Before further writing about the
circulation manager’s attitude, I want to write one post about the
circumstances that led me to write to the Circulation Manager complaining about
the Regional Manager. That decision was
not taken in haste without considering the meaning and the consequences it
would lead to. It cannot be considered
as wrong by the company as the management structure itself was to encourage that
type of attitude among employees to avoid any mismanagement, and in an era of whistleblower protection being discussed very
seriously in political circles and supported by this newspaper, if the company
thought that what I was doing was wrong, then it only exposes the company as acting
in a hypocritical manner
It was written after I had worked in the
dispatch section for more than eight years without getting an agency, which was
promised to me by the branch manager when I first accepted the work of
Dispatch. It amounted to breach of
contract on the part of the branch manager and against the principle of
sanctity of contract, which is one of the principles of ethical business
conduct, which I expected from the branch manager of such a highly respected
company as The Hindu to be
considered as sacred, but he acted in such a manner that he was the manager of
a third rate company and he got support from the top management of the company. What I am writing in this post is one of the reasons for my conduct three to four years hence about my complaint against the branch manager.
After working for some five years in the
dispatch section, there seemed to be no chance of Ramnathapuram area being
bifurcated from the Coimbatore agency, and I realized also that the branch
manager was thinking of giving that agency, when and if it was bifurcated, to
some agent around the Coimbatore area at that time. In such circumstances, there came an
opportunity for me to get an agency outside Coimbatore. Tirupur agent at that time decided to hand
over his agency, and he gave a letter requesting the office to relieve him from
the agency. Tirupur is a city some 50
Kilometer from Coimbatore. At that time, the indent for the Tirupur agent
was around 1500 copies.
When I learned about this, I went to see
the branch manager and I asked the branch manager that I wanted to apply for
the news agency at Tirupur as there seemed to be no chance for the
Ramnanathapuram agency being bifurcated in the foreseeable future. He was noncommittal about Ramnathapuram
agency, but he told me that he had to look for someone to run the dispatch work
if I am offered the news agency at Tirupur. This made me think that I had a chance to get
the Tirupur agency if I applied for it. Since already five years had passed
since I took over the dispatch work, and there being no chance of me getting any
agency in Coimbatore city, I decided to apply for the Tirupur agency, and I
thought that I would be awarded the agency for running the dispatch work successfully
for nearly five years, and I knew that process of appoint a new agent would
take some time.
After a few weeks, I learned that the
branch manager had decided to bifurcate the Tirupur agency into two, Tirupur
North with 1200 copies and Tirupur South with 600 copies. I was a little disappointed with this as I
thought I would be given the Tirupur agency without bifurcating and my work in
the dispatch section. But, much more disappointment was in store for me in this
regard, which I did not expect, either from the branch manager or the company. When I asked the branch manager that I want
to apply for the Tirupur agency as whole for 1800 copies, he informed me that the
head office had already decided that the Tirupur agency be bifurcated into two
agencies and that he could not do anything about that.
As usual, Mr. T.R. Ravichandran, the
right hand man for the branch manager, the bootlicker, was asked to oversee the
arrangements for the appointments of two agents for the Tirupur agencies. I
decided to apply for Tirupur South agency with 1200 copies as indent. I was asked
by the Mr. T. R. Ravichandran to come to Tirupur to handover the application for
the agency to him and he told me that he would accept the application only at
Tirupur and not in Coimbatore, and I went to Tirupur one day to submit my
application for Tirupur South news agency.
In the meantime, Mr. T.R. Ravichanran and
the branch manager informed the transport contractor (two brothers were looking
after the transport contract work at that time) for The Hindu at Coimbatore and
asked him to apply for the agency at Tirupur South. At first, they did not show any interest in
the agency, but the branch manager and Mr. T.R.Ravichandran made them to apply
for the agency in the name of one of their relatives at Tirupur. On hearing this news, I realized that I had
no chance of getting the agency, as the branch manager would argue that the
transport contractors were working for The Hindu long before I became the
dispatch contractor and that The Hindu must offer them the agency as they had
never asked for any agency before for their long association with The Hindu.
As expected, the transport contractor’s
relative was offered the Tirupur South agency, and some other man was offered
the Tirupur North. When I asked the
branch manger why I was not given the Tirupur South agency, he told me he could
not offer me the agency as the head office would ask him what he would do for
the dispatch work if I am offered the news agency, but he also consoled me saying
that maybe I would get an agency near at Coimbatore, for which I did not say
anything to him.
Now, both agencies at Tirupur are
run by the relatives of my friend, through whom the branch manager offered me the
dispatch work, as a reward for giving him a man whom he could treat like a bonded
labor to run the dispatch work, because he knew that I would not able get any
other job after being a dispatch contractor for more than five years
and that I would not leave the work.
