Disclaimer: All the incidents and characters are purely fictional and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. In case, any of the events described here happen to anyone in 2020 (or before or after 2020) then the readers are expected to forget that they read this narration.
**** START *****
This story is about an average human being (AHB) who works in a software company.
Year: 2020
Date: Some Random Date in the year
Time: 6.45am in the morning.
Place: MLPL (Multi-Level Parking Lot) in a software company
AHB: Ooh, I am getting late. The call is at 8am and I am still entering the MLPL. I wonder whether I will get to park the carbot or not.
He swipes in and gets into the MLPL. He goes around to all the parking levels and is disappointed that all the slots are taken up. He curses himself.
AHB: I should not have watched the IPL13 matches. I dozed off late and could not come in by 6am and now, I will be missing this important call that is at 8am. Maybe, I will have to go out of the entrance and park my carbot outside the campus.
He travels down in his carbot and just before exiting, he sees that a parking slot has just become empty. He gets down from his carbot and orders to his carbot "D14".
The carbot doesn't move. He notices that he did not pick his ID card from the carbot and so it did not move. He thinks that he should remember to keep the carbot's carpod in the sun so that it gets charged and it announces why it is not moving. It is only giving out important messages and not announcing everything.
He again orders "D14". Carbot responds:
Carbot: 'NOT EMPTY. NOT EMPTY.
AHB: What do you mean, not empty? It is empty. The other carbot just left.
AHB then notices that the carbot just left the MLPL after the owner sat in the carbot. He realizes that the system does not know that the parking location is empty unless it leaves the MLPL.
AHB: The system should be intelligent enough to notice that the carbot has left the parking space, why should the carbot leave the lot to recognize the empty space! The person who developed this must be a fool.
He now orders his carbot "D14" and the carbot promptly drives itself to D14 and parks itself. He goes to the elevators although he was on the first floor and swipes his card and while the elevator comes to the first floor, he thinks -
AHB: I have unnecessarily used the elevator. I am on the 1st floor, I could have easily walked - now Rs.1000 will be deducted from my salary for using the elevator.
He pacified himself almost immediately as using the stairs also would have cost him Rs.500. He takes the elevator and comes down to the entrance of the building. He puts the bag into the scanner with his laptop inside the bag and swipes on the machine with his id card and the scanner starts. The security person wearing 'Ray-Ban' glasses sits in the shade and wishes him 'Good Morning' while the bag is scanned through and shows the items in the bag onto the screen for the security personnel to view these. The barcode on the laptop is matched with the swipe-in entry and after the scan; AHB takes his bag and leaves to his building.
While walking by he sees the e-smoking zone that is built on the way to his building. He notices that men and women go into the e-smoking zone and just stand there. The smoke is filtered and reused to remove any bacteria so that the users can enjoy the smoke without any adverse effects. He hears two people walking ahead of him discussing about the e-smoke zone:
Person 1: It was better in earlier days; we used to take our own cigarettes and used match sticks or lighter to light our cigarettes. Nowadays, it is all reused smoke; I am not getting the same satisfaction as before.
Person 2: Dude, think about the environment; this facility boasts of reusing the smoke and the recent advancements in technology have made it to reuse the same smoke for about a week and these facilities are maintained over the weekend to fill in new smoke for the next whole week. Previously this campus used to burn 5,000 cigarettes per day and now it is only burning 1,000 cigarettes per week!
He, not being a smoker, just walks past them and reaches his building. He opens the palm and keeps it in the sun and the time displays 7.30am. He tries to enter the building by swiping in, but then seeing others he remembers that he has to scan his finger too. His finger is scanned in the biometric device and he swipes his id card at the same time and walks past the turnstile to the elevator. He thinks twice before using the elevator and finally decides to use the stairs in order to save money. He takes the stairs to reach the 4th floor where his actual work is. Here again, he has to use the retina scanner and swipe in. The retina scanner does not recognize him and he goes to the restroom to wash his eyes so that the retina scanner can recognize him. He swipes the card on the tap and makes a bowl out of his palms. The water from the tap fills his hands and stops and without wasting a drop of water he keeps his eyes in his palms so that his eyes are cleared of all the dust and goes back to his wing entrance thinking, another Rs.200 deducted for this water.
He finally reaches his desk at about 8am and logs on to his system to see that the call is postponed to the next day. He checks other emails and replies to the ones that expect his reply and forwards with instructions that require delegation. After getting some work done and postponing some tasks for post lunch session he dreadfully walks towards the cafeteria for lunch.
***** INTERVAL ****
Menu reads:
Pan Pizza - Rs.2500
Sub of the day - Rs.2000
North Indian Meals (Full) - Rs.1800
South Indian Meals (Full) - Rs.1750
(Limited) Plate Meals (North Indian) - Rs.1400
(Limited) Plate Meals (South Indian) - Rs.1350
Any 1 item of your choice (Dosa, Idly, etc.) - Veg. - Rs.1000
Any 1 item of your choice (Non-veg) - Rs.1250.
