A lift journey

A hurried manager rushed into a lift to reach 11th floor of the building so that he can get to the meeting for which he is already 2 minutes late. This was a meeting between him and the Vice President of his Business Unit who recently joined the organization. This is their first meting. He could think of many excuses he can give to his VP for the delay or innocently ignore the fault of self for the delay to make it a non-issue. He started evaluating all the options he has so that his new VP does not judge him and paint him with any kind of unpleasant perception which would make him less of a leader and employee. He was happy to see that there is nobody else inside the lift so the time to reach his desired floor is going to be minimal. He was very close to finalize his plan of action to justify his delay to the meeting which will convince his VP without leaving any room to become judgmental. The automatic door of the lift started sliding to close and anxiety level of him started going down. He stopped worrying and started looking at his smart phone to check if there is any new email of interest or concern, which proves human mind always wants to get distracted or get into disturbance. But the network inside the lift was not good enough so he could not find any new email. The very moment the lift door was about to reach the finish line an unwanted palm was seen to be interrupting the free flow of the door and the automatic door made up it’s mind to go back to its starting point, so that the currently perceived as intruder can become a rightful entrant and easily come inside the lift. The anxious manager’s anxiety level once again started rising and was almost near the boiling point. The person who entered the lift smiled at this manager and greeted saying “Good Afternoon”. It seemed as if every sound wave was coming as an arrow from an enemy’s front and straightway hitting the bull’s eye of frustration and irritation. The anxious manager kept his phone in his pocket and started staring at the floor number displayed in the digital display inside the lift. Everything happening around him was irritating him like never before. Lift door in the mean time was waiting and watching for the entrants and after 30 seconds of wait, it decided to again start it’s sprint towards the finish line. The anxious manager this time decided not to watch the movement of the closing door because it was making him more nervous. Finally lift door made it’s way to the finish line and lift started taking off towards  it’s destination.The other entrant did not press any button to specify which floor he wants to go that made this anxious manager bit relaxed but it was short lived. The moment lift crossed 3rd floor and was about to reach 4th, the new entrant made a sound which indicates that he forgot something and pressed the 10th floor button. This was now beyond the control for the anxious manager to handle but he could not show his frustration in any appropriate way. He decided to once again turn his attention towards his smart phone to divert his frustration. In the mean time 10th floor came and it was time for the new entrant to leave the lift. New entrant looked at the anxious manager and wanted to say “Have a great day. See you” with a smile but as the anxious manager was busy surfing his smart phone he decided to silently leave the lift. Anxious manager was aware that he was rude to his co-passenger but wanted to make an statement by doing so that, ‘He is angry’. He could not state that openly because his anger was not backed by any logic that is commonly known to human race. The new entrant left the lift, the door closed quickly enough this time and lift started moving towards 11th floor. The moment it reached 11th floor and the anxious manager was about to rush out of the lift, he received an email from his VP, “I am sorry. I can not make it in time due to some other engagement. Can we meet after 15 minutes?”.

Namaste!!!

– Stray Dog