Ravi Speaks:
Stories Of My Senior Colleague & First RM At Ludhiana.
When I started from Ludhiana on 8 March-1982- I had two more of my colleagues already working there. So, we were three Reps stationed at Ludhiana and working in different areas of the city along with the adjacent interiors allocated proportionately between the three of us. Thus, the whole Ludhiana territory was being more or less covered by us comprehensively. Our HQ was the most important one at that time since it was fetching the highest sales as compared to other cities of Punjab and at the same time, it had two Medical Colleges as compared to either one or none in other bigger cities like Patiala, Amritsar, and Jalandhar of Punjab state.
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| Boss With Inferiority Complex |
I had my RM also stationed at Ludhiana and he belonged to Meerut-City and had already worked there in that area as the Rep. One of my senior colleagues happened to be my RM’s batchmate also. Before I had joined, I was told that my colleague is the local one at Ludhiana had extended his full help in ensuring my RM got settled easily there at a new place like Ludhiana. He had even got kerosine oil arranged those days in the early eighties especially for RM’s kitchen so that his family could easily do the kitchen work without any problems. Even he helped him in all the smaller things like getting the house and extending himself out for other local help as and when my RM needed it. Thus, he offered all possible help to his batchmate cum RM. With time once the RM got fully settled, he started showing my colleague the various ‘traits of bossism’ and this changed his image in the eyes of my senior colleague and he realized that whatever help he had extended to the RM, was an exercise in futility and started distancing himself from his RM.
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| Confrontation with Vindictiveness |
By the time I had joined, there was already a lot of bickering occurring between the two of them and I saw a happening which proved that my senior colleague never wanted to give him any sort of help anymore. One day-it was regarding both of them who were at the stockist’s place in the morning since it was their meeting point. Both of them had to proceed with their work from that spot. After having a detailed discussion with the stockist in the morning both of them stood up and wanted to move to their place of work. My senior colleague started his ‘Lamby’-scooter and my RM tried to get on its pillion seat. While he was in the act of placing his foot on the scooter footrest-my colleague directly told him that he would not allow him to sit on his scooter and immediately asked for a man driven rickshaw and told his RM to sit there and directed the rickshaw to take him to Brown Hospital-and he would be following them in the way. It looked very unusual that the rep went off to Brown Hospital without taking his boss along. And the boss followed him in a rickshaw where he had already made his arrangements without giving any clue to anybody. Thus, it was peacefully done.
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| Various Shortcomings Pointed Out. |
The second occasion I remember was when my colleague showed his wit while handling his RM in a bigger Delhi Cycle Meet at Siddharth-New Delhi. In this meeting, my SM and ZM were also present. Here again, an exercise was given to all participants that they would come one by one and act the same way as they did in the market and handle the retailer accordingly. Each one came as per his turn and did his job as assigned. There came the turn of my senior colleague. Immediately he started the conversation with the retailer who was being acted by our SM himself. The rep asked him many things as he used to do it in the field and the meantime, there was this RM also sitting-who suddenly intervened and asked the colleague regarding the slow movement of his products. To this intervention, my senior colleague immediately asked my SM-who was acting as a retailer-as to whether this man who intervened in between was a new servant kept by him. To this, my SM became very annoyed and he stopped that ‘simulating exercise’ there and then. He did not talk for some time and in the meantime, we were told by other managers to go out and take lunch-since it was half-day. All the participants were having a fear due to this sudden happening and in the heart of hearts, they never wanted to come in front of the so-called Retailer (acted by SM). In this act, my senior colleague deliberately wanted to pull my RM’s leg and wanted to prove to him that he too could respond in the same way as he had dared to do that way with my colleague on earlier occasions. Later we gathered after lunch and strictly as per the agenda whatever was to be conveyed to the field force was done and people were told to leave the meeting hall and proceed for their respective HQs.
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| Difficult People Facing Each Other |
I was realizing one thing that although whatever my senior colleague did in the meeting was not called for and at the same time such acts reflected a different message of vindictiveness on his part-but the concerned RM remained tight-lipped and was really under the apprehensive mood as to what would be the next move from my colleague. My senior colleague was very witty and it was his wit which at times was putting the RM in a tight corner-since this quality of his was infusing an inferiority complex in my RM. My RM could not compete with his batchmate in his witty expressions and at the same time even in his competency levels. That was why I many times realized that it should have been the other way round in their case-I mean ‘my senior colleague to be RM of my RM and my RM to be his sub-ordinate. That would have solved most of their problems and the disparity in their approaches too.
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| Boss With Inferiority Complex |
Sometimes handling the more competent people in the capacity of being their immediate superior becomes too much-asking for our competencies to be geared up to match theirs-otherwise one has to remain in his poor complexes-which might affect his weaker personality even more.
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