Profit and Loss - Profit lost ? or it's profit in loss ?

Over the life experiences we have come to measure every action and the results into profit and loss. This a true story of three friends which is no exception. Except to make us realize what is the actual profit and what is a loss at all.

Come time and I was offered an opportunity, courtesy a person whom I had helped get a job when he needed it most, he had come back to stay with his parents from a foreign country. After trying his hands at multiple business, all the savings were down the drain, only to give him a realization that business was not his cup of tea. This also left him, financially at the same level, where he had begun his journey after completing his graduation in nineties.

I really felt obliged that he remembered me after I parted from the company where we were working together. In the meantime almost three years were gone. He was a senior manager now. So as the fate will have it. We came together again, it was like being with your kin again. He happened to introduce me to a person who actually was from my native place, so naturally, naive as I was, I saw a new friend in him. We worked for 3 years together.

Everyone in the office started talking about or friendship and understanding as they saw the kind of fun we had together at every possible moment. This connect went beyond the office.

Even our families bonded well and became very close. At this time he was unmarried and was living with his mother. I already had 2 kids, one of them school going.

He got married and we celebrated and enjoyed the new member in our family group. During this period we even commuted together on daily basis. Using either vehicle and people in the office were to the point of envy when they saw the level of bonding and mutual trust we there enjoyed among ourselves.

After a few deliberation and  consideration we even happened to buy a our homes in the same society. So be it any time of day or day of a month we were there for each other at all time at any cost. Such was the bonding.

The friendship was fast turning into kinship, as he would drop my kids to school, pick up and even offer to buy grocery in case we could not manage it ourselves for some reason. Sometime it was pure telepathy and sometimes oral information was enough to get the desired help beyond expectations. We borrowed money without even ever asking for return had Sunday lunches in our favorite restaurants and spent every possible free hour either a beer, music, shopping or traveling together. Life was all good and pure joy. 

Time will never remain same, says the old wisdom, so one must be prepared. Exactly that I was not. Never ever I had thought it in dream that even something like this happens. Naive..naive..sad but true.

I took life in my own stride and careless towards money, spent freely and fondly on smaller joys of life for family and friends alike. This was my small world. A dream come true, I never thought that it would be over so soon and put me face to face with the naked reality of life.

As time flew by, 3rd year in our job, the company started on cost cutting measures and I had the honors to be the first of the batch which got the dreaded pink slip. 

So the fate had hit, and hit really hard with full blow. Now I was in dire need of a job. With recession in the air the jobs were scarce.

I was at the mercy of the HRs who continuously asked the same question "Why would I work for a lesser salary?  The question still haunts me only? No one was empathetic towards the job situation in the country, skill consideration was not even in the books of HR.

The same HRs would start with "Budget s not a constraint". Ha ..ha.. Despite my own pathetic financial situation now I had started asking the same HRs why they are considering me right at the beginning of my interaction with hem. By this time I hd made me quite unpopular among HR fraternity by telling them that "Budget was the only constraint, for they would hire anybody with claimed skills only on he paper and test their own hiring managers to make the new hire productive and perform as per expectation. This gap in HR-hiring system and Hiring-manager was sometimes funny and expressed itself in most crude form. When one sees on paper claimed skills and required and proven skills as advertised. This I was by now, after attending, more than 20 interview calls and in my own (past) organization. 20 Years later I am still of the same opinion and would silently agree.

This gap between paper and action also made me realize how different we are actually from our foreign-counterparts who test the skills and post that skill proof, the negotiations were done and often given a good support. This however, is still missing in todays' HRs when these talk about "industry standards" and blah..blah. This all is purely rehotary as I have seen people being hired at 10 times of the so called "industry standards". Reasons are well known to us. Still I fail to understand why this show off.

Responsibilities mounting with home loan and family with school going kids it was more than a tough situation.

 I had little resources as savings were all invested in the flat I bought, I needed some kind of support. Moral support would have been the least. Cash was drying up fast.

Now the realisation came that I needed the tools to get to internet for job hunting and day today connect and skill upgrade I need to be on net for avoid period of time and could not wait for a cybercafe to open.

This my friend named Toni, was very fond off high living and was a good show off. 

With our salaries he had manged to buy all the luxries of life that money made us possible to buy at that time.

Prior to my release from the job we all had access to all the goodies that anyone of us had, be it just anything. It used to be ours. We would freely lend an borrow, eat and party, sing and enjoy. As a dreem company "one for all and all for one".

With the pink slip in hand things changed rather fast. A few tools were required from which I had none, Toni had it.

Realisation started seeping in when he stopped answering my calls for some reason during the day on one pretext or the other.

The shock was complete when he refused to come out of his bedroom when I walked upto his home just see, if I could travel with him to his office (now) to do the official exit part.

