How dare you deduct money from my accounts? How dareyou…..without my consent? Don’t you know who am I?….”, the pensioner roaredlike a dummy tiger.
“Sir, the pension guidelines permit recovery of the excessamount, and it does not need prior consent….”, dared a lady banker to utter aword of truth.
“Don’t try to teach me law? You petty foolish bankers….Youfeed on our deposits ……Tell your MD to talk to me……”, the ex-judge was bringingonly disgrace to his profession by throwing insults & nasty put-downs atthe dutiful bankers who had discharged their official obligations only. Thedaughter, like her father, stood like a solid rock against the judge’s spewingout filthy words from his big mouth. While he was in a fit of arroganceshowering rebukes on the bankers, she was hinting at the staff to keep theirfingers on their lips and not to reciprocate the “valued” customer, as responseto misbehaviour of a customer is taken in banking terminology as “wrong” on thepart of the bankers. The dirty gust of wind left the branch after he hadunloaded all filth from his mind on the poor bankers. The staff asked her whyshe had stopped them from responding to the foul-mouthed customer. Then, she told them the anecdote of herfather how he had once faced & handled a like Lake Watul. She told them:”this customer oo is a Lake Watul…..”.
She brought to the notice of her teammates at the branch howDavid J Pollay, an American positive psychologist and guide, learnt a lifelonglesson from a cabbie who remained silent, smiled & waved at a driver whohad wrongly jumped his car in front of their driving-cab and had almost causedtheir certain death. The driver yelled at the cabbie but with no reaction fromhim. That episode was developed by David into The Law of the Garbage Truckwhich appropriately explains how to respond to the people who want to dumptheir garbage on you. Let garbage trucks pass by without letting them dump iton you. In his own words: “Many people are like garbage trucks. They run aroundfull of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full ofdisappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it.And if you let them, they’ll dump on you. So when someone wants to dump on you,don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, & move on.Believe me. You’ll be happier.”
A staffer asked, “Mam, are Lake Watuls in our society likegarbage trucks ever-looking for dumping their shit wherever & whenever theyfind a place, occasion, for it”.
“Yep, undoubtedly, don’t allow them to dump it on you”, shereplied before they resumed their work.