The portal for the Corporate annual gift showed a couple of gifts like rice cooker, Adidas travel bag, bean bag…etc. I promptly clicked on a gift even though I cribbed on the limited choice and the products in display…I cribbed as if I was not interested in any of those products on display…
Few months passed and the thoughts about the portal and gift slowly faded and that is when an email from “gift@mycompany.com” showed up in my inbox…
Typically, my colleagues expected me to take an Adidas bag or a Bean bag… Rugged Me, created a reputation of some heppppp bachelor wearing only branded stuffs…be it the shoes…be it the underwear…
The Rugged me, acted as if I was not bothered about collecting the gift till I realized it was the last couple of days. I checked with my colleagues Arun, Arunaa and Sathya on their choice. Luckily for me, Arun and Sathya opted for the same gift as mine.
Both of them had plans of collecting their gift from the redemption center during lunch break and carry it home in the regular shuttle that we travel.
“Hey!!! He is carrying a rice cooker” definitely not a pleasant statement to hear from my bus mates.
A warm morning, I got ready by 8:30 AM, called up one of my friend who joins me in the shuttle at Saidapet. I asked him to skip the bus and that I would pick him up in his stop. I wanted to reach office before the traffic picks up, so drove a little faster than usual. In 10 min I reached Mount road from West mambalam…sneaked past a signal and raised my engine so that I can sneak past the next one as well. Unfortunately, the traffic lights turned RED and I jammed my break…that is when I realized that the break in my car had given way and was on course for a big collision…
Honda City was the name of the car in front of me, and in the next few mille seconds…the Honda part of it disappeared into the dent. On the look of it…the dent was pretty huge. I quickly checked my papers in my car…RC book with a smiling photo of mine, copy of my license one more smiling face, Insurance…and one more open letter along with it…It read United India Insurance. It was a remainder to pay my policy due and the last date was 9th March ‘10. Today was…I checked my watch it showed 25th. By that time the driver of the Honda city had come to my window.
I stepped out of my car to assess the damage to the Honda City… I casually looked at my FIAT UNO… front bumper was a little lower than before. That action of mine proved the Honda City driver and I saw the anger in his face. By that time the signals turned green…the rest of the vehicles started honking as loud as they can…the Honda city driver pointed to the left side of the road and asked me to bring my car to the left hand side…I obliged and slowly drove amidst the loud honk and screaming drivers. Lots of thoughts crossed my mind…video games to bumper cars in theme parks and of course my expired insurance.
The Honda City driver politely asked me if he had to register a case or I would take up the repair cost…incidentally he was also a mechanic in a Maruthi service station (don’t ask me as to why he is driving a Honda?) and I asked him the approximate amount. He quoted around 8000 Rs only, which was a too much for me and gave him a surprised look. He glanced at the Honda City and the dent and started explaining about the amount of damage caused…
Bargained a little over the next few days and he agreed to reduce Rs500/-. I settled the amount over the week end…a bigger surprise awaited me…
My mechanic called me up “Sir, break unit fail sir”…I definitely knew that already “only Rs 6500 sir”
End of it all…I lost close to 20K to collect a gift which Sober me had suggested to save a few penny in the bank.
I thought about the financial trauma I would go through for the sake of a gift worth less than 2000 bucks …and it did teach me a few lessons
Well, that was the voice of “Rugged Me”…but my conscience - “Sober Me” had other thoughts … with bank loans, credit card dues, mobile bills and room rent wiping away 95% of my salary and the rest 5% for food…my bank account hardly showed any balance after 15th of every month… I (sober me) appreciated any sort of gift that was on offer and preferred something that helped me retain a little cash for at least a few more days…
Few months passed and the thoughts about the portal and gift slowly faded and that is when an email from “gift@mycompany.com” showed up in my inbox…
Typically, my colleagues expected me to take an Adidas bag or a Bean bag… Rugged Me, created a reputation of some heppppp bachelor wearing only branded stuffs…be it the shoes…be it the underwear…
The Rugged me, acted as if I was not bothered about collecting the gift till I realized it was the last couple of days. I checked with my colleagues Arun, Arunaa and Sathya on their choice. Luckily for me, Arun and Sathya opted for the same gift as mine.
Both of them had plans of collecting their gift from the redemption center during lunch break and carry it home in the regular shuttle that we travel.
“Hey!!! He is carrying a rice cooker” definitely not a pleasant statement to hear from my bus mates.
Well…yes I did select the cooker… the Sober me, understands the importance of a rice cooker…which probably would help me retain few more penny in my bank account.
Rugged Me, was in no way going to compromise on the prestige part of it, so I suggested that I will bring my car for a day to collect the gift. This sounded fair enough and all three of us agreed to it.
A warm morning, I got ready by 8:30 AM, called up one of my friend who joins me in the shuttle at Saidapet. I asked him to skip the bus and that I would pick him up in his stop. I wanted to reach office before the traffic picks up, so drove a little faster than usual. In 10 min I reached Mount road from West mambalam…sneaked past a signal and raised my engine so that I can sneak past the next one as well. Unfortunately, the traffic lights turned RED and I jammed my break…that is when I realized that the break in my car had given way and was on course for a big collision…
Honda City was the name of the car in front of me, and in the next few mille seconds…the Honda part of it disappeared into the dent. On the look of it…the dent was pretty huge. I quickly checked my papers in my car…RC book with a smiling photo of mine, copy of my license one more smiling face, Insurance…and one more open letter along with it…It read United India Insurance. It was a remainder to pay my policy due and the last date was 9th March ‘10. Today was…I checked my watch it showed 25th. By that time the driver of the Honda city had come to my window.
I stepped out of my car to assess the damage to the Honda City… I casually looked at my FIAT UNO… front bumper was a little lower than before. That action of mine proved the Honda City driver and I saw the anger in his face. By that time the signals turned green…the rest of the vehicles started honking as loud as they can…the Honda city driver pointed to the left side of the road and asked me to bring my car to the left hand side…I obliged and slowly drove amidst the loud honk and screaming drivers. Lots of thoughts crossed my mind…video games to bumper cars in theme parks and of course my expired insurance.
The Honda City driver politely asked me if he had to register a case or I would take up the repair cost…incidentally he was also a mechanic in a Maruthi service station (don’t ask me as to why he is driving a Honda?) and I asked him the approximate amount. He quoted around 8000 Rs only, which was a too much for me and gave him a surprised look. He glanced at the Honda City and the dent and started explaining about the amount of damage caused…
Bargained a little over the next few days and he agreed to reduce Rs500/-. I settled the amount over the week end…a bigger surprise awaited me…
My mechanic called me up “Sir, break unit fail sir”…I definitely knew that already “only Rs 6500 sir”
End of it all…I lost close to 20K to collect a gift which Sober me had suggested to save a few penny in the bank.
I thought about the financial trauma I would go through for the sake of a gift worth less than 2000 bucks …and it did teach me a few lessons
Don’t drive your car to collect some stuffs which are distributed for free
Rugged me and the Sober me must be managed a little better
Whenever you get a bonus spend it immediately on something worthwhile than seeing it slip through your fingers trying to save it…
Poor YOU !!!! Pity you !
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