Another shock came when his wife started avoiding my family by yrefusing to attend my Daughter's Birthday. Even his mom, who till a few days back would be found naming me his other son, did not even returned a courtsey call by my children who she was very fond of (apparently). I am using these words as it was not even a fortnight since I was out of job. So slowly and sadly the realisation that neither he nor his family wanted to be connected with us anymore as they would avoid us even at our common friend's place as if we were some kind of pest. Never ever felt so humiliated in life line that. My children cried to his mom, who earlier was a grandma to them.

How things change? Most of us have seen the situation above and had the similar experience from friends, relatives or neighbours.

The worst part was the breach of trust we enjoyed during this brief period. A few colleagues were visiting our society just say hello to me and meet the famous trio for them, which had been reduced to duo not only at workplace but also in our private lives (I am sure they were not aware about it) as me and Toni had drifted apart by miles now in a span of a fortnight. The team came directly to Toni's house and he told them that my family had moved out so they could only meet the third person from our trio.

I would still not trusted my wife and kids as they told me that Toni's family were avoiding us, not courageous enough to realize my error,  I would always defend him by casually denying and saying "it's just by chance or whatever" this was as if I were still trying to convince myself that the fault was on my side.

Suddenly, I see this group roaming about in the society campus and inquisitive as I am I reached out to them just say hello. On being asked if I had moved out of the city and how come I am there? The feelings started matching with facts that the TTRIO had been reduced to duo only. But this is not the end of the story.

How this loss came to become my benefit? The story continues.

My job search became frantic, with every new day. The two realisations dawned on me.

One there are jobs you just need to be frantic in your search.

Two most jobs are filled through network and connections play a big role. 

I can see some HRs smiling and nodding in agreement.

I had started a new journey, through my realisations I started dialing every phone in my diary and I could lay my hands on.

With skills on my side I was still not sure about getting a job - fast. 

I came to know that there was hiring going on in Chennai, this friend told me that if a certain LMT would want I could be hired.

Mind it I had already been rejected by the HRs of the same company for being ready to work on lower remuneration or they not being able to match my last drawn salary.

I decided to take the last resort and call this LMT. I had never ever heard or had a connect with him prior to this. We spoke once, he was busy. He took time to call me back. 20 years are past since, I still remember this.

An act of kindness and empathy can win your hearts.

He promised to look into my CV and said, if I stand by my claimed skills and passed his test, he will hire me no matter what

It was a convincing as he spoke with conviction and empathy at the same time. His words were soothing to ears and heart at the same time.

So as the destiny would have it I was hired by this company, intrestingly my remuneration was more than the manager's due to the special skills.

I worked there for nearly nine months he moved on, I too moved on and was relocated then left the organisation as my skills would be redundant there and soon I got an offer in hand with 100 percent hike, just could not refuse.

Now this LMT became my best friend, we lost touch for a brief period due to family circumstances, soon came together despite the distance and time lapse. He list his momc and I could not offer my shoulder only connect over telphone. He got married 2 years later, still I could not attend the celebrations. Still we just remain connected.

The turning point in the story came when my phone rang one day and this was the same familiar heavy voice from Toni from the trio, in the mean time almost 7 years are past.

We spoke for a about 30 minutes. Time has not been kind to him. He had lost his jobs multiple times ever since (still not sure of what ti believe), he had cleared the interview and was expectantly looking to join. (Knowing that HRs have the capabilities to put the open and hired position on hold, for some good reasob, mostly to negotiate or get a hire person with lower remuneration).

The very next day his wife calls mine and she has added her phone number in some Whatsapp group and just wants to say hello and love you all kinds.

The realisation dawned upon me that 7 years 3 months and 15 days it took him to contact me for his own good? This was too good to be true. I discussed with other one from the Trio, he still said it's ok to help him, as I conveyed my apprehension. So convinced again, spoke with hiring manager and HR, he is finally on board, thank God on other location.

He is onborad now, we two fro the Trio as we told each other. Toni has again disappeared, a month later we are telling each other. He never called after that neither his wife responded on any WhatsApp message. I can sill see his active profile in my company's directory. 

Never ever responded post hiring. He did not even bother to tell the other friend from the Trio, that he is hired and all was good again. He could track me due to him only. As the number porting was still not in place and with the change of location the phone numbers had to be changed in a month.

No regrets though, but find it a little hurting.

Now this LMT is still in touch, I could hel him land a job later in his career and he introduced me to a few more persons who 3ventualky became family friends and now he is again on a far of destination, doing well in life. His wife is a wonderful person and an excellent cook. So now I can loudly as if loosing a leg from the Trio had been a loss in proftt or what it is?

People who value relationships would never be at a loss, do not believe anyone when they say you don't make friends at work. Friends are made by your own way of thinking and are not dependent of place or time or opportunity.

 For me nothing is a loss it's just a matter of time it will come back to you. Name it destiny if you so will.