Latest
07:46 AM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
August 29, 2014
He dropped dead.
At his desk.
Between 10.45 am and 11.15 am according to the doctor.
The coffee had a skin on it. Cold. No sugar, little milk. He took care of himself.
Just after the morning meeting with the MD. No warning. Not even a hiccup.
Executive stress.
A type personality.
Corporate man to the core.
Marked for great things.
They found some pills in his third drawer which he kept locked.
No one knew what they were for. Blood Pressure? Cholesterol? Ulcers? Who knows.
They haven’t let it out.
Something to do with his insurance.
He was 44.
That dangerous age. Dozens of Reader’s Digest type articles about this five year 40 to 45 phase. Seems the heart can’t bypass itself like it does in old age. The young haven’t got the networking to keep going.
So, they drop. The old have tickers that have reworked their maps.
Hundreds of reasonably fit young men in their prime, keeling over at office desks without warning.
That’s the scary part. The absence of warning. So much for an absence of malice.
The company is shocked. The MD goes personally to inform the widow. Says it is a tragic loss. Of course, the company will take care of everything, don’t even think about it. Personnel are alerted to pull out all stops, get the paperwork done, expedite his savings.
Seven fellow executives secretly get themselves medically examined. Can’t happen to us… until it does, better to take precautions. Migoodness, he played tennis.
He didn’t even smoke. More executive floor self concern. At least if he had smoked it could be explained away.
Nothing’s more morbid and ill defined than executive stress.
Ghastly late 20th century trick. Anything you do and it is called stress and now you worry about having it so you have it because worry feeds it and so you worry some more, and it spirals into some imbecilic spiral until you flop down on the table, the uncovered pen symbolizing an unwritten epitaph.
Kilroy was here.
First week. The company is concerned, helpful, makes promises it will not keep. Life picks up thread again. The nameplate is taken down. Personal effects removed and returned. Visits dwindle. You can’t go and sit forever in the house of sorrow.
Second week, there are unpaid bills left behind, some outstanding loans, MD is requested to waiver them off. MD is abroad. Compassionate grounds are cited. It looks hopeful.
MD returns. Says he would love to do it, after all, a good man went down, but rules are rules, audit objection and all that.
The company car can’t be bought at book value. Sets unhealthy precedent. So much for him being one of the best.
We would love to offer you a job. Mean that. Sincerely. Problem is no vacancies. Take some time out to regain perspective then call us.
Oh, yes. If you could please vacate the company house by the end of the month.
More promises felled like trees in a marked forest. Insurance is being processed. Gratuity needs some form filling. We believe his car loan has to be cleared.
Sorry, there are no provisions for cashing in his accumulated salary.
Colleagues shy away, now self conscious about visiting widow. Besides, what is there to say. Life must go on. Concern is expressed on telephone. Clumsy and awkward.
The ringing stops.
The visits are over.
The company has wiped him out. Like a wave of over some flotsam. No signs it was there.
Eighteen years of dedicated service, loyalty, returns, results, the good fight, the man who was set up as the role model.
Way to go.
It’s the system. Can’t expect anything else. It is a corporation.
Not a charity.
He’s dead, see. Non productive. Can’t carry that forward.
Is the company responsible for the aftermath?
No.
The contract ended the minute he dropped.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
If my call is so important to them, why don’t they answer it for 22 minutes?
How come when I want to, but something specific online is the only item out of stock.
When I get into a queue or lane going fast, the moment I get in, it becomes the slowest and refuses to budge.
Read more... | Archives