Month End

I walked into office fashionable late as usual, talking on the cell phone.

"F**K YOU!!" screamed a colleague, I cowered, only to realise that this choice epithet wasn't hurled at me but at some poor down the line sales guy on the phone. As I walked past the row of cubicles, I heard a once sweet voice yell "I want ten f**king files approved before lunch, I don't care what you do!", this was a free spirited sales head, who is a nice enough lady on normal days. Somewhere else a whiney voice yells “don’t tell me you guys had f**king rains in Cochin too, I tell you, you are an A*****e! Don't even dream of an incentive this month!”

In another corner a credit officer slams the phone down with a muted curse. Telephones ring everywhere.

As the day goes on, the temperature rises, blood pressures shoot up and the curses get more colourful.

Another normal day like any other during the month end.

People in most sales driven organisations exist from one month end to another. If the month end figures are good, then the review that happens post facto won't be so bad. If the month end figures are below par, then shame and ridicule are things that can be expected. Exceeding targets also comes with its own curse, the target for next month is sure to be revised higher thanks to the good performance. A classic catch-22 situation if ever there was one.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Across years, the screaming voices change but the messages remain the same.

What have we achieved? What have we created? What have we learnt? Seated in my workstation in the middle of all the chaos, I reflected deeply on these questions while I played with my toy cars.