Sunday, November 21, 2010

Rules and common sense!

The other day I went a local electronics store. As I was checking out, the cashier, who was a polite young man, asked me few questions.
"Can I have your name sir?"
I gave him my name.
"Can I have your address sir?"
I did that too.
"Can I have your date of birth sir?"
I was getting a little annoyed now. "What's the next question? My favorite color?!"
The young man got a little flustered. "We just like to know our customers very well, sir," he replied.
"I think I really feel very close to you already with the info I gave you," I smiled, taking the sting out of my words.
He smiled nervously. "May I ask you one last one question, sir?"
"Sure. Go ahead, I know you are just doing your job," I said.
"Would you like to buy warranty for the product you are planning to buy today?"
I couldn't help smiling as I held up the "product" I was planning to buy -- A pack of AAA batteries!

The young man that day was just doing his job, as trained by his superiors. But don't you think that the corporate culture in our society sometimes takes this "Doing my job" & "Just following rules" too far? Its good to follow rules, but a touch of reality check now & then, is not a bad idea. With the new Airport security rules, a full body pat down for an eighty-year-old grandma from Kansas can definitely be modified with a pinch of common sense thrown in.

With all the rules, regulations, stipulations and impersonal computers, common sense will die a slow death if not used commonly. Common sense is seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.

"Common sense and sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing!" ~ William James
.


P.S.--Here's wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving!!

.