Kya Meherbani Kar Raha Hai Kya?

I usually don't write about the professional life in this sacred space but this is an exception. Well, I will do it this once because it's a crime not to mention it here. Or, I will burst! I wrote about telecallers plugging credit cards here, well, this one is similar.

Media buying is part of the job, a marketing thing I do for a living. So when I was talking to an executive in this media I was shocked to hear her say thusly:

"Kya meherbani kar raha hai kya?" (What, are you doing us a favour?)

I know I come across as the repressed and depressed type on the phone but this assault on my senses was unforeseen. Whoa! Can you imagine a customer being told "What, are you doing us a favour?" God, I can't imagine. I wanted to tell her I am doing her a favour by buying her godforsaken media. But I didn't. A weird sense of decency forbade it. If everyone in the world talks and behaves as a tyke (yeah, tyke) then there would be fights over everything which is what is going on in corporate culture in India these days. Companies are war zones these days without even a "no man's land."

But we survive and thrive on such culture. What's to do?