Hello Mariam, and Hi !!! Everyone, it has been a long time since I interacted on this forum.
A retrospection of past events has surfaced with a specific event that came to happen during my days as a safety officer.
It was on the National Safety Day, 4th March, on a very prestigious project, in the southern most part of India. The day was well planned, what with the Client totally inclined to make the day, the week, and the month a mark in the history of the construction of the plant. The programs were chalked out and on the said day, we started off with the introductory lecture by the GM of the, Plant-in-the- Making. Followed by the Oath taking ceremony and declaring the Safety Month. The Director for the Company, that I was working for, was also present, during the occasion and he was fumbling and shifting in his chair, throughout the 45 minutes of the opening ceremony. After the ceremony, the director took me aside, along with the project manager, and bluntly remarked, "Tarak, why do you want to waste time by asking all the workers to assemble and give lectures, whereas on the other hand, the total event was waste of time and mony. We have lost nearly 45 minutes, of morning working hours" He then turned to greet the Client's GM and tried to put on a face of benevolence and partaker. But, the moment he turned away from me, without giving me the least of opportunity to state anything, I felt like I was standing in the midst of a reflection of dictators, whose only job was to crack the whip and dole out misery.
In fact, I felt pretty bad about it and submitted my paper to my Project Manager, the same day. The Director tried to talk to me in a very arrogant manner, explaining that his company was on of the leading infrastructure company in the country, and could not afford to waste time and money on such trivialities, as celebrating the National Safety Day. I stuck to my decision, and left after a fortnight. along with me, another few engineers and least expected, the project manager, also quit.
So that is it. I hope you guys get the picture. This incident, has always been an encouragement to me, and also to the new entrants that I keep taking under my wings, from time to time. The least that can possibly be expected is a direct insult, which goes a long way till it is erased. I on the other hand, had a lot of opportunities, to face the same Director, sitting across the table, on the Client's side. And believe me, he did not have the courage to look at me in the eye.
On the contrary, I never did anything bad or say anything rude, to him despite the fact that he was from the contracting side, and I on the Client's.