Parents will always be parents

Chetna Bhatia on her father’s reaction to her pink slip

I’ll never forget the day I was given a pink slip (a fashionable term which means you’ve been kicked out of your job).
It had been happening in office throughout the week. Everyone worried about who’d be next.

Not that I cared much because I was earning peanuts in that company, but the thought of being unemployed was depressing.
I was out with my boyfriend, Manish (my boyfriend of four years then, now my husband), when I got a call from my office colleague, Shuchi.

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Phone call
She told us that she had heard from reliable sources that members of our team would be laid off soon. Although we had prepared ourselves for this, I couldn’t believe that it was really happening.

Manish didn’t think too much about it and just shrugged it off. But he was understanding when he realised that I was
really upset. We talked it over over dinner.

Dad’s reaction
I was most worried about my parents’ reaction, especially my father’s. He’s the sort who believes that the fault lies in his children, not the world at large. Besides, the fact that I wasn’t considered good enough at my work would hurt him. So I dreaded going home. But there was no way out.

No complaints
When he heard about it, he started off on how one should work hard and not give one’s seniors any reason for complaints.

I wanted to cry but controlled my tears. How could I be accused of being careless when they were just on the lookout for excuses to downsize the staff? But then I consoled myself with the fact that my hard work had been recognised in my previous jobs. Anyway, parents will always be parents.