I had never heard this word –
Suitcase Officer – during my service career but while going through a book by a
senior Indian Administrative Officer which I purchased last year because of its
title as I@S – the tale told by an IAS. In the preface, he has boldly
admitted that this ubiquitous IAS community is barely known beyond stereotypes
like ‘bright and corrupt’, ‘just babus’, puppets of politicians’, ‘power
mongers; and so on.
Postings and transfers are a part
of a job irrespective of status. Sometimes these are by virtue of
individual’s choice or most of the time; it is unwanted because of the choice
of the politicians in this democratic set-up. However, there
is a soft corner in the case of the female employee.
Definitely unique and ingenious
methods are used to arrange these prolonged temporary transfers with some
friendly help from colleagues or by recommendations from the seniors or
miniseries or local politicians. However, sometimes the government makes a
policy to keep the official at his home place or nearby station within the last
few months of the retirement.
I recall that there was an honest,
sincerely and dedicated officer - DK and he will be confined to the service
rules and instructions from time to time. In other words, he is the
decision making authority will not go out of the box, with no flexibility
irrespective of any references from his seniors. He would strict to
the office timings from 9 am to 5 pm.
What I feel is, such type of
working is free from any stress and facing any consequences of the service
rules framed to punish the officials. But it is not a baby for all
the officials; one has to be bold enough to take the right decisions which may
be wrong in the eyes of others. Whatever status one may be holding
in service, he is known as a service provider to the customer.
In
the words of JeffBezos which befits well for such officers are – ‘The best
customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, does n’t
need to talk to you. It just works”.
He was once called up to give the
explanation when he was found in a drunken condition on the visit of his
senior. His simple reply in justification was in one line. Sir, you
visited the station after 5 pm and one is supposed to enjoy his personal life
after office hours. No further correspondence was exchanged on this
issue but he was transferred to some other station after some time. As soon as
he got the transfer order, he picked his packed suitcase and joined at the next
station.
When once asked about the reasons
behind this outlandish behaviour, he would say, “What’s the worst can be done
to me than transfer. I have already seen the number of postings, let it one
more. My suitcase is always ready in the morning and unpacked in the evening if
there are no orders”.
Frankly speaking, the other day I
got a call from unknown number, not saved in my cell phone but I recognized him
from his voice from the other end and he was surprised to hear me when I
addressed him as, Hello! Suitcase Officer.
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