Making the List

Ruhi scowled as she knocked away the file on her desk and fell into her chair, wondering for the millionth time what she needed to do to be visible.

It was no secret that to climb the ladder of success, one had to be featured in the Director’s List of Achievers. Yet, no matter what Ruhi accomplished, it was never enough. The Director seemed to look right through Ruhi.

Take today, for instance. She had been in a meeting with the other team leads. Representing her boss who was away on a business trip to Bangalore, Ruhi could sense a shift in the Director’s demeanour the moment she entered.

The meeting had been called because their American client’s top management had decided to make an impromptu detour to India.

All hell had broken loose. The Director thundered, “No one leaves today till it lands on my desk.”

The much-coveted ‘it’ was a 30 page organisation chart of the client’s company. No one remembered it. How on earth were they expected to find it?

Ruhi dialled her boss in Bangalore.

“Drop everything else, Ruhi,” she said. “My inbox has crashed; IT is attempting to retrieve my emails from backups. It’s up to you to find it.” With that, she hung up.

Ruhi looked at her mailbox. With no email filing system whatsoever, this was going to be a search for a needle in a haystack.

She started typing random search parameters. Organisation charts for various divisions showed up in the results. Nothing relevant.

A couple of hours later, desperate for a break, she wandered into the pantry for a cup of tea. There, she bumped into Sumita who appeared equally exhausted. Exchanging tired smiles, they both prepared their beverages and left.

Ruhi was enjoying the warmth of her fist sip when a light bulb went off in her head. She remembered the day she had joined this organization when, during her introductions, she met Sumita, herself a day old in the company, who was busy studying a thick stack of papers.Ruhi vaguely recalled asking her what it was. If her memory served right, that document was the organization chart.

Ruhi set her cup aside and dived into her emails again with renewed energy. She was positive she would find a soft copy somewhere. Sure enough, sifting through the emails from the first five days, she found the file.

She hit the command, gathered the print-outs and dashed to the Director’s office on the fourth floor, three steps at a time. The Director was on the phone, so Ruhi placed the bundle on the table, scribbled ‘Org. Chart’ at the top, and left.

Back at her desk, she sent an IM out to the team from the desktop messenger. ‘Document found’. A collective sigh was heard on the floor.

Ruhi smiled to herself. There was no way this miracle would not find her a spot on that achiever’s list. She sat back and waited for the magic to happen.