Reemmbbba kastam
Two telephone conversations in recent times made me write this.
Case 1 Profile:
A SWE friend of mine working for a top 5 IT company in India. 30 years of age. Masters degree holder. He is into Software Quality Assurance and works for projects in the financial domain.
He: ’Machi nalaiku vera bank ku poganum da’
Me: ‘Edhuku da?’
He: ‘Oru DD irukku…’
Me: (Knowing his is a big organization and there definitely should br a drop box, ATMs in his office premises.)
‘Seri. Adhai drop box or ATM la podu?’
He: ‘Illada cheque na podalaam. Idhu HDFC Bank Anna Salai branch DD.. Idhai epdi podaradhu?? DD na namma andha bank branch la poi DD a kaatina dhaaney panam kidaikum??’
Since it was named demand draft, he has assumed that he will get the money only if he personally goes to the particular bank which has issued the draft and ‘demand’ for the money.
Case 2 Profile:
25 year old guy working for a top BPO company in Chennai. Upper middle class guy.
He: ‘Credit Card vishayathule naan rombo careful la iruppen. Minimum payment evlo potrukaano adhuku mela ye pay panniduven.’
Me: (Knowing a guy of his financial background should not have any credit card balance lingering for months)
‘Nee edhuku pending vekkarey…fulla pay pannida vendiyadhu dhaaney?? Yen balance ku interest pay pannare??’
He: ‘Yedhuku?? .. adhaan minimum payment panren la aprom edhuku interest kattanum??’
He was honestly not aware of the 3% p.m interest component on outstanding amounts due in the credit card. He had all along been thinking that having a credit card balance is a prestige thing and one should always have it, even if he has money in his bank account to pay off!
This is not to suggest that i know everything in finance or banking. But looks like we are having lots of educated guys like this in India.
Should we not teach these at school level? I think what happens if Sulpuric Acid is mixed with NaCl is less important than knowing Cheques, Credit Cards and DDs.
I hope no one asks me ‘Cheque bounce agudhu nu solrangale, tharai la potta evlo thooram bounce aagum??’ one day.
July 27th, 2007 at 5:22 am
abbbba….. OGFT kaaran / kaari vandhu comment laye 2 or 3 novels ezhudhi irukka poraano nu nenachu vandhen… andha madhiri asambaavidham eduvum illa…
but the above 2 examples are funny… kaamedy keemedy panni irukka poraanga PK.
July 27th, 2007 at 6:14 am
cheque ‘bounce’ aana thattula ‘kali’ bounce aagumnu sollunga
July 27th, 2007 at 8:11 am
now…that is unbeleivable..:)
July 27th, 2007 at 10:04 am
One of the first lessons we learn in any economics course teaches us that for a functioning market system, informed and educated consumers are essential. I don’t know whose responsibility it is to educate the population but I agree that it’s very important. My own feeling is that it is the responsibility of the credit card companies to tell their consumers about the costs of owning a credit card. The education system cannot catch up with the constantly changing technologies etc. But that’s just my opinion.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Doi.. cheque “bounce” super punch line…. ok.. now serious.. “cheque bounce” na enna da?
July 28th, 2007 at 1:33 am
Hey, why do u write most of ur blogs in ur regional language…..ppl lyk us( for whom this language is totally new) dnt understand……pl try n write ur blogs in international language(eng) so that everyone can understand easily….otherwise we have to have a translator sitting next to us to read and understand ur blogs;)
July 28th, 2007 at 4:44 am
ethana perukku correcta dd fill panna theriyum?
prabhu karthik….mmm…are u in hub?
July 28th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
PK,
Credit card, DD manage panradhellaam common sense. Adha kathukka school avasiyam illa.
NaCl, H2SO4 ellaam kathukka school kandippa venum
July 28th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
They should have an IQ test to use Credit cards or DDs.
A not so recent conversation with a customer of mine - Can you read me your card / account number ?
Customer: 9651 …
Me: I am sorry, that should start with ‘4′ or ‘5′.
Customer: Do you mean from the front of the card?
Me: Yes. :-))
Another common question here in Australia - Its a joint credit card account, why doesn’t have both husband and wife name on the same card ?
Me: One of you have to be the primary card holder and the other can be secondary. I am sorry, but we cannot provide both names on the same card.
Customer: Ok, i will change banks.
Me: :-))
July 29th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Very true. Sometimes, people don’t spend time to know things in life that are truly important.. nor are we taught all these..
July 31st, 2007 at 7:20 am
PK,
I am not surprised with your post. I have come across hundreds of SWE’s in my career so far, who do not not know many things. I am not blaming only SWE’s there are many in abroad (desis) who do not know 101 basic things. I can publish a book with those ignorant questions. What to do? It is a shame that people are not exposed to basic things like this. There are few who had lived in several parts of India, and had been to a major IT City after their college, and have flown abroad. The problem is they behave as if they were here for generations and does not know even a basic thing like what you have mentioned.
Once three of us SWE’s were walking and one of them said “Machaan… Ingey ladies have a common dress. I am seeing most of the girls here wearing a white shirt and black panties. That is it. Isn’t it?”. On hearing this I looked around. The other SWE asked him ” What do you mean..?”. He said ” Look there ” and showed a girl walking with white shirt, and black trousers. WE asked him what he meant. and he explained that ” When Men wear trousers we call it as PANT and if women wear the same is it not called PANTIES?”.
I told it was good that you spoke about this to us and got it explained instead of going to a female colleague and asking ” For how much did you buy this black panties.. or Why do you wear black panties always to office?”. This is just one of those kinds of questions asked by innocent SWE.
I have experienced plenty of real time jokes like this.
Also, when we mean pants it means underwear for men here. We have been still calling trousers as pants in India. We are still studying old Syllabus. But ‘PANTIES’ does not mean as what my colleague thought.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:39 pm
August 4th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
chakra,
vandhutaanga la
sree,
ratna,
maybe.. but definitely true
August 4th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
OGFT,
i maybe wrong here, but i think students who take commerce in their +1,+2 do come to know about Neotiable Instruments Act (under Commerce or business law or whatever)
But my point is, this should be taught even by 9th 10th stds whilst NaCl+H2So4 can be taught to students who wish to pursue that!
gopi,
dhoda
vicky,
good question!! me not in any hub ba
August 4th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
TTM,
common sense a?
apdi partha kooda
how to mix H2so4 with Nacl nu solli tharadha vida, how to learn anything nu solli tharanum la
August 4th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
deepak
:))
madhu,
ejatlee!
balaji sir,
:))))))
naan varalai indha velayaatuku
J,
February 14th, 2008 at 6:11 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Reemmbbba kastam, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.