The disease of “Hypocrisy”

One day I was watching a news channel at home before leaving for office. A “flash” news on conviction of some Members of Parliament for accepting bribe, caught my interest. Wondering why these people were always expecting something more than what they are entitled to, I stepped out of home to hire an auto rickshaw to reach the nearest bus stop. The Auto driver bargained for almost double the fare citing hike in petrol price. I had to budge and gave him what he demanded as I had to hurry to office. I boarded a bus, got the ticket and the conductor did not give me the balance 50 paise citing he did not have one but I could clearly see that he had some coins left. Since I did not want to lose energy over a 50 paise coin, I kept quiet. After reaching office, I ran up the stairs to reach my cubicle on the second floor. When I dropped in to my boss’s cabin to wish him, he was on a personal International call from the office telephone at his desk. Then I went to the coffee machine to catch a coffee, where I overheard a couple of my colleagues complaining about the pay structure and the reduction in a variable component during that month. Hailing from an industry in which salary is always bloated and decided by sheer market forces and not by individual competence alone, my colleagues were still complaining about what was amiss.

Finally I started the day at my desk and found out that I had to print an official email. I went up to the printer and found that it was busy printing a document running in to a couple of hundreds of pages. When I flipped over the pages, I found it to be of somebody’s University project work and upon close scrutiny, it was clear that it bore the name of my colleague’s spouse. I frowned and came back to my desk only to observe my counterpart repeatedly disconnecting calls in his mobile. He told me that it was his mother he would call back from the desk phone. Some time later I dropped in to the finance department to submit some bills where I found an associate being questioned about some fake hospitalization bills that he produced. During the day I observed that some more facilities like fax, scanner and Internet were all being (mis)used by the employees for personal reasons citing various justifications. It was a startling revelation to see that how many of us try to get something done for free. While some of the cases could be really urgent and might have reasonable justifications, the rest merit none. This happens with all, despite their level within the organization, including some from the senior management. I could recollect one of my old bosses who would send back his official car daily for his family’s use, after reaching office (Petrol bill being footed by Company) and would also claim some vehicle bills without actually spending.

This habit of getting something done for free or misusing the facilities that we are entitled to is present in all of us in varying proportion. Only when the intensity of the habit is high and also when it comes to public, we all join hands to criticize a common victim (like a political figure), blissfully ignoring what we ourselves do. Given an opportunity almost everyone one of us are ready to exploit for personal benefits and tend to remain hypocrites, as all our small acts of “crime” go unnoticed most of the time. When individuals change, it influences the entire society. Let us try to bring the change in us.