Soft Drinks, Juices, Icecreams - Flat Rate - Rs.999
He feels sorry for himself to not have brought his own box from home that day and goes on to the counters. He orders one North Indian Full meals, but checks his wallet and sees that he has only Rs.1600 in his pocket. He immediately says that he wants the North Indian Plate meals (Limited). The person at the counter (vendor) asks him:
Vendor: Do you need a plate?
AHB: Of course, I need a plate. How else would I have food?
Vendor: It will cost you Rs.200 extra sir.
AHB: What!? But, how are others having it?
Vendor: Sir, most of the customers take plates for rent and when they return the plate, they get Rs.100 back. The same is applicable for spoons also; we charge Rs.100 for spoon and when they return the spoon we give them Rs.50 back.
AHB: (Surprised): But why do you need to charge for plate and spoon!?
Vendor: Sir, there were times when we had problems with spoons in our food courts. In order to curb the issue with spoons, we introduced this offer. It was successful - so, we extended it to plates and glasses.
AHB: (Calculating) Please change my order to 1 Masala Dosa and a plate for rent. Will I get the sambar and chutney or do I have to buy those separately?
Vendor: (Smiling) Sir, Sambar and Chutney are included in the price for Dosa. They will be served in the plate itself. Since you took the plate for rent - you will have a comfortable meal sir.
AHB: Where should I return this plate to get the money back?
Vendor: Sir, you have to give it near the 'Soiled Plates' counter to the right.
AHB: Thank You.
AHB goes to the Dosa counter, stands in the queue for 45 minutes to give the token. He is asked to stand in another queue to take the plate. He stands there for about 30 minutes and finally stands in the Dosa queue for 25 minutes to be served with a Dosa. He takes it and after searching for 20-25 minutes, he gets a corner seat on a table that still has flies all around and that is yet to be cleaned. Unable to bear the hunger, he sits there and immediately a person comes with a machine in his hand. Before he even asks the question, he says - 'Sir, please swipe your id in this machine. It costs Rs.100 to sit and eat here."
Without asking further questions, AHB swipes his ID card and finishes his lunch and waits in the queue to return the plate. When he reaches the start of the queue - The person says "Sorry sir, no change - we do not have Rs.100. Please take a fresh spoon instead - it costs Rs.100 anyway". Unable to say no and thinking he would exchange it at the original cash counter; he takes the spoon and comes out of the queue. He stands in queue to wash his hands and repents that he should have paid Rs.100 for the spoon - he would not have spent the Rs.200 here for water and he would at least have saved this time of standing in the queue, but satisfies himself by saying that Dosa could not be eaten with a spoon.
He goes to the cash counter and gives the spoon to the person and expects Rs.100 in return. The vendor returns Rs.50. AHB is confused now and asks why he was paid only Rs.50 and the vendor responds:
Vendor: "Sir, I had told you that when you return the spoon you would get only Rs.50"
AHB: "But I returned the plate and got a fresh spoon because he did not have change."
Vendor: "Sorry sir, we do not know whether this spoon is fresh or not and cannot give you Rs.100. We have to wash it again. The rates of water, detergent and everything else have gone up. You are in software field and earn a lot sir. What is this petty Rs.50 for you!? Please understand sir, please"
AHB doesn't understand what to say and just leaves the place and is now back at his desk to complete the remaining work carefully taking stairs (because they are charged only once per day) and is happy that the retina scanner worked fine for the first time. He finishes his work at around 5.30pm and is ready to leave when the security guard asks him to swipe a machine that is for leaving the campus late. He says that he just finished his work and that it was only 5.30pm, but the guard says that since the company working hours were only for 8.5 hours including 0.5 hours of lunch and that he overstayed for about an hour, the overstay charges will be deducted from his salary. Having no other option, he swipes and goes to the MLPL and takes the stairs forgetting that he took the elevator in the morning. He realizes that with this swipe he would lose another Rs.500 now. Not caring much, he just goes home slowly letting his carbot take him home.
The next day he comes in to the entrance of the MLPL at 6am and realizes that he did not bring his ID Card. He goes to the security guard and informs the same and the security guard says -
"Sir, if you want to take a temporary pass; we will charge you only half salary - and if you want to take a permanent pass, then we need a complaint in the local police station and we will charge you 1 month complete salary. Please tell me which one you want to go with."
AHB has a weary face and decides to go back home and take off for that day instead of losing his salary and knowing that he cannot go around in the campus without his ID card. He turns around to leave for home and he receives 2 messages on his mobile:
Message 1: "Dear Employee, Based on the attendance records, you did not spend more than 8 hours in the working area. So, your leave was deducted. Your current leave balance is 5"
Message 2: "Dear Employee, Based on the attendance records, you have spent more time in the building than the actual working hours i.e. beyond 8.5 hours (considering your first swipe in and last swipe out). An amount of Rs.10000 will be deducted from your salary for this 1 hour. Please note that these charges cover your overstay in any building including the Food courts. Please get in touch with HR in case of any questions."
AHB just exclaims "What a day!"
**** THE END *****
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