SPEAK UP
Who doesn’t like a mid-week holiday? DNA finds out that Mumbai’s working professionals, although a diligent lot, don’t mind falling ‘sick’ and bunking office once a month.
Mumbai is not called the city of dreams for nothing. If you have even an average sense of crookedness — or should we say, cunning — you know exactly what to text your boss in the morning, if you want to take the day off. And then, bury yourself under the blanket to resume your dream from the point you left it.
But making up an excuse is much easier than making a flyover. Come to think of it — Mumbaikars may even have “excuse” templates saved in their cellphones. We’re familiar with some — rickshaw and taxi strikes, train over-head wires burnt, water-logging (sometimes even in March), the works...
If you’re living with your room-mates, the ‘roomie excuse’ can be the most important weapon in your bunking arsenal. The roommate — sometimes non-existent — helps you come up with unbelievably creative reasons to bunk office. Just how Geethu Michael, a marketing executive once informed her senior, “Sir, my roomie forgot to wake me up. And now there is no water in the flat.
So...” The 22-year-old believes her boss okayed the leave only because she spared him the details. Her room-mate (God bless her), is oblivious to the fact that all of Michael’s seniors hate her. She continues to save Michael on many a bad hair day.
Another common excuse to get a curt “OK’’ from your boss is by sending your grandparents on a stairway to heaven, although they might have actually used the natural course to get there. What’s more, this excuse can be recycled innovatively. “Sir, it was my mom’s father who died last time. This time it’s my dad’s father. Please pray for his soul,” Rohit Balraj once convinced his project in-charge.
So while ‘work is worship’ is a popular saying, it may not be a popular deed. Given that 9am to 5pm is passe, and people carry work home, it is only normal that they feel overworked to fall sick, literally, figuratively or both. Superman is lucky that he can fly to work, so is Harry Potter but the common man isn’t!
Come to think of it — bunking is not a new phenomenon. “There are times when we go out to drink on weekdays. On some occasions we end up consuming a lot more alcohol than we should. I obviously don’t want to go to office with a hangover. I wouldn’t want my boss to see me like that,” says Prateek Singh, a 23-year-old management trainee.
The most common reason for people to bunk work is to spend time with friends or family. The long working hours challenge relationships too. “I work six days a week. Since I have to spend my Sundays at home, I sometimes bunk work to spend time with my girlfriend,” says Arjun Subramaniam, a 24-year-old IT professional.
However, there are also several who bunk work because in their opinion, they “don’t have a good boss”. Marissa James, a guest relations executive in her mid-twenties, used to bunk because in her opinion, there was no incentive to come to work. “I used to bunk work at least two to three times a month because the senior management team wasn’t very co-operative. They didn’t even guide us,” she says.
For the record, thanks to the presence of diverse communities, Indians enjoy the largest number of public holidays. Still, many opt for a mid-week holiday to de-stress. “If the workload is less and my absence is harmless, I do not mind skipping work. I do this once a month and it helps me return to work, refreshed,” says Joy Ghosh, a sales executive.
Married women, meanwhile have an eclectic range of excuses to choose from — be it obligations towards in-laws or kids or family functions. In the process, many use it to their advantage. “My son is one-year-old, so I often take a holiday to spend time with him. I tell my boss that I have to take my son to the doctor! The excuse works, because we’re a society which attributes a lot of value to family responsibilities,” says Puja Sarkar, a 35-year-old marketing manager.
So while overall, Mumbaikars are sincere — they claim to take a holiday only once a month — it seems the bosses have at least something to cheer about.
(Names changed on request)
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