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Arshad Khan was sitting at his desk, going through a legal document that he was about to send to a client. In his late thirties, Arshad wore rimmed glasses. He had a broad forehead and was slightly balding at the back of his head.
It had only been a few months since he had joined Singhania & Co from another firm, but even then he had earned quite a bad reputation among his juniors. Horror stories abounded about his bad behaviour towards his subordinates, as against his totally obsequious attitude towards his seniors, who adored him as a result.
Arshad, however, considered himself a regular guy deeply committed to his work and loyal to his employer. At his previous stint, he had learnt the secret of what Partners were looking for in young lawyers. It was just one word. And the word was “Commitment”.
If you could prove to your boss that work was more important than your family, health or leisure time, you could become popular in no time. And how exactly do you do that? Simple. Just don’t leave office!
Arshad would be the first to reach office exactly at 9 A.M. and sit late. On leaner days, he would never leave before 8 P.M. On more hectic days, however, when client deadlines had to be met, he would stay up all night.
Some partners feared that he might die at his desk if he continued to work like that. But Arshad liked the feeling. He would thank his seniors for being so sensitive and caring, unlike most people he had come across in this world, but assured them that he had no time or inclination to do anything else.
Arshad was just too busy. This showed in other aspects of his life. He had grown a little paunch and casually joked with others about joining a gym. But he never had any time to do that.
What about people working under him? Could they leave if there was no work? Nope. Arshad expected the same level of commitment from them as well.
What about work/life balance?
There is NO such thing, Arshad would laugh. He believed that it was just another excuse, for shirking work. For him, ambition was everything. Practicing corporate law was not for sissies, not for those who cared about their social life. And definitely not for those hypochondriacs who thought working late would have an adverse impact on their health, well-being and productivity.
Corporate law, for Arshad, was about pushing your physical limits. He considered it a very masculine profession. It was about sealing client deals at 3 A.M. and celebrating it then with a Kebab from Karim’s or a Burger from KFC. For him, it was all about heroism.
Did he take any vacations? Yes, he did, but only once in a year and that too for 7 days to visit his parents in Kashmir. He let the other 23 days of his leave lapse. He was making a sacrifice for his employer, and he let all his partners know that.
His ‘sacrifice’ had paid him well. He had earned a promotion quickly in his previous workplace and now he had joined Singhania & Co, a bigger firm, at a higher pay package.
Arshad’s juniors considered him a harsh and unreasonable boss, an impression that Arshad would counter by arguing that the juniors don’t get the point. Arshad was soft spoken and rarely raised his voice. He praised his juniors for meeting all deadlines. He explained difficult concepts to them without losing his temper. He wanted the best from his juniors, and he wanted them to thrive.
But for that, they too had to learn to make sacrifices; not come up with some random bull s**t talk about work/life balance. That used to seriously put him off. He taught his juniors that corporate law was a very different profession from other professions. It wasn’t a 9-5 job; it was a 24 x 7 x 365 days a year job.
So he told the juniors to be readily available. Many didn’t like it. But Arshad refused to mince words to please anyone. He used to say that those who followed his advice would do really well in the next 5 years. It was all about going the extra mile.
Arshad was saddened to learn that very few of his juniors thought like he did. He wasn’t bad. He was easily misunderstood. He simply wanted his juniors to be tough. If his juniors understood, they would have realised, how benevolent he actually was, as a boss. Almost like a father.
“Hi Arshad, how is it going?” asked Vaishali standing next to his desk.
“Oh hi Vaishali. Everything is fine. Tell me?” Arshad replied looking up.
“Meet Naina Karnad. She has joined us today from Shah & Shah. She will be assisting you from now onwards,” said Vaishali.
“Oh, hi Naina. Come take a seat and I’ll explain what needs to be done,” Arshad said with a smile.
Naina grabbed a chair and sat down.
“I am emailing you a MS-Word version of the Share & Purchase agreement that I have been working on. It is between the companies ‘Blue Water and Black Night Soft Drinks’. I’d be grateful if you could print me a hard copy of the agreement,” said Arshad.
Naina went back to her cubicle, downloaded the Word document on her laptop and sent a print command to the nearby printer. The printer made a humming noise and started printing a few pages. After that, a page got stuck and the printer screeched and stopped functioning.
“What the f**k,” said Naina.
“EXCUSE ME, THE PRINTER BROKE DOWN. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?” Naina screamed at Amit.
Amit, who was busy checking his e-mails, almost jumped out of his skin. Nobody had spoken to him like that before. At least not until now.
“Why don’t you contact the IT fellows? They are the ones responsible for fixing the Printer in this office,” Amit retorted.
“I DON’T HAVE THE IT GUYS’ NUMBER. I AM NEW HERE. SO DO ME A FAVOUR AND CALL THE IT GUY,” Naina demanded.
There was no PLEASE anywhere. Amit gave her a cold stare. The warmth in his eyes suddenly evaporated. He, however, reached for the extension number and called the IT asking them to fix a nearby printer.
“THANK YOU,” said Naina.
Amit was seething inside. What on earth was wrong with this girl? Why the hell was she screaming and yelling like that? Either she was mad or she had an attitudinal problem. It couldn’t be a reaction to what her boss may have asked her to do because she had just joined in. But whatever it was, Amit’s mood was completely spoilt. He needed some peace. And now he had to sit next to a girl who appeared to be so volatile most of the time!
