A Young Indian Worker Stood Up For An Office Boy That Was Being Bullied By Seniors
It was 9.01am in Kolkatta. The office door of a company building burst open and a horde of workers rushed through. The workers, all in conversation with each other, were in a positive mood. They were talking loudly, laughing hysterically and smiling joyfully. They parted ways, promising to catch up during the lunch break. They each began moving towards their desks, ready for the morning of work.
In another room in the same office, an office boy was in a desperate panic. Each day, he makes the long & tiring journey from a rural village to the company building to be the office boy. However, this morning he had arrived a little later than usual. Because the bus had been delayed, it wasn’t his fault. Nevertheless, it’s his job to make sure the office is clean, tidy and ready to go.
The office boy also has to prepare a glass of hot tea for all the workers, set nicely on their desks before they sit down for work in the morning. But because he was late, he was still in the process of making tea for everyone. As soon as the first senior worker sat down and realized there wasn’t a glass of hot tea waiting for him, the office boy believed it was his last day on the job.
Earning just Rs. 1000 per week and doing all kinds of odd jobs to support his family, he felt that he couldn’t afford to be fired. It would mean his family wouldn’ be able to pay their bills and eat their daily meal. Realizing this, he sprinted out to the complaining senior worker, holding a glass of hot tea. He had spilled some of it and scalded his hand in the process.
“Sir, sir…sorry sir. The bus was delayed today. Your tea is here now. Ready.”
The senior worker smiled, motioned for the office boy to place the tea onto his desk and then shooed him away. This was just the beginning. Because as soon as the office boy began a swift walk back to the room to bring more teas out, another worker…and another…and another…arrived at their own desks. There were no teas on any of the desks. And suddenly, all of them were pointing & screaming at him.
For the next 20 minutes, the office boy suffered an onslaught of abuse from the senior workers. They started cursing him. They threatened to fire him. They snapped their fingers in disgust. One senior worker grabbed him by the ear and twisted it slowly. Another senior worker became so angry that he raised his fist and shook it, signalling to strike the office boy’s head.
“You had just one thing this morning, and you can’t even do that? Are you dumb? Are you an idiot?”
The office boy kept is head & shoulders down, whimpering in distress. Five workers had now surrounded him, all seniors in the company. The abuse continued, as the workers brought up other times in the past when the office boy didn’t complete a task to their satisfaction. An example was when a senior worker had asked the office boy to bring him a pen, and the office boy had handed him a black pen, instead of a blue pen.
The office boy was embarrassed, and began crying. He squatted down, put his hands on his head and rocked back & forth. He felt like he was going to get beaten up by everyone, fired from his job and then thrown outside the building. The senior workers were mad, like a gang of bulls snorting their noses and stomping the ground, ready to charge and smash him.
Watching from his desk, a heroic worker (we will call him that because he has asked to remain anonymous), immediately sprung into action. Like Clark Kent seeing a small & petite woman having her bag snatched by a thief, this young man saw a small & innocent office boy being unnecessarily bullied by senior workers. He had observed this behaviour from his colleagues many times in the past, since he began working at the company. He never intervened or helped, always remaining on the side in fear of being fired. But not today, he had had enough. Today he was going to do something about it.
The heroic worker slammed his fist on the table, jumped up, rushed over and shoved the senior workers to the side. He pulled the office boy up and made sure he was okay. The office boy held the heroic workers’ hand and bowed his head, feeling grateful. Nobody in the office had ever shown him respect, stood up for him or helped him in any way.
“Are you okay? Don’t worry. Go back and make the teas. I’ll help you bring them out. It’s okay.”
Next, the heroic worker turned towards the senior workers in disgust & anger. Finally, after all these years he was able to give them a piece of his mind. He began loudly scolding the senior workers for their treatment of the office boys & maids. He was furious, shocked and disappointed all at the same time.
“What the hell are you all doing? Why are you always treating the office boys & maids so badly? All of you…every day you are complaining & blaming them for every small little problem. They are not your servants! They are people, our colleagues. Being treated like shit is not part of their job.
Do you not have legs to walk over to the break room and hands to make tea yourself? If you fire the office boys & maids over such stupid matters such as today…. they can take you to court and sue you for incorrect dismissal. That’s what the labour laws are for.”
The entire room fell silent. Everybody in the office had stopped what they were doing and were now staring at the heroic worker who stood up for the office boy. One could tell that the junior workers were relieved and in awe that someone had finally stood up to the senior workers. Nobody had ever dared to argue back and give them a taste of their own medicine.
The faces of the senior workers were still, flushed with embarrassment and shame. They were looking at each other, waiting for someone to retaliate. To say something. But nobody did. They all had their heads down. They knew exactly what they had done wrong. And then they turned around and went back to their desks to begin the morning of work.
Stories like this raise awareness and teach us lessons about being human. Even though the heroic worker was later reprimanded for his actions by upper management, it’s wonderful that someone stood up for another person who was being bullied in the workplace. We truly believe that the next generation is growing up with more empathy, and will not tolerate negative behaviour towards other people.
This story seems to have struck a chord with many others on reddit, as it was upvoted 1750 times, and attracted 200+ comments. Combing through the comments, the general consensus was that (1) this happens a lot in the workplace and (2) many people wish they could stand up for bullied colleagues, but fear the reaction from upper management.
“You are my new hero! I wish everyone was like that in the world. Sometimes I feel that they have just accepted the mistreatment as part of their job. It breaks my heart.” — redditor Po_Duh_Panda
“Thank you kind stranger. It’s such a relief to know people like you exist. And frankly, it just gives me the courage to speak up even if doing so might hurt me.” — redditor logtableturntable
“Thank you for standing up, and more importantly talking about it.” — redditor Charavaka
“In India, people with ‘menial jobs’ are treated with extreme disrespect and this needs to change. Kudos on you for calling out your colleagues shitty behaviour — only by consistently pointing out unacceptable behaviour will things change.” — redditor SuddenlyGoa
“I am Indian, grew up in America. It was a shock for me when I visited my relatives and the maid instinctively sat on the ground and ate on banana leaf while we ate at the table with silverware. I couldn’t finish my meal without feeling extremely uncomfortable.” — redditor Interquestions
Speaking to the heroic worker, he wanted to appeal to people to be more considerate to those workers that help make our lives easier. From waiters to office boys, and from cooks to servants. They all deserve the same respect, dignity, and kindness that we give to our family, friends and colleagues.
“I don’t think I did anything special to be honest. I’d like to think that anyone in my shoes would have done the same. It was just a rant and request from my side. I didn’t want to focus on what I did, my intention was to appeal to redditors to be more considerate and human to people who help make our life easier.” — heroic worker
Some examples listed by the heroic worker on how to treat office boys & maids with respect, dignity and kindness include:
- Making an effort to know their names
- Talking to them once in a while
- Thanking them when they do tasks for you such as making tea, warming food in the microwave or giving you snacks
- Washing your own plates, containers and cups after using them
- Not treating the office like a hotel or home
- Clean up any time you make a mess or spill a drink
- If you have to stay back late for work, take the office keys from them and lock up the office yourself
- Stand up for them if you see a colleague misbehaving or treating them callously
“If you want to know what a man is like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals” — J.K. Rowling
We think it’s a fantastic list and welcome any additions by our readers. Leave them in the comments below and we’ll be sure to add them!
Thanks for reading The Brown League! We are the voice of the next generation of South Asians from around the world.
