I climbed the three floors without a pause and walked into the teaching institute at 8.30 a.m. sharp before I stopped to catch my breath. My first batch was scheduled to start in 15 minutes, and many students were already waiting.
I could not afford to be late. As the youngest trainer, who had been hired by the Managing Director on a whim, I was always under scrutiny for slip-ups by peers.
Two weeks after my last B.E. exam, when I had unashamedly walked into that institute and asked for a job, the MD was more amused than surprised. Instead of laughing me off, he asked me to return the next day and conduct a 30-minute demo class.
Benny Sir, as we called him, attended the class along with two other senior trainers. Despite grilling me at the end of the session, the MD still went ahead and hired me. Perhaps he just saw a young man with a lot of fire in his belly he didn’t have the heart to turn down.
Nevertheless, that day, when I walked into the institute, our otherwise rigid receptionist, had a sly smile on her face and told me the big boss wanted to see me before I started work for the day.
When I walked into the MD’s office, he looked up at me and said Krishna had visited him the day before. Krishna (and I may no longer remember his name correctly), the network admin head of a Middle-East company, was notified by his company to get formally certified (the certifications trend had just started), and so he took a month off, travelled to Kochi, and paid a hefty premium to the institute to get exclusive one-on-one tutoring via a fast-track program.
The MD had chosen me for the task, and I can only guess what Krishna thought when he first saw his handpicked tutor who was half his age.
I gave it my all and trained him for 3 weeks for the exam that would determine his career progress, while still teaching regular student batches.
That day in the MD’s office, I shuddered for a moment – perhaps Krishna failed his certification exam and came back to ask for a refund and complain I was a terrible trainer!
I was wrong.
“Krishna came to tell me yesterday that he passed his certification with flying colours and said he did it because he had the best teacher possible! He flew out today, but wanted me to pass on his thanks and also left a gift that he wanted me to hand over to you in person.”
Benny Sir then handed me a small gift-wrapped box with a proud smile. My first-ever “customer appreciation” took the form of a Parker Vector!
20 years ago, in April ’04, I started my career in a little institute in Kochi. Life has come a long way since then, but a lesson I learned all those years ago still applies today – irrespective of where we come from or what our qualifications are, what ultimately matters is the value we give those whom we serve – our customers.
PS: That pen (was the universe giving a hint?) despite having retired from service many years ago remains my little treasure. Yep, it’s what you see in the image of this post.
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Six Strings For Supper 