Not so cozy

As a part of constant realignment, with an aim to harness the synergies between closely aligned business teams -- whatever that means -- my team was relocated over the last weekend. We are now in the same building, just on a different floor.


Earlier, we were nicely consolidated in one cozy corner of the floor and had a world of our own. We had so much fun and activity and positive vibe in our section that so many others used to say that would love to be a part of our team, just so that they can get a chance to sit in our aisles.


Now, we are spread all over the place, basically filling out the empty pockets on this new floor, so that an entirely new team can fill our old floor. We really do not belong to this new place, it takes 5 minutes to walk to the cube of your nearest colleague and just to plan a luncheon takes 30 minutes or 50 emails.


But I am not cribbing about this, it is a part and parcel of our dynamic IT world. We have to be ready to adjust to new people and new surroundings. I am sulking because of something else.


In the old place, the Indian team members were about 15-20% of the total workforce. More importantly, they were decent and carried off themselves nicely. This new place is sheer disaster. There are at least 50-60% Indians and the way they carry themselves around makes me look down upon myself for being an Indian.


Basic etiquettes are not followed -- 
a - Coffee Pots are empty more often than not. No one has the basic courtesy to brew a new pot when they take the last drop of coffee. If I put a new pot to brew and go back to my desk (so that I do not waste the 10 minutes it takes for the brew), the fresh coffee is over by the time I come back.
b - Microwaves are always dirty. No one bothers to clean up any spillages in the microwave.
c - Cafeterias are not just places to fill your coffee mugs or warm your food, they also double up as chatting joints. More importantly, these chat sessions are never supposed to be lesser than 30 minutes duration and should ALWAYS be conducted in the mother tongue. Free Telugu / Tamil / Hindi coaching, just in case anyone is interested. And the decibel levels have to compete against the best speaker systems known to mankind.
d - Deodorants and perfumes are things meant to be window shopped. Using such cosmetics causes significant damage to the personal finance sheet. So, stay away from such petty items as much as possible. Same applies to shaving products -- you should shave only on appraisal days.
e - The dressing theme for EVERY day is odd-day. The shirt, trouser and shoes should never have anything in common or any relation to each other. Belts are a religious stigma.
f - Cubicles are not private areas meant for working. They are public spaces meant for socializing at least 5 hours every day. And it is critical that these socializing sessions also broadcast whatever is happening in your life, in your Indian dialect.


This is just a glimpse of what I have been going through for the last 5 days. I had a horror Monday and on that day, I decided to give myself 4 more days to evaluate the whole situation with an optimistic angle. But I really can not find ANYTHING optimistic here. Come Friday evening, I could not stop myself from writing this blog.


And mind you, not everyone is like this. There are a minority who are doing a very good job of maintaining the decorum of the place. But, to a neutral eye, its few and far between.


Why do we bring ourselves down like this? Today, we are dominating the IT industry and our drawbacks are ignored purely because of our technical prowess. But soon, some other country (no, not China, they are worse in such aspects) is going to come to the fore with equal technical ability and better behavioral characteristics. And guess who is going to get the kick on the hind side.


High time we get our act in order.